Royce Gracie Interview

[Marginal]

Henderson, I think the point AceHBK was making was that the first few UFC's were wide open to pretty much any style, so the styles claiming street effectiveness should have been able to demonstrate how finger locks etc were superior in a largely unrestricted format.

IMO the claim's a tad pie in the sky since the Gracies were picking the fighters, and in UFC 1's case rigging the cards for good measure. The UFC was designed to showcase BJJ, and prove that it was the ultimate MA. It wasn't supposed to prove the greatness of crosstraining or kickstart the evolution of MMA to what's developed now.

That aside, it's sad that Royce won't even give Sakuraba his due. "He's not a better fighter. He just beat me and every one we sent against him. Doesn't mean he's better."

 

[AceHBK]

Henderson, I think the point AceHBK was making was that the first few UFC's were wide open to pretty much any style, so the styles claiming street effectiveness should have been able to demonstrate how finger locks etc were superior in a largely unrestricted format.

IMO the claim's a tad pie in the sky since the Gracies were picking the fighters, and in UFC 1's case rigging the cards for good measure. The UFC was designed to showcase BJJ, and prove that it was the ultimate MA. It wasn't supposed to prove the greatness of crosstraining or kickstart the evolution of MMA to what's developed now.

That aside, it's sad that Royce won't even give Sakuraba his due. "He's not a better fighter. He just beat me and every one we sent against him. Doesn't mean he's better."

That is exactly it.

UFC is geared to grappling now unlike how the old UFC was.
It is no longer about style but more about the fighter. Nothing wrong with that at all that is why we have boxing and other sports.

And I agree he really needs to give Sakuraba his due.

 

[Henderson]

Now I understand your point.

 

[Andrew Green]

UFC is geared to grappling now unlike how the old UFC was.

err... no, I'd say it's geared to striking if anything. Grappling is present, but most of the rules favour guys wanting to stand and strike over guys wanting to go for submission.

 

[rutherford]

That aside, it's sad that Royce won't even give Sakuraba his due. "He's not a better fighter. He just beat me and every one we sent against him. Doesn't mean he's better."

Royce also doesn't say that he is the better fighter.

The actual quotes:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Cindy: Who has been your toughest opponent? [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Royce: Probably Sakuraba. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Cindy: Forum member (TapOut) wanted me to ask you why it is that Sakuraba has enjoyed success against the Gracie family when no one else can. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Royce: He is a very smart fighter and he had better strategies for those fights. Doesn’t mean he is a better fighter; he was on those days, though. [/FONT]

 

[Andrew Green]

No Gracie is going to admit someone outside the family is better then them

 

[rutherford]

Should they?

I don't think any currently competing fighter should admit even to themselves that another fighter is hands down better. Otherwise, what's the point of getting in the ring?

 

[Marginal]

Royce also doesn't say that he is the better fighter.

The actual quotes:
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Royce: He is a very smart fighter and he had better strategies for those fights. Doesn’t mean he is a better fighter; he was on those days, though. [/FONT]

All that says is he's not better than Royce.

 

[swiftpete]

Well he at least does show him some respect by saying he was his toughest opponent and that he was a better fighter on that day. I watched that fight the other day, looked completely exhausting. But after the fight the first thing he does is go and shake hands with royce's facther and there is some general mutual respect all round which is good to see. I hate to see fights where they can't shake hands after and one of them is a bad loser.
I personally think the earlier UFC's were more interesting than todays version, anything against anyone was cool, seeing the different sizes and styles was great. There were some really brutal beatings earlier from complete mismatches as well its true but that all made it more interesting.

 

[James Patrick]

Good point. Royce is still a winner, in my book, regardless of whether he loses to Hughes or not. How many people have Royces fight record and longevity? Let's see, uh...

Royce Gracie fight record is 14-2-3, thats not that great seeing how he is going up someone who is 38-4 and as far as him fighting Chad Rowan (the 490lb guy), his record is 0-3.