Above: Ralek Gracie, Tim Tebow, Brendan Schaub, and Ryron Gracie.
BEVERLY HILLS, California — Here is some interesting news related to our sport of Jiu-Jitsu. NFL star quarterback and college football legend Tim Tebow has begun training jiu-jitsu with the first family of the sport. The family who revolutionized the art of hand-to-hand combat: the legendary Gracie family.
In 1993, the Gracie family established and built the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Rorion Gracie was the founder of the UFC and Royce Gracie systematically dismantled several opponents and won multiple UFC tournaments in the 1990’s, when the UFC was a martial arts competition pitting style vs. style. He did so by using Jiu-Jitsu, which was co-created by his grandfather Helio Gracie.
Now, the New York Jets quarterback Tebow has joined up with the Gracie family at their headquarters in Beverly Hills, California. Tebow was there training with Rorion’s sons (Royce’s nephews) Ryron Gracie and Ralek Gracie, as well as UFC heavyweight, TUF 10 finalist, and former NFL player Brendan Schaub.
After the training session, the Gracie brothers took to Twitter to tweet about their newest student, "Everyone please give a warm welcome to the newest member of the Gracie Family."
Ryron also tweeted to Tebow saying, "Your athleticism/intelligence makes teaching Jiu jitsu even easier!"