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 MMAyou.com had the opportunity to speak with a legend in Mixed Martial Arts when we interviewed the first UFC champion; Royce Gracie. Check out what Gracie has to say regarding rematches with Ken Shamrock and Kazushi Sakuraba, what’s he up to nowadays, Rickson Gracie appearing in the Incredible Hulk, and much more!
MMAyou.com: First, how are you doing?
Gracie: Busy man! Very busy. Running around trying to take care of the family and the business at the same time.
MMAyou.com: Well you have like two hundred family members so good luck with that.
Gracie: Yup (both start laughing).
MMAyou.com: What’s new with you?
Gracie: Just traveling all over the place. Getting ready to go to Europe next weekend. I’m going to Europe, start to teach over there for the summer. I’ll be all over; Scotland, England, Israel, Ireland and then back to America.
MMAyou.com: Nice, the “Royce Gracie World Tour“.
Gracie: Yup, for now yeah just the European side.
MMAyou.com: Will we see a Sakuraba versus Royce Gracie part three?
Gracie: Um… Man that’s…. It’s up to the promoters, it’s not up to me. I’m in such a stage of my life that I can pick the… I don’t pick the opponents, I don’t pick the shows, they pick me. They come over and they’re like “Hey, it’s a pleasure to have you fight for me Royce”.
MMAyou.com: This might be the same answer. I heard rumors last week that Ken Shamrock was saying he would like to have another fight with you. With the sport having grown so much since your first two fights, would that be something you’d be interested in?
Gracie: Of course! I’m a fighter, that’s what I do for a living. I already fought him twice. First time I beat him fast. Second time he didn’t even come in to fight me, he just came in to stall, to hold onto it for dear life. But there’s so many new fighters out there, there’s so many fighters out there man. It doesn’t really matter to me. I’m a fighter man. Got to the point that I been there done that.
MMAyou.com: I did a recent interview with Marc Laimon and he was very critical of your Jiu Jitsu (for the interview with Laimon click here) . Where did this feud originate from and what do you have to say to his criticism?
Gracie: Wait wait wait. What was he saying?
MMAyou.com: What did he say?
Gracie: Yeah.
MMAyou.com: He said (Royce interrupts).
Gracie: He was c r i t i c al (Royce sounds it out) of my Jiu Jitsu? Well, tell him to go do what I do for a living. Simple as that. Where I go he stays home watching TV. He doesn’t dare step in. The guys that talk trash about myself or my family, go do what we do. Go ahead and go fight somebody 400lbs, go ahead. Go ahead and fight somebody even somebody just a 100lbs heavier then you. Fight! Not in a tournament rules. Yeah okay there is a lot of tournament rules out there but hey, would you prefer to be the best tournament rules champion in the world or the best fighter in the world?
MMAyou.com: The best fighter of course (both start laughing).
Gracie: I have no doubt in that answer! (laughing) You know what I mean? What has he done to be critical of me? To be talking trash you know what I mean? Everything he learns… He lives off what he learned from my family today! He’s spitting on the plate he use to eat from. That’s an ungrateful person right there. Everybody I meet today man, back behind the door they’re like “Thanks for you Royce”. Professional fighters that have nothing to do with Jiu Jitsu, the promoters thank me “Because of you and your family I’m a promoter today.” “Because of you and your family I’m a professional fighter man. Because of what you guys create and brought to America man.” “Because of you guys…” everybody man. “Because of you guys…” judo guys, wrestlers, all the time they come up to me and tell me “Royce, because of you, because of your family…”.
Today they consider wrestling a martial arts! Open up a Black Belt magazine or any martial arts magazine twenty years ago and they would not mention any grappling, any judo, or any grappling at all! So there was no nothing twenty years ago. After the first UFC man, after the UFC’s this whole thing got on fire all over the world. Judo players they come up to me “Man thanks to you. You put us on the map” Now we’re considered to be a martial art, we’re considered to be grapplers, wrestlers the same way. So I have no idea… He has no reason to talk trash. He has no reason. It’s probably, how you say…. Jealousy. That’s the only thing I can imagine.
He lives off what my family has taught him! He lives off what we created and then he’s talking trash? He spits on the plate he used to eat. That’s a very ungrateful person. Eh…
MMAyou.com: Which of the new generation of fighters do you enjoy watching?
Gracie: Who? (pauses) Man, the last two fights that I saw and I watched and I told everybody, “that was a school on strategy” was Lyoto Machida against Tito Ortiz and BJ Penn when he fought in the same UFC. Man that was a school in strategy. Both of them! BJ Penn and Lyoto man. The fighters that they fought, they’re very tough, they’re very good, they’ve been in the top game for a while but those two just pulled out strategy man. A lot of people don’t use strategy, they just come in and duke it out, be a tough… But those two on that night they showed strategy. That was a school in strategy right there. I appreciate that.
MMAyou.com: If you were to train a fighter from scratch what disciplines would you train him in?
Gracie: You gotta do Gracie Jiu Jitsu for sure, for sure. And standup, standup. Whatever he is comfortable with. If he’s comfortable with Muay Thai, hey, I’ll send him to Fairtex. If he’s comfortable with Tae Kwon Do, hey that adds to it but you gotta have a mix.
MMAyou.com: This has been argued about forever. If Rickson and Bas Rutten were to have fought both of them when they were in their primes, how would you see that fight going?
Gracie: I would put my money on Rickson man for sure. I would put my money on Rickson for sure. For sure! Not even a doubt. Bas Rutten’s a tough guy but he won’t be able to avoid the clinch and once you get in the clinch, hey! Rickson’s the best no doubt so…
MMAyou.com: I know Rickson is in the new Incredible Hulk movie, could Rickson armbar the Incredible Hulk?
Gracie: There’s only way to find out! That’s why we create the show man (both laugh).
MMAyou.com: That’ll be his comeback fight.
Gracie: Yup!
MMAyou.com: As a fighter, who did you look up to when you were coming up?
Gracie: My brothers man, my father, my family.
MMAyou.com: Speaking of your family, who would you say are the top five fighters from the Gracie family?
Gracie: That’s a tough one right there. There’s so many of us. Everybody does the same thing, everybody has their turn, their time, so it’s a tough one to say.
MMAyou.com: In closing, is there anything you would like to say to our readers?
Gracie: If you’re going to get ready for a fight, you better train. You gotta practice. You gotta do it cause you like it. You have to have the love for it, not because people are pushing you to do it or… No, you gotta love it, you gotta like it so… Life is good man! No complaints.
For more information on Royce Gracie please visit www.roycegracie.tv.
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