Everyone's heard this story. One family<br>created Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but the<br>truth starts with 1800's Japan, takes a<br>detour through traveling prize fighters,<br>and ends with class wars on the beaches<br>of Rio. I'm Ysef with X Marshall, and in<br>this video, you'll see how BJJ really<br>evolved. And stick around because the<br>story goes way deeper than the Gracies.<br>Brazilian jiu-jitsu story starts in<br>Japan. Jiu-jitsu was the samurai's<br>unarmed combat system. Joint locks,<br>throws, strangles when fights collapsed<br>into grappling range. But by the late<br>1800s, the samurai class had disappeared<br>and with them jiu-jitsu's status.<br>In 1882, Jiguro Kano reshaped jiujitsu<br>into Kodakon judo. He stripped the<br>recklessness, turned it into a system of<br>character and efficiency. But early judo<br>wasn't just throws. The Kosen schools<br>were obsessed with groundwork,<br>foreshadowing what would later become<br>BJJ.<br>Think of it like this. Judo is the<br>iPhone and BJJ, the jailbroken iPhone.<br>Same core, just hacked to do things the<br>original never intended. By the 1900s,<br>the world was crazy for jiu-jitsu. Books<br>sold by thousands. In the US, judo and<br>jiujitsu were interchangeable.<br>President Theodore Roosevelt even<br>trained with Yamashita Yoshitsugu,<br>calling it the most valuable sport he<br>had ever practiced. Jiu-Jitsu was a<br>global hype train. In 1906, Japanese<br>fighters brought jiu-jitsu exhibitions<br>to Brazil, defeating local challengers.<br>But in 1909, Capuista Sriyako Da Silva<br>shocked crowds by knocking out Navy<br>instructor Sada Myako in Rio. Proof that<br>jiu-jitsu wasn't invincible and that<br>Brazil's fighting culture was ready to<br>test it. Still, figures like Joo Omorei,<br>Soihiro Satake, and Teo Yano kept<br>teaching Kodokan judo in Sao Paulo and<br>Rio, laying the groundwork for Brazilian<br>jiu-jitsu. Then came Mitsuyo Maida, a<br>seasoned Kodakan Judoka and prize<br>fighter. Maida fought and taught<br>worldwide before arriving in Brazil in<br>1914. He wasn't inventing Brazilian<br>jiujitsu. He was promoting kodakan judo,<br>but outside Japan he called it jiujitsu<br>because it sounded older, rougher,<br>deadlier than judo. And that branding<br>choice is why you say you roll in BJJ<br>today, not Brazilian judo. in Bang<br>through promoter Gosstown Gracie. Maida<br>met Carlos Gracie who studied under him.<br>Carlos then taught his brothers,<br>especially a frail young man named Elio.<br>Elio couldn't rely on strength. He<br>leaned on timing, leverage, and the<br>guard. He didn't invent the guard. Judo<br>already had it, but he weaponized it.<br>From his back, he developed arm locks,<br>chokes, and triangles that let smaller<br>fighters beat larger ones. That's the<br>DNA of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Pause. Real<br>question. If Maida had never come to<br>Brazil, would BJJ even exist? Or would<br>we all just be doing Olympic judo? Drop<br>your wildest theory below. Funniest one<br>gets pinned. From the 1930s to the '50s,<br>Brazil had Valet Tudo, anything goes<br>fights. Boxers, wrestlers, capoeristas<br>versus the Gracies. These brutal matches<br>made BJJ battle tested. During Zulio<br>Vargas nationalist regime, the Gracies<br>became heroes, symbols of a strong<br>Brazil. But their dominance wasn't just<br>skill. It was brilliant marketing. They<br>controlled the press. They picked the<br>fights. And they turned every family<br>dinner argument into a martial art. But<br>not all roads led through the Gracies.<br>Luis Frana, trained by Japanese masters,<br>even fought Carlos Gracie to a draw in<br>1938. Frana later mentored Oswaldo Fada,<br>who opened schools for Brazil's poor and<br>specialized in footlocks, a technique<br>the Gracies dismissed as cheap. In 1955,<br>Fat's team beat the Gracies using those<br>same footlocks. It was a martial arts<br>uprising, proof BJJ wasn't owned by one<br>family. Meanwhile, Uklites Tatu Hm<br>created Luda Libra, a no gee style<br>rooted in catch wrestling. By the 1970s<br>to 80s, BJJ and Luda Libra weren't just<br>rivals. They were cultural opposites.<br>Ghee versus no ghee, elite versus<br>working class, rich kids and geese<br>versus poor kids from the favllas. The<br>rivalry turned violent. The infamous<br>Hixon Gracie versus Hugo Dwarte beach<br>fight ended in chaos, fueling a feud<br>that shaped both arts. By the 1950s<br>and60s, tournaments like the Campionado<br>karaoka formalized BJJ as a sport. In<br>1994, the CBJJ was founded to organize<br>the sport in Brazil. And about a decade<br>later, the IBJJF expanded those rules<br>worldwide, standardizing the modern<br>point system. Judo narrowed into Olympic<br>throws while BJJ doubled down on guard<br>play and submissions. Same roots,<br>totally different destinies. In the<br>1970s, Horeon Gracie brought BJJ to<br>California, teaching out of his garage.<br>In 1993, the first UFC was born. Hoist<br>Gracie choked out bigger opponents on<br>live TV, and the world realized if you<br>didn't know the ground game, you didn't<br>stand a chance. By the late 1990s, no<br>gee grappling exploded with events like<br>ADCC techniques adapted fast. Leg locks,<br>wrestling scrambles, submissiononly<br>rules. This no gee revolution took BJJ<br>beyond tradition, shaping the MMA ground<br>game and fueling today's submission<br>grappling scene. And if you're rolling<br>no ghee, forget sweaty t-shirts. That's<br>why X-Marshall makes rash guards and<br>shorts built for grip, comfort, and<br>chaos. Links below. So, here's the<br>truth. Brazilian jiu-jitsu wasn't<br>invented by one family. It was born from<br>Japanese judo, reshaped in Brazil<br>through fighters like Maida, Elio,<br>Franca, Fada, and rivals like Luta<br>Libra. The Gracies made it famous, but<br>the art is a collective story of<br>adaptation, culture, and survival.<br>Whether you laughed, learned, or even<br>got offended, drop a like. I'll take it<br>all. Subscribe to catch more. And since<br>you made it this far, the next video is<br>waiting for you.