Those early UFC days were a lot of fun. Gracie, Abbott, Frye, Severen, Shamrock, Taktarov, all these fighters from different places with different styles. It was like Street Fighter come to life.
It was like that for me. At that time I was into Street Fighter 2 at the arcade. I was a kid so when I saw it I viewed Gracie vs Shamrock kinda like Ryu vs Ken
well, not exactly... did you notice there was no Muay Thai, Letwei or Sambo in the first events? Any martial art that could grapple, clinch or wrestle was not invited because the goal was to make the best Martal Arts ad ever. They did have Shamrock but he was no olympic wrestler. And they did better than they expected. Only around UFC 4 they allowed any kind of fighter to participate and guys like Tartakov started to emerge. They invited Bill Superfoot Wallace for UFC 1, because he was very popular in MA world at the time, but he asked to change the rules to something similar to todays MMA rules. They refused and he ended up being the commentator of the event (the first Joe rogan). Try to look on the web for "the Gracie Conspiracy"
I started with Royce when we were both untrained and learning the basics from Rorion. I spent hours locked in a grapple with him. We were similarly skilled and I still can’t believe it. Rorion was the man. I remember the day he quit training me personally and said I’m going to pair you with Royce because you are both learning the very same thing. We did 2 hours training every other day in the beginning and we started with EVERYTHING we learned previously before we learned a single new thing. Royce, can’t believe how awesome you became. We learned together back in 1985/1986. You have become a fine man my friend! -Tod
I know this is real because he was clearly an adult in 1985 and only someone over the age of 50 would think his comment would be read. Story is awesome
@@josephlittle1752 Who could make up such a story, that’s only a bit of it, but basically learning all these years later how far Royce took it just makes me super proud of him. My bragging days are far behind me but my sons are impressed. Rorion was the true spark and the mentor for all of us! Aloha Joseph.
Rorion's brilliance for showcasing Jiu Jitsu was picking Royce to represent the family. Royce's brother Rickson was already a world class fighter in Japan, but Rickson looked like Ken Shamrock, and looked like he could kick anybody ass. They picked Royce because he was a skinny kid and looked unassuming. It was absolutely BRILLIANT marketing showcasingnthe family's legacy and changed the way the whole world looks at fighting.
Starting with UFC 1, we watched all the originals at my brother's place. He would order the PPV, and I would bring the wings. Those tournaments were crazy! No weight classes, no gloves, no rules(except for biting & eye gouges), and here's this little brazilian guy kicking ass on EVERYBODY!!! Thanks Royce, you are the man! Those are great memories.
I was a black belt in traditional karate when the UFC started. I thought I knew how to fight, then in a matter of 20 min I realized I knew nothing. (edit) Some goofy comments.......This was over 30 years ago. No cell phones, no internet......it was a different time.
GSP and Stephan Thompson have done Karate right. The problem is most gyms don't have pressure testing. GSP had real-life experience because he grew up getting into real fights to put his martial arts to the test. Most people that take up martial arts are civilized so they don't get to practice.
(fun fact) before big john fury suffered his catastrophic under water welding injury whilst saturation diving in the south Chinese sea mid 80's this was.. he was fluent in 37 languages, taught mindfulness courses and opened the very first clinic for cats with erectile dysfunction , he was a true Renaissance man , the Caucasian sensation,straight as an arrow and as sure as the bow that fired it , god speed
back in high school, me and a couple friends rented UFC#1 from blockbuster couldn't believe what we were watching. this dude changed combat sports forever. he looks like he could still destroy dudes half his age and twice his size
I wrestled in high school. I always thought dirty wrestling would be a good martial art. And when I saw Royce, and the double leg take down.. wow!! I didn’t wonder anymore if a wrestler could beat a boxer. I knew.
I remember one day my brother and i were watching WWF and my father said "this aint real. Its not real fighting. Let me show you something real" he had a tape of UFC 1and it changed our lives forever. My brother and I eventually enrolled in karate and we represented the U.S in a pan american championship. And part of the reason was watching royce!
Royce Gracie was incredibly important for MMA because he was the living proof that grappling was very efficient in 1 on 1 fights. BJJ literally changed the way fighters thought about the importance of grappling and being able to defend against it.
