Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Nipomo

01/02/2026

💗 FREE Women’s Self-Defense Seminar 💗

Join us for a Women Empowered® Self-Defense Seminar at Gracie Jiu-Jitsu® Nipomo designed to help women build confidence, awareness, and practical self-defense skills in a safe and supportive environment.

🗓 January 31, 2026
⏰ 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM
📍 Gracie Jiu-Jitsu® Nipomo

✔ No experience necessary
✔ First-time students only
✔ Learn real-world self-defense techniques
✔ Supportive, women-focused environment

Spots are limited. Reserve yours today:
👉 graciegirls.com

Empower yourself with knowledge, confidence, and control. We can’t wait to see you on the mats 💪💗

12/25/2025

As this year comes to a close, I find myself incredibly grateful.

Inside these walls, we didn’t just train we supported one another through challenges, celebrated personal victories, and watched confidence grow one class at a time. From first-day nerves to breakthrough moments, every student added a meaningful chapter to our story.

You showed up on the hard days.
You kept going when quitting felt easier.
And together, we turned effort into progress.

Thank you for trusting us, for believing in the process, and for making Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Nipomo more than just an academy — you made it a family.

From our mat to your home, I wish you a beautiful Christmas and a New Year filled with health, courage, and new goals.

Many thanks

⸻

12/02/2025

Happy Birthday, Ryron Gracie!
Hope your day was filled with joy, gratitude, and blessings. Thank you for your leadership, wisdom, and the positive impact you make on the Jiu-Jitsu community around the world.
— From all of us at Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Nipomo

11/27/2025

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Gracie Jiu-Jitsu® Nipomo!
Today we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to our students, families, and the entire Nipomo community as well as our neighbors throughout the Central Coast for your your support and the positive energy you bring to the mats each week.
We are thankful for your trust, your effort, and the uplifting environment you help us create. Our Gracie family continues to grow because of you.
Wishing you and your loved ones a warm, joyful, and restful holiday.
We will resume classes on Monday, December 1st.

See you back on the mats next week!
🦃❤️

11/18/2025

Back in the early 80’s, when Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu first came to America, I was fortunate enough to train with Rorion Gracie.

At that time, he was their representative.

After a couple of years with Rorion, he and I became close friends, and I decided to institute Gracie Jiu-Jitsu into my seminar circuit worldwide.

This enabled me to meet the rest of their family and get a feel for some of the other fighters.

My next teacher was Royce.

Royce amazed me in a similar way that Rorion amazed me. These guys would get on top of you and overwhelm you with footlocks, leglocks, armlocks, etc. And just when I thought every single or***ce in my body had been attacked, Royler came along.

Whatever Rorion and Royce did, Royler did even faster.

In Brazil they call Royler “The Snake.” Royler can pass your guard and armlock you before you tighten your gi belt.

Although I was enamored with the skillsets of all the brothers, the one sibling I had not met — the one everyone mentioned over and over again — was Rickson.

Rickson was the consummate street fighter in the family and took on all challenges in Brazil. One day, when I was helping train Royler with some standup, after about six hours of training — during which he must have taken me to the ground a thousand times and tied me up in knots — he looked at me and said:

“Ah yes… but my brother Rickson is twenty times better than me.”

Then it happened: I finally got to meet Rickson. And I can say one thing — Brazilians do not exaggerate.

Rickson was everything they said he was and more. The genius behind Rickson Gracie was that he could take the sport of Jiu-Jitsu and apply it directly to the cement streets of Brazil.

I quickly became one of Rickson’s most dedicated students. We hung out eight hours a day. Over the five or six years I had the honor of spending with the man, and the thousands of hours I spent rolling with him, I would like to sum up what made Rickson’s style different — and why he was perhaps the greatest street fighter in Brazil.

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#1 – Move Slowly

Rickson never got out of second gear. With every opponent he rolled with, he made sure he never put in more than 50% energy. While other practitioners bounced frantically from lock to lock, Rickson moved like a sloth. Once one gets used to rolling slowly, the benefits are immense.

