Fighters Only

Issue 060

March 2010

There are few names in the mixed martial arts world that need no introduction, even to relatively recent fans of the sport, and ‘Gracie’ is one of them.

Most people’s induction to the world of Brazil’s fighting royalty went in a sequence much like the following. First, it was Royce, the giant-killer of the early UFCs. Some research on the family name unearths Rickson, the lion of the family. Then perhaps the discovery of Royler, the slightly built genius of jiu-jitsu. Renzo, despite being the Gracie family member with the most sanctioned-MMA fights on his record, usually comes up a little later down the line.

The grandson of Carlos Gracie (who was brother to Helio and the oft-overlooked co-creator of the Gracie style of jiu-jitsu that you see today), Renzo is a jiu-jitsu champion in both the gi and in submission wrestling. He is a veteran of Pride, and one of the most charismatic people you’re likely to come across in MMA.

Renzo is a fighter with a rare and touching grasp of the poetry of life, and of his profession. He is a veritable quote machine, and, covered in the sweat and spoils of battle, he’ll turn to the camera (as he did in the documentary about his career, ‘Legacy’) and recite the kind of line that sends shivers down a grown man’s spine. “Everything that I am, I owe to my father,” he growled. “Because he was the motherfucker who gave me the gravel in my guts and the spit in my eye. Because he was the one who gave me the Gracie name.”

Renzo’s career has followed a similar arc to many of his Brazilian cousins and extended family members: debuting in true no-holds-barred vale tudo in Brazil, graduating to the big shows in Japan and a few marquee fights on American soil.

One of the defining moments early in the Brazilian’s career was a devastating knockout of Oleg Taktarov, a grizzled UFC tournament champion with a reputation for having a hard head. A swift up-kick from the bottom connected heel to jaw, sending the ‘Russian Bear’ flopping to the canvas. Vampire-like, Taktarov rose to a sitting position but Renzo had already gotten to his feet and in a single, flowing movement delivered a crushing hook that flattened Taktarov again. “I trained so much and so hard for that one that I felt sure something like that would happen – so that’s what happened, I knocked him out in one minute from the beginning of the fight.” In Pride, Renzo faced a string of stiff competition from all over the world and more often than not came out on top. In a battle reminiscent of the early days, when his granduncle Helio would challenge the warriors of Japan in order to legitimize his own version of their art, Renzo took on – and submitted – Sanae Kikuta, a legendary Japanese grappler who learned judo under Toshihiko Koga, one of Japan’s most famous judoka.

In a fight cited as an all-time great, Renzo took on Kazushi Sakuraba in an attempt to stall the ‘Gracie Hunter’ in his tracks. That didn’t happen, and the fight was stopped with Renzo’s arm bending the wrong way at the elbow. To his credit the smile never left Renzo’s face, and he revealed only afterwards the agonizing pain he was in. It was also a testament to his character that afterwards, graceful in defeat, he declared Sakuraba to be like a member of his own family, truly a special gift from a member of such a family.

Renzo Gracie has wins over no less than five former UFC champions. Oleg Taktarov, Maurice Smith, Pat Miletich, Carlos Newton and Frank Shamrock have all fallen to the talented grappler. Like so many of his family, he earned his black belt at Gracie Barra, the famous academy headed by Carlos Gracie Jr. He was invited to participate in the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC), a prestigious grappling competition laid on by sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, prince of one of the richest nations in the world. The world’s best grapplers are flown to the Middle East and put up as guests of the Crown Prince of the UAE. There they battle for the title of world’s best submission grappler, an accolade Renzo took home in 2000.

His relationship with Sheikh Tahnoon, the patron of ADCC, is worthy of mention; Renzo is one of the Sheikh’s many personal coaches. Sometimes five or six times a year, Renzo will get a call requesting his presence. “It happens pretty quick. I get a call, I hop on a plane and I go.” He’ll often arrive just in time to see the Prince closing a multi-million dollar deal, followed by a short trip on a private jet to the Sheikh’s residence, a couple of days of training, and then back to Manhattan, New York, where he heads his very successful Renzo Gracie Academy.

The 42-year-old is still in fighting shape and is set to return to major competition this year in the UFC. But does a life that reads like the script to a movie stop Renzo from having his feet firmly on the ground? “I’ll die shitting my pants like everyone else,” Renzo says, “but knowing who I was, knowing for sure, truly, who I was.”

1992

Debut and first win at Gracie Vale Tudo, Brazil

1996

KOs Oleg Taktarov at M.A.R.S.

1997

Draws with Akira Shoji at inaugural Pride

1999

Submits UFC champ Maurice Smith in Japan

2005

Drops decision to BJ Penn

2006

Coaches New York Pitbulls for the International Fight League