Royce Gracie is one of the founding fathers of MMA, and he’s got a few people he thinks belong in that group with him.
Royce Gracie is, arguably, the single-most influential fighter in MMA history, if not combat sports history. Gracie was not just the face of the early UFC, but a big part of the reason for the success of the early UFC. The whole promotion was, essentially, an advertisement for Gracie jiu-jitsu, showing this small, spindly guy annihilate a bunch of huge martial artists. He is, for all intents and purposes, the George Washington of this strange combat sport, delivering it to the masses, who then picked up the ball and ran with it.
But don’t tell him that. Because while chatting with Georges St-Pierre on his podcast, Gracie left himself off his personal MMA Mount Rushmore, instead putting his father, Helio Gracie, up there.
“I definitely have to put my father in there,” Gracie said. “He’s the one that — my uncle Carlos is the one that first learned, but my father is the one that developed the defensive style, the whole how to defend yourself. He had leverage from the techniques, so he’s the one that developed the whole MMA, and challenged everybody, went for it. So it definitely would have been my father.”
Helio Gracie invented Brazilian jiu-jitsu, adapting judo and catch-wrestling into the grappling system that would come to bear his name and define much of UFC history. He then fought challenge matches to showcase his fighting system, which laid the blueprint for the early UFC.
Gracie then rounded his Mount Rushmore out with much more modern choices, forgoing any early UFC champions, and instead putting in three men widely considered to be among the greatest of all time.
“You would be there,” Gracie told St-Pierre. “I would put Anderson Silva. And if I had to choose four, I would definitely put Jon Jones in there. That would be my four guys that I would choose.”
While Royce Gracie may have left himself off the list, he is one of the inaugural UFC Hall of Famers, winning three of the first four tournaments. Gracie had a 20-fight professional career, competing in the UFC, Pride, and other promotions, finally retiring in 2016. But even though he’s been out of the game for a decade, the original UFC champion still keeps up with the sport, and gave his favorite active fighter, too.
“Today, I like to watch Charles Oliveira,” Gracie said. “I like the kid’s attitude, the way he represents, the way he fights.”
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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
I mean, this is just hilarious.
Respect.
It’s Waldo!
Goals.
We’re simple creatures, Matt.
Sure they are, buddy.
Weili got a new look.
FEED ME MORE
Is that really your FAVORITE thing about it?
FINAL THOUGHTS
Did you see the way GSP’s eyes lit up when Royce put him on his Mount Rushmore? Adorable.
Also, Royce’s list is OK, but his dad has no place on the MMA Mount Rushmore. Mount Rushmore is presidents, not the guys who developed democracy. It’s not like Rousseau and Locke are up there. Helio is out.
The true MMA Mount Rushmore is: Royce, Georges, Conor, Ronda. Those are the four most influential fighters in the history of the sport. That’s really more what the Mount Rushmore is about, not the best. You could, maybe, convince me that GSP should be replaced with Forrest Griffin instead. But I think it’s Georges. He’s the Teddy of the group.
Yell at me if you must.
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