I am a Ralph Gracie Black Belt and extremely proud of that.
I’ve started training Jiu Jitsu at the original Mountain View Academy in 1996 and was awarded my black belt from Ralph in 2006, where he actually gave me HIS old black belt. Depending on how you count, I was around the 10th black belt that Ralph awarded and he often introduces me as one of his first students.
Suffice to say, Ralph Gracie has had a major impact on my life, but many people don’t realize how outsized his impact was on the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community as a whole. Of course the Ralph Gracie academy has put out a lot of top tier talent over the years, and many people in the know consider particularly in the 90’s era the toughest room in the United States. You had talent like Kurt Osiander, Dave and Dan Camarillo, BJ Penn and his brothers, Cameron Earle and a list of other tough competitors. But you also had some folks that went on to influence the world in other ways. Sean Shelby, matchmaker for the UFC got his start at the Mountain View Academy. Also, as it was the early days of the internet, two of five biggest internet resources for Jiu Jitsu, Bjj.org run by Don Geddis, and Onthemat.com run by Scotty and myself) were at the academy. (By the way the other main sources would be ADCC News, GracieMag and Otatame).
A lot of people have a strong opinion on Ralph, but I don’t think a lot of people know him all that well. There are some clips here and there of him and he’s put himself in the news a few times, but he rarely gives any interviews. A few months ago I was asked to do a podcast with him, but it fell through for whatever reason. There is a really wonderful interview with Ralph (probably the longest format one he’s ever done) which is embedded on Budo Videos’s Rolled Up Series where they are interviewing Kurt Osiander, but the second half of the video is dedicated to Ralph! So it’s a rare opportunity to share Ralph’s own thoughts, as opposed to anyone’s interpretation of them.
In nearly 30 years of mentorship and friendship, suffice to say I have a LOT of personal Ralph Gracie stories. One of my favorites he wasn’t even present for:
The first time I trained at the Renzo Gracie academy was sometime in the 90’s back when they actually split the space with a Kung Fu School (by a bed sheet no less) and there was probably 600 square feet of mat space or less. Renzo Gracie himself taught most of the classes however. Now, Renzo is an extremely charismatic guy and there is probably 100x the press on Renzo than there is on Ralph, but in person the fact they are brothers is extremely obvious and from their mannerisms to their physical appearances they are far more similar than not. Renzo of course was extremely gracious when he met me and welcomed me on his mats. He shows the technique in a typical class fashion and we break up to practice as he then moves around to coach. I was engrossed in drilling and my back was turned to him when he comes up and says “Gumby…”. Now Ralph had a particular way of correcting your (or at least my) technique at the time, so when Renzo came up behind me and I heard my name I instinctively through my hands up to protect my head and neck. Renzo immediately fell over from laughing so hard. When he finally got up, literally wiping the tears away from his eyes and still chuckling he remarked “and know I TRULY know that you train with my brother”.
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