Gracie Ohio Academy

The Gracie Ohio Academy was founded in 1992 by Jeff Hudson. It is one of the oldest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academies in the United States. Both Maxercise in Philadelphia, founded by Steve Maxwell, and Gracie Ohio were some of the first BJJ academies to be opened by Americans and the two sister academies were some of the only BJJ academies in the entire eastern half of the US for quite some time. Jeff was originally a Tae Kwon Do practitioner and became fascinated with the Gracie's style of Jiu-Jitsu by watching the Gracies In Action set of documentaries in the early 90's.

Jeff became a direct student of Relson Gracie and was awarded his Blue belt by Relson the same night as Royce Gracie's win in the inaugural UFC (11/12/93). This was also the same night that Relson was promoted to Red/Black belt (7th degree) by his father, Helio Gracie. In 2003, Jeff was awarded his black belt from Relson Gracie, becoming Relson's fourth American black belt.

The academy currently resides in Westerville, and since Jeff's retirement, Robin Gieseler has taken over as head instructor. Robin is currently a fifth degree black belt under Relson Gracie and the academy offers classes for kids and adults in self-defense, gi and no-gi techniques. Classes are offered six days a week by Robin or other Relson Gracie black belts.

Visit Gracie Ohio for more information.

Simon BJJ

Simon BJJ

Gracie Ohio Academy