Royce Gracie is one of the founding fathers of MMA, and he’s got a few people he thinks belong in that group with him.
Royce Gracie is, arguably, the single-most influential fighter in MMA history, if not combat sports history. Gracie was not just the face of the early UFC, but a big part of the reason for the success of the early UFC. The whole promotion was, essentially, an for Gracie jiu-jitsu, showing this small, spindly guy annihilate a bunch of huge martial artists. He is, for all intents and purposes, the George Washington of this strange combat sport, delivering it to the masses, who then picked up the ball and ran with it.
But don’t tell him that. Because while chatting with Georges St-Pierre on his podcast, Gracie left himself off his personal MMA Mount Rushmore, instead putting his father, Helio Gracie, up there.
“I definitely have to put my father in there,” Gracie said. “He’s the one that — my uncle Carlos is the one that first learned, but my father is the one that developed the defensive style, the whole how to defend yourself. He had leverage from the techniques, so he’s the one that developed the whole MMA, and challenged everybody, went for it. So it definitely would have been my father.”
Helio Gracie invented Brazilian jiu-jitsu, adapting judo and catch-wrestling into the grappling system that would come to bear his name and define much of UFC history. He then fought challenge matches to showcase his fighting system, which laid the blueprint for the early UFC.
Gracie then rounded his Mount Rushmore out with much more modern choices, forgoing any early UFC champions, and instead putting in three men widely considered to be among the greatest of all time.
“You would be there,” Gracie told St-Pierre. “I would put Anderson Silva. And if I had to choose four, I would definitely put Jon Jones in there. That would be my four guys that I would choose.”
While Royce Gracie may have left himself off the list, he is one of the inaugural UFC Hall of Famers, winning three of the first four tournaments. Gracie had a 20-fight professional career, competing in the UFC, Pride, and other promotions, finally retiring in 2016. But even though he’s been out of the game for a decade, the original UFC champion still keeps up with the sport, and gave his favorite active fighter, too.
“Today, I like to watch Charles Oliveira,” Gracie said. “I like the kid’s attitude, the way he represents, the way he fights.”
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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
I mean, this is just hilarious.
We’re simple creatures, Matt.
Is that really your FAVORITE thing about it?
My favorite thing about the UFC? It is not fixed.
I do not trust other sports these days, dont have the time for them anyway, but I have never seen a fight in the UFC where I suspected the company predetermined the outcome. There ARE some fishy fights, not many, but when they happen, its the fighter or fighters doing it. There is one famous fight I am very suspicious of, but I can watch UFC with assurance that the fight is real, they are selling authenticity, even if the results do not benefit them. In this day of so much fake crap, its nice watching something real. While I never really had doubt, it was Nate v Conor I that solidified that for me, there is no world that exists where the UFC wanted Nate to win that.
Did you see the way GSP’s eyes lit up when Royce put him on his Mount Rushmore? Adorable.
Also, Royce’s list is OK, but his dad has no place on the MMA Mount Rushmore. Mount Rushmore is presidents, not the guys who developed democracy. It’s not like Rousseau and Locke are up there. Helio is out.
The true MMA Mount Rushmore is: Royce, Georges, Conor, Ronda. Those are the four most influential fighters in the history of the sport. That’s really more what the Mount Rushmore is about, not the best. You could, maybe, convince me that GSP should be replaced with Forrest Griffin instead. But I think it’s Georges. He’s the Teddy of the group.
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