Rickson Gracie FAQ

Title Fight Productions said:
Per Wilson Junior. Head of Carlson Gracie team UK.
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What a freakin sav!

It sucks most people nowadays won't know the full extent of Rickson's fighting days other than a few Pride fights.

I wonder if Royler or Renzo had many challenge fights. I know Royce did (in the states anyways).
 
Rickson is mind-blowingly skilled in jiujitsu. We could all learn from him in that you don't need to get fancy to dominate.
 
I think I reread this post every few months. Team Rickson for life
 
This was incredibly informative, thank you to everyone who provided all this info.
 
where does Rickson teach in Rio ? i am going down in july and would love to train with him
 
Read this thread for the 3rd time now Its good stuff. anymore info on if anything happened with rorion and rickson percides what's been put in this thread and in the Latest gracie valetudo docu
 
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HanaiBrother said:
First off, this is an amazing thread. Kudos to everyone for supplying such a wealth of knowledge.

Second, does anyone know why Bas Rutten vs Rickson Gracie never materialized? In the link below, Rickson is visibly present in the audience and Bas challenges him immediately after defeating Kengo Watanabe. This was September 14, 1998, and both fighters would each fight twice more before retiring due to tragedy and injury, respectively. So what happened to arguably the biggest unrealized Rickson Gracie fight (besides Sakuraba, of course)?

Bas Rutten vs Kengo Watanabe
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Rickson didn't want none with any of the talented fighters of his time. He could have fought anyone he wanted. He chose Takada and a retired Funaki.

Amazing BJJ player, legend, and instructor, certainly. But he was scared of fighting truly skilled fighters that weren't just bums in Brazil or VTJ.
 
Herfavcolor90 said:
Rickson didn't want none with any of the talented fighters of his time. He could have fought anyone he wanted. He chose Takada and a retired Funaki.

Amazing BJJ player, legend, and instructor, certainly. But he was scared of fighting truly skilled fighters that weren't just bums in Brazil or VTJ.
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And he never (or rarely at most) produced notable fighters - neither BJJ competitors nor MMA fighters. If he knows all this invisible stuff, why on earth is noone - who has studied with him for more than a decade - stepping up and using it in MMA?
 
Herfavcolor90 said:
Rickson didn't want none with any of the talented fighters of his time. He could have fought anyone he wanted. He chose Takada and a retired Funaki.

Amazing BJJ player, legend, and instructor, certainly. But he was scared of fighting truly skilled fighters that weren't just bums in Brazil or VTJ.
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That's always been my impression. I don't think Rickson would have necessarily lost that fight, but he wasn't in the business of taking fights he wasn't 99% certain he'd win. Whether that was a personal thing or he just wanted to protect his legacy for his family's sake, who can say? But I feel like at the end of his career he definitely did duck tough fights.
 
Uchi Mata said:
That's always been my impression. I don't think Rickson would have necessarily lost that fight, but he wasn't in the business of taking fights he wasn't 99% certain he'd win. Whether that was a personal thing or he just wanted to protect his legacy for his family's sake, who can say? But I feel like at the end of his career he definitely did duck tough fights.
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I think he simply wanted to get paid what he felt he was worth. He WAS the king of the hill at the time and greatly admired in Japan. He had already retired before MMA got "big". People talk about a "retired" Funaki. Well, Rickson was basically retired as well. Oh...and Funaki was 10 years YOUNGER than Rickson (41 vs. 31) and 20 pounds HEAVIER (205 vs 185.) He was also very active in '97 and '98 with a couple of fights in '99 to boot. Rickson fought once in '97 and once in '98. If either fighter should have been considered retired it's Rickson. Rickson existed in a world BEFORE MMA. He STARTED Pride. He STARTED the Japan Vale Tudo's. He was also in negotiations to fight Sakuraba when Rockson died at which point he said it wasn't worth it (in late 2000...at the age of 42.) He would have fought Bas in a heartbeat if the money was right but he was already done. What was he supposed to do? Fight every guy that called him out into his 50's? I think people that say Rickson "ducked" fighters are off their freaking rockers.
 
