Photo via MMA Mania

Renzo Gracie is a world renowned jiu jitsu practitioner and teacher that has helped teach the fine art to the likes of UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, Matt Serra, Ricardo Almeida, Frank Edgar, Roy Nelson and UFC middleweight challenger Chris Weidman. Gracie obviously comes from the great family tree Helio Gracie, but life wasn’t always easy growing up just because of the family name.

Gracie lived an interesting childhood that helped mold him in to the odd ball character that he remains to this day, but luckily for us the stories that he has from childhood make some great afternoon fodder that will leave you shaking your head and laughing out loud.

According to an interview with Paul “The Mauler” Lazenby for his new Facebook page, Famous Bouncers, Gracie spent time as a young 14-year-old boy serving as a bouncer in a whore house.

From the Famous Bouncers Facebook page:

This was in the city of Manaus, in Brazil, where me and a very good friend of mine were living. I was fourteen and he was sixteen, and we raised some money to go to the “ladies’ house.” But when we get there and we sit down to wait for a room to be vacant, a huge problem arise. A guy, he didn’t wanna pay and it was a mess. He started pushing the ladies around, so the bouncer came in, an older guy. And when the bouncer came in, the guy head butt him and knock him out! And I just think, “Oh, man, this is it! I was able to put the money together to come here and enjoy a good time, and now this guy’s gonna ruin everything!” So I look at my friend and I say, “You shoot on the legs, I am gonna choke him out”. So my friend shot on his legs and grabbed them, and I jump on his back and choke him out! And after I choke him, I grab his wallet and I pay the lady what he owe, and then I wake him up and kick him out. Tell him not to come back. When the bouncer woke up, he saw what happened, and right away he ask us to work there with him. So we did work there, helping him. In reality it was a great thing, because before that I didn’t [have anything] to eat, anywhere to sleep, and they hook me up with everything. I stayed there for three months and a half, and I not only work as a bouncer in a nice house, but they even give me the ladies’ service for free! It was unbelievable!

Good ole Renzo. That certainly isn’t the typical job for a 14-year-old boy, but the Gracie family has always been anything but ordinary. He was always quite the character but learning this little bit of knowledge about his childhood explains a lot.

Luckily for most of us, we don’t have to spend our childhood beating up creepy, shady men to protect women who are selling themselves, but it obviously didn’t hurt Gracie too much.

The experience as a much smaller kid taking on much bigger men certainly helped him later down the road as a mixed martial artist. Well, until he ran in to the likes of Dan Henderson and Matt Hughes.

What is the craziest job you had growing up as a kid? I would be willing to bet that Gracie’s takes the cake for most interesting and unique. Sound off in the comments section and share your thoughts.