I watched this when I was about 15 years old in the 90s, this was the real UFC, so inspirational to see someone like Royce do what he did it was like watching magic, if anyone needs inspiration in anything in life and need some belief just watch UFC 1 and Royce Gracie...
Royce Gracie choked me out one time :) He is a legend, and a truly GOOD dude. I have so much respect for this man! He is so humble, and willing to share his knowledge and experience. Thank you for taking time out to train us, Royce!
I am old enough to have experienced this. 1994 saw the second UFC, 1995 saw an ad in Black Belt magazine and signed up training with David Lentz in NJ. Renzo and Craig Kukuk were training there. Steve Maxwell in Philly was the only other practitioner at that time. Good stuff, crazy to look back at it all.
I remember watching the first, 2-3rd.. etc UFC. It blew us all away. Nobody had ever seen anything so damn gangster. No rules. No weight classes. When Royce won, it was inconceivable. The smallest guy. I remember my guy was Dan Severn(?) Then the next year he won again. After that, every time the VHS tapes would come out, we'd buy it . When they imposed rules, we were upset and like dumb young men, we didn't watch it for a couple years... Lol What a ride we've been on, my friends. I can't believe Royce, now lives in my town. Hopefully I'll run into him one day
I got to train with Royce once as a white belt. He came to our school for a seminar. Also train with some guys who know him really well / have become friends with him. Very stoic guy. Nice to see him laughing and smiling here. 🙏🏆
I jumped into ufc quite late, round the rousey era so it was soooooooo fun for me to go back and watch the original shows. This man literally made my jaw drop. Legend.
From a UFC fan from the beginning this is a huge treat! As Royce once correctly declared from the Octagon, “This is MY house!” All respect and honor to him!
I remember seeing my first UFC (3, I think) back in the mid 90s and not having a clue what I was seeing. Years of watching martial arts movies led me to expect to see two guys stand in front of each other, exchanging unblocked roundhouse kicks to the head for several minutes, before one finally went down. When they started grappling on the floor, I genuinely couldn't understand what was going on, and the submissions just left me completely bamboozled. Definitely an eye-opening experience. Royce and his family really showed us the way, huh...
Ju jit su & muay thai is still the best combo. Love Royce Gracie. I have an old UFC belt with his signature & it says UFC 1, 2 & 4 hof then his signature. With an authentification card.
He only spoke Portuguese when we trained together. Rorion was bilingual and my first teacher and Royces. A solid and totally smart and family man! Love you guys!
Royce Gracie was in the first ufc fight I ever saw back wen I was about 17, on a vhs tape, so the fight may have happened a couple of years before I actually saw it, can’t remember his opponent, but loved ufc ever since
Wow, this is the first time I saw Royce in a casual conversation. I always saw him in formal interviews and never realized what at a chill dude he is! Totally levelled up my respect of him more.
"There's only going to be no. 1, and that's you" That hits hard. This man is a definition of a pioneer. Props to Joe for giving this GOAT of a man his flowers.
I remember scrambling for the VHS tapes and watching the UFC. Nothing was like it and it changed everything. Nobody knew what Jui Jitsu was and it changed the world. Royce is a living legend and put the UFC on the map.
Absolutely Joe didn't compare apples to apples. He said kickboxer to kickboxer with a weight difference the person that's smaller would most likely lose then proceeds to compare a BJJ practitioner to someone that doesn't know anything....make that make sense. Imagine if a 250 Marcelo Garcia went up against smaller 160 Marcelo if he even weighs that😂
I remember recording the first UFC on Vhs and my friends and I must have watched it 1000 times. Nobody knew anything about it back then and couldn't believe what they were seeing.
I remember the early days! I was first introduced to JKD in 1992... It also was mostly standup.. Didn't study or practice JJS until after UFC 2, and it was hard to find anyone at that time around Houston or Dallas at that time... Never missed a UFC fight I could get my hands on since UFC 2.
What a great interview! Always paid respect to the Gracie family for their evolution of combat. My eyes were opened to how gentle the family is to and was to people they defeated and intended to teach with the Jason Deluca fight. They are brilliant!
