The Gracie Family Tree: Who's Who in Jiu-Jitsu's First Family

The Gracie Family at a Glance

The Gracies are the Brazilian family that built Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ), which they first called Gracie jiu-jitsu, out of the judo-based fighting style that the Japanese judoka and prizefighter Mitsuyo Maeda brought to Brazil. Five brothers learned it in the 1910s and 1920s. The eldest, Carlos Gracie (1902–1994), learned first and ran the family academy. The youngest, Hélio Gracie (1913–2009), became its most famous fighter.

Carlos had 21 children and Hélio had nine, and their sons took jiu-jitsu far beyond Rio de Janeiro. Carley Gracie taught US Marines in 1972, Rorion Gracie opened an academy in California and co-created the UFC, and Royce Gracie won the first UFC in 1993. Their sons and grandsons now lead some of the biggest teams in the sport.

The family dates its first academy, on Rua Marquês de Abrantes in Rio, to 1925. In October 2025 it celebrated the centenary with a seminar in Rio that drew nearly 1,000 people.

The Gracie Family Tree

Carlos alone had 21 children, so a complete tree would fill pages. This chart follows the members who shaped jiu-jitsu, from Gastão Gracie, the brothers' father, down to his great-grandchildren. The links go to the teams they lead in our gym directory.

By the usual count, Carlos, Hélio and their brothers are the first generation, their children the second, and so on, which puts Kyra and Neiman in the fourth. Some members carry the name through their mother: Roger was born Roger Gracie Gomes, and Kyra's full name is Kyra Gracie Guimarães.

Where the Gracies Came From

The family descends from George Gracie, who emigrated from Scotland to Brazil. His descendant Gastão Gracie married Cesalina Pessoa Vasconcellos in 1901, and the couple settled in Belém, in the northern state of Pará. They had eight children: Carlos, Oswaldo, Gastão Jr., George and Hélio, and three daughters, Helena, Ilka and Mary.

Gastão was a business partner of a circus in Belém, and in 1916 a circus show there presented Mitsuyo Maeda, a Kodokan judoka who fought prize fights around the world under the name Conde Koma. In 1917 Carlos watched Maeda give a demonstration at the city's Theatro da Paz and started training under Maeda's student Jacintho Ferro.

The family moved back to Rio de Janeiro in the early 1920s: its official history says 1925, while records from the time point to 1921. In Rio, Carlos kept learning under a teacher named Donato Pires dos Reis and began teaching his younger brothers. He taught at Pires's academy on Rua Marquês de Abrantes, which Pires left in his hands in 1931, and the family counts its first academy from 1925.

The best-known story about Hélio is that he was a sickly boy who learned by watching his brothers and then reworked the techniques around leverage, because he was too frail to rely on strength. That story has been challenged: Hélio trained and competed in rowing and swimming from childhood. What nobody disputes is that the brothers proved their style in years of challenge matches against fighters from other arts, which the family called the Gracie Challenge.

The First Generation: Carlos, Hélio and Their Brothers

Carlos Gracie (1902–1994) was the organizer. He taught his brothers, ran the academy, set up the challenge matches and wrote the family's rules for eating, the Gracie Diet, which he adapted from the Argentine-French naturist Juan Esteve Dulin. He held a 10th-degree red belt, the highest rank in jiu-jitsu (our belt guide explains the red belts).

Hélio Gracie (1913–2009) was the fighter. He was the last of the five brothers to fight in public, and his most famous match was a loss: in October 1951 the Japanese judoka Masahiko Kimura beat him with the shoulder lock that jiu-jitsu now calls the kimura. Hélio also held a 10th-degree red belt.

Oswaldo, Gastão Jr. and George learned jiu-jitsu from Carlos too. According to a family tree that Gracie USA published in 1996, Carlos rated Oswaldo the best fighter of his four younger brothers.

