The first episode of the MMA legends podcast, exploring Royce Gracie’s UFC 1 victory and his impact long term on the world of martial arts in a short, retrospective overview.
Script:
The world of martial arts is diverse, with hundreds of different forms and thousands of different styles of each martial art practiced around the world. In the world of combat sports today, you have to know multiple ways to fight to even have a shot of winning against your opponent. While there is a time where one form of fighting reigns supreme above the others, Royce Gracie in 1993 proved to the world the effectiveness of Jiu-Jitsu by dominating every other fighter in his path.
My name is Dylan Richards and on this episode of the MMA Legends Podcast, we will be talking about Royce Gracie’s influence on the game and what legacy he has left behind in the martial arts world. You may be asking yourself, who is this strong, handsome, and charming man that’s speaking to me right now about MMA? Well, for starters, you probably said none of that, but I will tell you something about me. I’m a white belt in Kobukai Jiujitsu, a brand of Jiu-Jitsu that mixes self-defense and tradition. I’ve been training Jiu-Jitsu since I was a kid and I started this podcast to try to better understand the history of martial arts as I learned them myself.
Royce Gracie, also known as the first ever UFC champion in the company’s history, was an innovator. Before divisions, before all the money thrown into the sport, he was the first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu guy to enter the mainstream. To understand what made Gracie so great, we have to understand the first UFC pay-per-view called The Beginning. On UFC 1, there were no regulations, no rules, and it was run in a tournament style, where fighters of different styles were put up against each other. From boxers to wrestlers, and of course, Gracie himself, there were a myriad of different styles to represent on this card.
Gracie was welcomed into the tournament, representing the Gracie Academy, and was put up against people that seemed stronger than him because of his appearance. Gracie was 6’1 and only 176 pounds, while his opponents had height and weight on him. All of the fighters Gracie faced had this advantage on him, including:
- Boxer Art Jimerson
- Favorite Ken Shamrock
- Kickboxer Gerard Gordeu
He would enter the octagon in his white gi and black belt. He was chosen by his father, also known as the godfather of BJJ, Helio Gracie, and his brother, who had stayed in the UFC, Rorian Gracie. He was always accompanied by his entire family when they conga lined out into the octagon. Royce was considered the weakest out of his family, but was chosen to send a message to the public. That being that anyone, no matter how strong they were, could lose to even the simplest techniques in jiu-jitsu, placing superiority on their brand of jiu-jitsu over any other martial art. Royce, to this day, insists that any member of his family could do the same thing that he could do if they were thrown into the octagon in UFC 1.
The early UFC compared to now was just a street fight. It was the Wild West in the octagon. No time limit, no division, no gloves, no rules, no biting, no eye gouge. Because of the tournament-style card, the fighters fought several matches in the same night. This is compared to how in the modern-day UFC, fighters will train in camps for several months to face one opponent on a card. The fights are made to go until there is a clear and decisive victor. This means that there are no rounds, no scoring, only a submission, break, or knockout could secure a victory. The refs, however, did not have the same training as they do in the modern-day UFC, so clear submissions despite a tap-out would always turn into a break or a prolonged choke.
While many other fights on this card averaged a run time of 3 minutes, Gracie averaged 1 minute a fight over all 3 fights that he had on this card. His second and more impressive match was against Ken Shamrock, an all-around mixed martial artist nicknamed the Shoot Fighter. Ironically, Hoist shot first from halfway across the octagon and engaged with Shamrock. Shamrock then sprawled on Gracie, then Gracie got an underhook on Shamrock’s arm. They both stood up, which allowed Gracie to pull guard onto Shamrock. And then Shamrock grabbed Gracie’s foot, then messed up the footlock by not sitting back. This caused Gracie to be able to slip free and then onto his back. And then just like that… Hoist, watch this. It looks like he’s going for the back. He’s going for the back. Here’s the tap. Here’s the tap. Royce actually had him in a choke from the back. He tapped. He tapped four times. Shamrock tapped to a rear naked choke by Gracie.It took a moment for the ref to call the fight after Shamrock started tapping out of confusion as he didn’t understand the choke that Gracie was using. All Gracie had to do to secure the victory here was wrap his arm around Shamrock’s neck, grabbing his own arm. and then blocking off Shamrock’s arteries on his neck.
