In the early 1900's the legendary Gracie family invented Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a ground fighting martial art, with influences from Judo and wrestling that focuses on chokes and joint locks.
By the early 90's, the Gracies proved on world-wide pay per view that their style of jiu jitsu was the most effective martial art in the entire world by defeating all other styles in no rules cage fighting.
In 1994, after witnessing the dominance of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu live on tv, Eddie Bravo, a 24 year old aspiring rockstar living in Hollywood California, decided that, since he wrestled in high school, joining a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu club would be a great way to stay in shape so that he wouldn't be a fat slob on stage in front of the thousands of fans he thought he would have from his music.
But little did Eddie, or anyone else in the martial arts world know that his fame would actually come from his style of jiu jitsu. He became the first jiu jitsu fighter in the world to master the spine wrenching, neck cranking torture hold called "The Twister" which he learned in his wrestling days, aka The Abdominal Stretch in pro wrestling. In tact, no other ju jitsu fighter on the planet has been able to defeat as many opponents with "The Twister" as Eddie Bravo. He was actually using a "fake" pro wrestling move in "real jiu jitsu competition...........until it was banned by the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation!
Even with his signature move outlawed, Eddie won the ABU DHABI North American Trials lightweight division on October 5, 2002, in San Diego, California. Even without The Twister, Eddie's jiu jitsu was so advanced that he still earned the "Most Technical Fighter Of The Night" award and qualified for a spot in the 2003 ABU DHABI Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The ABU DHABI Championship is the biggest and most prestigious jiu jitsu tournament in the world where Royler Gracie, son of legendary Helio Gracie, the inventor of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, has dominated every year Not only did Royler Gracie take the gold every year he entered, but no one had ever even scored a point on him, that is until he faced some stoner musician from Hollywood, California.
"The Twister" takes you through the incredible jiu jitsu career of Eddie Bravo. From the early years competing in empty high-school gyms to the match that made his tory against the legend, Royler Gracie, live on national Brazilian tv.
