Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is martial art and combat sport that uses throws, holds, locks and chokes with ultimate goal to control and submit the opponent. It's similar, and has close ties with other grappling sports and martial arts like Judo, Sambo, Wrestling etc. The evolution of BJJ starts with the Japanese immigration to Brazil in the beginning of the 20th century. One of these imigrants was Mitsuyo Maeda high level black belt in Kodokan Judo who started to teach this martial art to native Brazilians including the Gracie brothers and Luiz Franca. These would become the two main lineages in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. BJJ gained its fame when fighters from these two groups started to challenge fighters from other martial arts and combat sports, all with the main goal to show to the world the effectiveness of BJJ. This eventually led to the creation of UFC and later modern MMA.
BJJ can be train as combat sport and self defence martial art. The sport of BJJ is a dynamique presentation of techniques (fighting) in a controlled environment. Big part in the popularization of BJJ has its use in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) where BJJ is necessary skill to have.