Royce Gracie is a Brazilian retired professional mixed martial artist, a UFC Hall of Famer, and a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu practitioner.
63 Facts About Royce Gracie
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Royce Gracie competed at PRIDE Fighting Championships, K-1's MMA events and at Bellator.
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Royce Gracie gained fame for his success in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
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Royce Gracie used his skills in submission grappling to defeat larger and heavier opponents, which made him a major exponent of and helped popularize Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
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Royce Gracie was known for his rivalry with Ken Shamrock, whom he beat in UFC 1 and then fought to a draw in the Superfight Championship rematch at UFC 5.
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Royce Gracie popularized Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and revolutionized mixed martial arts with his results contributing to the movement towards grappling and ground fighting in the sport.
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In 2008, Royce Gracie was ranked by Inside MMA as the third-greatest mixed martial arts fighter of all time.
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Royce Gracie was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1966.
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One of the nine sons of jiu-jitsu grandmaster Helio Royce Gracie, having learned the art from his father since his childhood.
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Royce Gracie had his first competition at age 8 and started teaching classes when he was 14 years old.
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When he was 17, Royce Gracie was awarded a black belt by his father, Helio.
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Rorion said he picked Royce Gracie to represent the family's art because of his skinnier and smaller frame, to show how a small person can defeat a bigger opponent using jiu-jitsu.
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Royce Gracie entered the tournament wearing his iconic Brazilian jiu-jitsu gi.
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Royce Gracie tackled him to the ground using a baiana and obtained the dominant "mounted" position.
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Royce Gracie started the round by attempting a double-leg, which was defended by Shamrock with a sprawl, and Shamrock attempted to stand up back to his feet.
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Royce Gracie then responded by pulling Shamrock to his guard and started to do small kicks into Shamrock's kidneys, but he got out from his guard and attempted to pull Royce Gracie into a heel hook, as he had done with Patrick Smith similarly before.
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Royce Gracie then proceeded to take Shamrock's back and used his own gi to secure a rear naked choke.
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Shamrock tapped out to Royce Gracie's choke, but the referee did not see the tap and ordered both fighters to continue the match.
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Shamrock then admitted defeat to the referee, saying it would not be fair, and Royce Gracie was declared the bout's victor, with both fighters exchanging a handshake after some taunting.
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Royce Gracie fought in the finals against karate Kyokushin practitioner and savate world champion Gerard Gordeau.
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Royce Gracie managed to take his opponent to the ground and secure a rear choke, winning the bout.
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Royce Gracie retaliated by holding the choke after Gordeau had tapped out, with the Dutchman tapping in panic before they were separated by a referee.
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Royce Gracie was then declared the "Ultimate Fighting Champion" and was awarded $50,000 in prize money.
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Shamrock especially wanted a rematch as, according to him, Royce Gracie had used the gi to favor his grappling while he had not been allowed to use wrestling shoes by the promoters, which he considered an unfair advantage to Royce Gracie.
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Royce Gracie returned to defend his title four months later at UFC 2, this tournament would have sixteen fighters and he would have to defeat four opponents in order to become the champion.
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Royce Gracie began his defense of the title by submitting Japanese Karatedo Daido Juku and Kyokushin karateka Minoki Ichihara after a five-minute bout, his longest yet, with a lapel choke.
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Royce Gracie submitted DeLucia via armbar just over a minute into the bout.
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Royce Gracie then submitted 250-lb Judo and Taekwondo black belt Remco Pardoel with a lapel choke, and arrived at the finals against kickboxer Patrick Smith, who had previously participated at UFC 1.
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Royce Gracie entered UFC 3 now as twice-champion and as the favorite to win.
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Royce Gracie was matched up in the first round against Kimo Leopoldo, a representative of Taekwondo and former high school wrestler.
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Royce Gracie entered into the ring and threw in the towel.
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Royce Gracie began the UFC 4 by submitting 51-year-old Karateka and Kung fu film actor Ron van Clief in the opening round with a rear-naked choke near the four-minute mark.
