greatest in the world

[sean applegate]

so obviously most people who follow jiu jitsu closely have a general idea of who they think the best jiu jitsu practitioners in the world are. whether it be competitors, teachers, or sometimes both. take marcello garcia for instance. most would say he is the greatest jiu jitsu player in the world, if not the best ever. aside from his accomplishments in competition, what is it about marcello that makes him one of the best in the world? what do you see when you watch him roll that makes you think that? i know why i think he is good (not that it actually matters what i think about his skills anyways) but why do you guys feel he is on that level?

it doesnt have to be marcello, it can be any grappler you think is at that level.

obviously this is completely opinion based. so there are no wrong answers

[JeremyBJJ]

Renato Laranja, of course! Hidiculous question, show some hespect!

[Slick Rick]

Hey Sean. Good question. I'll try to give my two cents on this.

It's hard to find a person that is the best at enacting something and the best at teaching something.

To be the best at teaching something, a person will have to have, not only a keen understanding of the subject, but be able to relay that information to an audience or individual, in the style that that audience or individual can comprehend. These would be called "The Best Teachers". They can be football/baseball/basketball coaches, professors at a university, a tutor of a subject, practitioners of martial arts. Examples of the best jiu jitsu teachers off the top of my head would be Gokor, Eddie Bravo, Sean Bollinger, Rafael and Gui Mendes, Denny Prokopos, to name a few.

The best instructors/teachers may or may not have been the best performers of that subject, but they understand the game, they see patterns, and they relay these patterns to those more capable to enact on the opportunities that the patterns lend.

Those enactors are usually considered the best practitioners of that subject. Let's look at Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant as an example. They are arguably some of the best practitioners of basketball(the subject) of all time. Why? Was it their talent level? Yes. But could they have also been guided by arguably one of the best teachers/coaches of all time in Phil Jackson? Maybe so. Phil Jackson knew the game intimately, and he was able to find people that would enact his strategy(Triangle Offense), ultimately to win championships, over and over again.

So the best practitioners(superior athletic ability coupled with recognition of patterns and acting on them) may or may not be the best teachers. But the teachers need them to enact his or her gameplan, and a side effect may be that that practitioner becomes the best at what s/he does, in that era. Note that the practitioner will have repped the crap out of a technique or move, so that the game becomes a series of patterns, and when the time presents itself, the superior practitioner capitalizes on that instant in time, almost automatically, using finesse and/or sheer force. Marcelo is in that category of jiu jitsu competition best practitioners. I've never received instruction from him, so I can't comment on that part, but my guess is that he is also one of the best teachers as well.

[Kurzy]

Haha, Jehemy. Hight on bro.

[Kurzy]

I couldn't say who is "the best in the world" because there are so many amazing grapplers out there, and there are a ton I haven't heard of yet because I am a noob.
I have favorites, of course, starting with 10thP heads (Eddie Bravo and Joe Rogan and the other BB's in the system). Outside of 10P, I am a big Glover fan. I just like his attitude a lot, and his skills are awesome. Marcelo is an inspiration, and a generous contributor to the betterment of Jiu Jitsu.

I like Dean Lister a lot, especially after listening to his interview with Open Mat Radio, and same goes for that young guy Gianni Grippo. I don't know if you listened to his interview on OMR, but I liked his attitude too. Obviously his is not Marcelo's calibre of Jiu Jitsu player, but people's personality is a huge influence on whether I am inspired by them or not.

[Kyle Spalla]

Rodolfo Vieira is climbing the ladder pretty quick and he is still very young, the dudes passing game is unreal. He is my personal inspiration. Overall attitude and approach to teaching goes to Denny, he is learning even when he is teaching it's a awesome characteristic.

[EddieReyes]

I think Roger Gracie.. His championship wins say it all

[Chris "Beowulf" Burchell]

I am a Roger Gracie fan as well, because of his use of flawless, yet basic traditional jiu jitsu.

[chronic_jiujitsu]

Practitioners = Rickson, Marcelo, JJ, Xande, Roger

teachers = Eddie, Ryan Hall

Minds = Eddie, De La Riva

Overall.. If I had to choose the single "Best" (Who I think would win in a 7 billion man tournament in their prime.) Id have to go with Rickson.. Best competitor as of right now.. Marcelo. Best mind/benefit for JiuJitsu as a whole.. Eddie.

[Brandon Mccaghren]

Current Best? Gotta go with Marcelo Garcia or Rafael Mendes.

Best all time? Roger Gracie, Saulo Ribeiro, Robson Moura, Pe De Pano. These dudes have the titles.

Rickson or Ricardo Liborio are probably the best pure practitioners of all time, according to legend. I can personally testify that feeling Rickson's technique demonstrated is a borderline religious experience.

But some of my favorites to watch would be guys like Jeff Glover. He has the flair for entertainment and artistic expression that is rare at the high levels of our sport.