Bravo was born on May 15, 1970. His original name was Edgar A. Cano, but he later legally changed his surname to Bravo, the name of his stepfather. Both of his biological parents are Mexican. Growing up, Bravo took to music and started to play the drums and guitar. He formed several bands with aspirations of one-day becoming a famous musician. Bravo also developed an interest in athletics playing American football and joining his high school's wrestling team. In 1991, Bravo moved to Hollywood, California to pursue a music career and formed a band titled Blackened Kill Symphony. He got a gym membership as he wanted to avoid "looking like a slob" while performing but only visited twice. Bravo then began taking karate classes. In 1994, after watching Royce Gracie win an Ultimate Fighting Championship event, Bravo decided to become a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner, which he began under the tutelage of Jean Jacques Machado. Bravo also attended a Jeet Kune Do academy from 1996 to 1998.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu
In 1998, Bravo decided to stop attending other martial arts schools to focus solely on Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Around this time, he received a blue belt and started developing ways to finish opponents with a "Twister", a specific spinal locksubmission hold. In 1999, Bravo earned a purple belt and began developing his signature guard, the rubber guard. In 2003, Bravo entered the 145 lbs/66 kg division of the Abu-Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championship as a brown belt after winning the North American trials. Bravo defeated Gustavo Dantas in the elimination round by rear naked choke in what was considered an upset. Bravo then faced four-time world champion and three-time ADCC champion Royler Gracie in the quarter-finals. Bravo traded comfortably top positions with Gracie throughout the match before deploying his game of rubber guard, and eventually winning via a triangle choke. Bravo would then lose to eventual-tournament champion Léo Vieira in the semi-finals. Upon his return to the United States after the competition, he was awarded a black belt by Jean Jacques Machado and subsequently opened his first 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu school in Los Angeles, California, a no-gi jiu-jitsu system. In 2014, after having both retired from competition for years, Bravo and Royler Gracie agreed to have another grappling contest. It was a twenty-minute submission-only match which took place at Metamoris III. The contest started with Bravo pulling quarter guard and defending Royler's top attacks before reversing to an offensive attack around the eight-minute mark. After a few reversals from both competitors, Bravo was able to deploy a series of techniques from half guard, and put Gracie into his patented "electric chair" maneuver. In the closing minutes, Bravo had Gracie in a calf slicer but Gracie declined to tap as time ran out and, thus, the match was ruled a draw. Also in 2014, Bravo founded the Eddie Bravo Invitational, a no-gi submission-only grappling tournament. In 2016, it was announced that the EBI and UFC partnered together to feature EBI events on the UFC's streaming service Fight Pass. Later, Bravo also introduced Combat Jiu-Jitsu to his events; an altered form of submission grappling which allows open-hand strikes while on the ground.
