Choke is the seminal feature-length film that inspired Dana White to buy the UFC and that Joe Rogan calls “one of the greatest documentaries in history”. Choke remains the classic that every serious BJJ practitioner on every level has watched – usually many times over many years.

 

Choke follows Rickson Gracie, long considered the finest expression of BJJ ever, from the U.S. to Brazil, and finally to Tokyo, where he competes in a one-night, three fight, truly no-holds-barred tournament for the event that would soon morph into the PRIDE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS.

 

Fighting before the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts were codified, kicking a downed opponent was legal, and Choke graphically shows what “real” fighting is about and why Rickson Gracie is considered, besides being the greatest of his time, the samurai godfather to all BJJ black belts from then to now.

 

And as much as Choke is a film about fighting, it is an unabashed love letter to Rickson Gracie, the man who inspired generations of Gracie Jiu Jitsu students, teachers, and fighters.