The UK has been one of the countries where brazilian jiu jitsu has been growing at an enormous pace. Looking at the history of jiu jitsu in the United Kingdom, clearly there were many people that made the sport as big as it is today but none were as important as perhaps Maurição Motta Gomes. A lot is said about bjj history in this country and the best article I have found is by Slidey, a very professionally written article as everyone I think would agree.
Today there the sport is still growing at an amazing rate and I think there are good reasons. One is I think the popularity of MMA in the UK is big. UFC is being shown on Sky Digital on the Setanta Sports channel and their are many fans there. Two of the top brazilian jiu jitsu champions Braulio Estima and Roger Gracie are based in the UK. Many new talented athletes are coming to train under them today.
Also the fact that the USA where brazilian jiu jitsu is already extremely popular is helping. Many english speaking players are coming over to the UK to train. The number of brown and black belt practitioners is growing as fighters get promoted and open their own academies.
You only need to take a look at the recent BJJ British Open to see how far the sport has gone. At 620 competitors on 8 mats, the event shows how popular bjj has become. I think there are few martial arts events in the UK that include so many competing practitioners already and I think in the years to come there will be even more people taking part.
I think we all will be looking forward to the Gracie Invitational 2010 competition. It will surely be the biggest event yet.
Thanks, and yes, the UK BJJ scene is growing fast, though it is still a considerable distance behind the big three of Brazil, USA and Japan. Interestingly, when asked about BJJ's popularity in Europe, Draculino pointed to Poland as the major powerhouse.
ОтветитьУдалитьStill, with competitors like Oli Geddes, hopefully the UK will be challenging for the major medals soon. :)
I also hear a lot about BJJ in Poland. I understand there is a big Draculino team over there and we had a black belt come over to my club in Moscow from there doing a seminar recently. I think they have a strong team
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