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Direct Lineage: Grand Masters Helio & Relson Gracie to RSA

The strength of a martial arts academy is measured by the depth of its roots and the quality of its members. At RSA, our legacy reflects decades of consistent dedication to Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and the Helio Gracie System. This summer, our school will witness a historic milestone with Grand Master Relson Gracie personally promoting six new RSA black belts. This marks a significant expansion of our academy’s upper ranks. It also represents a direct movement forward of tradition and development passed down to us from the source. The confirmed date will be announced once all candidates successfully pass their final testing.

The Black Belts of Our Genealogy

To earn a black belt from RSA is a serious responsibility. We recognize the full collection of student black belts who have dedicated their lives to a higher standard under our banner, exactly as they are honored on our academy walls:

RSA Recognized Black Belts

Chris Laird • Jim Scoggin • Justin Nihei • Antonio Criado • Kalani Pacyau • Gye Nitta • Phil Baltunado • Neil Verbrugge • Sean Springer • Daniel Cervelin • Wade Abreu • Craig Okutani • Ryan Tamashiro • Genji Moriya • Andy Choy • James Kim • Bob Hennessey • Ron Van Clief

Traditional Lineage vs. The New Commercial Norm

There is a distinct difference today between corporate tournament organizations and it's undeniable influence on today's Jiu-Jitsu culture and traditional lineage based institutions that were born out of the Genius of Helio Gracie and those of his generation. While RSA respects modern Jiu-Jitsu federations like the IBJJF and supports our students to compete in their events, we do not let external corporate standards dictate our internal ranking methods inherited from the Helio Gracie family line.

The IBJJF represents a stark departure from the traditional foundations of the art, operating as a private, for-profit tournament entity since its establishment in 2002. Its graduation system was built on a framework masterminded by Carlos Gracie Jr. to fuel the business model used for franchise academies like the Gracie Barra association. This commercialized structure intentionally introduced rigid administrative timelines, mathematical clocks, and monetized youth rankings (exploiting the traditional system by injecting 9 additional physical belt ranks for children), while forcing high-level master promotions through a centralized approval bureaucracy rather than following the original criteria used by Helio Gracie.

Moreover, the modern infrastructure introduced by Carlos Gracie Jr. interestingly mirrored the exact commercial playbook that Infected traditional martial arts in the 1980s, when countless "Mcdojos" teaching Karate and Taekwondo shifted from martial disciplines with Eastern core philosophical underpinnings into high-volume retail opportunities. To maximize child and adult student retention and increases in revenue, those commercial dojos water downed their ranking systems to the point where ten-year-olds were regularly being awarded "black belts," completely diluting it's significance and meaning. By adopting a similar commercialized framework into the modern Jiu-Jitsu world, the unprecedented influence of corporate federation power has reduced an art of tradition and honor into a structured highly effective income generator.

While the vast majority of the modern Jiu-Jitsu community has since acquiesced to this corporate overtake mostly by implementing the belt systems into their academies, RSA remains unyielding in its rejection of it. We believe that the franchise-driven paradigm serves the interests of a tournament organization; it does not represent the foundational intentions of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. At the Ronn Shiraki Academy, we strive to preserve the Helio Gracie standards, positioning ourselves antithetically to the commercialization and monetization of belt promotions.

Our Direct Lineage: Grand Master Helio Gracie to Grand Master Relson Gracie

Long before Helio Gracie's extended family altered the ranking landscape to fit their business model, Grand Master Helio Gracie, and those of his like generation, built a legacy on real-world effectiveness and personal integrity and a simplified belt system based on 4 belts (currently 13 belts) for kids and 7 belts for adults (currently 8 belts). Grand Master Relson Gracie has preserved this system however, given his individual schools in his association the autonomy to implement kid ranks according to the owner's individual needs and wants. However, when it comes to the upper ranks, Grand Master Relson fiercely protects his legacy against dilution by enforcing an unyielding testing standard and structure adherence to the original time frame of advancement he inherited.

Under his banner, earning a professor level rank or higher requires passing comprehensive, multi-stage examinations. It is separate from mere sport competition assessments based on performance. Candidates must go through an intensive evaluation consisting of Grand Master Helio Gracie's original self-defense program, positional grappling blocks, and fight simulations. Because Grand Master Relson mandates absolute precision over just using time in grade, the margin for error is razor-thin. A wrong foot placement, an extra step, an incorrect hand position, or a delayed reaction will cause a student to fail the evaluation. This uncompromising approach ensures that a black belt under the Relson Gracie methodology remains exceptionally rare, highly selective, and profoundly earned. Progression is also evaluated strictly on character, honor, loyalty, and dedication to the system.

“If you want to drink water, you should go to the source, you shouldn't drink it from the river downstream.”

In this traditional family standard, rank is not an automated calculation. It is evaluated directly by the grand master based on technical mastery, leadership, and the extensive propagation of the lineage over decades. An academy's ultimate legitimacy is found in the fruits of its tree. When a school has quietly and consistently produced a high quality body of technical black belts and competitors under a single banner, it establishes master-level service to the art. This profound accumulation of student output commands absolute authority in our lineage.

Extending the Lineage Forward

At RSA, we focus on the responsibilities of the rank. A rank is a powerful symbol. Worn with integrity, a black belt symbolizes direct lineage, lifelong dedication, and profound technical mastery.

At RSA, a belt is never a tool for personal status or self-promotion. It is a symbol of increased obligation to our students and the preservation of our history. This milestone belongs entirely to the names on our wall and the collective effort of every student who has ever stepped through our doors. We look forward to sharing this evening with our entire academy family as we honor both our traditional roots and our competitive drive, stepping into the next chapter of our legacy together. Stay tuned.

Ronn Shiraki Academy