My friend got the ufc events on paperview starting with the 1st one, and then for years, we were always attacking each other using those moves on each other, lol Those early days were very exciting
I trained with black belts that trained under Royce Gracie in Lynwood CA back in the day as a young teen. I wish i took advantage and actually stuck with the classes for longer than i did.
An absolute legend. I respect Royce Gracie so much, it's very difficult to put in words. This man changed my way of thinking, when it comes to life and Martial Arts. Much respect. TERRANCE OUT
I was on a Carnival Cruise in the 90's .Royce and his brother Horian were doing a seminar. I met up with them and ask if I could take a picture. They said sure and invited me to stand between them. I wasn't part of the seminar but they treated me as though I was. I wore their Gracie tee shirt for years.
A true fighting champ. I was a kid and still remember watching the first couple ufc. I rember it being a tournament, not just a single match fight like they are now
Let Royce and once at a pub in Canada and he was super nice. Very friendly and took a pic with us. I remember watching ufc 1 after renting it from rogers video. So good
My first instructor in jitz was Renner, and what an incredible teacher. I later joined a gym in DC that was an affiliate of Royce, but it just didn't have the same feel or flow. I've been through a dozen studios since then and while some good, some bad, none had the same feel and effect of learning from a Gracie in person.
One beautiful thing that emerged from the UFC is the recognition of MIXED Martial Arts. Jui-Jutsu isn’t enough but it was essential. Stand up isn’t enough but you need a stand-up game. You need a take down game, take down defense and wrestling. Bruce Lee understood this. Pankration understood this. There were others but that well rounded reality did emerge.
I watched UFC 1 when I was in the Marine Corps and was blown away. As soon as I got out in 95 I started training in Orange under Alan Goes..Despite having grown up in wrestling, the BJJ guys made quick work of me. Love this sport.
The GOAT. My brother an I got to watch UFC 1-10 because my dad had a black box back in the day... I remember being absolutely blown away by Royce being able to beat a giant monster like he did.
I had the privilege of meeting Royce quickly at the elevators in the Flynt building next to the Brazilian consulate. What a nice and humbling experience! Nice man!
My only complain it's in UFC 1 there's no Elite Judoka, no Sambo Fighters and no Catch Wrestlers I wonder if Sakuraba are in UFC 1 how story would change.
Instant click
Fucking oath buddy
This comment is about to get thousands of likes
Instant thumbs up to this
Absolutely
I’m not a big fan of the sport but even I know this gonna be a juicy one
Those early UFC days were a lot of fun. Gracie, Abbott, Frye, Severen, Shamrock, Taktarov, all these fighters from different places with different styles. It was like Street Fighter come to life.
Don the fuckin predator frye
It was like that for me. At that time I was into Street Fighter 2 at the arcade. I was a kid so when I saw it I viewed Gracie vs Shamrock kinda like Ryu vs Ken
well, not exactly... did you notice there was no Muay Thai, Letwei or Sambo in the first events? Any martial art that could grapple, clinch or wrestle was not invited because the goal was to make the best Martal Arts ad ever. They did have Shamrock but he was no olympic wrestler. And they did better than they expected. Only around UFC 4 they allowed any kind of fighter to participate and guys like Tartakov started to emerge. They invited Bill Superfoot Wallace for UFC 1, because he was very popular in MA world at the time, but he asked to change the rules to something similar to todays MMA rules. They refused and he ended up being the commentator of the event (the first Joe rogan).
Try to look on the web for "the Gracie Conspiracy"
Don Frye was a bad bad man! Certified ass kicker
Don Frye was ALWAYS worth the price of admission
A friend had UFC 1 playing at a party in the background, everyone else was partying, I was locked in...shit changed my life lol
Sounds gay.
@@n1kobefan you're gay
@@n1kobefan what does that even mean?
So, you started training and became an UFC champ or become a degenerate sports gambler likes the rest of us?
@@dragopoolos lol what an oddly specific range of outcomes 🤣
This guy was at UFC 1 and still looks fantastic. Wow
Bjj doesn't face punch, so yeah💪🤣
Yeah Rogan looks like he hasn't aged a bit.
