The complete encyclopedia
BRAZILIAN
JIU JITSU BIBLE
Techniques, positions, submissions, history, lineages, and the practitioners who shaped the gentle art — documented in encyclopedic depth.
EXPLORE
Eight pillars of the gentle art
TECHNIQUES
Foundational and advanced movements, white belt to black belt.
POSITIONS
Guards, mounts, back control, and everything in between.
SUBMISSIONS
Chokes, armlocks, leglocks — the full submission library.
FIGHTERS
The legendary practitioners who shaped the gentle art.
HISTORY
From Mitsuyo Maeda to the modern ADCC era.
GLOSSARY
Portuguese terms, Japanese roots, modern jargon.
FEATURED TECHNIQUES
Foundational moves every grappler should know
ARMBAR FROM CLOSED GUARD
Armlock da Guarda Fechada
The armbar from closed guard is the canonical submission of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu — the first weapon a white belt is handed and the technique that, even decades i…
TRIANGLE FROM CLOSED GUARD
Triângulo da Guarda Fechada
The triangle choke from closed guard is jiu jitsu's most recognizable strangle and one of its most lethal. Inherited from the judo sankaku-jime, it took its mod…
KIMURA FROM CLOSED GUARD
Kimura da Guarda Fechada
The kimura is a shoulder lock executed via a figure-four grip on the opponent's wrist, named after the great Japanese judoka Masahiko Kimura, who broke Helio Gr…
HIP BUMP SWEEP
Raspagem de Quadril
The hip bump sweep is the simplest reversal in the closed-guard playbook and one of the most consequential, because nearly every other closed-guard sweep and su…
PENDULUM SWEEP
Raspagem de Pêndulo
The pendulum sweep, known in Portuguese as raspagem da flor, is the closed guard's answer to an opponent who plants their hands on the mat or on the hips to bas…
SCISSOR SWEEP
Raspagem de Tesoura
The scissor sweep is the highest-percentage gi sweep at white and blue belt and a technique that survives unchanged into the black-belt game because it solves a…
LEGENDARY PRACTITIONERS
The men and women who shaped the art
HELIO GRACIE
“O Mestre”
Helio Gracie is the historical face of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the figure most responsible for the art's global spread, though the precise nature of his contribution is one of the most contested quest…
MARCELO GARCIA
“Marcelinho”
Marcelo Garcia is widely regarded as the greatest pound-for-pound BJJ competitor of all time and the most influential figure in modern no-gi grappling. A middleweight at 76 kilograms, Garcia won the A…
GORDON RYAN
“The King”
Gordon Ryan is the most dominant no-gi competitor in the history of submission grappling. Born in New Jersey in 1995, Ryan rose to prominence as a member of John Danaher's original Renzo Gracie traini…
MITSUYO MAEDA AND THE KODOKAN ORIGINS
Before there was a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, there was Mitsuyo Maeda, a small Kodokan judoka who traveled the world for two decades teaching, competing, and seeding the techniques that would later be reorganized in Brazil. The history of BJJ begins not in Rio de Janeiro but in Tokyo at the close of the nineteenth century.
Read more →The Leglock Revolution: Danaher, Sambo, and the Modern No-Gi Game
The UFC Era (1993–2000)Royce Gracie and UFC 1: The Night Jiu Jitsu Conquered Combat
The Vale Tudo Era (1980s–1990s)Rickson Gracie and the Mythos of the Undefeated Era
The Modern Competitive Era (2000s–present)The Mendes Brothers and the Modern Competition Game
THE LANGUAGE OF JIU JITSU
Portuguese terms, Japanese roots, and modern jargon
TATAME
/tah-TAH-meh/
The mat surface on which BJJ is trained. Borrowed from Japanese (畳, the woven straw mats of judo dojos) and used universally in Brazilian academies.
FAIXA
/FYE-shah/
Belt. In BJJ context refers to the rank-denoting belt: faixa branca (white), faixa azul (blue), faixa roxa (purple), faixa marrom (brown), faixa preta (black).
OSS / OSU
/oh-SS/
A multipurpose acknowledgment imported from Japanese martial-arts culture, used in BJJ academies to mean approximately "understood," "yes," or "ready." Overused by some, avoided by others, debated by all.
PROFESSOR
/pro-fes-SOR/
The teacher of a BJJ academy. Title of respect used for black belts (and increasingly brown belts) who lead instruction. In some lineages the term is reserved for those at coral belt rank or above.
MESTRE
/MES-treh/
Master. Title of highest respect, reserved for coral belts (7th degree) and red belts (9th and 10th degree) in the IBJJF ranking system, and for individuals of foundational importance in their lineage.
RASPAGEM
/rahs-PAH-zhem/
Sweep. The act of reversing the opponent from a bottom guard position to a top position, typically scoring two points in IBJJF rulesets.
PASSAGEM (DE GUARDA)
/pas-SAH-zhem/
Guard pass. The act of moving past the opponent's legs to establish side control, knee on belly, or mount, scoring three points in IBJJF.
FINALIZAÇÃO
/fee-nah-lee-zah-SOWN/
Submission. A technique that forces the opponent to tap out via a choke, joint lock, or compression. Ends the match regardless of score.
BY THE NUMBERS
WHY THIS SITE EXISTS
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu deserves a reference resource as rigorous and comprehensive as the art itself. This is that resource — free, bilingual, and built to last.
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