Was Royce Gracie past it When he fought Matt Hughes?

[arrmike]

The Royce from the second Sakuraba or Yoshida fights has a chance. Those fights showed he had a decent top game even against a later generation of stronger and better rounded fighters.

Yes I know he was on gear. And I would never favor him over Hughes as long as Hughes had already started training submissions.

Renzo, who had better kickboxing than Royce, could not survive toe-to-toe with Hughes.

Btw, I know that the Hughes fight occurred between those two. But those performances show me that there is a scenario where he gets and maintains an advantage over Hughes.

 

[cunglaowins]

well, he was 'prime' when he got busted

 

[WAR RANDLEMAN!]

if a 16 year old Brock Lesnar fought at UFC 1 we'd never even hear about jiujitsu

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Hughes was a monster, no version of Royce would've beat him

 

[Darwinambrosius]

Look at me, I'm on Sherdog, starting arguments trying to look cool.

He asked about where you rate Royce and his abilities.

I discussed his abilities and how Hughes had to usurp them to beat him later on.

Now fuck off.

Triggered lol. Now we're moving the goalposts.

 

[kaya]

Matt Hughes is actually better at BJJ than Royce.

 

[MMAFan232]

Any version of royce would have led to the same outome. The game had just evolved past him

 

[gfunkwave]

Royce is one of the greatest one-dimensional fighters ever with heart, but that could only take him so far....Hughes was a beast and never worried much about Royce's weak striking and lack of wrestling ability.

 

[Pvt. Joker]

This thread delivers!

 

[shaffmeister]

Of course

 

[Fullmount Triangle]

Royce Gracie was past it when he fought Sakuraba 6 years earlier, not super past it mind you, but he had been retired for 5 years and had only beaten Takada.

Royce's skillset, as were most of the gracies, was exposed in PRIDE as boring and greatly depended on inexperience on the part of the other person.

 

[laleggenda27]

Was Royce past his prime? Of course. The guy was 39 and had fought 3 times in the last 6 years. That being said, Hughes beats any version of Royce. Hughes was a more well-rounded grappler, had better striking, and was a better athlete.

Royce was a pioneer of the sport. But the sport evolved, as all sports do.

 

[felmmando]

Gracie wasn't past it; the sport had passed him by by the time he fought Hughes. He was basically the same one-dimensional fighter taking on someone with a much wider arsenal.

 

[Richard Fannin]

The Royce from the second Sakuraba or Yoshida fights has a chance. Those fights showed he had a decent top game even against a later generation of stronger and better rounded fighters.

I don't really want to re-watch Saku/Royce 2, but didn't Royce spend the entire fight on his back trying to kick Saku's knees?

Royce/Yoshida (both matches) were interesting grappling bouts though.

 

[copyandpasteguy]

In my estimation, the guys Royce fought back in the mid 90's were not as good generally.

I consider Hoyce to be kind of untested.
Drew in a terrible fight with Shamrock, got a sub against him, sub'd an unathletic terrible striker Severn, Sub'd Leopoldo and that was propably the toughest opponent he had to face.

Royce was good, but I think he is overrated by alot of you people.

 

[tramendous]

Look at me, I'm on Sherdog, starting arguments trying to look cool.

He asked about where you rate Royce and his abilities.

I discussed his abilities and how Hughes had to usurp them to beat him later on.

Now fuck off.

thanks for the ass hurt post. many lols were had

 

[Benoitthegr8]

Royce fought when sanctioning was determined by purchasing an event permit from the city of Dothan Alabama.

 

[TeTe]

I dont think so, royce was never a particularly strong guy and usually had trouble with wrestlers who didnt know shit about bjj. Hughs was pretty well versed in both and my guess is he would have beaten royce regardless of age.

Ken Shamrock was a lot stronger than Royce though

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

Any version of royce would have led to the same outome. The game had just evolved past him

The game took just over a year to evolve past Royce.

 

[TeTe]

Matt Hughes is actually better at BJJ than Royce.

Prime Gracie is better at JJ than prime Hughes. But again, Hughes beats Gracie for other reasons.

I still think prime Gracie vs prime Hughes is a tough one to call. Hughes still has all the ability to win still.. but Gracie was a much better athlete back when he was fighting Severn and Shamrock.