@@kellyallen8528Rogan wasn’t at UFC 1 you fool. Leave the jokes to the funny ones.
you should see the other guys.
He is also latino though. They age much, much better than white guys. Plus clean living.@johngillespie3409
This one was a long time coming
HES been on the show before lmao
fr bro definitely GOAT material
@@dwavyy300 really? I thought it was just Rickson Gracie
The SECOND, severn tapped, immortality set in. At THAT moment, there was zero doubt anymore. STILL, the best crowd eruption ever. I saw it.
The first 5 ufcs were like the movie bloodsport for me, I was instantly hooked and Royce was the man.
The definition of a legend, BJJ saved my life
I started with Royce when we were both untrained and learning the basics from Rorion. I spent hours locked in a grapple with him. We were similarly skilled and I still can’t believe it. Rorion was the man. I remember the day he quit training me personally and said I’m going to pair you with Royce because you are both learning the very same thing. We did 2 hours training every other day in the beginning and we started with EVERYTHING we learned previously before we learned a single new thing.
Royce, can’t believe how awesome you became. We learned together back in 1985/1986. You have become a fine man my friend!
-Tod
I know this is real because he was clearly an adult in 1985 and only someone over the age of 50 would think his comment would be read. Story is awesome
@@josephlittle1752 Who could make up such a story, that’s only a bit of it, but basically learning all these years later how far Royce took it just makes me super proud of him. My bragging days are far behind me but my sons are impressed. Rorion was the true spark and the mentor for all of us! Aloha Joseph.
@@TheNaturalust I didn’t mean it to insult if that came across that way, genuinely sounds cool and real to me. Aloha!
@@josephlittle1752 no worries I wasn’t insulted, maybe a tad confused so I clarified a bit. Take good care!
Royce was already a black belt by 1985
Rorion's brilliance for showcasing Jiu Jitsu was picking Royce to represent the family. Royce's brother Rickson was already a world class fighter in Japan, but Rickson looked like Ken Shamrock, and looked like he could kick anybody ass. They picked Royce because he was a skinny kid and looked unassuming.
It was absolutely BRILLIANT marketing showcasingnthe family's legacy and changed the way the whole world looks at fighting.
Starting with UFC 1, we watched all the originals at my brother's place. He would order the PPV, and I would bring the wings. Those tournaments were crazy! No weight classes, no gloves, no rules(except for biting & eye gouges), and here's this little brazilian guy kicking ass on EVERYBODY!!! Thanks Royce, you are the man! Those are great memories.
...and no fish hooking, oddly enough. There were 3 rules
I was a black belt in traditional karate when the UFC started.
I thought I knew how to fight, then in a matter of 20 min I realized I knew nothing.
(edit) Some goofy comments.......This was over 30 years ago. No cell phones, no internet......it was a different time.
That's your fault. Most karate black belts I know can street fight. 😂
GSP and Stephan Thompson have done Karate right. The problem is most gyms don't have pressure testing. GSP had real-life experience because he grew up getting into real fights to put his martial arts to the test. Most people that take up martial arts are civilized so they don't get to practice.
(fun fact) before big john fury suffered his catastrophic under water welding injury whilst saturation diving in the south Chinese sea mid 80's this was.. he was fluent in 37 languages, taught mindfulness courses and opened the very first clinic for cats with erectile dysfunction , he was a true Renaissance man , the Caucasian sensation,straight as an arrow and as sure as the bow that fired it , god speed
@@user-gk1lo6ni1bwtf did I just read
@@healer81lyoto Machida
LEGEND. Dude was my idol in elementary school
cap
@@weeniehutsr1205how tf do you cap something like that lmaoo
@@johncena3034he’s trolling lol
@@johncena3034 take it easy john cena
@@weeniehutsr1205 Take it easy, weenie, lol.
What a legend, beating people twice his size
Well. There were no rules 😅 still fun af to watch innit ?:)
And got beat by a guy half his size.
@@macmichaels2239 Gracie Killer! The Legend!!
Royce had to fight 3 guys in one night to win the Championship.
