BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU AT HANGAR 4

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu arrived on the Australian martial arts scene in early 1989, introduced here by John Will upon his return from a training trip in Brazil in the company of Rigan Machado.There are really only four main levels within the BJJ system; blue belt, purple belt, brown belt and finally black belt. Sometimes years are spent on each belt, so even within the system itself, things progress slowly but surely. Many schools outside of Brazil are run by blue and purple belts, and fewer again by the browns and blacks.

Now, though, through media exposure and the popularity of the UFC, BJJ has entered the public domain. As a consequence, we sadly see BJJ schools popping up everywhere, run by people who have little or no understanding of BJJ. Even here in Australia, there are people wearing black belts telling their unsuspecting students that they are BJJ instructors. It is sad that this is the case; but it should come as no big surprise; we’ve seen this happen with Karate, Taekwondo, Kung Fu, Kickboxing and a dozen other martial systems. The message to all is really a simple one; and that is buyer beware!

Here in Australia, BJJ is still in its formative stages. Only a handful of people in the country have real BJJ experience under their belts. Australia’s first BJJ instructor, John Will, having begun his training under Champion Rigan Machado in 1988, has produced a plethora of blue, purple, brown and black belts of his own, some of whom are instructing throughout Australia. John received his black belt in 1998 and became Australia’s first official Machado representative. John travels the globe each week to train with the best of the best in BJJ and no-gi grappling. Hangar 4 MMA's head coach, Peter Backman, does weekly private lessons with John and brings the latest BJJ techniques - both gi and no-gi - straight onto the Hangar mat.

BJJ gradings at Hangar 4 draw their credibility from this lineage. The Hangar is one of the oldest Will-Machado clubs in Australia and takes its name from its original location at Essendon airport, where it first opened its doors in 1999. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a martial art based on submission grappling. The goal is to control your opponent to the ground, on the ground, and apply submissions forcing them to “tap out” (give up). Taught in a syllabus based format with emphasis on real time grappling in every class, Hangar 4 MMA offers you, the student, the opportunity to learn and apply BJJ techniques in a safe and friendly environment.

So whether your goal is self defence, competitive BJJ, grappling for MMA, or fitness and conditioning – come down and be a part of our winning team at Hangar 4. BJJ Australia, the original Brazilian Jiu Jitsu network in this country, was founded by John and is the official arm of Machado Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Australasia. BJJ Australia is a non-political forum in which Machado Jiu Jitsu stylists can come together for competition, seminars and socialization. The Machado brothers are regarded as part of the inner circle of the authentic BJJ tradition. BJJ gained world-wide credibility via the Gracie family, the Machado bothers' cousins, and their success in the UFC.

 

HISTORY OF BJJ

BJJ owes it’s inception to Carlos Gracie, the grandson of a Scottish emigrant, who was born in Brazil in 1901. As a young man, Carlos developed a keen interest in Boxing and professional fighting. To further enhance his prowess he began his study of Japanese Jiu Jitsu under champion, Mitsuyo Maeda, known in Brazil as Conde Koma. He was quick to modify the techniques he learned under Maeda to better suit the demands of the no-rules fight game, known in Brazil as Vale Tudo. He refined and further developed his approach through constant challenge matches, open to all-comers, regardless of weight, size or style preference; thereby planting the seed of BJJ in the fertile environment of Rio de Janeiro.

During the decades that followed, Carlos’s brothers, sons, grandsons and cousins became the driving force that further developed and refined the art into the form we see today. Rio de Janeiro, with it’s penchant for reality-based combative sport, became a proving-ground for no-rules fighting strategy and technique. BJJ schools blossomed everywhere, a sporting aspect was developed and the art grew tremendously in popularity. It’s effectiveness was never in question, as the population had become educated as to the difference between reality and fantasy when it came down to fighting for real. It became obvious that almost all fights, when there were limited or no rules, ended up being contested on the ground. In Rio de Janeiro, real fighting meant going to ground; and the BJJ stylists were the undisputed champions of that particular arena in a relatively safe form competition. This in turn, forced the art to further evolve, and during the last thirty years of the 20th century, undergo a phase of technical development that has thrust it to the forefront of the ground-based fight arena.

All of this was taking place away from eyes of the world; until when in the '80s, some of Brazil’s top BJJ instructors made their way to the United States. For a decade following the arrival of several top BJJ coaches in Los Angeles, the scene in Brazil continued to thrive but the rest of the world, to a large degree, remained ignorant of the style and were unprepared for what was to come.

Gradually, the grass-roots martial arts community began to hear more and more about the reality-based style; with several well renowned and respected martial artists even taking up the art themselves. As word spread about the Brazilian style, the inevitable occurred and mixed-style match-ups paved the way for the beginning of a frenzy of interest in submissionary grappling. By the middle of the 90’s, televised inter-style limited-rules fights were being watched by the fight loving public and the world-wide martial arts community. And within a very short time, it became obvious to even the uninitiated, that ground fighting was the heart and soul of no-rules fighting.