Rener Gracie

Rener Gracie (born November 10, 1983, in Torrance, California) is an American-Brazilian entrepreneur, 5th-degree BJJ black belt, instructor, and coach. A member of the first generation of Gracies born outside Brazil, he is the second eldest son of UFC co-creator and BJJ red belt Rorion Gracie, and a grandson of jiu-jitsu co-founder Helio Gracie. Rener began training as a child under his father, grandfather Helio, and uncles Rickson and Royce Gracie at the family's academy in Torrance, which opened in 1989. He started coaching at age 13 and received his black belt from Helio Gracie himself in 2002 at age 19. His competitive career, though brief, included a win at the 2002 IBJJF American Nationals Championship (brown belt) and bronze at the 2003 Pan-American Championship. He retired from competition in 2004 to focus entirely on teaching. Together with his older brother Ryron, Rener co-founded Gracie University, headquartered in Torrance, California. In 2009 they launched the Gracie University Online platform, creating the world's first interactive online BJJ learning system. Today the platform serves over 70,000 active students in 196 countries. In 2024, they released Gracie Combatives 2.0, an updated version of their foundational self-defense curriculum. Rener is widely known for the "Gracie Breakdown" YouTube channel, which he co-hosts with Ryron. The channel analyzes UFC fights, real-world self-defense situations, and law enforcement encounters, accumulating over 700,000 subscribers and more than 155 million views as of 2022. The channel has been instrumental in making BJJ concepts accessible to a mainstream audience. As a coach, Rener has trained top UFC competitors including Ronda Rousey, Brian Ortega, Brendan Schaub, Lyoto Machida, and Javier Vazquez, as well as WWE's CM Punk and professional boxer Ryan Garcia. Celebrity students have included Vince Vaughn and Travis Barker. One of Rener's most significant contributions is the Gracie Survival Tactics (GST) program, a jiu-jitsu-based defensive tactics curriculum for law enforcement. Consisting of 23 techniques taught over 30 hours, GST became the first program of its kind approved by California's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) in 2020. The program has been adopted by police departments across the United States and was featured on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel in 2021. Beyond jiu-jitsu, Rener is an inventor and entrepreneur. He created Quikflip, a garment that converts into a backpack, which he pitched on ABC's Shark Tank (Season 10) and which TIME Magazine named one of the 100 Best Inventions of 2019. He also launched the Sleeper Hold travel pillow via Kickstarter in 2023, raising over $1 million from nearly 18,000 backers. In 2023 he published "The 32 Principles: Harnessing the Power of Jiu-Jitsu to Succeed in Business, Relationships and Life" with a foreword by Jocko Willink. Rener is married to former WWE wrestler Eve Torres, with whom he has two sons: Raeven (born 2015) and Renson (born 2018). Sources: Wikipedia — Rener Gracie; Gracie University; Police1; TIME Magazine; BJJ Heroes.