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However Royce Gracie eventually managed to secure a triangle choke for the submission victory at 15:49 of round one.
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At UFC 45 in November 2003, at the ten-year anniversary of the UFC, Shamrock and Royce Gracie became the first inductees into the UFC Hall of Fame.
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Royce Gracie was originally going to debut in PRIDE Fighting Championships in their 1998 PRIDE 2 event, where he would be pitted against fellow UFC champion Mark Kerr.
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The Royce Gracie side demanded special rules without time limit or referee stoppage, which were accepted.
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However, Royce Gracie pulled out due to a back injury after the fight had been advertised.
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The situation changed after PRIDE 8, when Royce's older brother Royler Gracie was defeated by Kazushi Sakuraba.
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Royce Gracie was then set to fight Kazushi Sakuraba in the Quarter-Finals at the PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals.
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Royce Gracie had defeated several opponents and become one of the first Japanese stars of PRIDE.
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Royce Gracie returned to PRIDE in 2002 to fight Japanese gold-medalist judoka Hidehiko Yoshida in a special "Judo vs Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu" special rules match, billed as a "rematch" of Masahiko Kimura vs Helio Royce Gracie, which had happened 50 years earlier.
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Royce Gracie started the fight pulling guard and attempting a heel hook and an armbar, with Hidehiko blocking them and coming back with a gi choke and an ankle lock attempt.
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Royce Gracie pulled guard again, but Yoshida turned it into a daki age and sought the Kimura lock; then, when the Brazilian blocked the technique, Yoshida passed his guard and performed a mounted sode guruma jime.
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Royce Gracie immediately protested and footage of the fight was reviewed, which showed that Royce Gracie's visible arm during the execution of the choke was limp and motionless.
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Royce Gracie began to argue with Noguchi, the squabble soon resulted in him attacking the referee and it escalated into a full a brawl between the corners of the two fighters.
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The grudge match between Yoshida and Royce Gracie took place at PRIDE's Shockwave 2003 event on December 31,2003.
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Royce Gracie dominated Yoshida but, as the match had no judge per Royce Gracie's request, the bout was declared a draw after two 10-minute rounds.
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Royce Gracie had issues with the proposed opponents and rules.
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Royce Gracie jumped to Fighting and Entertainment Group's K-1 organization.
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Royce Gracie made quick work of his heavy opponent, forcing Akebono to submit to a shoulder lock at 2:13 of the first round.
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However, a post-fight drug screen revealed that Royce Gracie had traces of Nandrolone in his system.
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On June 14,2007, the California State Athletic Commission declared that Royce Gracie had tested positive for Nandrolone, an anabolic steroid, after his fight with Sakuraba.
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Royce Gracie was fined $2,500 and suspended for the remainder of his license, which ended on May 30,2008.
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On March 11,2011, Royce Gracie's profile was added back to ufc.
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Royce Gracie's manager stated that they were actively negotiating with the UFC for a return to the Octagon and said it was just a matter of "getting it nailed down" and that there was plenty of time for it.
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On November 15,2013, at UFC 167 on the 20th Anniversary of the UFC, Royce Gracie confirmed to MMA journalist Ariel Helwani that he had retired from competing in mixed martial arts.
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The win was not without controversy as replays showed that Royce Gracie landed a knee strike that grazed the groin of Shamrock prior to the finish.
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Royce Gracie competed in a superfight against Wallid Ismail on December 17,1998 after he was challenged by the Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor.
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Royce Gracie has been since retired from MMA competition and has been focusing in teaching Jiu-jitsu.
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Royce Gracie has opened his own association of gyms known as "Royce Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Network", with affiliate schools in 34 locations in the United States, and many throughout the world in Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Guatemala, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.
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Helio Gracie died in 2009, and Royce said he does not want to be promoted by anybody else.
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Royce Gracie is a supporter of Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro.
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Royce Gracie won the 2022 Sig Sauer Hunter Games as a member of Team Warrior.