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Two training partners meeting on the mat.Drawn in cream, forest green, and muted terracotta. People and objects are symbolic illustrations.
Portrait unavailable. General BJJ illustration; not a likeness of this person.Illustration: The BJJ Story

Clark Gracie

Clark Gracie is a grandson of Carlos Gracie, a black belt under his father Carley, who won the 2013 Pan at middleweight and teaches in San Diego.

Biography

Clark Gracie is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who appears in IBJJF records under the full name Clark Rouson Gracie. He is a grandson of Carlos Gracie: according to Graciemag, his father, Carley Gracie, was the eleventh son of Carlos and the first member of the family to move to the United States. Graciemag, writing in April 2012, described Clark as born in California and as having practiced jiu-jitsu since the age of 16, continuing the teachings of his father and of his grandfather Carlos at his academy in La Jolla. The same article recounts Carley Gracie's arrival in the United States: he traveled to New York by boat, worked as the ship's janitor to pay for his passage, and caught pneumonia in the harsh winter of 1972 and nearly died, before establishing himself as a jiu-jitsu teacher, marrying and having his son Clark. His academy's website states that he earned his black belt under his father. The promotion is not dated in the available record, but the IBJJF results bracket it: he entered the 2010 Pan Championship as a brown belt and the 2011 Pan as a black belt. The father-son connection also appears in the federation record: at the 2012 World No-Gi Championship he was registered for Carley Gracie Jiu-jitsu Academy. His documented IBJJF record runs from 2009 to 2021, always at middleweight. As a brown belt he won the adult middleweight division at the 2009 World No-Gi Championship for BJJ Revolution Team, and took second in adult brown belt middleweight at the 2010 Pan for the same team. At black belt he took third in adult middleweight at the 2011 Pan, a division won by Claudio Calasans Junior of Atos JJ, and third in adult middleweight at the 2011 World Championship, both times for BJJ Revolution Team. In 2012 he took third in adult black belt middleweight at the Pan for Gracie Elite Team and second at the World No-Gi Championship, losing the final to Dealonzio Jerome Jackson of Team Lloyd Irvin. At the 2013 Pan he won the adult black belt middleweight division for Gracie Elite Team, with Marcelo França Mafra of CheckMat second. It is his only gold medal in an IBJJF adult black belt division. In the Master divisions he took third in Master 1 black belt middleweight at the 2016 World Master Championship, registered for Carlson Gracie Team, and won that same division at the 2017 World Master Championship for Clark Gracie Team. At the 2018 World No-Gi Championship he won the Master 1 black belt middleweight division, again for Clark Gracie Team. Graciemag's report from the first day of that event describes him submitting Barry Simms of Nova União Canada starting from his traditional omoplata. He took third in Master 1 black belt middleweight at the 2019 World Master Championship and third in Master 2 black belt middleweight at 181.60lb at the 2021 World Master Championship, both for Gracie Allegiance. Neither of his two IBJJF golds at World events is an adult world title: the 2017 World Master gold and the 2018 World No-Gi gold were both won in Master 1, and he does not appear in the adult black belt divisions of the 2018 event at all. His registered team changed over the course of his career: BJJ Revolution Team from 2009 to 2011, Gracie Elite Team at the 2012 and 2013 Pans, Carley Gracie Jiu-jitsu Academy at the 2012 World No-Gi, Carlson Gracie Team in 2016, Clark Gracie Team in 2017 and 2018, and Gracie Allegiance in 2019 and 2021. Registered team affiliation is a separate matter from belt lineage, which in his case runs through his father. An academy registered as Clark Gracie JJ was already entering athletes at the 2011 World No-Gi Championship. His academy's site lists the Gracie Allegiance Team headquarters at 1162 Morena Blvd in San Diego, California.

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