Why did Roger Gracie quit competing?

Readybodisready

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Why did Roger Gracie quit doing grappling matches isn't he like the GOAT? He doesn't even do MMA anymore either. He's just running his gym now or what? Seems like a waste of talent.
 
Because do MMA, albeit intermittently.
 
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My assumption is that he's making a better living traveling and doing seminars than competing in bjj and fighting mma. And there's way less brain trauma teaching
 
He's way past his 30ies, won everythin he could against the best possible in bjj/submission highest level, I don't think he has anything to prove at this point. And MMA went the way it went (not this good).

I read somewhere that maybe he'll do next Ibjjf Pro btw, but if he does I really really hope he's sure of himself and his level after all this time not seriously competing, my inner fanboy would hate to see Roger subbed or schooled by some new gen guy
 
He's way past his 30ies, won everythin he could against the best possible in bjj/submission highest level, I don't think he has anything to prove at this point. And MMA went the way it went (not this good).

I read somewhere that maybe he'll do next Ibjjf Pro btw, but if he does I really really hope he's sure of himself and his level after all this time not seriously competing, my inner fanboy would hate to see Roger subbed or schooled by some new gen guy

That won't happen, there's not one person in the world who's going to school roger, he could lose, no one is schooling him though
 
I suspect after many years focusing on his training and winning everything he decided to shift focus to his businesses and family. Can't blame the man for that!
 
Why did Roger Gracie quit doing grappling matches isn't he like the GOAT? He doesn't even do MMA anymore either. He's just running his gym now or what? Seems like a waste of talent.

It's hard to say that a guy who won 10 or 11 Mundials golds, a few ADCC golds, and has UFC wins wasted his talent. He's no spring chicken, it makes sense to focus more on developing his business these days.
 
It's hard to say that a guy who won 10 or 11 Mundials golds, a few ADCC golds, and has UFC wins wasted his talent. He's no spring chicken, it makes sense to focus more on developing his business these days.

He's no spring chicken anymore, but at the time of his last grappling matches he was at his absolute peak and he could have definitely had many more years of this dominance and gotten a type of resume that nobody else will ever even come close to matching. He's GOAT now, but he could have been God-level. Imo that's a bit of talent wasted.

If only he never got the failed idea of doing MMA in his mind.
 
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He's no spring chicken anymore, but at the time of his last grappling matches he was at his absolute peak and he could have definitely had many more years of this dominance and gotten a type of resume that nobody else will ever even come close to matching. He's GOAT now, but he could have been God-level. Imo that's a bit of talent wasted.

If only he never got the failed idea of doing MMA in his mind.

I don't think he failed at MMA. He wasn't a champion, but he won some good fights. I also don't think he had anything else to prove in pure grappling. There was literally no one he didn't beat of his era. At some point while it's cool to keep sustaining dominance it doesn't really tell you any more about who a person is as a competitor other than their ability to continue being successful as they age. I mean, take a guy like Demetrious Johnson. What more will we learn about him as a fighter if he beats Wilson Reis to defend his title for the 10th time? We already know he's the GOAT flyweight, at this point every win just confirms what we already know. It wouldn't really be possible for him to improve in my estimation as a fighter, same thing with Roger.
 
I don't think he failed at MMA. He wasn't a champion, but he won some good fights. I also don't think he had anything else to prove in pure grappling. There was literally no one he didn't beat of his era. At some point while it's cool to keep sustaining dominance it doesn't really tell you any more about who a person is as a competitor other than their ability to continue being successful as they age. I mean, take a guy like Demetrious Johnson. What more will we learn about him as a fighter if he beats Wilson Reis to defend his title for the 10th time? We already know he's the GOAT flyweight, at this point every win just confirms what we already know. It wouldn't really be possible for him to improve in my estimation as a fighter, same thing with Roger.

You think long term, legacy, records that can or can't be broken etc. If you cement a place in history that nobody else may ever pass, it's a very good motivation and goal imo.

I'm not a follower of this sport btw, more of a casual fan. since his retirement have there been new competitors that could give him a run for his money?
 
Finish on top. Don't tarnish your legacy.
 
You think long term, legacy, records that can or can't be broken etc. If you cement a place in history that nobody else may ever pass, it's a very good motivation and goal imo.

I'm not a follower of this sport btw, more of a casual fan. since his retirement have there been new competitors that could give him a run for his money?

I think you misunderstand the motivation of people. In his own words Roger never started competing to be a world champion or whatever, he just wanted to test his jiu jitsu. I'm sure moving to MMA when he did was another challenge to test himself while he still had years in his prime. With hindsight its easy for someone like you to say because his MMA career wasn't as successful as his grappling career it was a waste of time but I doubt anyone here who has ever competed on the mat or anywhere else would regret the fact they competed and lost whether they were world champions or at some local tournament.

