Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Rickson Gracie is launching a transformative initiative through Rickson Gracie United (RGU) that aims to certify instructors in self-defense outside the traditional belt ranking system. In a recent appearance on The ROL Radio Podcast, he revealed his vision to reconnect the art with its original mission while addressing what he sees as a critical gap in modern jiu-jitsu education.

Gracie believes that contemporary jiu-jitsu has drifted from its roots.

“At the beginning of the times for jiu-jitsu in Brazil when the family opened the first school, we don’t have a course where you start on the white belt and go to the black belt,” he explained. “We have a course to teach the student 36 classes of self-defense. And after those 36 classes, you’re ready to go home and not never come back to the school anymore because you already know a bunch of tricks who can help you through life.”

Today, Gracie estimates that 95 percent of jiu-jitsu practitioners focus on sport competition, leaving self-defense and martial arts fundamentals largely forgotten. His new certification program seeks to reverse this trend by creating instructors who can teach empowerment and practical defense to populations often overlooked by competitive academies.

The RGU platform offers nearly 300 hours of instructional content covering fundamental concepts like base, breathing, timing, connection, and weight distribution. Students learn defensive responses to common attacks such as headlocks, punches, and club strikes.

What distinguishes this approach is its accessibility. Certification is available regardless of belt rank, and graduates can teach in diverse environments including rehabilitation centers, schools, churches, and gyms.

“The guys who been certified by RGU will be people who going to express that knowledge to be able to teach their daughters, to be able to teach their wives, to be able to teach older people, to give them a pleasurable sense of empowerment without making them feel like they have to pass through obstacles and become a blue belt,” Gracie said.

Central to his teaching philosophy is what Gracie calls “invisible jiu-jitsu,” the mental, emotional, and strategic elements that transcend physical technique.

“When I talk about invisible, not because you have to trust and what I’m saying, believe in what I’m saying, but you have to feel it,” he noted.

Gracie sees his mission as particularly urgent in the modern era.

“What people been losing for a while is the sense, is the sensorial element,” he observed, pointing to how digital connectivity has diminished human awareness and physical confidence.

The certification process includes online study, video submissions for evaluation, and a physical examination at RGU headquarters. Successful candidates receive instructor credentials in self-defense that exist independently from sport jiu-jitsu rankings.

Now managing Parkinson’s disease, Gracie views this initiative as his way to continue serving the jiu-jitsu community.

“My physicality is fading away now,” he acknowledged, “but I practice jiu-jitsu every day through my breathing, through my positiveness, to my gratitude, to my patience.”

His goal is ambitious: to achieve a 50-50 balance between sport and self-defense practitioners within the jiu-jitsu community.

“There’s much more people who don’t like to compete and love to learn self-defense than athletes out there,” Gracie argued, suggesting the potential student base far exceeds current participation.

Through RGU, Rickson Gracie is working to preserve and expand the original purpose of jiu-jitsu as a tool for personal development and practical empowerment, creating a new pathway for instruction that values wisdom and accessibility over competitive achievement.