History UsefulNotes / BrazilianJiuJitsu

* ArsenalAttire: Just like judo, the gi is a weapon. Its lapels and sleeves can be used to choke out either the wearer or his opponent.

%%* ''Martial Master Asumi''

* The sequels to the above, ''Film/NeverBackDown2'' and ''3'' have several sparring and {{training montage}}s with grappling. Creator/MichaelJaiWhite, who directed and starred in both movies, demonstrates Eddie Bravo's signature [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_guard rubber guard]] in ''2'', and Bravo himself gets a cameo in ''3''.

* StartMyOwn: BJJ was this to Judo, although initially unintentionally -- Hélio and Carlos affirmed they didn't heard the term "Judo" until the 1950s and thought they were doing the same "Jiu-Jitsu" that was being done in Japan -- however, they decided to "split" and not adopt the Kodokan rules when they were introduced in Brazil as they were incompatible with their ground-based game, and in 1967 they (along with other 4 schools of Alvaro Barreto, Joao Alberto Barreto, Hélcio Leal Binda, and Oswaldo Fadda) founded the Jiu-Jitsu Federation of Guanabara with their own ruleset. The term "Jiu-Jitsu" served to differentiate it from Judo.

** Hélio Gracie claimed that at a child he was weak and frail, suffering from asthma. Supposedly creating BJJ as a way for people with weaker stature like him to rely more on technique over strength. However, there's a lot of evidence to suggest that he was actually a healthy talented athlete, which trained and competed in rowing and swimming since his childhood, as well as Catch Wrestling under Orlando Americo "Dudú" da Silva.

** The Kimura lock (aka ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armlock#Double_wristlock_(Gyaku_ude-garami) gyaku ude-garami]]'') was named after judo legend Wrestling/MasahikoKimura, who broke Hélio Gracie's arm with this technique in their famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masahiko_Kimura_vs._H%C3%A9lio_Gracie 1951 bout]].

* ''Film/{{Flash Point|2007}}'': Creator/DonnieYen uses mixed martial arts for his choreography, with multiple scenes having BJJ grappling.

* ''Film/LethalWeapon'': CowboyCop Martin Riggs attempts an armbar, then ends [[FisticuffsBoss Mr. Joshua]] by putting him in a triangle choke. One of the first movies to feature BJJ (and before BJJ was big), this was a result of technical advisor Cedric Adams wanting to show how deadly Riggs was by "having mastery of a form of martial arts never before seen onscreen". And by this time Rorion Gracie was slowly building his Hollywood connections by appearing as an extra in movies and promoting BJJ in magazines, he ended up as one of the movie's choreographers, and would make a cameo in ''Lethal Weapon 3'' as a random Main/{{Mook}}. UsefulNotes/{{Capoeira}} and Jailhouse Rock[[note]]a self-defense system supposedly developed in American prisons[[/note]] were also used.

** The Kimura lock (aka ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armlock#Double_wristlock_(Gyaku_ude-garami) gyaku ude-garami]]'') was named after judo legend Masahiko Kimura, who submitted Hélio Gracie with this technique in their famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masahiko_Kimura_vs._H%C3%A9lio_Gracie 1951 bout]].

** The Gracies had a rivalry with judoka Georges Mehdi, one of Brazil's top Judo instructors. He claimed that BJJ was not a separate art from Judo, critized their lack of honesty and unwillingness to train lower class students, and also claimed that the match between Hélio Gracie and Wrestling/MasahikoKimura might have been a [[WorkedShoot Work]] due his background on ProfessionalWrestling. Despite that, Mehdi would never withheld his knowledge with anyone who wanted to train with him, including many BJJ fighters such as José Mario Sperry, Rickson Gracie, and Wallid Ismail.

* HumanChess: Well, not literally, but BJJ is often described as "human chess", as it requires you to forsee you and your opponents next steps in very early steps, an hierarchy of position and pieces (well, techniques) and doing gambits.
* InstantWinCondition: IBJJF matches have a scoring system where takedowns, sweeps, and knee-on-belly are worth 2 points, guard passes are worth 3, and successful mounts (back and front) get 4 points. But getting the opponent to tap is an instant win.

* ''Manga/AllRounderMeguru'': Mostly a MMA manga, but there are scenes of Jiu-Jitsu training. It's the speciality of Judoka Momoko (which started BJJ after her school's Judo club closed) and both she and Meguru join a BJJ tournament.
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': Eren fights using a style that resembles Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in his fight against the Armored Titan/[[spoiler:Reiner]], since striking is useless against his armor, Eren does a good exhibition of a triangle choke into an armbar, attempts (and fails) to do a leglock, and then does closes his guard and applies a guillotine, in their later fight during the "Return to Shinganshina" arc, Eren again attempts (and fails) to do a Kimura sweep. The author is a [[AuthorAppeal huge MMA fan]] so he likes to use actual MMA styles for his "Titan Martial Arts".
* ''Manga/KenganAshura'' goes into lenghts to show semi-realistic BJJ-inspired grappling on its fights. BJJ is the primary style of Cosmo Imai, a small 19-year old boy genius who uses chokes and joint lock to defeat opppnents double his size, and MMA fighter Okubo Naoya uses extensive BJJ grappling, mixing with his extensive striking abilities in his fight against Kanoh Agito. Later, fighter [[WorldsStrongestMan Wakatsuki Takeshi]] is shown training BJJ to complement his powerful full-contact Karate striking.

