Can the Gracies reinvent themselves?

[777R]

With all the history, all the dojos and a solid capital stream through memberships and products, the Gracies are not a dominant force in championship mma these days from what I see.

Can't remember the last time a Gracie held a belt in the UFC (Nate Diaz?) or any other major org that I can remember. Please name them if you know. Does anyone remember Cesar Gracie's debut vs Frank Shamrock? Or Rolles Gracie's debut? I know they were years ago but what has really changed?

I know that the sport has developed past their glory years, but can they reinvent themselves to be the serious force they (and their students) once were? When you think of "Gracie trained" today, you generally think - solid grappling/decent (not solid) striking.
This is not going to maintain the aura of the family name, tonight I saw Jake Shields get lit up tonight by Ray Cooper III, every submission Jake tried, he took striking damage while never threatening with strikes.

I felt bad for Jake, looked one dimensional and a step behind in the striking dept. He took tons of damage and his jiu jitsu never set him up to gain an advantage. Does Gracie jiu jitsu needed to be obsessed with striking now that they wrote the book on grappling?

 

[Arm Barbarian]

They would do well to cross train in wrestling and some form of striking, like Muay Thai.

 

[Goon Dog]

It's called Mixed Martial Arts. The Gracies dominated for a while because virtually no one else had their ground and submission skills, as well as defense against those submissions. Rickson said the ground was his ocean, he was a shark, and most people can't even swim. As others developed mixed games, the Gracies arrogantly held onto the art they "invented" rather then accepting others and creating a diverse game. They have never recovered.

 

[JokerOfThePack]

Yeah they could call themselves the grossies

And take their fight to the grocery store. Whoever needs the most cops to remove them from the building wins

 

[BC]

Feed him more

 

[Pakman]

Kron is a stud

 

[Workaholic]

Brian Ortega is a Gracie fighter and is about to fight for a title

I'm not going to pick him against Max but I didn't pick him against Frankie either and look how that turned out...

 

[gono btw]

It's called Mixed Martial Arts. The Gracies dominated for a while because virtually no one else had their ground and submission skills, as well as defense against those submissions. Rickson said the ground was his ocean, he was a shark, and most people can't even swim. As others developed mixed games, the Gracies arrogantly held onto the art they "invented" rather then accepting others and creating a diverse game. They have never recovered.

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/deconstructing-mma-myths-part-9.3826197/

 

[Haj01]

First Gracie jiujitsu

Now Gracie boxing

Next Gracie wrestling.

 

[777R]

It's called Mixed Martial Arts. The Gracies dominated for a while because virtually no one else had their ground and submission skills, as well as defense against those submissions. Rickson said the ground was his ocean, he was a shark, and most people can't even swim. As others developed mixed games, the Gracies arrogantly held onto the art they "invented" rather then accepting others and creating a diverse game. They have never recovered.

Their early Vale Tudo matches demonstrated that they could really mix it up stylistically and fight anyone, when the UFC adopted the Boxing commission rules to make the sport legal again it seems like you said, they held on to only the dojo belt system jiu jitsu stuff.

They need striking based belts also I think to show where someone is their total development as a fighter, not just someone that prays they can get the fight to the ground without taking too much damage.

 

[777R]

First Gracie jiujitsu

Now Gracie boxing

Next Gracie wrestling.

Very nicely put. Very sensible based on the present and the future of martial arts and self defense.

 

[gono btw]

Feed him more

"I Want Some, too!"

 

[lostdog000]

closest thing we got to a dominant gracie is T-city

 

[M.A.G.A.]

Gracies have to hespect the fact that MMA has evolved

 

[superpunch]

No, Roger was the best chance they had. 6'4", GOAT grappler. You couldn't ask for anything more.

But they're just so slow twitch. It's kind of crazy. In the lottery of toughness, they're champions. In the lottery of muscle fibers, they're the worst in the world. They're doomed to be slow twitch dominated forever it seems.

 

[Hypetrainofthemonth]

No, sambo has already been invented. (A mainly grappling/judo with striking included sport/art form)

 

[777R]

Brian Ortega is a Gracie fighter and is about to fight for a title

I'm not going to pick him against Max but I didn't pick him against Frankie either and look how that turned out...

Thanks, I didn't realize he was Gracie fighter. His hard hitting style plus grappling skills is exactly what I'd like to see more of.

 

[777R]

No, Roger was the best chance they had. 6'4", GOAT grappler. You couldn't ask for anything more.

But they're just so slow twitch. It's kind of crazy. In the lottery of toughness, they're champions. In the lottery of muscle fibers, they're the worst in the world. They're doomed to be slow twitch dominated forever it seems.

Fascinating observation, this is the REAL dilemma to some degree.

I always wished Rickson kidnapped Randleman and forced him to usher in the most brutal fast twitch submissions with ballistic GnP.

 

[777R]

No, sambo has already been invented. (A mainly grappling/judo with striking included sport/art form)

Haven't the sambo guys (not including Khabib) had only slight success in the UFC? Isn't Taktarov the most famous and successful Sambo guy besides Khabb?

 

[SCTwins]

They could but they're too stubborn.