Prince Jackson Earns Blue Belt in Jiu Jitsu From Exclusive Gracie School

When he's not testifying at his family's $40 billion lawsuit against AEG, Prince Jackson is spending a lot of time practicing Jiu-Jitsu. Michael Jackson's oldest child just earned his blue belt from the esteemed Gracie Academy in Beverly Hills. 

There are only five belts available to earn from the Gracie Academy and they take a good deal of work. Blue is the first step up from white, and then it jumps to purple, brown and black. Earning a blue belt required Jackson to learn 34 different maneuvers including the arm bar, "elevator sweep" and the "guillotine," which is one we don't particularly want to experience. In order to make the jump to the purple belt, Jackson will have to learn 600 more moves. 

The Gracie Academy is one of the world's most respected martial arts schools, largely because Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was invented by its founder, Carlos Gracie. The school's founder took the lessons he learned in Judo, a Japanese martial art, and developed Jiu-Jitsu as a form that allows smaller individuals to overcome larger opponents by gaining leverage. The form is based on grappling and ground fighting. 

UFC fighters including Brendan Schaub, Nate Diaz, Antoni Hardonk and Rani Yahya have all trained at Gracie Academy. Other athletes and celebrities have also made it their go-to training facility, including quarterback Tim Tebow and actor Ed O'Neill. 

Unfortunately for Jackson, all of his biggest battles are on the home front, and not the karate mat right now. As mentioned before, the family is suing concert promoter AEG Live, alleging that it put unhealthy amounts of stress on Michael and was responsible for his death because it hired Conrad Murray, the doctor who overprescribed the sleep aid propafol. Prince's sister Paris also recently attempted to commit suicide.