In the past, you may have read about FCF reporter Marc Scott’s journey to Thailand where he trained and fought Muay Thai. Ever the world traveler, Marc is currently on a new quest, this time to beautiful Brazil, where he will "drink from the source" at the new Gracie Camp…(scroll down Parts 1 & 2)

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Part Three: Rio De Janeiro

I came, I saw, I tapped…then I tapped again, and again. Another night in Gracie Barra, and another night to see some of the best Jiu-Jitsu Rio has to offer. Located in the heart of the Barra Beach area, the school is one of the Meccas of Jiu-Jitsu in the world. Perhaps rivaled only by Carlson Gracie in terms of the amount of champions to be produced, Gracie Barra is a powerhouse to be reckoned with. At five o’clock we get in the car and are driven down to Barra for the nightly training. Barra is a testing ground for all that we learned earlier in the day. In the morning classes we are concentrating on only one or two positions and Barra is where we try to make these positions work.

The ride to Barra takes about thirty minutes and we leave the tranquility and quiet of Vergem Grande, where we are staying, for the sights and sounds of Barra. Ascending up the four fights of stairs in the health club where Barra Gracie is located, you can hear it before you see it. The children’s class is going on, but don’t let the name fool you these "kids" have been practicing Jiu-Jitsu for many years already; by the time they are fifteen and receive their blue belt, they may already have as much as six years of training under their belt. Class at Barra is like class at any other school in the world except maybe for the amount of sheer talent in the room, many of the people training would have no problem opening a school of their own, I count at least three world champions, two Gracies and a host of incredibly talented purple and brown belts, all of whom take great delight in tying me in knots.

After our short warm-up and stretching we are taught one or two techniques; after we work on those for a while, the sparring comes. The amount of talent in the room makes every sparring match worth its weight in gold, even when I lose (which happens with alarming frequency). I still learn small details and tricks of the game. As Roger Gracie manhandles me, I begin to see where some of my weaknesses lie. He taps me twice in ten minutes and I move on to a younger blue belt who fights like a whirling dervish, rolling and twisting to take my back or keep me at bay. Throughout the training it is like this. When I am not rolling, I am sitting back and watching any of the various black belts go at it. Soon it is time to roll again and time to try to apply what I learned back at the Gracie camp in class, amazingly some of what I learned seems to have rubbed off and I find myself applying the techniques. The class takes place under the watchful eye of Carlos Gracie Jr. and the senior instructors. What is amazing is the lack of ego in the room, with so many great people no one is out to prove anything to anyone, they are only there to get good. Unfortunately eight o’clock comes by too soon and the class winds down and we make our way out and onto the street. It feels like a bit like a party that has come to an end, but with the knowledge it will still be there tomorrow, we go home to rest and get ready for another day at Gracie Barra.