Robin Gracie (right) with his nephew Kron Gracie (left). Image courtesy Robin Gracie.

Robin Gracie is the youngest of Helio Gracie’s sons, and the only one of them to settle in Europe. In this exchange we hear straight from Robin and his academy in Barcelona about the popularity of Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Spain.

The FightWorks Podcast: How long have you lived in Spain?

Robin Gracie: I arrived in Spain in December 1997, a little over 12 years ago.

The FightWorks Podcast: When you left Brazil to live in Spain, did you know you would remain there for so long?

Robin Gracie: I did not know exactly what I would find here. The only thing I knew was that BJJ was little-known or unknown in Spain.

The FightWorks Podcast: You were one of the first to offer jiu-jitsu in Spain. What was it like in those early years?

Robin Gracie: There were only a few curious folks who surfed around the web, which was not as used back then as it is today, and there were martial arts magazines but there were no instructors. I was the only one. All of my students were of course white belts and did not have anyone to train hard with.

The FightWorks Podcast: How would you describe the Spanish who train jiu-jitsu? How are they similar to Brazilians and how are they different?

Robin Gracie: The truth is that there is a lot of diversity among them, from humble workers to famous businessmen. I believe something similar happens in the United States. In my gym there are many foreigners. I believe 30% or 40% are. In Europe it is very easy to get around by train, car or plan. You can be anywhere quickly. The Spanish, being Latinos, are as impulsive as the Brazilians but when it comes time to train are somewhat more explosive and they look for a faster pace, maybe because of the cold there is in the winter.

The FightWorks Podcast: How do you see the spread of jiu-jitsu in Spain today?

Robin Gracie: After all these years the BJJ community has grown and now there are gyms everywhere. The number of competitions has increased as well and people are looking for more information about our martial art all the time.

The FightWorks Podcast: Did you attend the 2010 IBJJF European Championship? What did you think?

Robin Gracie: Yes, it is always growing. It seems like every time there are more mats out and more competitors. The only bad thing in my opinion are the details in the rules that change every year and they confuse the coaches, fighters, and referees, who in the end make mistakes. I think they should not change the rules more than every five years to give everyone a chance to understand them before changing them.

The FightWorks Podcast: Your father, Helio Gracie, passed away in January of 2009. Do you have any favorite memories of your time with him?

Robin Gracie: Since I came to Spain I would only see him on my vacations in Brazil when I got the opportunity to visit him in his house in the mountains. I remember that even in his final years he liked to put on the gi and train. He did not speak or think about anything other than jiu-jitsu.

The FightWorks Podcast: What is your favorite thing about Spain?

Robin Gracie: Of all European countries, Spain is the warmest and also the one with the most beaches, where it rains and snows the least, and the people are friendliest. Perhaps it is the Brazil of Europe. That is why I like it.

The FightWorks Podcast: Thanks Robin! Gracias! Obrigado!

Robin Gracie: Thank you Caleb.

Helio Gracie’s picture, which adorns jiu-jitsu academies worldwide.

It was one year ago today that Helio Gracie passed away. Helio was 95 years old and remains in many eyes the person most responsible for what we today call Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In addition to two daughters, Helio Gracie fathered seven sons who made their father’s jiu-jitsu their own careers. Rorion, Relson, Rickson, Rolker, Royler, Royce, and Robin, were among the first to export what would become known as Brazilian jiu-jitsu to the world.

Helio Gracie participated in well over a dozen no holds barred or vale tudo fights in his life. Confident in his father’s form of ground fighting, Rorion Gracie formed the UFC in 1993 as a platform to showcase jiu-jitsu in North America. The victories of a skinny Royce Gracie in the early UFCs remain the reason most BJJ practitioners participate in jiu-jitsu. Even modern day Brazilian jiu-jitsu dynamos like Gracie Barra’s Otavio Souza claim that they became interested in jiu-jitsu because of seeing what Royce did in the UFC.

At all the major BJJ competitions in the months following Helio Gracie’s death, it was customary for there to be moment of silence in his memory. At the 2009 BJJ Pan-Ams, the competition action on all eight mats was paused for a moment and Helio Gracie’s son Rickson spoke these words in front of normally rambunctious crowd that became silent as he spoke:

Rickson Gracie, son of Helio Gracie.

