Roger Gracie

Roger Gracie (born Roger Gracie Gomes; 26 September, 1981) is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist and former professional Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) competitor. The son of coral belt Mauricio Gomes and grandson of BJJ founder Carlos Gracie, Roger Gracie is one of jiu-jitsu's most decorated and accomplished athletes and considered by many as the greatest competitor in jiu-jitsu history.*
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A member of both IBJJF Hall of Fame and ADCC Hall of Fame, Gracie won 10 IBJJF world championship titles across multiple weight classes, every year from 2004 to 2010, becoming the first competitor to win the open weight division 3 times. He is also a two-time European Champion, and a Pan Champion. Gracie is an ADCC Submission Fighting weight, absolute, and superfight champion, the only athlete to win gold in both his weight class and the open weight division with a 100% submission-rate. Gracie retired in 2017 after defeating then BJJ world champion Marcus Buchecha, leaving jiu-jitsu without a single submission defeat in his record.

Competing concurrently in MMA, Gracie is the 2016 One World Cruiserweight Champion, a former Strikeforce and UFC middleweight contender, holding at the time of his retirement in 2017 a professional record of 8–2.

Early life

Roger Gomes Gracie was born on 26 September, 1981 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His mother, Reila Gracie, was a daughter of Carlos Gracie, the founder of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and his father, Mauricio Gomes, was a jiu-jitsu black belt under Rolls Gracie and a famous competitor in the 1970s known as . From a very young age Gracie started training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu career

Early career

During his teenage years, after training with his uncle Rilion Gracie, Gracie started competition. In 1999 he won the Brazilian National Jiu-Jitsu Championship fighting as blue belt in the middleweight division then the following year Gracie won the 2000 Pan American Championship followed by the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship both in the medium-heavy blue belt division. That same year, 18-year-old Gracie was arrested by the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro together with three other grapplers (Rafael Lima, Rafael Ramos and Murilo Carvalho), for allegedly shooting paintball and rubber bullets guns at three transvestites. Gracie was not prosecuted but the incident led her mother to send him to London to live with his father, who had moved to England to set up the first Gracie Barra academy in the UK.

Training in the UK with his father and in Brazil with his uncle Carlos Gracie, Jr., Gracie won another world championship title in 2001, this time as a purple belt, in the medium heavy division, under team Gracie Barra; Also in 2001 after receiving his brown belt he won the Brazilian Nationals for the second time. In 2002 as a brown belt Gracie won both the heavyweight division and the open class becoming double world champion for the first time. Competing at the 2003 ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship taking place for the first time in Sao Paulo on 17 May, Gracie arrived third in the - category, after defeating Mário Sperry and Rigan Machado but losing to John-Olav Einemo (2–0). In 2003 at age 22, Gracie received his black belt from his uncle Carlos Gracie Jr.

Black belt career

In his first year as black belt Gracie won silver at the 2003 World Championship after losing by points to Márcio Cruz. In 2004 Gracie won the ADCC South American Trials held in Campos Brazil, winning both his weight class (-) and the open weight division with a 100% submission-rate.

2004–2005: First IBJJF titles, ADCC world double gold

At the 2004 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship, Gracie won the super heavyweight division but lost the final of the Absolute in a controversial match, after his opponent Ronaldo "Jacaré" Souza refused to tap out after getting armbared, got his arm dislocated as a result, then stayed away from Gracie with his broken left arm tucked into his belt, to keep his lead on points and win the match.

In May 2005 Gracie competed in the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship taking place at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach California. Gracie won all 8 of his matches, both at the super heavyweight and at the absolute weight classes, submitting Ronaldo Souza with a rear naked choke from standing, becoming the first grappler in history to win both divisions after submitting every single opponents. That same year Gracie won the 2005 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship with silver in Absolute, then double gold at the 2005 European Open Championship winning the ultra heavyweight division and defeating Ronaldo Souza in the Absolute.

2006–2007: Pan Am champion, ADCC superfight champion

In April 2006 competing at the Pan American Championship taking place at California State University , Gracie won silver in the super heavyweight division after losing by points to Xande Ribeiro, the fourth loss of his career; he then won gold in Absolute after submitting the same Ribeiro in a triangle within 30 seconds. Gracie won another world title in 2006, at the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship taking place in Rio de Janeiro, after defeating Robert Drysdale in the super heavyweight final, Gracie then won silver in Absolute, after losing by points against Xande Ribeiro, in the last few seconds of the fight;

In 2007 Gracie won both divisions, earning double world championship gold for weight and absolute, submitting all his opponents except Fernando Pontes "Margarida"; At the 2007 ADCC world championships in Trenton, New Jersey

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