** Nowadays in the West, "jiu-jitsu" commonly refers to the Brazilian adaptation rather than the Japanese original.

* BoringButPractical: BJJ includes many exotic, flashy, holds and transitions, but most of the most practical techniques aren't very photogenic. When BJJ rose to prominence in mixed martial arts, many early viewers were quickly disinterested by grappling in general, as opposed to the more kinetic striking arts.

* ''Film/TheArtOfSelfDefense'': While the movie is centered around a UsefulNotes/{{Karate}} dojo, during the fight between Anne and Thomas, she tackles Thomas and transitions from a Berimbolo into a Rear Naked Choke. The creator Riley Stearns is a BJJ purple belt but decided to use Karate instead because "[[SmallReferencePools that's what everyone is more familiar with]]".

* ''Film/LethalWeapon'': CowboyCop Martin Riggs ends [[FisticuffsBoss Mr. Joshua]] by putting him in a triangle choke. One of the first movies to feature BJJ (and before BJJ was big), this was a result of technical advisor Cedric Adams wanting to show how deadly Riggs was by "having mastery of a form of martial arts never before seen onscreen". And by this time Rorion Gracie was slowly building his Hollywood connections by appearing as an extra in movies and promoting BJJ in magazines, he ended up as one of the movie's choreographers, and would make a cameo in ''Lethal Weapon 3'' as a random Main/{{Mook}}. UsefulNotes/{{Capoeira}} and Jailhouse Rock[[note]]a self-defense system supposedly developed in American prisons[[/note]] were also used.

* BadassFamily: The Gracie family, an entire family dedicated to a martial art, sounds coming straight from a kung fu movie or anime. The late Helio and Carlos Gracie essentially created Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and the entire family family worked to develop and spread BJJ as much as they could, getting involved in crazy stunts to promote Jiu-Jitsu, from making bogus claims to challenging other martial artists to street fights, and most famously and successfully: the founding of the UFC.

* MasterApprenticeChain: Usually emphasized to show the Professor's legitimacy, it will usually trace back to either Helio Gracie, Carlos Gracie, Luiz França or Oswaldo Fadda, and then back to Mitsuyo Maeda, which itself will then trace to Jigoro Kano, founder of UsefulNotes/{{Judo}}.

** The Kimura lock (aka ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armlock#Double_wristlock_(Gyaku_ude-garami) gyaku ude-garami]]'') was named after judo legend Masahiko Kimura, who submitted Helio Gracie with this technique in their famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masahiko_Kimura_vs._H%C3%A9lio_Gracie 1951 bout]].

** The Ezekiel choke (aka ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sode_guruma_jime sode guruma jime]] or simply "sleeve choke") is named after judoka Ezequiel Paraguassu. He was training for the 1988 Olympic Games at Carlson Gracie's gym in order to better his ne-waza with jiu-jitsu guys. They placed him inside a closed guard and when unable to open he instead started to choke his opponents from inside the guard with the technique. Afterwards, he was asked to teach the technique to the other students and they soon began referring to it as the Ezequiel choke.

** The Ezekiel choke (aka ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sode_guruma_jime sode guruma jime]] or simply sleeve choke) is named after judoka Ezequiel Paraguassu. He was training for the 1988 Olympic Games at Carlson Gracie's gym in order to better his ne-waza with jiu-jitsu guys. They placed him inside a closed guard and when unable to open he, he instead started to choke his opponents from inside the guard. Afterwards, he was asked to teach the technique to the other students and they soon began referring to it as the Ezequiel choke.

* ''Film/TheArtOfSelfDefense'': While the movie is centered around a UsefulNotes/{{Karate}} dojo, during the fight between Anne and Thomas, she tackles Thomas and transitions from a Berimbolo into a Rear Naked Choke. The creator Riley Stearns is a purple belt BJJ but decided to use Karate instead because "[[SmallReferencePools that's what everyone is more familiar with]]".

* ''Film/JohnWick'': Jonh Wick uses a lot of moves from both BJJ and UsefulNotes/{{Judo}} against his enemies. One notable moment when he puts a Main/{{Mook}} in a triangle choke and shoots his head with a pistol.
* ''Film/LethalWeapon'': CowboyCop Martin Riggs ends [[FisticuffsBoss Mr. Joshua]] by putting him in a triangle choke. One of the first movies to feature BJJ (and before BJJ was big), this was a result of technical advisor Cedric Adams wanting to show how deadly Riggs was by "having mastery of a form of martial arts never before seen onscreen.". And by this time Rorion Gracie was slowly building his Hollywood connections by appearing as an extra in movies and promoting BJJ in magazines, he ended up as one of the movie's choreographers, and would make a cameo in ''Lethal Weapon 3'' as a random Main/{{Mook}}. UsefulNotes/{{Capoeira}} and Jailhouse Rock[[note]]a self-defense system supposedly developed in American prisons[[/note]] were also used.
* ''Film/NeverBackDown'': In a "Film/TheKarateKid meets MMA" movie, BJJ training wouldn't be left out. The trainer of the protagonist, Jean Roqua, is said to have taught and trained with the Gracies.

* ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'': The director Creator/GuyRitchie incorporated some BJJ (being a practitioner himself) most notably in the final battle when Holmes and Watson manage to take down [[TheBrute Dredger]] with an arm-bar and a modified rear naked choke. It should be noted that in the books, Holmes was trained in "Baritsu", a misspelling of Bartitsu, a real hybrid martial art created in Britain that combined boxing, jiu-jitsu, Savate and cane-fighting.