Recently Royce Gracie came out and gave his opinion on his nephew’s methods of teaching and ranking through the internet known as “Gracie University.”
Royce voiced himself on the subject via his Instagram account:
“With all due respect, our nephew’s curriculums and online programs are not a true representation of the teaching method, belt grading, and philosophy that we learned from our father, Grandmaster Helio Gracie. They have the right to modify our battle-tested jiu-jitsu system as they see fit, but we feel that it is our duty to ensure that our father’s name is not misrepresented. While videos, books and online resources may serve as supplements to jiu-jitsu practitioners, provenly, they can never, by any means, substitute live lessons in a qualified academy.” said Gracie.
Following their Uncle’s comments, Rener and Ryron put out a video on their GracieBreakdown YouTube account in response, calling the whole situation a “misunderstanding.”
In the 27 minute video the brothers also explained that they do agree with Royce in that nothing beats live training in a quality gym, but also believe that their online method has benefits for people who don’t have a school in their community or can’t find a school suitable for them.
In addition to giving their opinion on live training vs. online training, they also give an in-depth explanation as to exactly how Gracie University works.
Ryron and Rener include feedback from Major Tyrone Bess, a Major in the United States Air Force who has trained under the Gracie University curriculum for four years and is currently a blue belt.
One change that has come from all of this is that instead of giving out official belts to people who solely use the online training and pass the online testing, they will now only give out technical Gracie University belts. Said trainee will NOT receive the official belt until they are able to train with one of the brothers or one of their representatives and pass an in person evaluation.