The Second Generation: The Sons Who Spread It

Carlos's sons

• Carlson Gracie (1932–2006), Carlos's eldest son, turned jiu-jitsu into a team sport. After he stopped competing in 1970 he opened an academy in Copacabana that took students from every background and had them test each other in hard training. The Carlson Gracie Team was one of the strongest in Brazil from the 1970s to the early 1990s and produced Ricardo De La Riva, Murilo Bustamante and André Pederneiras, and Carlson introduced Vitor Belfort to jiu-jitsu. He died in Chicago in 2006.
• Robson Gracie (1935–2023), the second son, became a 9th-degree red belt and the father of Renzo, Ralph, Ryan and Charles. His daughters Flávia and Carla are the mothers of Kyra and Neiman Gracie.
• Carley Gracie, Carlos's 11th child, trained under his father rather than his uncle Hélio. In 1972 he taught at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, and BJJ Heroes credits him as the first Gracie to bring jiu-jitsu to the United States. He settled in California in 1979. His son Clark is a black belt competitor.
• Rolls Gracie (1951–1982) trained under his uncle Hélio and with outside teachers such as the judoka Georges Mehdi. He coached Rickson, Carlos Jr., Royler, Rigan Machado and Romero "Jacaré" Cavalcanti, and he had promoted six black belts when he died in a hang-gliding accident in 1982, aged 31. Some consider him the best fighter the family ever had.
• Carlos Gracie Jr. (born 1956), known as Carlinhos, learned from his father and from Rolls, and he led Rolls's school in Copacabana after Rolls died. In 1986 he founded Gracie Barra in Rio's Barra da Tijuca, which has more schools than any other team in our directory. He also founded the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Confederation (CBJJ), which as the IBJJF runs the World Championship, the Pans and the Europeans. He received his 9th degree in April 2026.
• Reylson and Reila are the parents of Rodrigo and Roger Gracie.

Hélio's sons

• Rorion Gracie (born 1952), Hélio's eldest, moved to Southern California in 1978 and taught on mats in his garage in Hermosa Beach. In 1989 he opened the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Torrance with Royce, Rickson and Royler, and in 1993 he and the promoter Art Davie created the UFC to test Gracie jiu-jitsu against other styles.
• Relson Gracie (born 1953) moved to the United States in 1985 and to Honolulu in 1988, where he opened Hawaii's first Gracie jiu-jitsu academy.
• Rickson Gracie (born 1959) got his black belt at 18 and was widely considered the family's best fighter in the 1980s and 1990s. He is Kron Gracie's father.
• Royler Gracie (born 1965) ran the Gracie Humaitá school in Rio for many years under his father, and Gracie Humaitá academies carry the name today. He is in the IBJJF and ADCC halls of fame and teaches in La Jolla, California.
• Royce Gracie (born 1966) was the smallest man in the first UFC, on 12 November 1993, and won all three of his fights. He won UFC 2 and UFC 4 in 1994 and is in the UFC Hall of Fame.
• Rolker and Robin complete Hélio's seven sons. His daughters are Rerika and Ricci.

The Third and Fourth Generations

Carlos's grandchildren

• Renzo Gracie (born 1967), Robson's son, was a multiple Brazilian champion by 20 and became an MMA pioneer. In 1996 he opened the Renzo Gracie Academy in Manhattan. His brothers Ralph (born 1971) and Ryan (1974–2007) fought in MMA too.
• Rodrigo Gracie (born 1974), Reylson's son, won gold at the 1998 ADCC World Championship and fought in PRIDE.
• Rolles Gracie (born 1978), Rolls's eldest son, is a 5th-degree black belt and MMA fighter. His brother is Igor.
• Roger Gracie (born 1981), son of Reila Gracie and the coral belt Maurício Gomes, won the World Championship 10 times and was the first person inducted into the ADCC Hall of Fame. We break down his famous mount in Roger Gracie's mount system.
• Clark Gracie (born 1984), Carley's son, won the Pan Championship in 2013.
• Kayron Gracie, Carlos Jr.'s son, is a black belt under his father and teaches at a Gracie Barra school in California.

Hélio's grandchildren

• Ryron (born 1981) and Rener Gracie (born 1983), Rorion's sons, teach at the Gracie Academy in Torrance and became known online for their "Gracie Breakdown" videos about UFC fights. Rener has coached UFC fighters such as Ronda Rousey and Brian Ortega.
• Kron Gracie (born 1988), Rickson's youngest child, won ADCC in 2013 at under 77 kg and later fought in the UFC's featherweight division.

The fourth generation

• Kyra Gracie (born 1985), the daughter of Robson's daughter Flávia, was the first woman in the family to compete. She won the World Championship four times and ADCC three times (2005, 2007 and 2011), and she was the first woman inducted into the ADCC Hall of Fame.
• Neiman Gracie (born 1988) is the son of Robson's daughter Carla and the coral belt Márcio Stambowsky, who trained under Rolls. He has fought MMA in Bellator and the PFL.

The Machados: The Gracies' Cousins

The five Machado brothers, Carlos, Roger, Rigan, John and Jean Jacques, are part of the extended family. Their mother's sister, Layr, was married to Carlos Gracie, which makes them first cousins of Carlos Jr. and his siblings. They learned mostly from their cousin Carlos Jr. and, like the Gracies, were among the pioneers of jiu-jitsu in the United States.

