Rorion Gracie

Rorion Gracie (; born January 10, 1952) is a Brazilian-born Gracie jiu-jitsu Grand Master, a prominent member of the Gracie family, writer, publisher, producer, lecturer, lawyer and the co-founder of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the oldest son of Hélio Gracie and one of the few people in the world to hold a 9th degree red belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and is widely recognized as one of the men responsible for introducing Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to the United States and the world. He was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame in 2009.

Early life and education Rorion started jiu-jitsu at a young age, doing demonstrations and classes. He spent his youth learning how to teach under the tutelage of his father, Grand Master Hélio Gracie. He attended the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, graduating with a degree in Law.

Rorion was a technical adviser for the 1987 movie Lethal Weapon providing training to actors Mel Gibson and Gary Busey. The director Richard Donner wanted Gibson's character to have a unique style of fighting never seen onscreen before with the second assistant director Willie Simmons, who was interested in unusual forms of martial arts, choosing BJJ and two other martial arts styles to use in the movie.

In 1988, Rorion produced the documentary Gracie Jiu-Jitsu In Action, the documentary contains footage of fights using jiu-jitsu, especially from Gracie Challenge and Vale Tudo fights. In 1989, Rorion with brothers Royce, Rickson and Royler, opened the first Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Torrance, California. In 1991, he produced The Basics of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, a five volume training video series together with a special edition volume.

Rorion was also a technical advisor, a fight scene choreographer for Lethal Weapon 3 in 1992, providing training to Rene Russo together with martial artist Cheryl Wheeler-Dixon and a Karate instructor. The Karate instructor immediately went on to rehearse spectacular ura-mawashi high kicks, which resulted in Russo pulling a groin muscle the very first day, and becoming so frustrated with learning the technique, that Richard Donner asked Gracie not only to teach her, but also to attend the film set as a technical advisor. Gracie was so proficient and pliable in an uke role, that Russo refused to do the throw with anyone other than Gracie, and insisted him to step into the action as a stuntman for a fight scene. Through this pay-per-view spectacle, he hoped to show that, in a "no time limit - no rules" setting, Gracie jiu-jitsu was the only system of self-defense that would give someone a realistic chance of defeating a larger, more athletic adversary.

In 1994, following UFC, a small group of high-ranking military personnel, from the most elite unit in the US Army Special Operations Forces, contacted Rorion and asked him to develop an objective hand-to-hand combat course based on the most effective techniques of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.

Books Rorion wrote and published the book The Gracie Diet in 2010.

Videos

Awards and honors Black Belt Magazine named Rorion Gracie the 2006 Instructor of the Year.

Instructor lineage Kano Jigoro → Tomita Tsunejiro → Mitsuyo "Count Koma" Maeda → Carlos Gracie → Helio Gracie → Rorion Gracie