By Jason S. Rufner - Courtesy of the Loudoun Times-Mirror.
   
In the Gracie variety of jiu-jitsu martial arts, rising through the various colors of status-identifying belts is not merely perfunctory. From blue belt to purple to brown to black belt, such promotions are assiduously earned.

Toney Waldecker, who has spent much of the last 11 years studying Gracie jiu-jitsu, was granted a promotion to black belt after almost three years of work April 9 at Fightworks, a Sterling training facility he co-owns.

The promotion was conferred by Relson Gracie, one of the patriarchs of the Gracie family of Brazil, originators of the style of jiu-jitsu that bears their name. Gracie jiu-jitsu is incorporated into Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competitions.

“It's my life,” Waldecker said of Gracie jiu-jitsu. “I think about it all day. I'm always thinking about new moves. I learn something new every day.”

The 40-year-old former Marine has a martial artist's calmness but the battle scars of a prizefighter. On the walls at Fightworks, posters from Thailand shout his name, headlining a card of pro bouts.

“Actually, this guy never showed up,” he said, pointing to a stern-looking Thai fellow. “I fought some other guy. It was an all-Thai crowd, so they weren't really on my side.”

Waldecker said his undersized competitor kicked him constantly and kept a distance, trying to wear him down.

“I was able to get him, but I paid a price,” he said, staring at the memory from the 2006 bout. This poster misidentified him as South African Tony. Wrong country of origin and spelling of name, but the championship went to the right guy.

Waldecker, already an accomplished grappler with two national medals earned in the Russian art of Sambo in the late 1990s, has trained in Gracie jiu-jitsu for more than a decade, achieving brown-belt status in the fall of 2005.

“It's longer to get a black [belt] under the Gracie system than under most,” he said.

Like most martial arts, jiu-jitsu developed from ancient Japanese arts of self-defense. It is distinguished by intensely close fighting on the ground, including choke-holds and arm-locks.

“Think of it as wrestling with submission moves,” Waldecker said of his chosen sport, in which victory is recorded by forcing one's opponent to shout out or pound the mat to avoid asphyxiation or snapped limbs.

It is the groundwork that Waldecker feels gives jiu-jitsu an advantage over other fighting disciplines.

“We spend our lives walking on our feet,” he said. “When the fight goes down to the ground, a lot of people are like fish out of water.”

The lifelong resident of Northern Virginia also works as an arborist but has concentrated on teaching jiu-jitsu and judo on a full-time basis for the past year. He co-owns Fightworks with Dan Wallen, himself a jiu-jitsu purple belt, two grades below black.

Waldecker's achievement is just another rung on the ladder of his training. He hopes to compete at the Gracie Fighting Challenge in Hawaii, a pay-per-view television event.

Waldecker makes no attempt to disguise his admiration for Relson Gracie, a Brazilian in his 60s who trained younger half-brother Royce Gracie for UFC. Royce won the first UFC title in 1993.

“He's an incredible person, one of the most genuine and gracious I've ever met. As far as I'm concerned, Relson is like family to me,” Waldecker said. “I would not want to receive [the black belt] from anyone else.”

The Hawaii-based Gracie oversees approximately 20 affiliated training schools in the United States. Waldecker said he admires Gracie's philosophy of brotherhood as much as his refined skill. Gracie holds a red-and-black belt in the sport that bears his sobriquet -- more than eight promotions ahead of Waldecker.

“He's able to do things I've never seen anyone do,” the new black belt said.

Perhaps not yet, but Waldecker has the air of a man who has figured out what he wants to do when he grows up. Shortly before receiving his new opaque waistwear, he contemplated the expansive padded room where he gets to teach his favorite thing for a living.

“I plan on doing sport jiu-jitsu until I can't anymore. I've got plenty of tournaments left. It's addictive.”

This story was printed April 16, 2008, in the Loudoun Times-Mirror, Leesburg, Va.