The Beginning of Gracie Barra MK
In 1996 Ebe Ghansah was informed by a fellow Judo black belt of an art called Brazilian Jiujitsu , he attended a Brazilian Jiujitsu Seminar, catching the bug he attended various seminars taught by Mauricio Gomes and was immediately impressed by not only by Mauricio's skill level, but also his humour and teaching ability, Classes and seminars were supplemented by training in Brazilian Jiujitsu whilst in San Francisco ( 2000).
To practice the techniques learned, a small grappling group was formed in 2001 , training was twice a week in a studio attached to a house in Milton Keynes sometimes training was on carpets or bare floor!
The first members who trained with Ebe included Niall Lawless, Chris Watts,Dale France, Ramzan Ali and Lee McGuinness Credit for the initial acquired knowledge must mainly go to Joao Sal Rangel from Gracie Barra Brazil who in 2002 allowed the group to videotape techniques which formed the basis of the training within the group, It had proved difficult to get a Gracie Barra instructor to teach in Milton Keynes so training was supplemented by travelling to Club Kensington to train with Mauricio Gomes ,also to the Gracie Barra Academy in Birmingham to train with Braulio Estima.
In November 2004 Ebe sought the advice of Mauricio Gomes and spoke to Braulio Estima with respect to the group in Milton Keynes and a few days later... Gracie Barra Milton Keynes was formed!!
Since 2004 the group have been taught and supported by Braulio Estima,. In his absence Victor Estima and the top students of Ze Radiola famous Academy in Brazil such as Kildare, Max ,Otavio ,Christian and Hugo.. many of whom are Intructors of their own clubs around the world have taught us Braulio travelled on a weekly basis from Birmingham to teach the group The enthusiasm and technical teaching of Braulio, Victor etc has created a vibrant group, we also have many visits from our friend Nick Brooks and the Milll Hill Jiujitsu Club members including Daniel Strauss.
The quality of teaching of the Estima brothers and Kildare Dutra produced instant results! In the 2005 European 
Championships 9 members returned with 5 golds and 3 bronze medals adding to the gold silver and bronze won in the 2004 European Championships,
credit must also go to Ronaldo Campos and Eduardo Carriello who although had commitments with creating their own group in London and Milton Keynes helped in the group in the understanding of Brazilian Jiujitsu.
Several of the members have travelled to Train in Brazil mainly at the Gracie Camp and a few have competed and placed in the World Masters and Seniors In the last few years members have competed in virtually all the European Championships since 2004 and placed in most of the UK events Gi and no gi.
The aim is to gain further experience by competing in the Pan Americans and the World Championships, trips to Brazil are also in the pipeline. There have been trips to South Korea to train with Korean military veterans who are evaluating Brazilian Jiujitsu for their members.
Members regularly travel to train at Braulio's Birmingham Academy to the to ensure that the standards of the MK group is in line with those of the main Academy.
A junior group of 30 members has been formed. Since we have coaches qualified at various levels to in Olympic wrestling, Muay Thai and Judo ,members have competed in semi pro and amateur mma events and Sombo competitions .