I never saw him fight. He would just pull guard and submit ppl
I always loved Royce's game face, he always looked slightly pissed.
back in high school, me and a couple friends rented UFC#1 from blockbuster couldn't believe what we were watching. this dude changed combat sports forever. he looks like he could still destroy dudes half his age and twice his size
Love royce but naw he got his shit beat late in his career MMA has evolved
@@elplugomma4206 True, but it likely evolved BECAUSE of him
I don't know who I idolized more growing up...this guy, or Jordan.
You idolized guys
@@spo0ny2kwith his hands 😂
Dropped everything for this one
Legend. Hands-down, the guy that put MMA on the map.
I still remember watching this live! Changed my whole perspective.. awakening
..truly…it was like magic…my friends and I, just could not figure out how he was doing it, ha…amazing…
You're showing your age!
I wrestled in high school. I always thought dirty wrestling would be a good martial art. And when I saw Royce, and the double leg take down.. wow!! I didn’t wonder anymore if a wrestler could beat a boxer. I knew.
Except he was a bjj black belt not a wrestler
Agree. Pure grappling > pure striking
@@darrellainsworth4539 A wrestler can still land a double leg and then do ground and pound.
It's been a long time since I watched a ufc fight that got my heart pumping.those classic fights were legendary!!!
I guess you didn't see Max Holloway vs. Justin Gaethje..
I remember one day my brother and i were watching WWF and my father said "this aint real. Its not real fighting. Let me show you something real" he had a tape of UFC 1and it changed our lives forever. My brother and I eventually enrolled in karate and we represented the U.S in a pan american championship. And part of the reason was watching royce!
Whoa whoa whoa, what you mean WWF ain't real... imagine Bret Hitman Hart putting Gracie in a Sharpshooter .. would be over
@@josephbanker3829I train in bjj and sometimes I think it would be funny to try a sharpshooter on someone lol
Why karate and not BJJ if UFC1 changed ur life?
Bret wouldn't last two minutes
And the minutes bret had legs within reach its over@@josephbanker3829
@redtaipei my dad did karate so that what he was familiar with also there was a karate dojo less than 10 minutes away from where we lived
I met and spoke with him in Japan. He is a legend and a gentleman.
Royce Gracie the OG the Goat 🙌🏻
OG for sure, would disagree about being the goat.
Legend gets thrown around a lot but this man is the definition of a legend.
He signed my Blue Belt back in 2011 at a seminar were i got promoted. I'll never forget that day.
I remember this on cable PPV. He was a killer for his size. Those old UFC fights were the best.
I worked a 12 hr shift last night in the emergency department and still stayed up after work to watch this. Royce is a living legend.
Royce Gracie inspired me then and now.
Thank you for bringing Mr Gracie on the show.. The most honourable guest ever in my opinion.. All the best to you both. 👍
the Cornerstone of the UFC. It should have a statue of him in front of UFC's HQ
Royce Gracie was incredibly important for MMA because he was the living proof that grappling was very efficient in 1 on 1 fights. BJJ literally changed the way fighters thought about the importance of grappling and being able to defend against it.
Everyone who train Judo in 80s know how Grappling are efficient, Kimura Master of Judo Mop the floor with Hélio Gracie in Brazil.
Royce Gracie is the definition of the word legend. Those early fights of his were like watching a magician.
Excellent conversation, would love to see more. What a great humble man 👊
Watched it live. Those were the best days.
I watched this when I was about 15 years old in the 90s, this was the real UFC, so inspirational to see someone like Royce do what he did it was like watching magic, if anyone needs inspiration in anything in life and need some belief just watch UFC 1 and Royce Gracie...
This makes me respect him so much more than I did before. The true 🐐 of fighting.
I'll always remember watching the first few UFC's on VHS at my buddy's house. We thought it was the coolest thing we ever seen. Much respect Royce
Royce Gracie choked me out one time :) He is a legend, and a truly GOOD dude. I have so much respect for this man! He is so humble, and willing to share his knowledge and experience. Thank you for taking time out to train us, Royce!
Royce Gracie is on UFC's Mt. Rushmore with GSP, Anderson Silva and Brendan Schaub.
Big Brown? lol
hahahah bapa
Bapa whadarwedewinhere
😂
Did u really add shaub in this lol
Royce!!!! It's great to see him. Brings me back.
