Royce Gracie

Coming from arguably the most renowned family in the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) world, Royce Gracie was the one who was chosen to showcase his family’s art to the world in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The impact that Royce had in the first UFC astounded the MMA world and revolutionized thoughts on unarmed combat. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Gracie is very much a ground fighter. Feeling that his ‘back is his home’. Gracie’s strength is his ability to submit opponents and this has earned him a record of 13-2-2.

Dan Severn

Originally from Coldwater, Michigan, Severn has a very distinguished background in both Greco-Roman and Freestyle wrestling. He has won many honors, as well as national and world titles. Severn has also had a stint as a professional wrestler, wrestling for the world-famous WWF promotion. Dan has been one of the most constant competitors in MMA and currently holds a record

of 67-12-7.

Classic fight No. 8

This match was the final round of the tournament and both men really had a point to prove. Gracie was very much on the comeback trail after his battle with Kimo at UFC 3, where the Brazilian was pushed further than he had ever been pushed. Gracie knew that he had to win this tournament in order to confirm that he was still the best — not just for himself but for his family too.

Dan Severn was coming in highly touted due to his very impressive background in wrestling. There was much speculation that, as ground fighting had been so effective in previous UFC events, a big, strong wrestler would be very effective and could possibly be a very serious threat to the dominance of the Gracies.

Royce had graduated to the finals via a submission victory over karate legend Ron ‘The Black Dragon’ Von Clief and a very interesting victory over UFC 3 veteran Keith Hackney, where Hackney displayed some very good takedown defense until Gracie managed to crowd him up against the fence, pull guard and work a very good armbar submission.

Severn had clashed with Muay Thai expert, Anthony ‘Mad Dog’ Macias, in the very first round. This is where Severn’s power, technique, and brutality warranted his reputation. Severn caught Macias with two vicious back suplexes that had the Mad Dog shaking his head to try and clear the cobwebs. Severn got the victory through a choke/neck crank that had Macias tapping out. Severn then went on to beat Marcus ‘Grasshopper’ Bossett with another submission.

Brothers in arms

The ‘Gracie Train’ led their family member down to the Octagon. Royce Gracie’s head was bowed and his hands were on his brother’s shoulders as he approached the eight-sided cage that had made him famous. A final few words were uttered to him in his native Portuguese and he entered the Octagon. Next, it was the turn of Dan Severn to make his way to the Octagon. He came down wearing a very simple, grey T-shirt, stained with the sweat from his warm-up session. As he stood in the doorway of the Octagon he took off his shirt and, in traditional wrestling style, wiped under both armpits and then proceeded to wipe his face with the same piece of cloth.

Gracie stared at Severn as he entered the Octagon. That Gracie had been in a tough fight prior to the final was evident due to the welt that had swollen up under his left eye, courtesy of a few right hands delivered from Hackney’s right fist. This did not seem to faze him as he seemed very calm and collected.

After the announcements had been made and the gate had been deadbolted, Big John summoned the two fighters with those immortal questions: “Are you ready, Royce? Are you ready, Dan? LET’S GET IT ON!!”

Release 'The Beast'

The two combatants approached each other, both very wary of what the other was capable of. Gracie, outweighed by 80lbs, stood with a very low guard to protect against the double leg takedown that the world-class wrestler would ultimately look for. Severn had his hands a little higher and was looking for just the right opportunity, the slight opening that would allow him to shoot for a double-leg or single-leg takedown. Gracie threw a few light leg kicks that seemed to be more distracting to Severn than painful, a few jabs were also attempted, none of which had much impact on the 260lb wrestler. Gracie threw another kick that missed its target and Severn saw the opportunity he had been waiting for. Severn shot in for a double-leg takedown and secured it. This landed Severn in the top position and Gracie pulled guard — a position that the lanky Brazilian was more than happy to be in. Severn took a few moments to consolidate his position and then started to look for openings where he could strike. This was when it became evident that the fight was as close to a human chess match as you are ever going to get in the Octagon. Severn worked Gracie with punishing blow after punishing blow, shots to the body, shots to the head, punch after punch crashed into the little Brazilian. Severn was evidently working his wrestling skills to their limits. He lifted up his lower body in order to put as much of his body weight down onto Gracie, who was constantly trying to frustrate Severn by keeping a tight grip on the back of his head, not allowing him to rise up and rain down big punishing blows.

Severn tried to push Royce into the fence in order to restrict the movement of his head and make it an easier target, but Gracie was wise to this and used the fence to rotate his body and face away from the potential restriction.

Whilst this may have frustrated the big wrestler, he continued the assault on Gracie’s body and head. The entire time that this was going on, Gracie was listening to his corner men and displaying an unbelievable level of calm and control as he was being hit from all angles. At around about the thirteen-minute mark, ‘The Beast’ decided to extend his legs into a standing position in order to put a lot more pressure on Gracie. As he did so, Gracie managed to get his knees up a bit higher, Severn returned to his kneeling position and Gracie saw an opportunity and sank a very tight triangle choke onto the exhausted Severn.

Fatigue makes cowards of us all Severn, realizing the danger that he was in, tried to stand up and power his way out of the submission attempt but, being fatigued from the earlier assault on Gracie, he did not have the energy to break loose and had to tap the mat to signal that he wanted no more. On this signal, John McCarthy forced Gracie to release the choke and awarded the victory to the little Brazilian.

After a grueling 14 minutes of constant punishment, Royce Gracie had outlasted his bigger opponent and secured the win and, in doing so, again displayed how effective his combination of heart, determination, and skill was — Royce Gracie was back!

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