Royler Gracie

Royler Gracie has been fighting all his life. Born into the famous Gracie family, the fifth son of Grandmaster Helio Gracie was already learning the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the tender age of 3. Spending most of his time in the Academy training and learning BJJ it was natural that Royler became a fighter. He started early (7 years old) in the juniors, competing as often as possible and winning most of the events. As he matured into a teenager and his technique got better, he continued fighting tournaments. At 21 years old, Royler had his first taste of No Holds Barred. One day, while teaching a class at the Gracie Rio de Janeiro Academy, Royler was informed by his brother Rickson that he would be fighting the next morning. The opponent was to be a Luta-Livre fighter that outweighed him by more than 15 pounds and had many NHB matches. The next morning Royler fought his first NHB match. It lasted 55 minutes and ended up in a draw. Royler continued to excel in his ventures; in the first World BJJ Championship in 1996 Royler became the first World Champion at his weight. He continued to dominate the weight class by repeating as Champion for the next three years, beating some of the best fighters of the time. Royler also managed to win 2 Pan-American Titles and a Brazilian National title along the way. Royler didn’t seek the protection of his weight division; the warrior would seek to compete in the realm of the giants: The Absolute Division. Having secured a third place finish in ’97, (after winning 4 matches in his weight), he had to fight 3 more matches against some of the best and largest fighters of the time. Royler continued to compete in submission grappling, winning an unprecedented 3 consecutive ADCC World Submission Wrestling Championships (’99, ’00 & ’01) as well as NHB matches, having participated in Vale-Tudo Japan and Pride events. In December of 2000 Royler made his first foray competing in America outside of BJJ when he was participated in the main feature Superfight of the International Pro-Am. Royler won that match in less than a minute with a foot-lock. Royler is an intense person who can be compared to the energizer bunny, always doing something and never stopping. He is a great instructor with numerous World Champions under his tutelage. He is a friendly person and is in turn adored by his friends but is also very honest and direct and doesn’t measure his words. Everyone around Royler knows exactly where they stand with him. His competition record pales when compared to his instruction achievements. A dedicated teacher and role model who follows in the footsteps of his father Grandmaster Helio Gracie – widely acknowledged as the founder of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu – Royler has created many Champions over decades of teaching. Royler took over as the leader of the world’s original Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy, the Gracie Rio de Janeiro Academy, and over the years maintained the highest standards of teaching.