In 1914, the catch wrestler and judoka Mitsuyo Maeda moved to Brazil to promote judo to a new audience. In particular, Maeda would attract the attention of Carlos Gracie in 1917, who convinced Maeda to train him in judo. Around 12 years later, Carlos passed his knowledge down to his brothers George and Hélio, the latter of whom would develop his knowledge into a new martial art known as Brazilian jiu-jitsu, or BJJ for short. Over the 20th century, the Gracies and their students would assert BJJ’s dominance over every other form of martial arts, particularly in anything-goes vale tudo events. Most famously, Royce Gracie dominated the early incarnations of the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the 1990s, winning 3 out of the first 4 UFC tournaments decisively. The Gracies’ winning streak came to an end when catch wrestler Kazushi Sakuraba systematically destroyed the Gracies (most famously in this 2000 fight between Sakuraba and Royce in PRIDE), but the Gracie school of BJJ still curries a lot of favour in mixed martial arts circles to this day.

What if none of this actually happened though? Suppose Maeda didn’t stay in Brazil, or he didn’t go to Brazil in the first place, or he died before he could leave Japan, or Carlos Gracie died in a street fight, or he just wasn’t interested in training under Maeda, or anything like that. What would combat sports be like today if the Gracies hadn’t developed BJJ?

The most immediate butterfly imo is that catch wrestling would be a lot more prominent as a legitimate form of martial arts. Wthout BJJ’s competition, folks like Karl Gotch and Billy Robinson would have a much easier time promoting catch wrestling as a legitimate martial art that could easily compete with traditional martial arts. No doubt Gotch, Robinson etc. still be prominent professional wrestlers, but they’d likely be well respected and remembered as great martial artists ITTL.

On that note, this would probably have one hell of an impact on professional wrestling as well, especially in the US and UK. Kayfabe would still be enforced throughout the 20th century, particularly in cartoonish territories like Memphis, but if catch wrestling were to take BJJ’s place as a legitimate combat sport, professional wrestling would be seen as much more legitimate in spite of its predetermined nature. (Besides, even if kayfabe died early, there’d still be demand for professional wrestling as a hypermasculine soap opera.) Also, Big Daddy might not kill the business in Britain if there’s a vibrant catch wrestling scene. Maybe.

What other butterflies would emerge from a world without BJJ?
 
I used to practice Sipalki-Do, a Korean mixed martial arts fighting style, back in my high school years. I wonder if it would still find any footing in TTL's Brazil, considering that the popularity of "Asian" martial arts could be reduced by a lack of jiu-jitsu.
 

Taimur500

Banned
Supposing Maeda san still comes to brazil we'd still have Fadda in Rio (gfteam is fadda's lineage of jiu jitsu) and Maeda's own Conde Koma judo club in the city of Belém, state of Pará doing their own thing.
Jiu jitsu would be a lot less toxic without the gracies being the disgracies they are.
 
Supposing Maeda san still comes to brazil we'd still have Fadda in Rio (gfteam is fadda's lineage of jiu jitsu) and Maeda's own Conde Koma judo club in the city of Belém, state of Pará doing their own thing.
Jiu jitsu would be a lot less toxic without the gracies being the disgracies they are.

Heh, disgracies. I like that. And yeah, I doubt Fadda would build that whole cult of personality around him and his family if jiu-jitsu in Brazil had developed independently of the Gracies. IIRC Fadda opened up jiu-jitsu to the poor by teaching for free in public spaces like parks and beaches, whereas the Gracies were classist dipshits who thought of BJJ as a sport for the wealthy. Even though Fadda’s students defeated the Gracies’ students decisively, BJJ was still inexorably tied to the Gracies for the rest of the century.

With that said, if Fadda had developed BJJ ITTL, I definitely think it would’ve been a lot more egalitarian and inclusive. Can’t say if it would’ve had the same cultural impact as IOTL, but at least it wouldn’t be so elitist.
 
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Taimur500

Banned
Heh, disgracies. I like that. And yeah, I doubt Fadda would build that whole cult of personality around him and his family if jiu-jitsu in Brazil had developed independently of the Gracies. IIRC Fadda opened up jiu-jitsu to the poor by teaching for free in public spaces like parks and beaches, whereas the Gracies were classist dipshits who thought of BJJ as a sport for the wealthy. Even though Fadda’s students defeated the Gracies’ students decisively, BJJ was still inexorably tied to the Gracies for the rest of the century.

With that said, if Fadda had developed BJJ ITTL, I definitely think it would’ve been a lot more egalitarian and inclusive. Can’t say if it would’ve had the same cultural impact as IOTL, but at least it wouldn’t be so elitist.
The gracies were masters at marketing so i doubt there would be as much impact in the wider world, yes.
They hit it big by setting up their hq at a rich neighborhood in rio (gracie barra comes from barra da tijuca, the neighborhood in question) and recruiting people from rich backgrounds. Jiu jitsu fighters were kinda infamous for being rich kids looking for fights in nightclubs after booze and a couple lines.
Jiu jitsu being seen as a way for poor kids to improve themselves (ah the self improvement of the masses schtick, very shit very malthusian but still a very good way to get philantropy donations) and strike it big from the beginning would be very interesting indeed.
Fun fact, people of fadda's lineage never smile when having their picture taken while using their gi, he instructed them to appear serious because the whole haha leglocks are for poor people stuck around them and he felt they needed to deflect the classism with a more solemn aura around them, so to speak
 
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