Relson Gracie is one of Helio Gracie’s sons and is also a red belt grandmaster in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In short, it’s fair to say that he’s a legend in his own right and has also been around for a pretty long time. Because of this, there’s a lot of information circulating around about Relson Gracie and his life. Below, we shall hopefully shed some light on fact and fiction.
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Where does Relson Gracie live?
Although he was born and raised in Brazil, he now spends most of his time in Honolulu, Hawaii. Here, Relson Gracie teaches out of his own Gracie Jiu Jitsu gym which has a greater emphasis on self defense compared to most regular BJJ gyms. He also travels frequently doing seminars, as well as visiting his homeland Brazil from time to time. As well, he also has several affiliation gyms which is where he spends the bulk of his time traveling
What are Relson Gracie’s views on sport BJJ?
Often outspoken, Relson Gracie is not a fan of sports Jiu Jitsu and although he doesn’t despise BJJ competitions, he is a bigger fan of self defense. Therefore, his philosophy is very similar to his father Helio, which is based on fundamentally, old school moves that work in fight scenarios. Although this is the case, Relson was also competing from age 6 which shows he is a competitor as well.
For example, moves such as the closed guard are emphasized from the bottom, whereas leglocks aren’t seen as functional. As mentioned earlier, Relson follows Gracie Jiu Jitsu so this approach is completely understandable. Remember, Relson was bought up during a time where street fights were the norm and the BJJ game wasn’t as developed back then, so once again his views make sense.
What happened to Relson Gracie and his cannabis inprisonment?
In 2020, Relson Gracie was put in jail for one week whilst traveling in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was caught carrying marijuana on him and was accused of drug smuggling. However, he was eventually released and the case was dropped.
It turns out that marijuana was legalized in Brazil a year prior which makes the whole thing even more bizarre. Relson has gone on record to say that taking marijuana for medical reasons is completely fine, whereas taking pills isn’t. It’s not too surprising that Relson uses marijuana either, considering he’s now in his late 60s and still trains BJJ, so it would be good for his aches and pains.
Relson Gracie on Rickson Gracie’s fighting record
The myth goes that Rickson Gracie had a fighting record of 400-0. If he fought regular guys back in Brazil with his superior conditioning and BJJ skills back in the 90s, then this could have been possible.
However, Relson has a different take on things and has spoken on the subject, adding “It’s not that I think it isn’t true. He included the fights of Sambo, and included training in the academy which they call a fight, but they are not fighting, they are training…in this kind of fight, my father had 5000 fights.”
Looking back, there may be some truth in these comments, seeing as having 400 street fights seems like a very high number. Regardless, it’s nice to see a Gracie family member talk about BJJ history with his own take on things.
Relson Gracie and the Pan-Ams
Even though Relson Gracie is skeptical of certain competition techniques, he is not skeptical of competing. Perhaps the biggest point of this is his involvement of the Pan-Ams. For instance, the Pan-Ams first began in 1996.
The following two years the Pan-Ams were hosted in Honolulu, Hawaii which is where Relson lived. In brief, Relson helped organize these events which wasn’t easy. The reason for this is that during this time, BJJ mats weren’t common on the island of Hawaii. Nonetheless, both competitions were monumental successes.
Arguably, without Relson Gracie and his early involvement in the Pan-Ams, it wouldn’t have grown into the competition that it’s known as today. That is, the Pan-Ams are known as one of the biggest competitions on the BJJ calendar.
Relson Gracie on BJJ in MMA
Over the years, Relson Gracie has really defended BJJ and is a true fan of the art. This has led some critics to argue that his views are a little dated and borderline fantasist at times. Remember though, Relson did help Royce train for his UFC debut. It’s no secret that Royce dominated the early UFC events and was the promotion’s first-ever champion.
Put another way, Relson was around during the peak of the Gracie family and their early MMA dominance. During a similar time, Relson’s younger brother Rickson Gracie would also dominate the Japanese MMA scene in PRIDE.
Fast forward to the modern era, and Relson still believes that BJJ is the best art for winning MMA matches. In a 2021 interview in Portuguese, he made comments about his nephew Kron Gracie’s stalling UFC career, adding “I would never do boxing, you don’t need to do boxing. Come and train with me. If he (Kron) moves to Brazil, he spends three months here with me. Go back to being a fast world champion. It takes six months of classes here with me, I’ll change Kron. I will sign – if he loses, I stop teaching. In three months, this boy won’t throw another punch. He’s going back to its origins.”
Of course, there may be some reality to these comments, but you also have to admit the level of wrestling and striking has come a long way since the earlier days of MMA.
