MJW says Rickson was hand picking early UFC competition

[Area809]

I thought we were done throwing shade on the Gracies. Someone is still doing that in 2025?

 

[HavokHarmon]

Half true. Gracie’s stayed away from certain people and disciplines, but they definitely weren’t avoiding kickboxers lol. Strikers who didn’t know a lick of grappling were exactly the kind of people they wanted.

 

[IDGETKTFO]

Did he win any of his fights by arm bar?

450

 

[Hdfi]

One of the worst examples was that bizarre tournament that Renzo and Eric Paulsen fought in. Paulsen had to fight a much larger kickboxer in what was essentially a kickboxing match with no submissions. Renzo was able to grapple in every match and submitted the same kickboxer.

WCC wasn't owned by the Gracies and they had nothing to do with the rules and matchmaking. The event was organized by Christopher Peters.

 

[Lee Danger]

WCC wasn't owned by the Gracies and they had nothing to do with the rules and matchmaking. The event was organized by Christopher Peters.

Gracies used to have a tendency in negotiating special (ridiculous) rules for their matches before signing a contract.

It's documented, for example, how they pretended that Rufino Dos Santos had to wear a full suit with necktie, shoes etc when fighting Carlos.

 

[CerebralKnievel]

Rickson was also not 100% and had to fight 3 guys in the same night under the same rules.

and Rickson deliberately tried not to take advantage of Nakai's injury.

Early MMA is just so bizarre to begin debating, as there are so many inconsistencies. Nakai deserves tremendous respect for competing there as I believe the smallest guy, and beating Gerard, but he looked exhausted in the Rickson bout. I mean, he was a professional wrestler, no? I know he's an accomplished judoka as well, but overall I'd say he was a brief overachiever, if anything. Just another odd character in the formative years of the sport.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

He’s not wrong, but he’s still a douche. He’s exactly the kind of tma practicioner that the Gracies used to feed on. Apparently, he has trained BJJ, but I can’t tell if it was for any meaningful amount of time or if he ever competed.

 

[bubbleboyjones]

Obviously it was cherry picked. Rumor has it Rickson was terrified that Chuck Zito would enter as they known Royce had no shot against someone with White Crane and Tigerclaw Kung Fu training.

 

[PeterGriffin]

Obviously it was cherry picked. Rumor has it Rickson was terrified that Chuck Zito would enter as they known Royce had no shot against someone with White Crane and Tigerclaw Kung Fu training.

No way was the Gracies going to do business with Charming Chuck. If he'll bitchslap Gary Busey and knock JCVD down, there are no limits to this man's FAFO-fu.

 

[PeterGriffin]

Wait, this still comes as a surprise to some people?

In the original bracketing for UFC... Royce Gracie was supposed to be Gegard Gordeau's first opponent, and yes, it was deliberately changed to have Gordeau face Tuli first instead where he immediately broke his hand and foot. He would have murdered Roye had that fight gone through. Rosier wasn't a high-level opponent in Gordeau's second fight of the night, but Gegard winning making it to the final with a broken hand and foot is damn impressive considering now guys drop out over a broken toe. I believe a healthy Gordeau that night would have beaten him, but such is life.

What the Gracies did back then, Dana still does now for the privileged fighters in his good books and he has become the very same boxing promoter he used to bitch about and ridicule.

 

[JustforBROCK]

MJW why is this guy an actual talking head? He doesn’t have the right to talk on the Gracies man..

Guy never made one good movie, all those shits went straight to DVD.

Regardless of what he thinks about early UFC, Royce / Rickson actually competed. Royce still had to beat Ken Shamrock, and jacked monsters like Kimo who outweighed him by like 50lbs.

Pantoja just proved again on the weekend that bjj is fundamentally relevant / important in mma.

Sick of seeing this guy wax poetic on every subject under the sun like he’s an authority on it. You ain’t the Kobe of martial arts man, you acted in some b grade movies.. time to stfu.

Are you fuckung retarded? This has been common knowledge for close to 20 years.

 

[mkt]

WCC wasn't owned by the Gracies and they had nothing to do with the rules and matchmaking. The event was organized by Christopher Peters.

The Gracies didn't want to compete against anyone they taught, so Paulson entered the striker's division. After the tournament, Rickson kicked Paulson out of the Gracie camp completely with no explanation, so he went to train with the Machados. Typical Gracie sleazy behavior.

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[mkt]

I thought we were done throwing shade on the Gracies. Someone is still doing that in 2025?

Nah. We can also talk about that Brazilian catch wrestler in the 1930s whom the Gracies didn't want to face, so they jumped him and left him with permanent damage. We're just getting started!

 

[Area809]

Nah. We can also talk about that Brazilian catch wrestler in the 1930s whom the Gracies didn't want to face, so they jumped him and left him with permanent damage. We're just getting started!

Go for it lol

 

[mkt]

Go for it lol

Sure thing!

 

[mkt]

While I'm pretty critical of the Gracies, I will say that contrary to some rumors, this was NOT of the fighters they kept out of UFC 1.

 

[Area809]

Sure thing!

I just figured people were over the Gracies by now. I guess not lol.