There has been talk lately about where the direction of Jiu Jitsu is headed, with newly formed Jiu Jitsu Global Federation founded by the great Rickson Gracie and Metamoris , founded by Ralek Gracie , gaining ground amongst the BJJ organizations  sentiment among it’s followers is that people have begun training for points and not for the intention of what Jiu Jitsu was founded for, actual confrontations, fights that a small people can take on larger opponents and win. We say that there are two sides to every coin and story. Jiu Jitsu has become a lifestyle for most people who have used it as an avenue to learn self defense, weight management, networking,weight loss etc. and for whatever reason you train Jiu Jitsu, it can only be positive.

Because of the ever evolving techniques and moves to counter to moves and so on, Jiu Jitsu has taken a life on it’s own in recent years, new guards are emerging like the Reverse De La Riva, Berimbolo, 50/50, Worm Guard and so on and while some of these techniques are used primarily in competition, it can be argued that these techniques may be used in actual street fights, but because the core self defense techniques have been effective thus far, the need to try these new techniques hasn’t been necessary .

It can be argued that because of the evolution of the sport and new techniques being invented BJJ belongs to everyone and to no one. Like Rickson Gracie‘s famous quote ” You got to flow with the go ” many new techniques and finishing moves are popping up at maybe the most fastest rate ever. Due to immediate availability of online training courses and YouTube primarily.

So who actually owns Jiu Jitsu? Is it an entity that can be claimed by any one person? In the past we would have said yes, it was invented by a man named Jigoro Kano , but he only began the journey of the endless amounts of information available. No other time has Jiu Jitsu sky rocketed into the forefront than now due to the available information on the internet, whereas in times past, new techniques took months or even years to be discovered due to the lack of communication between schools and teachers in  the past. It seems as though new techniques are being developed and refined on a weekly basis, only due to the endless amounts of positions available in the sport as we know it.

And while Gracie Barra’s mantra is ” Jiu Jitsu For Everyone ” , who actually ” owns” it. Is it even possible that everyone owns Jiu Jitsu and no one does too? The jury is still out and the debate may never end.

Train hard my people.