Which martial art did Royce Gracie use to win the first UFC tournament?

Royce Gracie used Brazilian jiu-jitsu to win the first UFC tournament.

At UFC 1 in Denver on November 12, 1993, Gracie defeated Art Jimmerson, Ken Shamrock, and Gerard Gordeau. He won each bout by submission, demonstrating how positional control, leverage, and joint locks could neutralize larger opponents.

Gracie represented the Gracie family’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu system, which emphasizes fighting effectively from the clinch and ground. His success helped introduce ground grappling to a large international audience and strongly influenced the technical development of modern MMA.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu was not the only skill involved in Gracie’s fighting, and the first UFC was not designed as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament. It was intended to compare different fighting styles. Gracie’s results made his grappling system the defining story of the event.