Rener Gracie is one of the most popular coaches in the sport and now he’s finally explained why he chose teaching BJJ over competing in the sport all those years ago. Rener is known as a coach to the masses first and foremost, but he’s also responsible for bringing up one of the top UFC Lightweight contenders of his generation; Brian Ortega. Rener hasn’t just focused on coaching either, as he has also been one of the leading voices behind the drive to include BJJ as a primary focus for law enforcement officers. With this kind of success, it’s easy to wonder how Rener would have fared competitively but as he explains; it’s not something that was ever really on the cards for him:
“Growing up in the Gracie family, fighting is in your DNA and you don’t really know anything else. But what happened was that, as I was coming of age – once I turned 19/20/21/22 – the UFC had already been 10 years on the air. So for me, it was really a question of: “Do I want to do what my uncles and my dad did and be a professional fighter and just go fight for the sake of fighting?”
“Because remember; when the UFC started, it was all about proving that Jiu-Jitsu against karate… And ten years later, nobody denies Jiu-Jitsu. So right now, if I’m fighting in the UFC, I’m fighting against the people who are of my same religion. The people who believe in my religion, so there’s nothing to fight about because we agree that Jiu-Jitsu is, at least, the quintessential art in mixed martial arts.”
“So once that agreement was there, the opportunity to fight style vs style was gone. And that was the opportunity that all of my uncles had, my grandfather, my dad… They always had that opportunity to fight against other styles to demonstrate Jiu-Jitsu’s effectiveness. Once that was gone, I had to weigh my options. And what my brother and I focused on and dedicated our lives to was the teaching of Jiu-Jitsu.”
“Because, there was a massive demand for it globally, but there weren’t a lot of quality instructors certification protocols in place. So, we created the instructor certification program, we created the Gracie University online academy, and now people can learn this stuff from anywhere in the world. And that’s because we’ve focused our efforts on: “Okay, how are gonna spread Jiu-Jitsu so that everyone has access to it?” Not to mention that it’s much better making money teaching Jiu-Jitsu than getting punched in the face.”
The interview with Rener Gracie where he explains his reasons behind choosing teaching BJJ over competing was uploaded to Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett’s official YouTube channel:
