Anyone know much about Relson Gracie?

Cy Tolliver

Cy Tolliver

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I'm moving soon and now have the opportunity to find a place to train in jiu-jitsu. After searching a bit, I found that most of the schools in the area weren't teaching it or were more of a self-defense school for cops and such. But I found a school ran by a Relson Gracie trainee that's within a half hour drive so I could routinely visit, has a legit feeling to it, and I think could teach a lot.

Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu

But I've never been trained before, and I think you guys would be best at telling me whether or not it's worth my time. I know there's not a lot to go off of, but the only alternative I have is Claudio Franca Jiu-Jitsu which doesn't look bad, but is a lot further away.

Edit - Well Relson doesn't personally train at his school, but still.
 
I used to train at the Reslon affiliate in SC. It was top-notch instruction, and a great group of guys.

Relson's purple and brown belts are legit with a capital L.
 
Looks alright. Relson is a good instructor. His style is good for both self-defense and for sport competitions. I train at a Team Balance affiliate, which is part of Relson's network by association.
 
I have very little respect for him and his actions at the infamous Arnold's and the incident between Monson and Pe De Pano. I would NEVER train at an academy where the head instructor acted so assholish because he was so partial to one competitor, changing the rules mid-tournament to favor who he wanted to win.
 
hayliks said:
I have very little respect for him and his actions at the infamous Arnold's and the incident between Monson and Pe De Pano. I would NEVER train at an academy where the head instructor acted so assholish because he was so partial to one competitor, changing the rules mid-tournament to favor who he wanted to win.
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The Arnolds were always run like crap. I've seen many tournaments run worse, as you should have too in your experience. Refs changing the rules at the rules meeting, different refs making different calls, these are all common unfortunately. I hate it too, but I still don't use that against the refs.

I try to only judge people based on how they treat my friends or me. Honestly IDK what happened in that match, even after watching the video. However, unless you train with Monson or Pe De Pano with any significant length of time, I don't think you should form such a strong opinion based on that. I doubt they even care at this point about a match which was years ago. It seems petty to do so otherwise.
 
Frodo said:
The Arnolds were always run like crap. I've seen many tournaments run worse, as you should have too in your experience. Refs changing the rules at the rules meeting, different refs making different calls, these are all common unfortunately. I hate it too, but I still don't use that against the refs.

I try to only judge people based on how they treat my friends or me. Honestly IDK what happened in that match, even after watching the video. However, unless you train with Monson or Pe De Pano with any significant length of time, I don't think you should form such a strong opinion based on that. I doubt they even care at this point about a match which was years ago. It seems petty to do so otherwise.
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I was there, I was personally screwed not due to relson but screwed nonetheless. Monson won according to the rules AND the rule demonstration for techniques before the no gi started, anybody that thinks that pe de pano had a legitimate case for a dq win is fucking stupid. I have never been to a more poorly run tournament than the arnolds in the 14 years I've been wrestling and doing bjj.
 
hayliks said:
I was there, I was personally screwed not due to relson but screwed nonetheless. Monson won according to the rules AND the rule demonstration for techniques before the no gi started, anybody that thinks that pe de pano had a legitimate case for a dq win is fucking stupid. I have never been to a more poorly run tournament than the arnolds in the 14 years I've been wrestling and doing bjj.
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I've been screwed too in tournaments. Everyone has. The Arnolds are very poorly run. But I don't think that reflects on his instruction or his instructors or even his character that much.
 
Relson is a great guy and the one thing that sets him apart is you will see him a lot. he keeps his organizations low so he can visit all of his school more often. I am in his cleveland chapter and he comes at least 3-4 times a year. Honestly he is a great person and I will always be loyal because of it.

His Jui Jitsu is very strong as well.
 
It completely reflects his character when he starts yelling about how he would NEVER allow neck cranks in a tournament when in the rules THEY WERE ALLOWED. That is a HUGE reflection, if he had admitted he was wrong, then I could respect him, but he was acting like such a little bitch at the tournament. Remember it shows on the video "In my eyes you won (Pe De Pano)" when he obviously did not.

P.S.
I've been screwed worse at other tournaments (especially thanks to Travis Lutter), but rule changes is the shittiest thing to ever happen.
 
hayliks said:
It completely reflects his character when he starts yelling about how he would NEVER allow neck cranks in a tournament when in the rules THEY WERE ALLOWED. That is a HUGE reflection, if he had admitted he was wrong, then I could respect him, but he was acting like such a little bitch at the tournament. Remember it shows on the video "In my eyes you won (Pe De Pano)" when he obviously did not.

P.S.
I've been screwed worse at other tournaments (especially thanks to Travis Lutter), but rule changes is the shittiest thing to ever happen.
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Are you good or something? Im serious, I have no idea who you are.
 
hayliks said:
It completely reflects his character when he starts yelling about how he would NEVER allow neck cranks in a tournament when in the rules THEY WERE ALLOWED. That is a HUGE reflection, if he had admitted he was wrong, then I could respect him, but he was acting like such a little bitch at the tournament. Remember it shows on the video "In my eyes you won (Pe De Pano)" when he obviously did not.

P.S.
I've been screwed worse at other tournaments (especially thanks to Travis Lutter), but rule changes is the shittiest thing to ever happen.
Click to expand...

These kind of problems mostly occur in the midwest because of the scarcity of jiu-jitsu schools. I've been to tournaments that advertised CBJJ rules then used some weird subset of them.

I've been to tournaments where different refs used different rules. I was just at a tournament (May 24) that advertised CBJJ rules. The gym of the Vice President of the organization ran that event, and they certainly did not use CBJJ rules. They didn't use the divisions stated on either their web site or the PABJJF web site. They didn't even use their own previously published rules. And refs on each mat still scored differently. I know what you mean, and I still don't care. Maybe I'm just jaded.

I think that reflects more on Relson's conception of the rules versus the actual printed English rules. It wouldn't surprise me if they tried to put in different rules and Relson - being a traditionalist - ignored those suggestions.
 
Frodo said:
I think that reflects more on Relson's conception of the rules versus the actual printed English rules. It wouldn't surprise me if they tried to put in different rules and Relson - being a traditionalist - ignored those suggestions.
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If one man ignores rules written down, discussed, and agreed upon after a tournament because of political preasure I think it says a lot.

None of it good.
 
Calibur said:
If one man ignores rules written down, discussed, and agreed upon after a tournament because of political preasure I think it says a lot.

None of it good.
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I didn't say it was good, but just that it's not enough to damn him given that a lot of others have vouched for him. Relson's done good too, to win their support. Or do their opinions not count because he sponsored the Arnolds? :rolleyes:
 
It's unfair to judge Relson for an unfortunate fight in a tournament years ago.
Remember that he is the second son of Helio, his jiujitsu come from the source, probably owned Rickson when growing up, he trained Royce and was in his corner in the early UFC's. He could merchandise his jiujitsu (he's got the best for street self defense) like his brother Rorion but instead he keep his techniques for his loyal students and associations.
I would recommend the TS to sign up for the Relson association, you won't regret.
 
I train at a clevleand area Relson school too. Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy and so far the corriculum set up at this school is the best I've been to yet. One position gets trained at a time for a week or more so eveything learned is bridged off each other which makes practical retainment so much easier. And not only are Relson's self defense regular grappling techniqes so much more so than the average BBJ techniques the dedicated street self defense is much less complicated as than say Royler's program
 
while traveling for business I once trained at the Relson school in Columbus, OH. This has been a year or two ago, but I would certainly go again.

good instruction, friendly staff, clean facility. Wide range of talent. I found it interesting that they separated out a white belt class, then colored belts came to class afterwards. While I've seen similar programs since, it was the first time that I'd seen that practice.

I'll echo what was said above in that instruction time was kept to just a few key moves for better retention and ability to fully discuss the details of set-up, execution, etc.
 
Yea Relson does alot of simionars we see him 6 times a year.
 
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