BJJ News — growth

The grappling world got a reminder of something uncomfortable: when a country with 1.4 billion people decides to systematize a sport, the rest of us should probably pay attention. Somewhere in Shanghai, a seven-year-old was getting graded on guard retention.

Draculino says he couldn't have imagined this. "Not even in my wildest dreams," said the coral belt legend in a recent interview, surveying a sport that now spans millions of practitioners worldwide, has made professional grappling careers viable without anyone needing to cross over into MMA, and is