Ninjamurf said:
I think he simply wanted to get paid what he felt he was worth. He WAS the king of the hill at the time and greatly admired in Japan. He had already retired before MMA got "big". People talk about a "retired" Funaki. Well, Rickson was basically retired as well. Oh...and Funaki was 10 years YOUNGER than Rickson (41 vs. 31) and 20 pounds HEAVIER (205 vs 185.) He was also very active in '97 and '98 with a couple of fights in '99 to boot. Rickson fought once in '97 and once in '98. If either fighter should have been considered retired it's Rickson. Rickson existed in a world BEFORE MMA. He STARTED Pride. He STARTED the Japan Vale Tudo's. He was also in negotiations to fight Sakuraba when Rockson died at which point he said it wasn't worth it (in late 2000...at the age of 42.) He would have fought Bas in a heartbeat if the money was right but he was already done. What was he supposed to do? Fight every guy that called him out into his 50's? I think people that say Rickson "ducked" fighters are off their freaking rockers.
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Thank you.
 
Ninjamurf said:
I think he simply wanted to get paid what he felt he was worth. He WAS the king of the hill at the time and greatly admired in Japan. He had already retired before MMA got "big". People talk about a "retired" Funaki. Well, Rickson was basically retired as well. Oh...and Funaki was 10 years YOUNGER than Rickson (41 vs. 31) and 20 pounds HEAVIER (205 vs 185.) He was also very active in '97 and '98 with a couple of fights in '99 to boot. Rickson fought once in '97 and once in '98. If either fighter should have been considered retired it's Rickson. Rickson existed in a world BEFORE MMA. He STARTED Pride. He STARTED the Japan Vale Tudo's. He was also in negotiations to fight Sakuraba when Rockson died at which point he said it wasn't worth it (in late 2000...at the age of 42.) He would have fought Bas in a heartbeat if the money was right but he was already done. What was he supposed to do? Fight every guy that called him out into his 50's? I think people that say Rickson "ducked" fighters are off their freaking rockers.
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This is the most compelling argument I've seen for Rickson not ducking guys, the only counterpoint I would offer is that most fighters, upon retiring, stop claiming to the be the best in the world and capable of beating anyone. I think as long as Rickson maintained that line of talk (which he certainly did through the early 2000s), then he's accountable to back it up against top guys. Probably the better thing would have been if he'd simply admitted age caught up with him, but that really wouldn't be Rickson's style.
 
PointyShinyBurn said:
People keep saying this, but it isn't true. Here's Rickson talking about fighting Sakuraba, or anybody else, for the right money in 2001: http://www.global-training-report.com/rickson3.htm
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Rickson stopped negotiating for the fight when his son died. He wanted to spend more time with his family. Even on pages linked in the interview you posted he makes that clear. For years after, he kept saying he would be willing to fight for the right money but he never did.

Rockson's death is the reason he didn't fight Sakuraba in 2000/2001. Why he didn't fight after that we don't know. He was already very accomplished at this point, had been fighting for 20 years, and was in his 40s. It isn't hard to believe that he wasn't really interested in fighting anymore but just didn't want to admit it to himself until recently.
 
bjh13 said:
Rickson stopped negotiating for the fight when his son died. He wanted to spend more time with his family. Even on pages linked in the interview you posted he makes that clear. For years after, he kept saying he would be willing to fight for the right money but he never did.

Rockson's death is the reason he didn't fight Sakuraba in 2000/2001. Why he didn't fight after that we don't know. He was already very accomplished at this point, had been fighting for 20 years, and was in his 40s. It isn't hard to believe that he wasn't really interested in fighting anymore but just didn't want to admit it to himself until recently.
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I'm new to all of this (bjj/mma) and have no authority whatsoever to comment on anything but one issue-no one who has not experienced the loss of their own child should ever comment on the behavior of someone who has. Life from that moment on is about mental, and sometimes physical, survival, nothing more. Giving two shits about who wants to fight him or who wants to see it or who wants to heckle from the peanut gallery, imo, would not have even registered on this man's (Rickson's) radar, or anyone else who suffered through that.
 
I can't believe these argument still exist :/

Yes, Rickson isn't invincible as the Gracie machine would have you believe. Yes, most of his opponent really sucked by today's standards. And,yes it's true that he surely wouldn't fare well against many of the new guys in his weight class, let alone 60+lbs heavier than him as he did in the past.

However, in all likelihood if he were coming of age in 2013 he was talented enough in many ways that he'd probably be an MMA phenom. But, that's not a reality and therefore hypothetical. Instead, he was part of the era and cohort that helped start it all and was a middle aged man before MMA really started to evolve in a big way.

Enjoy the history and the lessons for what they're worth. Leave the speculation to those wearing tapout and eating potato chips.

 
I heard that in an interview with Rickson in the past, he was asked who after him is the next best jiu jitsu practitioner, and he stated he thought it was Eduardo Telles. Anyone know if this is true and/or have a link to the interview?
 
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