- Joined
- Jul 2, 2007
- Messages
- 27,040
- Reaction score
- 13,096
Royce was certainly not an elite athlete, but he had been training in BJJ since he was a toddler and doing Gracie Challenge matches for years before the UFC. So he had a huge edge in skill and experience. Ken Shamrock had only been doing Pancrase for a year and had a high school wrestling background. There were some talented strikers at UFC 1 (Gordeau and Pat Smith) but they were clueless on the ground.Fair enough. I think you could say Royce but he was a multi tournament winner
Champion wise sad to say but id say the late and great Evan Tanner.
All of that to say I wouldn't count Royce in this because he had a huge edge in other areas until NHB caught up with him. What's really impressive is to see an average athlete work really hard and succeed in a sport where his competitors have similar skills and training.