In a recent episode of his podcast, Enson Inoue addressed inflammatory comments made about him by his former jiu-jitsu teacher, Relson Gracie.
“Relson actually became my first jiu-jitsu teacher in Hawaii,” Inoue stated. “We were super close, man. I just fell in love with jiu-jitsu and everything I would do is jiu-jitsu.”
He described their relationship as brotherly, noting that he would spend time at Relson’s house even on non-training days and Relson would make him Brazilian pudding.
“We were so close that one of my cars that I had when I was going to get a new one, I gave him my used car so he could use a car,” Inoue recalled.
As a blue belt, Inoue served as the main spokesman at Relson’s seminars due to language barriers.
“I was like the main spokesman for the seminar being like only a blue belt and I was doing all the speaking for the seminars,” he explained.
The relationship fractured over an incident involving Inoue’s brother, Egan Inoue. According to Inoue, Egan allegedly videotaped one of the Gracie seminars and may have copied the tape before returning it to Relson.
“Relson had a big problem with Egan and he told me Egan can’t train with him anymore,” Inoue said.
When Egan was banned from training at Relson’s school, he started Grappling Unlimited, training out of his garage.
The breaking point came when Relson issued an ultimatum.
“I walked into the gym. Relson comes with me and he tells me, ‘Hey, Enson, you got to pick me or Egan,’” Inoue recounted. “I looked at him, I said, ‘What do you mean? That’s my blood brother.’ So, right there, I just looked at him and said, ‘I’m sorry, Relson, I’m out of here.’ And I turned around, I walked out of the gym.”
Inoue also addressed claims about removing the Gracie logo from his MMA shorts. He explained that he had voluntarily placed the Gracie triangle on his shorts to show appreciation for his training. However, according to Inoue, Relson told him that Rorion Gracie called and demanded the logo be removed because the Gracies were worried that if Inoue lost while representing them, it would break their claimed 60-year undefeated streak.
“I was forced to take the logo off my shorts,” Inoue stated.
“I said, ‘You know, Relson, we had a long history. We had some things happen and as far as I’m concerned, it’s water under the bridge and I want to just move on and I wish you the best.’ And he said, ‘Thank you, Enson. It’s cool, man. Thank you.’ And he gave me a hug.”
Recently, Rose Gracie told Inoue that Relson had spoken positively about him and provided his WhatsApp contact. Inoue sent a message expressing appreciation for the training he received but received no response. Shortly after, the Portuguese podcast interview surfaced.
“I sent the link of the interview to Rose and I sent her a screenshot of my WhatsApp of the message that I sent to Relson and I just wrote to her, ‘I wrote to Relson. He never wrote back and I’m super disappointed,’” Inoue said.
Despite the recent comments, Inoue maintains no animosity.
“I have no grudges against him and I know he knows the truth,” he stated. “The only thing I can think of him saying that kind of things about me, maybe all his use in his past fried his brain and he had one of those episodes where his brain wasn’t working or maybe he just was upset that day.”
Inoue emphasized that he wanted to address the situation only because of the factual inaccuracies.
“I just feel like the Relson that said that podcast is not the Relson I know and that’s not the Relson I knew and that’s not the Relson that I buried the hatchet with.”
