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Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — commonly called BJJ — is a ground-based grappling martial art that focuses on controlling opponents, taking them to the ground, and forcing submission through chokes and joint locks. It is the most important grappling art in MMA and one of the fastest-growing martial arts in the world. Understanding BJJ is essential to understanding modern combat sports.

The History of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

BJJ traces its roots to Japanese judo and jujutsu. In the early 20th century, the Gracie family of Brazil learned judo from Japanese master Mitsuyo Maeda, who had emigrated to Brazil. Carlos Gracie and his brother Helio Gracie adapted and evolved these techniques over decades, developing a system that emphasized leverage, technique, and positional control — enabling a smaller person to defeat a larger, stronger opponent through superior technique.

The Gracie family promoted their art through challenge matches in Brazil, and eventually brought BJJ to international attention when Royce Gracie won three of the first four UFC tournaments in 1993 and 1994. Royce, not the largest or most athletic fighter, submitted opponents from various martial arts backgrounds using BJJ techniques that his opponents simply didn’t understand. The world woke up to ground fighting.

How BJJ Works: The Core Concepts

BJJ is fundamentally about controlling an opponent’s body. The goal is to achieve a dominant position — mount, back control, side control, or guard — from which submission attempts can be made effectively and safely.

Positions: BJJ emphasizes positional hierarchy. “Back control” (being behind your opponent with hooks in) is the highest value position, as it allows choke attempts with minimal exposure to strikes. Mount (sitting on top of your opponent) is similarly powerful. Guard (being on your back with your opponent between your legs) is defensive but allows submission attacks. Side control and knee-on-belly are transitional dominant positions.

Submissions: BJJ’s submissions are primarily chokes (which restrict blood flow or air to the brain) and joint locks (which apply force against a joint beyond its natural range of motion). The rear naked choke, triangle choke, and arm bar are among the most fundamental and widely used submissions in both sport BJJ and MMA.

Sweeps and Transitions: Much of BJJ involves reversing positions — sweeping from guard to mount, escaping bad positions, and transitioning between submissions when an opponent defends. The dynamic nature of positional grappling makes BJJ highly tactical.

The BJJ Belt System

BJJ has a belt progression system that recognizes technical development. The belts are: white, blue, purple, brown, and black. Each belt can take years to earn, and a black belt in BJJ is widely considered to represent genuine mastery of the art. The journey from white to black belt typically takes 8-12 years, longer than virtually any other martial art.

Below black belt, students earn “stripes” on their belt (up to four) before being promoted to the next belt level. The combination of technical testing, time-in-grade requirements, and performance in sparring (rolling) determines promotion.

Gi vs. No-Gi BJJ

BJJ is practiced in two primary formats. Gi BJJ is practiced wearing a traditional uniform (the gi or kimono) with a jacket and pants. The gi provides additional grip points that are used extensively in technique — collar chokes, sleeve grips, and lapel guards are only possible in gi. No-gi BJJ is practiced in shorts and a rash guard, without the gi, and more closely resembles the grappling context of MMA.

For MMA, no-gi grappling is more directly relevant, and many MMA-focused grapplers train primarily no-gi. However, gi training develops grip strength, technical precision, and defensive grappling skills that transfer to no-gi contexts.

BJJ in MMA

BJJ transformed MMA. Before BJJ, most combat sports athletes had no understanding of ground fighting — the Gracie UFC demonstrations showed that a fight taken to the ground could be immediately controlled by someone with grappling training. In the thirty-plus years since, ground grappling has become fundamental to MMA preparation.

Elite MMA fighters use BJJ in several ways: to survive takedowns and work back to their feet, to submit opponents from guard or back position, to maintain top control and deliver ground-and-pound, and to prevent submissions when opponents get them down. The integration of wrestling (for takedowns and control) with BJJ (for submissions and sweeps) is the foundation of modern MMA grappling.

Getting Started With BJJ

BJJ is widely available in most cities through dedicated BJJ academies and mixed martial arts gyms. Classes are taught in a format similar to most martial arts: instruction, drilling, and live sparring (called “rolling”). Rolling — live grappling against resisting opponents — is a signature feature of BJJ training and is considered essential to development.

BJJ is suitable for people of all sizes and athletic backgrounds. Its emphasis on leverage and technique means that smaller, lighter practitioners can compete effectively against larger training partners as their skill develops. This accessibility is one of BJJ’s most appealing qualities and has contributed to its global growth.