I’d like to welcome you all, and respect our great, great Master. There is nothing to be sorry about. The way he wants to be remembered, he always said to us, was a party and a celebration. I think this is a moment, with all of us here, to celebrate his legacy, to spread the seeds of the jiu-jitsu he created and brought. And I think, what more can we expect from life than to live to be 95 years old and pretty healthy and his sons doing what he loved to do? So thankfully, there is nothing to be sorry about. My dad now is eternal. Let’s live on his legacy and the passion for jiu-jitsu for all of us and for the future generations. Thank you very much.

AMES, Iowa – Former Olympic gold medalist and two-time World Champion Kevin Jackson has been named Iowa State’s head wrestling coach. Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard will introduce Jackson – often referred to as one of the greatest freestyle wrestlers in United States history – at an 11 a.m. news conference Friday in the Jacobson Athletic Building (Hunziker Auditorium).
Jackson captured gold medals at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain and at the World Championships in both 1991 (Varna, Bulgaria) and 1995 (Atlanta). He is one of just five wrestlers in U.S. history with three career world-level titles.  Jackson is a member of the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame, the United States National Wrestling Hall of Fame (as a distinguished member) and the Iowa State University Athletics Hall of Fame (2007 inductee).
“We are very excited to welcome Kevin back to the Cyclone family,” Pollard said. “He was captain of the last Cyclone national championship team and is a member of our Athletics Department’s Hall of Fame. His competitive intensity, combined with his technical skills as a coach, will make an immediate impact on our wrestling program. For the last decade, Kevin has coached and trained the best United States wrestlers. He has excelled at the highest levels of international wrestling as both an athlete and coach.”
 
Jackson’s return to Iowa State brings back fond memories for him.
“Winning a national team championship at ISU remains a career highlight and I’m grateful for the opportunity to come back to Ames and lead such a distinguished program,” Jackson said. “There is no ceiling to what we can accomplish on and off the mat at Iowa State and I couldn’t be more excited to get started. I’m pleased to inherit such an outstanding team and we’ll begin immediately to focus on hard work and technique with the goal of competing for the NCAA title. We’ll build a wrestling environment at Iowa State in which our student-athletes will flourish in and our fans will respond.”
 
Currently head coach of the Sunkist youth development program, Jackson served eight years (2001-08) as the National Freestyle Coach for USA Wrestling. He was the first full-time freestyle wrestling coach for the organization and took two United States’ teams to the Olympics. Two of his athletes – Cael Sanderson (2004) and Henry Cejudo (2008) – won gold medals. His 2001 freestyle team won the World Cup, the 2003 team placed second and the 2006 squad finished third at that meet.
 
Prior to his appointment as the nation’s head freestyle coach, Jackson was freestyle resident coach at the Olympic Training Center and head coach for the U.S. Army team at Fort Carson (1998-2001). During that tenure, he personally trained 2000 Olympic champion Brandon Slay.
 
As a college wrestler, he attended Louisiana State and earned All-America honors three times before the school dropped the sport. He transferred to Iowa State for his senior year and captained the Cyclones’ last NCAA championship team (1987), earning another All-America award with a NCAA runner-up finish and registering a 30-3-1 record.
After college, Jackson won two Pan American Games titles and was a member of World Championship teams for the United States in both 1993 and 1995. He won three U.S. National Titles and placed second five times. Jackson also became the first American to win the prestigious Takhti Cup (1998) in Tehran, Iran.
 
During his post-collegiate competitive career, Jackson also assisted with the Cyclone Wrestling Club (1989-92) and volunteered with the Arizona State (1997) program.
Jackson’s success earned him a number of major awards, including the 1995 John Smith Award as National Freestyle Wrestler of the Year, 1992 Amateur Wrestling News Man of the Year and 1991 USA Wrestling and USOC Wrestler of the Year.
 
He earned a bachelor of sports science degree from the U.S. Sports Academy / University of Americas in 2005.
The native of Lansing, Mich., won two state high school championships for Eastern High School before becoming a Junior National Greco-Roman champion.
Jackson and his wife, Robin (a native of Emmetsburg, Iowa), have five children: Cole, Bailee, Trinity, Brynn and Kira.