Amongst the pioneers of NHB/MMA; Royce is the MAN.! 🥋
I am old enough to have experienced this. 1994 saw the second UFC, 1995 saw an ad in Black Belt magazine and signed up training with David Lentz in NJ. Renzo and Craig Kukuk were training there. Steve Maxwell in Philly was the only other practitioner at that time. Good stuff, crazy to look back at it all.
I remember watching the first, 2-3rd.. etc UFC.
It blew us all away.
Nobody had ever seen anything so damn gangster.
No rules.
No weight classes.
When Royce won, it was inconceivable.
The smallest guy.
I remember my guy was Dan Severn(?)
Then the next year he won again.
After that, every time the VHS tapes would come out, we'd buy it .
When they imposed rules, we were upset and like dumb young men, we didn't watch it for a couple years... Lol
What a ride we've been on, my friends.
I can't believe Royce, now lives in my town.
Hopefully I'll run into him one day
I watched allot of your fights Royce and thank you…. Good times and a great fighter you were and probably still are.
I got to train with Royce once as a white belt. He came to our school for a seminar. Also train with some guys who know him really well / have become friends with him. Very stoic guy. Nice to see him laughing and smiling here. 🙏🏆
Best interview of the year. Wish my experience of bjj had this approach to teaching I would still be a gracie jujitsu student
Theirs a gym for everyone
Royce is a legend...
I jumped into ufc quite late, round the rousey era so it was soooooooo fun for me to go back and watch the original shows.
This man literally made my jaw drop. Legend.
Classic I'm been doing jiujitsu halfway my life I'm 44 yrs old jiujitsu change my life thanknu Mr gracie
From a UFC fan from the beginning this is a huge treat!
As Royce once correctly declared from the Octagon,
“This is MY house!”
All respect and honor to him!
It's like hearing Charles Oliveira when he's older. The passion, the humor, Brazilians are amazing ppl
And they’re humble too🙌🏼
A real living legend. Watching his fights, the best fighting videos you’ll ever see. David vs Goliath.
I remember seeing my first UFC (3, I think) back in the mid 90s and not having a clue what I was seeing. Years of watching martial arts movies led me to expect to see two guys stand in front of each other, exchanging unblocked roundhouse kicks to the head for several minutes, before one finally went down. When they started grappling on the floor, I genuinely couldn't understand what was going on, and the submissions just left me completely bamboozled. Definitely an eye-opening experience. Royce and his family really showed us the way, huh...
Inspiration for shows like " bully beat down" which was pure entertainment at its finest.
Hell yeah, growing up in Torrance in the 90's you know where you were when UFC1 came out
Ju jit su & muay thai is still the best combo. Love Royce Gracie. I have an old UFC belt with his signature & it says UFC 1, 2 & 4 hof then his signature. With an authentification card.
Its called sambo )
Charles oliveira basically. But sambo got both striking and jiu jitsu in them.
Wrestling
I still got UFC1 on VHS. I was only a kid, used to watch them with my dad. Ken Shamrock was my favorite though lol.
What a beast !!! Ahhhh the memories.
He only spoke Portuguese when we trained together. Rorion was bilingual and my first teacher and Royces. A solid and totally smart and family man! Love you guys!
Royce Gracie was in the first ufc fight I ever saw back wen I was about 17, on a vhs tape, so the fight may have happened a couple of years before I actually saw it, can’t remember his opponent, but loved ufc ever since
Wow, this is the first time I saw Royce in a casual conversation. I always saw him in formal interviews and never realized what at a chill dude he is! Totally levelled up my respect of him more.
Royce is a MMA OG/Legend
Thus guy is a legend to legends
"There's only going to be no. 1, and that's you"
That hits hard. This man is a definition of a pioneer.
Props to Joe for giving this GOAT of a man his flowers.
I remember scrambling for the VHS tapes and watching the UFC. Nothing was like it and it changed everything. Nobody knew what Jui Jitsu was and it changed the world. Royce is a living legend and put the UFC on the map.
GOAT FOR SURE
Absolute freaking legend 🙌
Body size matters in every fighting discipline. Even BJJ. If two people have equal skill body size will be the deciding factor. BJJ isn't magic.
