Relson Gracie

Beginnings

Relson was born in 1953, a year after the Gracies opened Academia Gracie in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1962, Helio Gracie (Relson's father) held the world’s first Gracie Jiu-Jitsu tournament in Rio de Janeiro, where Relson competed at the age of 10. Relson was Brazilian National Champion in both his own weight class and the open division for an unprecedented 22 years. His record and success in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu earned him the name "Campeao," Portuguese for Champion.

In 1975, at the age of 22, Relson was approached by Rio's Secretary of Sport Jose Morais and Manaus Senator Artur Vigilio, a Reyson Gracie Black Belt, who proposed Relson open his own academy. Because of this encouragement, Relson opened his first Jiu Jitsu academy, Ilha Clube Jardim Guanabara (ICJG). During this time Relson taught at both ICJG and Academia Gracie Humaita.

Growth Of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu

In the middle to late 1970s Gracie Jiu-Jitsu continued to grow in popularity, and in 1978, Academia Gracie relocated to Flamengo, an area in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1982 Relson and his younger brother Rickson began competing and winning black belt divisions of Jiu Jitsu tournaments in their respective weight classes (83 kg and 77 kg, respectively) and "open weight" divisions as well, often sharing 1st and 2nd place. "Open weight" are divisions in tournaments where any weight can compete.

During this time Relson and other family members defended the Gracie name and reputation "in the streets" of Brazil. Even in true "no holds barred" matches, where it was often a matter of survival, Relson and the Gracie family maintained its dominance and proved that Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is an effective martial art.

The Gracie family also experienced success in Vale Tudo fights and competitions. On April 25, 1980, "the torch" was officially passed to Rickson Gracie when he defeated Casemiro "Rei Zulu" Nascimento Martins by rear naked choke. Rei Zulu suffered a similar fate at the hands of Rickson again in January 1984 during their second encounter. Relson trained Rickson for both events in anticipation of fighting Zulu himself, but Relson later acquiesced to Helio's wishes for Rickson to make his debut as the Gracie family champion.

Move to the United States

In 1985, Relson moved from Rio de Janeiro to Monterey, California at the request of Pedro Sauer’s older brother, Carlos. In Monterey Relson taught at the Eseline Therapy Institute for a year and a half. In June 1988 he moved to Honolulu and continued to teach.

In the pre-UFC years, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu was relatively unknown outside of Brazil. Relson taught out of his garage in the evenings after a hard day's work in the construction industry. However, the effectiveness and benefits of Jiu-Jitsu soon spread throughout the island of Oahu, and in the same year he expanded his classes to athletic facilities at the University of Hawaii at Manoa because of growing demand until 1996, while continuing to teach out of his garage.

Relson organized the first tournament outside of Brazil in Honolulu in 1992.

Involvement with MMA

In 1993, The Ultimate Fighting Championship held its first event, UFC 1, which would launch the career of Royce Gracie.

Prior to UFC 1, Royce was just "Rorion and Relson's little brother." Relson helped Royce train for the event. Relson's style was—and still is—ideally suited to a "limited rules" type of fighting. Royce won three of the first four UFC events.

However, with the advent of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, and the new emphasis on grappling training for other competitors (and UFC's rule change for UFC 5), many of Relson's techniques are no longer as effective.

Tournament competition in the 1990s and beyond

In 1997 Relson Gracie brought a team from Hawaii to the second World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships and became the first team outside of Brazil to "close out" (or win) a division. Two of Relson’s students, Kendall Goo and Kelly Matsukawa, took first and second place in the Adult Blue Belt Pessidissimo division.

In 2000 the Relson Gracie Team joined forces with Gracie Humaita and placed in every division at the Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Championships in Florida: 1st in the Female and Master/Seniors divisions, 2nd in the Juvenile, and 3rd in the Adult.

After the changes to rules common to most Jiu Jitsu tournaments, Relson felt tournaments started to steer Gracie Jiu-Jitsu away from the principles that his father had created it for. Relson decided to place less emphasis on pushing his team to compete and refocused on the true essence of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.

Relson is also affiliated with some tournaments: the Relson Gracie National Jiu-Jitsu Tournament has been held annually in Columbus, Ohio since 1997. Due to the success of his inaugural National tournament, Arnold Schwarzenegger approached Relson to start the Arnold-Gracie World Submission Championships in 2000, also held to be held in Columbus. Between 2005 and 2008, participation has increased from 1200 to 1800 competitors.

Black Belts under Relson

There have been very few black belts ever given by Relson across his career. His reputation is for being very hard on promotions, often taking 10-15+ years to attain black belt level. Here are all of the known black belts and their promotion dates, where known:
Name - School/Affiliation - City, State - Date of promotion to Black Belt

Personal

Relson has five children: Karina, Rishna, Rhalan,Kailani and Ka'ena (all Brazilians). He also has 3 grandkids (all Americans). He lives in Hawaii and travels the world teaching seminars. Relson received his 9th degree red belt from his eldest brother Rorion Gracie on April 6, 2013.