Randall Phillips

Gracie/Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ)
is a martial art and combat sport that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting with the goal of gaining a dominant position and using join-locks and chokeholds to force an opponent to submit or be knocked out depending on what submission method is used. The art was based on early 20th century Kodokan Judo, which was itself then a recently developed system (founded in 1882), based on multiple schools (or Ryu) of Japanese Jiu Jitsu.

It promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person using leverage and proper technique can successfully defend against a bigger, stronger assailant. It primarily uses Judo takedowns to gain the dominant position. BJJ can be trained for self defense, sport grappling tournaments (gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA competition. Sparring (commonly referred to as rolling) and live drilling play a major role in training, and a premium is placed on performance, especially in competition.