# why is royce gracie so good?



## chris_&#3617;&#3623;&#3618;&#3652;&#3607;&#3618; (Nov 5, 2006)

hi , i heard from a lot of people that grappling doesnt have much technique and involves a lot of strength , if this is true then why is royce gracie such a good grappler? he is skinny and doesnt look very strong , ive sparred with a few people who have a very similay build and they were easy to beat once it got to the ground. or is it another case of "bjj is about giving the little guy a chance against the big guy"?

your thoughts

chris


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## FearlessFreep (Nov 5, 2006)

_i heard from a lot of people that grappling doesnt have much technique and involves a lot of strength_

Those people are misinformed.  

However, like all martial arts, when skill is equal, strength will win and when strength is equal, skill will win.  So if you're giving up strength to your opponent you must be more skilled than your opponent, not just as skilled


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## Andrew Green (Nov 5, 2006)

Royce was good because his skill level and experience in No rules fights was way beyone anyone else at that time.  

But a bigger, stronger, faster, more explosive grappler with similar skill level would beat him.


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## chris_&#3617;&#3623;&#3618;&#3652;&#3607;&#3618; (Nov 5, 2006)

Andrew Green said:


> Royce was good because his skill level and experience in No rules fights was way beyone anyone else at that time.
> 
> But a bigger, stronger, faster, more explosive grappler with similar skill level would beat him.


 
good point , ive seen a good fight between him and a kung fu expert on youtube with no rules , it was a very easy fight for gracie

thanks for the help guys


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## Brian R. VanCise (Nov 5, 2006)

chris_&#3617;&#3623;&#3618;&#3652;&#3607;&#3618;;657133 said:
			
		

> hi , i heard from a lot of people that grappling doesnt have much technique and involves a lot of strength , if this is true then why is royce gracie such a good grappler? he is skinny and doesnt look very strong , ive sparred with a few people who have a very similay build and they were easy to beat once it got to the ground. or is it another case of "bjj is about giving the little guy a chance against the big guy"?
> 
> your thoughts
> 
> chris


 
First do not believe that Royce is not strong.  He is flexible and has long fast twitch muscles.  Having rolled with Royce a long time ago I can tell you that he is not a weakling.  However when he competed there was a skill differential between Royce and his opponents.  Royce was trained for Value Tudo, No Holds Barred, UFC type fights.  At the early inception of the UFC his opponents were not.  Now that has changed and people that compete in these type of events have improved drastically and they train specifically for these type of events.  Good solid training both in stand up and grappling arts can give anyone a chance in an encounter.


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## Eternal Beginner (Nov 5, 2006)

You have to take into account that the Gracies have all been doing this since birth practically.  Of course they are skilled.  And yes, size and strength do come into it when we are talking "average" grapplers of similar skill.  But you will always have the phenoms like Marcelo Garcia who grapples guys who have in excess of 100 pounds on him and he still manages to win (see Ricco Rodriguez vs Marcelo Garcia in ADCC absolute).

So yes, size and strength do matter if all things are equal.  But I think we have all seen those skinny guys who manage to squirm their way out of just about anything that the bigs guys try to pin them with.  We have one guy (actually we have several) who are amazing at not letting themselves get into the situation of being pinned or held by guys who are considerably larger than themselves.  This is when you see true skill, a lot of guys will use the excuse of being smaller when really, many times, it is their skill and timing that are off.

My husband (190 lb) has fought men in excess of 250 pounds with similar grappling skills and won.  I myself fought women over 200 pounds ( I run at about 155 when competing) and have won.  So grappling is a combination of skill, technique, strength, and athleticism.


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## Ybot (Nov 5, 2006)

chris_&#3617;&#3623;&#3618;&#3652;&#3607;&#3618;;657133 said:
			
		

> hi , i heard from a lot of people that grappling doesnt have much technique and involves a lot of strength


As FearlessFreep stated, that is absolutely wrong.  Propper technique is very important in grappling.  When done correctly grappling techniques require very little strength.  All about leverage, and using the strength of your entire body versus an isolated part of someone elses body (ex. using your core body muscles versus an opponents single arm in an arm lock).

On a side note though, grapplers do develope amazing strength just through training.  So, I can see how someone might come to the conclusions you previously mentioned about requiring a lot of strength.


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## bushidomartialarts (Nov 5, 2006)

i think it's because he trains like a crazy man.

and i don't mean in the cliched sense of 'crazy man'

i mean like a person who is literally, diagnosably obsessive compulsive about his training would train.

he's dedicated, driven, intelligent and scarily focused.

he's that good because he decided to be that good, made a plan for becoming that good and then pursued that plan relentlessly.

good recipe for success, that.


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## Jonathan Randall (Nov 6, 2006)

bushidomartialarts said:


> i think it's because he trains like a crazy man.
> 
> and i don't mean in the cliched sense of 'crazy man'
> 
> ...


 
Bingo.


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## matt.m (Nov 9, 2006)

Having a judo and hapkido background I will say that all the strength in the world is worthless if you have no skill.  Gracie is good because he is driven to be good.  

That is it, period end of story.


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## Drac (Nov 9, 2006)

It's in the genes..Look at his lineage...


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## Shogun (Nov 9, 2006)

funny thing is, (and don't take this the wrong way) is even though he is one of the more technical grapplers, royce is not by a long shot the best fighter in the family. as its been stated before, royce had almost no fighting experience coming into the first UFCs. he was chosen because he "looks" the part of the weakling. but yeah, he is NOT weak. weaker than most ufc fighters these days in comparision (as far as weght lifting goes) but incredibly pliable.


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