Royce Gracie is the man who put Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) on the map and started MMA’s push into mainstream consciousness. He didn’t develop the grappling art. That credit mostly goes to his father Helio Gracie and his uncle Carlos Gracie. However, Royce was the one who proved the effectiveness of BJJ during the inaugural Ultimate Fighting Championship tournaments, dominating bigger, stronger opponents with a new martial art most people had not seen before at the time.
Many people who saw Gracie’s performances at the first five UFC tournaments were inspired by them.