Jiu-jitsu on Broad Street: State's first Royce Gracie Academy to open in Gadsden

Ultimate fighting and mixed martial arts fans know what the name Royce Gracie means — and it’s about to adorn a business in downtown Gadsden.

Alabama's first Royce Gracie Academy is set to open Jan. 2 in Suite 100 at 612 Broad St.

Owner Jeremiah Campbell plans to offer self-defense classes for both young and old, focusing on the form of jiu-jitsu that Gracie and his family in their native Brazil developed and popularized.

“If you want to learn to defend yourself, it doesn’t matter if you’re 5 all the way up,” said Campbell, who grew up in Etowah County (he graduated from Gaston High School) and moved back home from North Carolina to open the martial arts studio.

“What we do,” he said, “is teach people about the human body, and how to control it through leverage."

For the uninitiated: Gracie won three of the first four Ultimate Fighting Championships, often defeating multiple opponents on the same night, and had a famous draw with Ken Shamrock in UFC 5. (They were the first two inductees into the UFC Hall of Fame.)

Gracie later competed in mixed martial arts events in the U.S. and Japan, being recognized as one of the world’s 100 greatest athletes by Sports Illustrated in 2014, and was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.

Both during his competitive career and since his retirement in 2013, Gracie has been a passionate advocate for his discipline, conducting seminars and classes and training a long list of Hollywood personalities.

Gracie and his brother Rorion, also a jiu-jitsu master (as are several of their siblings), opened the first Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in 1989 in Torrance, California. There are now 55 affiliates in the U.S. and abroad, according to the Royce Gracie Academy website.

Jiu-jitsu originated with the Samurai in feudal Japan, as a form of unarmed combat in which an opponent’s strength and weight are turned against him.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu, often called Gracie jiu-jitsu, came about in the 1920s through the efforts of Gracie’s father, Helio, and his uncles. It focuses on taking opponents to the ground, then subduing them (even if they’re bigger and stronger) via leverage, weight distribution and submission holds and chokes.

“We incorporate everything from kicks to striking to takedowns to a ‘ground game,’ ” Campbell said.

Not only has it become a staple of present-day mixed martial arts competition, its techniques have been adopted by and become standard for law enforcement and the military. It “changed the world,” Campbell said.

He’s been practicing Gracie jiu-jitsu for about a decade, and found what he called “a good location, a good building” in Gadsden. He talked to Gracie and got the go-ahead to launch an affiliate here, then had to complete a comprehensive, 52-week course to qualify as an instructor.

Campbell said he’s gotten a strong response from people who’ve heard about the academy.

He said Gracie typically makes the rounds of the affiliates each year, and is tentatively scheduled to be in Gadsden in March to conduct seminars, sign autographs and pose for photographs.

For more information or to sign up for classes, visit https://roycegracieal.com or email roycegracieal@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Royce Gracie Academy to open in Gadsden