Issue 105

September 2013

Rickson Gracie The Brazilian fighting legend on being ageless and fighting timelessly 

I was born in 1958, but I’m ageless. I forget my age. I would definitely have fought in the UFC today. I would have fought against anyone because for me weight is not a problem and time is not a problem. 

I never actually fought MMA. I never fought in a five-minute round, I only fought in an unlimited number of rounds. So for me, it could be 50 rounds until somebody gives up. That’s the kind of fight I’m comfortable with. 

With the rules in place in MMA, of course, my chances would diminish because there’s much more athleticism in the mindset of mixed martial artists and the way they prepare. But I would still put myself in because I just love the challenge. 

The only adaptation I’d have to make for today is to have much more physicality. I would maybe walk around at 190lb and compete at 170lb. I would have had to adapt like everybody does. 

If you don’t do it, you’d miss out. I’d have to deal with a 220lb guy in a 185lb division, because they lose so much weight before the fight. I never did this, but if I have to adapt to the modern ways I’d have to start thinking about this, plus weights, plus the extremely physical things which I was never too much into. 

I have good endurance but physicality was not a priority for me. It was more the mindset and the techniques to counter attack which I worked on in my time. 

The way the UFC has gone is a natural, evolutionary process and, of course, there’s no right or wrong, it’s just the way it is today. I feel like in some ways it grew a lot, became much more public, got much more publicity, there is much more money involved, and many more people are getting benefits from work in the sport. So there’s a big growth in all areas, which I’m appreciative of. 

On the other hand, they’ve started to create MMA into more like a game. From my perspective, martial arts is not a game, not a sport, it’s a style you learn to protect yourself with, to feel confident in all different areas of life. 

There are a lot of things in MMA today that kind of diminish the element of technique because if you fight with no time restraints, no weight division, it’s different. When you have no rounds and no weight divisions you have to really rely on technique to survive as long as you can and then eventually take advantage and capitalize on a mistake. It’s a totally different mindset than five minutes of explosive fighting. 

If a guy knows he is going to go full out for five minutes, he’s not going to have to rest, so it’s a totally different concept that is new, but I don’t feel it’s a complete way to see who is the best fighter. But it is what it is and people accept it. 

However, when I see an event like Metamoris, which tries to bring back the element of efficiency, I’m very positive about it. Even though in this BJJ event you can see people who are holding sleeves and stalling the fight with no purpose or victory, the idea of Metamoris is to look for a finish by submission over a 20-minute period. 

I think the evolutionary process within Metamoris will be more points, more money for the submissions and less points for holding and stalling. In that way, it will become more adapted to a fight for real. That will be our next step as it develops.

But I have to be happy overall because we’re part of a huge revolution in martial arts. MMA is growing, it’s still a huge revolutionary, positive thing for the world. So I’m part of it, I’m a pioneer of it and I’m very happy with the outcome.