Absolutely Joe didn't compare apples to apples. He said kickboxer to kickboxer with a weight difference the person that's smaller would most likely lose then proceeds to compare a BJJ practitioner to someone that doesn't know anything....make that make sense. Imagine if a 250 Marcelo Garcia went up against smaller 160 Marcelo if he even weighs that😂
Straight up legend!!!
I remember recording the first UFC on Vhs and my friends and I must have watched it 1000 times. Nobody knew anything about it back then and couldn't believe what they were seeing.
THE MAN!!!!!!
I remember the early days! I was first introduced to JKD in 1992... It also was mostly standup.. Didn't study or practice JJS until after UFC 2, and it was hard to find anyone at that time around Houston or Dallas at that time... Never missed a UFC fight I could get my hands on since UFC 2.
What a great interview! Always paid respect to the Gracie family for their evolution of combat. My eyes were opened to how gentle the family is to and was to people they defeated and intended to teach with the Jason Deluca fight. They are brilliant!
My friend got the ufc events on paperview starting with the 1st one, and then for years, we were always attacking each other using those moves on each other, lol
Those early days were very exciting
Mad respect. I saw UFC 2 on VHS and couldn't believe what I was watching. This man was like Superman.
Thank you Royce and Joe
I trained with black belts that trained under Royce Gracie in Lynwood CA back in the day as a young teen. I wish i took advantage and actually stuck with the classes for longer than i did.
The man. The original badass. One of my hero’s
Looks younger now than when he fought ✌️
An absolute legend. I respect Royce Gracie so much, it's very difficult to put in words. This man changed my way of thinking, when it comes to life and Martial Arts. Much respect.
TERRANCE OUT
I was on a Carnival Cruise in the 90's .Royce and his brother Horian were doing a seminar. I met up with them and ask if I could take a picture. They said sure and invited me to stand between them. I wasn't part of the seminar but they treated me as though I was. I wore their Gracie tee shirt for years.
My reaction to the title “duddddeee whattt”
I remember watching the march in 93. Just before I went to medical school
He was my favorite! I still compare all fights to his, and all ground work
What a humble champion. I remember those first fights and he truly changed the face of martial arts and fight sports across the globe.
A true fighting champ. I was a kid and still remember watching the first couple ufc. I rember it being a tournament, not just a single match fight like they are now
I found Ju-jitsu in 1999. Very humbling. Changed my life for ever
Do you practice it still ? What belt ?
guys a legend ..... at 6'5 225 lbs, i'm not turning away from an oponent thats 145 lbs. Boston things i guess haha this was a great interview
Let Royce and once at a pub in Canada and he was super nice. Very friendly and took a pic with us. I remember watching ufc 1 after renting it from rogers video. So good
My first instructor in jitz was Renner, and what an incredible teacher. I later joined a gym in DC that was an affiliate of Royce, but it just didn't have the same feel or flow. I've been through a dozen studios since then and while some good, some bad, none had the same feel and effect of learning from a Gracie in person.
One beautiful thing that emerged from the UFC is the recognition of MIXED Martial Arts. Jui-Jutsu isn’t enough but it was essential. Stand up isn’t enough but you need a stand-up game. You need a take down game, take down defense and wrestling. Bruce Lee understood this. Pankration understood this. There were others but that well rounded reality did emerge.
I watched UFC 1 when I was in the Marine Corps and was blown away. As soon as I got out in 95 I started training in Orange under Alan Goes..Despite having grown up in wrestling, the BJJ guys made quick work of me. Love this sport.
The GOAT.
My brother an I got to watch UFC 1-10 because my dad had a black box back in the day...
I remember being absolutely blown away by Royce being able to beat a giant monster like he did.
What an amazing human being and legacy!
I had the privilege of meeting Royce quickly at the elevators in the Flynt building next to the Brazilian consulate. What a nice and humbling experience! Nice man!
Royce is a true legend!!
My only complain it's in UFC 1 there's no Elite Judoka, no Sambo Fighters and no Catch Wrestlers I wonder if Sakuraba are in UFC 1 how story would change.
The first UFCs were an infomercial for BJJ. Opponents were dangerous but they were carefully picked
What a legend Royce, great interview