Jean Jacques Machado's best-known student is Eddie Bravo, who got his black belt in 2003 and went on to found 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu and combat jiu-jitsu.

BJJ Lineage: How Today's Teams Trace Back to the Gracies

Your lineage in jiu-jitsu is the chain of black belts above you: the coach who promoted you, the coach who promoted them, and so on back. Many chains reach a Gracie within a few links, which is why lineage talk so often ends with the family. Here is how some of the teams in our gym directory connect:

• Gracie Barra: founded in 1986 by Carlos Gracie Jr., Carlos's son.
• Gracie Humaitá: led by Royler Gracie, Hélio's son, and named after the Rio school he ran for his father.
• Carlson Gracie: the competition team that Carlos's eldest son built in Copacabana.
• Renzo Gracie: Renzo's network, which grew from his New York academy.
• Alliance: founded by Romero "Jacaré" Cavalcanti, one of the six men Rolls Gracie promoted to black belt, with his students Fabio Gurgel, Alexandre Paiva and Fernando Gurgel.
• Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu: Saulo Ribeiro trained under Royler Gracie at Gracie Humaitá before he and his brother Xande built their own team.
• 10th Planet: Eddie Bravo, a black belt under Jean Jacques Machado, the Gracies' cousin.

Not every line runs through the Gracies. Luiz França learned from Japanese teachers in Brazil too, and his student Oswaldo Fadda (1920–2005) built one of the best-known lines outside the family, teaching in Rio's poorer suburbs. In 1953 Fadda's students challenged the Gracie academy and won most of the matches. Fadda was awarded the 10th degree in 2014, after his death.

Finding your own lineage: ask your coach who promoted them, then ask the same about that person, and keep going; many academies also list their lineage on their website. The IBJJF only looks at the last link: for it to recognize a black belt, the promotion has to be signed by a black belt professor who holds at least two IBJJF-certified degrees. Our guide to IBJJF belt requirements has the details.

Gracie Family FAQ

Who founded Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Carlos or Hélio Gracie?

Both are called its founders, usually together with their brothers. Carlos learned first, ran the academy and taught the others. Hélio became the family's most famous fighter, and his side of the family credits him with reshaping the techniques around leverage. Mitsuyo Maeda, who brought the style to Brazil, is often called one of its fathers too.

How many children did Carlos and Hélio Gracie have?

Carlos had 21 children, and 13 of them earned black belts. Hélio had nine: seven sons (Rorion, Relson, Rickson, Rolker, Royler, Royce and Robin) and two daughters (Rerika and Ricci).

Are Rorion, Rickson and Royce Gracie brothers?

Yes. All three are sons of Hélio Gracie. Rorion, Relson and Rickson share a mother, and Rolker, Royler, Royce and Robin are their half-brothers.

Who was the best fighter in the Gracie family?

There is no official answer. Rickson is the name heard most: in the 1980s and 1990s he was widely considered the toughest fighter in the family. Many point to Rolls, who died at 31, and Carlos is said to have rated Oswaldo the best of his younger brothers.

How do you pronounce Gracie names like Rickson and Royce?

In Brazilian Portuguese, an R at the start of a word sounds close to an English H. So Rickson is said "HICK-son", Royce "HOYCE" and Renzo "HEN-zo".

What is the Gracie Diet?

It is the eating plan Carlos Gracie adapted from the Argentine-French naturist Juan Esteve Dulin. It leans vegetarian and cuts out alcohol, tobacco and sugar, and it is still marketed under the Gracie name.

Are the Machado brothers part of the Gracie family?

Not by name, but they are family: Carlos Gracie's wife Layr was their mother's sister, so the Machados are first cousins of Carlos Gracie Jr.

Sources

• Wikipedia articles on the Gracie family, Carlos Gracie, Hélio Gracie, Carlson Gracie, Rolls Gracie, Rorion Gracie, Gracie Barra and the Machado family: dates, children and teachers
• The Real Gracie Family Tree (Gracie USA, 1996): Carlos's and Hélio's children
• BJJ Heroes profiles of Ryron, Relson and Carley Gracie
• Gracie family celebrates a century of jiu-jitsu (MMA Fighting, October 2025)
• Wikipedia articles on Alliance, Eddie Bravo, Saulo Ribeiro and Oswaldo Fadda: the lineage section

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Every lineage is a chain of promotions, and yours is still being written. Rollbook keeps a belt timeline of every promotion and stripe from white to black belt, and shows how many days and logged sessions you have at your current rank. Rollbook is free on iOS and Android.

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