Coronavirus / COVID-19 / Jiu-Jitsu / Legends / Pandemic

Jiu Jitsu Champion Roger Gracie recovers from coronavirus COVID-19

by matmartial · Published April 16, 2020 · Updated May 18, 2020

Roger Gracie, 4th degree Jiu Jitsu black belt, and
arguably the greatest Jiu Jitsu competitor of all time

Jiu Jitsu champion Roger Gracie has reported that he has now recovered from a scary battle against the coronavirus COVID-19.

One month since the WHO declared CODID-19 pandemic

It has been over one month since I last trained Jiu Jitsu. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared a world-wide pandemic on March 11, 2020. I have not been back to my Jiu Jitsu gym since then.

I remember on the last day, joking around with the other guys…..who was going to be the vector? Who was going ot be the first person at the gym to get the virus? Who was going to be the likely vector to transmit the coronavirus to the rest of the team?

It was sure going to be H., the airline pilot.

But wiser heads prevailed. The WHO declared the COVID-19 coronavirus a pandemic on that Wednesday, and by the following Monday our local government had ordered all non-essential businesses, including Jiu Jitsu schools and other gyms, to close their doors.

Fortunately, I haven’t heard of anyone at my gym contracting coronavirus, not even H., the airline pilot (although he told me that he has taken a furlough for the month of April and is only receiving half-pay).

Roger Gracie contracts the coronavirus COVID-19

The news came through on April 14, 2020, that Jiu Jitsu and MMA Champion Roger Gracie or the legendary Gracie Family, had contracted COVID-19. Fortunately, after almost a two week battle, he has recovered.

Roger Gracie Gomes (born September 26, 1981) is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner (10x world champion) and a retired mixed martial artist. A member of the Gracie family, he is the son of Reila Gracie (daughter of Carlos Gracie) and Mauricio Motta Gomes. He is currently a fourth degree black belt. Roger Gracie is the founder and head instructor at The Roger Gracie Academy located in Hammersmith, London, England. Roger is the former ONE World Cruiserweight (now Light Heavyweight) Champion.

Though now retired, Roger Gracie, at 6’4″ and 215 pounds, is a pretty special athlete. He found solid success in the mixed martial arts (MMA) realm, competing in both Strikeforce and UFC before capturing a title in One Championship. On the mats, however, Gracie is widely known as one of the best, if not, the best, ever — he’s won numerous gold medals in both ADCC and gi Worlds, submitting a great deal of elite opposition with so-called “basic” techniques like the x-choke from mount. matmartial.com/the-best-grapplers-in-jiu-jitsu#Roger_Gracie

**Roger Gracie submits Marcus Almeida “Buchecha”**

Roger Gracie calls ambulance due to shortness of breath from COVID-19

However, at 38 years of age, Roger Gracie’s most recent battle came against COVID-19, which the Brazilian contracted in March. “I got the virus, I recovered two weeks ago,” Gracie said. “I was really bad in bed. It is good to talk, because many people have no idea exactly what it is, they think it will not be affected, that it will never reach him. I stayed in bed for ten days, with 40 degrees of fever and cough. I felt short of breath one day, thankfully it didn’t progress. I woke up at dawn with a racing heart, short of breath. I called the ambulance, even got into it. They did the tests, called the chief of medicine and thought it best for me to stay home.”

Roger Gracie ‘scared’ by persistent high fever from COVID-19

“I got scared when it didn’t get better. I got worried by day eight, because I thought I was getting better, my fever went down. The next day, it came back violently, I felt weak, weird. Every person feels it differently. My girlfriend got it, too, she had a fever of 102, 100 degrees for four days. She was weak, her body was aching, then it passed. My fever got up to 104. I coughed all the time. The fever is what destroys you, it gets pretty high.”

Gracie is sharing his experience because he wants to emphasize the severity of the virus, and relay that even a healthy and active person in their 30s can be hit hard. “It’s good for people to know that I got it. There are a lot of friends that I talked to, who thought I wouldn’t take it because I was healthy, young. A lot of people are dying. A friend of a friend in Italy was a marathon runner, was 35 years old and died. My teacher’s girlfriend’s cousin is 30 years old and is hospitalized. And there are thousands that we don’t know. It is necessary to raise awareness. The disease really affects the most fragile, the oldest, but also other people. You cannot neglect. It’s not a joke.”

Roger Gracie recovered from COVID-19, focus on Jiu Jitsu franchises

Gracie also confirmed that he is staying retired, focused fully on growing his academy, which now has over 50 franchises.

As a side note, in September 2019, I was visiting friends in Europe and had an opportunity to train at the Roger Gracie affiliate academy in Vienna, Austria. It was a Jiu Jitsu experience I will never forget. Be sure to check back in with MatMartial.com and I will share my experience at Roger Gracie BJJ Vienna.

In the meantime, be sure to check out some of our recent posts:

I can’t wait to see everyone on the mats soon! Stay safe and stay healthy…I’m training at home and I hope you are too! Don’t forget the 25 benefits of training Jiu-Jitsu or What belt colors mean in Jiu Jitsu…..see you soon.