Brazilian jiu-jitsu, or BJJ, is a martial art focusing heavily on ground grappling. Instead of emphasizing striking, a number of joint locks and chokes are used to create what are known as submission holds or "subs", so called because a fighter caught in one must submit by tapping the canvas repeatedly or face getting choked unconscious or having a limb broken or dislocated. Strikes are not practiced in the style by itself, although many MMA fighters integrate striking with the groundwork from BJJ to create a strategy known as "ground and pound".

All techniques follow a few underlying simple concepts and principles like positional dominance leading into submissions ("position before submission"), transitions through momentum and leverage as they are offered rather than large uses of energy ("flow with the go"), as well as submissions achieved by attacking with superior leverage and full-body strength against the opponent's isolated limbs (no strength against strength).

BJJ's roots lie in judo and Fusen-ryu jiu-jitsu (which eventually was adopted into the Kodokan teachings). Judo practitioners will recognize many of the techniques from newaza practice or watching Kosen judo competitions.

One of BJJ's strengths, just like its historical predecessor, lies in the ability of practitioners to practice with lots and lots of resistance against non-compliant training partners with a negligible amount of risk. Although this might not seem like much, it's terribly important considering some arts think they train well just by doing forms and patterns (*glares at wing chun*) or compliant drills (*glares at aikido*).

BJJ came into its own in the US in the 90s, when the UFC (which the Gracie family, the founders of the art helped found) came into being. When Royce Gracie, a BJJ black belt, took the championship belt home, BJJ began to be noticed in the US. (Japan and other countries had already begun to adopt BJJ in MMA competitions due to its success in Vale Tudo, Pankration, and other foreign MMA tournaments.) Since then, BJJ practitioners have continued to dominate the UFC and other international MMA circuits, and has gained acceptance in the MMA and martial arts worlds as a legitimate and serious force to be reckoned with.

Oh, and for those of you who don't know...."tap, snap or nap" is a saying used among BJJ fighters. One can choose to "tap out", or submit and lose the fight, "snap", or have one's limb dislocated or broken, or "nap", get choked unconscious.