I remember a seminar I took him to in Boston. There were 300 people there. Rickson started rolling at 9 a.m. and rolled with every single person until 6 in the afternoon.

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#2 – Emphasis on Passing the Guard

“What separates the men from the boys in my father’s art is one’s ability to pass the guard.”
— **Rickson Gracie**

Many folks in MMA choose to stay in the guard and punch it out. This is like breaking down a door instead of turning the doorknob. Once you have the skillset to pass the guard, the punches afterward become exponentially more powerful.

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#3 – Base

Just like with Dan Inosanto, where everything was forward pressure, with Rickson all I heard was:

“Base. Base. Base.”

According to Rickson, base is the most important attribute in Jiu-Jitsu.

Modern sports Jiu-Jitsu is flashy — athleticism, steroids, and cutting-edge tricks. But Rickson’s old-school paradigm counters all of it.

Once you pass someone’s guard and go to cross-side or mount, if you hold them down long enough to make them panicky, they will always give you an arm or their back. And for real street fighting, this philosophy becomes exponentially more valuable.

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#4 – No One Can Hold Rickson Down

Finally — the fourth thing that differentiates Rickson from everyone else:

**No human on this planet can hold Rickson down.**

By “hold down,” I mean taking the cross-side position and stopping him from pulling guard or getting to his feet. The ability to pull guard and hold guard from the bottom is equally as important as having base from the top.

And when you combine:

* passing the guard
* perfect base
* the ability to escape any hold
* and conserving energy

…you get exactly what Helio Gracie meant when he said:

"My son Rickson is the greatest living proponent of my art."

11/10/2025

Happy birthday to ! 🎉
Wishing you an amazing day and continued success in everything you do. Thank you for your guidance, mentorship, and friendship over the years — We are truly blessed and grateful for you. 🙏

11/05/2025

💥 Today at Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Nipomo 💥

🥋 Little Champs (4:30PM) – Chapter 8: Submissions
Learning how to apply control with minimal force and confidence through negotiation.

👊 Jr. Grapplers (5:30PM) – Continuing Submission Week with drills to improve timing, leverage, and control.

🔥 Gracie Combatives (8:00PM) – Class 8: Elevator Sweep (Guard) + Rear Takedown
Two essential techniques to reverse bad positions and stay in control.

11/02/2025

Congratulations Carmen on earning your first stripe towards your Gracie Combatives Belt!!

10/23/2025

Great hike today with friends, colleagues, and the Gracie family here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 🇧🇷🥋
Grateful for the amazing energy and camaraderie leading up to this weekend’s celebration of 100 years of Gracie family legacy. Excited for the chance to learn from over 20 family members and connect with the roots of what we practice every day back home at Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Nipomo. 🙏

10/14/2025

Congratulations Jonathan on earning your Gracie Combatives Belt! We look forward to seeing you move on into our MasterCycle class! 👏👏👏

10/13/2025

Our very own CTC owner and leader Jeffery Martinez featured on Kumite Lifestyle podcast #10!

https://youtu.be/wsDXu7NcXno?si=ZjX5mmQ_vLSqkTQR

New Episode Out Now! 🔥

From training in a small dojo back in 1996 to becoming a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu black belt and academy owner, Jeff Martinez’s journey is one built on resilience, purpose, and passion. 👊

In this episode of the Kumite Lifestyle Podcast, Jeff opens up about failing his first instructor certification by just two points, coming back stronger, and building a school grounded in self-defense, structure, and community. He shares what it means to balance family, mentorship, and martial arts — proving that the path to black belt is really a path to self-mastery. 🥋

If you’ve ever struggled with self-doubt or questioned your direction, this episode will remind you to keep showing up — because growth happens one roll at a time. 💥

🎥 Watch the full episode now on YouTube — click the link in bio or check out our Podcast Highlights story on Instagram!