Legacy is something for other people to work out, Roger can't control whether someone wins 20 mundials in the future and it would be pointless for him to keep trying to add wins to safeguard against that eventuality, especially if he has other shit he wants to do. You only have to look at boxing to see how athletes who obsess over legacy can damage the sport, starting with record padding at the beginning of careers to very careful fight selection to maintain unbeaten records etc. When the best do fight the best in boxing its always 5 years too late and generally underwhelming.

Also an athletes prime is more complex than how old they are, a better indication is how long they have been training/competing in their sport. Roger's first worlds win at black belt was in 2004 and his last was in 2010 and he was competing seriously at least since 2000 where he won worlds at blue. 10 years is a fairly good run of continuous competition at mostly the highest level and is longer than most people can maintain their athletic prime. Rogers MMA run was more remarkable in that he switched relatively late and was able to perform at the level he did.

Finish on top. Don't tarnish your legacy.

I would argue that Roger ended his grappling career perfectly, he achieved an incredible amount and left enough in the tank to test himself in MMA. Furthermore he came back to Metamoris and fought Buchecha which functioned as a symbolic passing of the torch to the new generation where he put on a fantastic match against an insanely gifted young grappler and athlete. If he never competed again I would be fine with it.
 
He's no spring chicken anymore, but at the time of his last grappling matches he was at his absolute peak and he could have definitely had many more years of this dominance and gotten a type of resume that nobody else will ever even come close to matching. He's GOAT now, but he could have been God-level. Imo that's a bit of talent wasted.

If only he never got the failed idea of doing MMA in his mind.
He fought at the highest level of the sport and that's failure? Do you know how many people aspire to make it on a pro show, much less a televised fight? What does one more gold medal do for him? Does it make him more money? Can he charge MORE for a seminar? Can he charge a higher price for people who come to his school? What tangible benefit could he have from having 1 more Worlds gold/Absolute gold? Hold on, I'll wait while you tell me something about his legacy...

He conquered all that is BJJ/grappling with Worlds/ADCC so he took on a new challenge and fought for the biggest promotion in the world losing to a Top level guy in Tim Kennedy. He compiled an 8-2 pro record but he failed? He wasted his talent? As far as God level legacy here is something I've posted in the past.

2009-2010 Worlds 15 wins (Weight and Absolute) 13 of them submissions, 1 by points, 1 due to injury (Romulo gut hurt in weight, couldn't finish absolute. 13 of 14 fights Submissions...majority Cross choke from mount. People he subbed: Romulo Barral, Demente, Bruno Bastos, Taris Humphrey's, Cavaca, Claudio Calasans, Lovato Jr, And Faria.

2005 ADCC - Absolute and weight champion. Submitted everyone he faced on his way to a double gold something no one else has done. Submissions: Xande x2, Werdum, Jacare, Shinya Aoki. Dude was an absolute monster. Also has not been submitted in competition since he was a blue belt.

No one has every come close to doing any of this. He has the most dominant run in BJJ/Grappling history at ADCC and Worlds those 2 years. Seriously this is laughable that he "wasted" anything. Christ.
 
You think long term, legacy, records that can or can't be broken etc. If you cement a place in history that nobody else may ever pass, it's a very good motivation and goal imo.

I'm not a follower of this sport btw, more of a casual fan. since his retirement have there been new competitors that could give him a run for his money?

There are always new guys. He had one match against Buchecha that ended in a draw, but it would have been fun to see them compete more. Rodolfo Vieira would have been a fun match too when he was still focused on BJJ.
 
i really want to see him rematch buchecha in grappling
 
You think long term, legacy, records that can or can't be broken etc. If you cement a place in history that nobody else may ever pass, it's a very good motivation and goal imo.

I'm not a follower of this sport btw, more of a casual fan. since his retirement have there been new competitors that could give him a run for his money?

He already cemented himself as the most dominant gi grappler of all time, not to mention, probably the most dangerous one at that. No one submitted their opponents with the frequency that Roger did, and it did it at the highest level for a decade straight.

Nothing about his career was a failure.
 
Lots of shitting on Roger in this thread. the man took amazing chances and came up as less than the best in exactly one of them. he's a goddamn hero, imo
 
Did we all forget he is the ONE FC LHW champion still?
 
He left when he did to focus on MMA. Even though he was 28 when he last competed in the Mundials, he has competed a few times since then in superfights. 28 years old is a good age to go after any goals he may have had in MMA. Other than a few losses, he has done quite well in MMA. Not high level victories like Jacare or Werdum but he has done well in his MMA career and holds a belt currently if I remember correctly. As a fan, I would have liked to have seen him compete against the monsters that showed up on the BJJ scene after he left: Rodolfo, Buchecha( in a tournament setting), Leandro Lo, etc. But he is competing in the Heavyweight GP later this year as a farewell. So we have that to look forward to.
 
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