Royce Gracie

Royce Gracie (; born 12 December 1966) is a Brazilian retired professional mixed martial artist, a UFC Hall of Famer, and a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. A member of the Gracie family, he is considered to be one of the most influential figures in the history of mixed martial arts (MMA). He also competed at PRIDE Fighting Championships, K-1's MMA events and at Bellator.

Gracie gained fame for his success in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Between 1993 and 1994, he was the tournament winner of ''UFC 1'', ''UFC 2'' and ''UFC 4'', which at the time was an openweight single-elimination tournament with minimal rules. He was also 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''. Royce would later compete in PRIDE Fighting Championships, where he is most remembered for his 90-minute bout against Kazushi Sakuraba in 2000, and a controversial "Judo vs Jiu-Jitsu" mixed rules match against olympic gold-medalist in Judo Hidehiko Yoshida at ''Pride Shockwave'' in 2002.

Royce Gracie popularized Gracie Jiu-Jitsu (also known as Brazilian jiu-jitsu) and revolutionized mixed martial arts with his results contributing to the movement towards grappling and ground fighting in the sport. In 2008, Gracie was ranked by ''Inside MMA'' as the third-greatest mixed martial arts fighter of all time.

Background

Royce Gracie was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1966. One of the nine sons of jiu-jitsu grandmaster Hélio Gracie, having learned the art from his father since his childhood. He had his first competition at age 8 and started teaching classes when he was 14 years old. When he was 17, Royce was awarded a black belt by his father, Hélio. A few months later he and his brothers Royler and Rickson Gracie moved to Torrance, California to live with his older brother Rorion Gracie, who had moved there in 1978 and had established Gracie Academy.

The Gracie brothers in the United States continued the family's tradition of the "Gracie Challenge", in which they challenged other martial artists to a no-holds-barred Vale Tudo match in their gym in order to prove the superiority of Gracie jiu-jitsu. Rorion would later edit footage from the Gracie Challenge fights into a single documentary series known as ''Gracie in Action'', with some footage featuring Royce's fights. The ''Gracie in Action'' tapes inspired Art Davie to create the UFC.Gentry III, Clyde, ''No Holds Barred: Ultimate Fighting and the Martial Arts Revolution'', Milo Books, 2003, paperback edition, , pp. 38–39.

Mixed martial arts career

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

UFC 1

The Ultimate Fighting Championship was founded in 1993 by Rorion Gracie, business executive Art Davie, and the Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG). The premise of the event was doing a eight-man openweight single-elimination tournament, with minimal rules, from fighters representing different martial arts, in order to find the most effective and strongest fighting style. While Davie and the SEG were interested in doing an event with violent and exciting Vale Tudo fights similar to what they had seen on the ''Gracie in Action'' tapes, Rorion was interested in promoting his family's own Jiu-Jitsu style by defeating larger and stronger opponents from more well-known martial arts. Rorion said he picked Royce 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.

Gracie entered the tournament wearing his now iconic Brazilian jiu-jitsu gi. In his first match, Gracie defeated journeyman boxer Art Jimmerson. He tackled him to the ground using a ''baiana'' (morote-gari or double-leg) and obtained the dominant "mounted" position. Mounted and with only one free arm, Jimmerson conceded defeat.

In the semi-finals, Gracie fought against shootfighter and King of Pancrase Ken Shamrock. This was Royce's most difficult match, as Shamrock had grappling experience (having caught Patrick Smith in a heel hook