Prime Roger Gracie | A Complete Jiu-jitsu Toolbox

**Being 25 years deep in the art of Jiu-jitsu comes with some benefits, in this particular case being access to a lot of footage most BJJ practitioners often hear about but likely have not seen.scroll down for video**

Roger Gracie is most known now for his win vs current BJJ champion Marcus Buchecha and legendary runs in the IBJJF Mundials and ADCC.

The 2017 super fight was a rematch from the Metamoris Superfight and displayed how efficient Roger’s skills truly are but it’s key to keep in mind he was already well into retirement when both matches took place.

The force that is Roger Gracie was at full speed in the mid-2000s before his MMA run in Strikeforce and UFC.–> Inserted below 🙂

Complete Jiu-Jitsu | Offense + Defense + Control

Supremely dominant is one thing, and we’ve all heard about the cross choke and its value —> Take a look here for a breakdown of a variation courtesy his uncle and 1980’s era Gracie family champion, Relson Gracie.

BJJ in Action | Active Defense

REAL eye-opener for me in the department of Roger’s Jiu-jitsu is his ability to stay composed and return from very tough situations.

As of recently for many, the idea of “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and its focus on survival” mean just turtling up and waiting for a “brighter day” which doesn’t equate to combative skill or self-defense in any realistic way.

Instead of that approach, I point to Roger as the best example of Gracie Jiu-jitsu (not just because he wins) but because of how skilled he is at closing the avenues of risk and turning the tables on the opponents, Eventually closing out the show with a submission or positional dominance so clear it takes any debate off the table.

Not to knock any competitors as the level in BJJ is getting daily by leaps and bounds, Still, one thing you’ll see with many of the sport’s elite and certainly specialized competitors is a lack of this “active defensive” ability.

Let’s take an imaginary athlete, we will call him ” XYZ “.

XYZ never gets his guard passed or put in a compromising scenario, but the minute he does things are looking really bad & 9/10 he’ll likely be tapping rather than escaping the situation.

An old instructor “Andre Pedernerias said it best
” if you lose by points or lose by submission you still LOSE… so there is no moral victory as a competitor just surviving”, especially in the sportive context of BJJ.

In the case of Rogers guard, it has never been “unpassable” we have seen him in compromising positions with competitors of all weight classes, And he has been taken down plenty of times but uses this stellar jiu-jitsu to get back in the fight.

My favorite example of this was the passing of Torch vs previous BJJ “World Beater” Fernando Margarida.

Margarida pretty much cleaned out the top of the sport in his prime, running from 1997 to 2002. Applying a very “basic looking” game specializing in collar chokes and arm locks often launched from knee on belly. He beat everyone and literally changed the game leading to technical mastermind sessions being held with members of the top competing teams to develop strategies to stop his go-to techniques.

In the match below you’ll see him throw Roger and get to his best position in side control, trying to set up his golden sequence.

I would watch it all but if you are short on time you can start at the 5-minute time stamp and watch the defensive masterpiece Roger displays shutting down Margarida’s most effective attacks.

The “one-way traffic” and domination we see from many of the best is great to watch but as students of the art, we can get a lot by studying both sides of the coin.
Roger truly brings the craft of solid offensive and active defensive skills to the table. Jiu-Jitsu at its very best… Enjoy

p.s I’ve added a few other matches you may not have seen so you get an even better idea but the margarita and jacare matches are historic