With the growth of the UFC, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has seen its popularity sky rocket. As a sport, MMA is the fastest growing activity in the world, it’s no surprise that BJJ has grown alongside it. With its roots embedded in the early days of UFC 1, it’s fair to say that through MMA, BJJ has gained an international reputation with gyms popping up globally. With this said, we shall examine the reasons as to why and how BJJ has risen in popularity.
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BJJ is not as intense as traditional martial arts
BJJ culture is fairly modern and relaxed compared to traditional martial arts. Because of this, it’s open to everyone and is popular across all demographics. Stereotypically, traditional arts are seen as a bit nerdy and take themselves too seriously. For instance, you may get a cliched image of an overweight Aikido practitioner or someone claiming that chi is a real thing. This isn’t found in BJJ and as a result, it’s much more in touch with modern day society.
One example of this can be seen with social media. Unlike other martial arts, BJJ is filled with memes and its own sub-culture. This shows its impact on people, especially with younger practitioners. In terms of its spread, BJJ is mainstream and in touch with reality, whereas traditional martial arts are more serious and less friendly towards outsiders.
The internet and globalization have pushed BJJ into the mainstream
Back in 1993, the UFC began with UFC 1. To put it another way, the internet was still in its infancy at this point and the world was a smaller place. To learn BJJ outside of Brazil was difficult, perhaps you could find a VHS tape or some person with a vague idea of how BJJ worked. As a result, BJJ was very small and much different from the global art we know of today. This combined with being new, meant BJJ was not really known of or understood.
However, the internet changed everything. By the end of the ’90s, BJJ could be found online although it was still new. With this, it meant its spread was inevitable. An example of this could be the Gracie challenge videos.
Again, filmed on VHS, these showed BJJ dominating previously famed martial arts. For instance, a Karate practitioner would have been well respected in the ’80s. However, the videos would show Karate and other arts being beaten with ease from BJJ. After this, BJJ captured the minds of many and was seen as a growing force in the martial arts world.
As the internet grew, so did BJJ. Nowadays it is the most common martial art on sites such as Instagram and Youtube. This shows its spread in such a short time. This is also mirrored offline, with gyms appearing on street corners in every major city in the world. In short, BJJ overtook other martial arts due to the power of the internet.
BJJ offers the middle ground compared to other sports
As said, traditional martial arts are often viewed with skepticism by many. However, other modern martial arts are also seen as too intense, for different reasons. For example, if you spar MMA or boxing – you could get knocked out. Even if you don’t, you could pick up concussions from years of training. To many, this simply isn’t a friendly idea and is off-putting. You don’t want to turn up to work with a broken nose or black eyes.
However, BJJ offers a safe middle ground. Whilst it isn’t a soft martial art, it won’t kill you either. For example, you will still learn practical fighting skills but you don’t have to worry about the unsafety of sparring MMA. If you spar a maniac in MMA you may get knocked out, whereas in BJJ you may be able to fend them off easier.
At the same time, BJJ isn’t nonsense like some of the traditional martial arts. With BJJ you spar and pressure test moves which actually work. As a result, BJJ is somewhere in the middle for training a practical martial art.
BJJ is more organized than most martial arts
The chances are if you compete in BJJ, there are various competitions to train under. Whilst this can also be said for boxing and MMA, the chances are you won’t compete for more than 3 times per year, and even then fights can fall through. With BJJ you can literally compete every weekend and there’s a variety of rule sets to follow.
This is quite unique – as other traditional martial arts often offer no competitions whatsoever. Because of this, BJJ appeals to competitors and hobbyists whilst feeding the need to compete. It is also unique in offering unified gyms as companies. For instance, the likes of Gracie Barra, Alliance and ATOS all have gyms on various continents. From a business structure, this allows for the spread of BJJ by following a successful blueprint. Those who are not confident in opening gyms can do so under a bigger organization that can guide them along the way.
With other martial arts, this simply isn’t the case. Whilst there’s some boxing franchises and the likes of K-Star with Muay Thai – most of the time it’s independent, smaller gyms. Because of this, BJJ is more organised in terms of offering a brand to its customers. As this doesn’t exist so much elsewhere, it’s one of the reasons for the growth in popularity of BJJ.
The Celebrity influence of BJJ
BJJ has an ever-growing list of practitioners. For instance, actors such as Ed O’Neill and Ashton Kutcher both train, with O’Neill being a black belt and Kutcher a brown. Director Guy Ritchie is also a black belt under Roger Gracie, whilst the likes of Demi Lovato, Wiz Khalifa and Joey Diaz have all trained for several years.
Because of the influence of BJJ, it brings more to the sport. Whilst this also applies to boxing, it’s not found with most of the other martial arts. For example, it’s difficult to name a celebrity who trains Judo. As a result, BJJ has impacted positively from the influence and spread that celebrities provide. With Hollywood A-listers training, it only adds to the growth of the art which has benefitted nicely from popular culture.
Summary
Overall, BJJ has grown massively in recent years and its popularity is unrivaled when looking at its age. As examined, this is down to reasons such as its inviting culture, growth of social media, and celebrity influence. In combining these factors together – it’s no wonder that BJJ has become so popular. With this said, it should also be acknowledged that BJJ is still new in terms of other martial arts – meaning it still has room to grow and it’s a safe bet it will gain further popularity in the years to come.