The championship fight of determination was against Gordeu. To engage with Gordeu, he slid across the octagon to close the gap with him, and then he stood up hugging Gordeu’s outside leg, bringing him towards the outside of the octagon. They fought against the cage for a while until Hoist was able to ultimately push off the cage and secure a takedown. Royce stays close to that as fast as he can. He doesn’t want Hoist to get to his back. But if you watch Royce, that foot there is the takedown. That’s exactly what Royce wants. I hate to say it, but Gerard is in a lot of trouble. Now watch, there’s a headbutt. Royce is just softening him up here. They fall on the ground for around 20 seconds. The confused Gordeu, who had never encountered groundwork before, gave up his back and neck to Gracie, causing him to get a modified rear naked choke off on him. Gracie pushed the back of Gordeu’s neck onto his forearm, causing him to be off the choke easier. Hoist dominated his way into becoming the first ever UFC champion.
After winning the championship, the size of the Gracie dojo doubled, and then doubled again after Gracie successfully defended the championship again at UFC 2. It only continued to grow as Gracie proved the effectiveness of the martial art. And that was what impressed everybody on the first UFC. It was the technique. People say all the time, well, I stopped training martial arts, I stopped training Jiu-Jitsu because I saw you fighting. I tell them, you never saw me fighting. You saw the technique. That’s what impressed you. That’s true.
To hear from other martial arts about how they saw Gracie in the modern day, I went to Tri-Tac Training Center in Carmel to hear from them and discuss Gracie’s game and legacy. First, I sat down with Sensei Oz Pariser, a third-degree Beat JJ black belt, third-degree Kobukai black belt, and an experienced fighter himself.
The Gracies don’t own Jiu-Jitsu, right? They were the first ones to popularize Jiu-Jitsu. And they coined the term like Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. They wanted to have an empire built on Jiu-Jitsu because what they had was something that most people didn’t know about. They were kind of like royalty a little bit in Brazil. They learned directly from that Japanese lineage. So they had, in a sense, like a secret sauce that other people didn’t have. And they were able to go and challenge all martial artists to come and try to beat them. And they had this secret sauce in Jiu-Jitsu that people didn’t know how to stop yet. And so they were able to use that to popularize the family name.
Though the Gracie family is like the royal family in Jiu-Jitsu, their teachings and techniques have become so widespread that there are dozens of variations of each and every move that they teach in their dojo. Every technique that they do is so simple, but to someone who isn’t a martial artist, they look like witchcraft. I remember myself when sitting and watching Hoist’s matches on UFC 1, sitting there and calling out his moves as he was going for them, because I myself have learned them myself as they are white belt techniques. Moves that even the most inexperienced of people can learn for self-defense.
And then when I watched the Gracie family members recount this fight, I remember nodding to myself saying, yeah, this makes sense. I mean, whether we’re talking Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Taekwondo fighting, shooting a gun, salsa dancing, whatever, if you want to do something and you have the mental capacity to go through the ups and downs, you can absolutely do it.
Now Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, we know this has a high turnover. I think it’s got a turnover like the Navy SEALs. That doesn’t mean not anyone can do it. It just means it’s more difficult than other things to get into. But if you have the grit for it, and this is something you want to do, and you get a good group of people around you that support you, and you support them, I think anybody can absolutely do this sport. Said Vinny Gazillo, a yellow belt in Kobukai Jiu-Jitsu and former captain of his wrestling team in high school.
Without the Gracie family or Royce Gracie’s UFC 1 victory, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu may not be as widespread as it is today. Thanks to their contributions, Jiu-Jitsu has become a mainstay in and outside of the octagon. Though the Gracie family did mainly have self-defense in mind when having Royce enter the UFC, there is no denying that Royce is also the origin point for the widespread use of BJJ in today’s combat sports. Almost every person in the Jiu-Jitsu world today has indirectly learned from the Gracie family style, as their teachings are now extremely widespread. Even I, as a student of Kobukai, learned from the teachings of the Gracies, as they helped to innovate and modernize Jiu-Jitsu.
The main lesson that I think everyone should know from Royce Gracie’s UFC 1 appearance that shocked the world. Everyone should know from Royce Gracie’s UFC 1 appearance that shocked the world with his championship win, that still applies to this day, that anyone can do self-defense. You just have to have the discipline to keep on learning.
Thank you all for exploring MMA history with me today. On the next episode we will be looking at Demetrius Mighty Mouse Johnson and the game of the little guy.
Works Cited:
UFC 1: The Beginning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y‑7yu-YHTdc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSS9CuuPvQg&t=195s
https://youtu.be/asOlKAk1DN0?si=VG3nNdoK5pyPWQbd
https://youtu.be/-y2SEefVNtE?si=fxkQmWNHmc6kqIm0
https://youtu.be/hZW2yO99oeo?si=rvc5ooEzBA2xWo1q
https://youtu.be/b_n9H55RhKg?si=SqnYauXUoHWPhoty
https://youtu.be/EZM99x0eu7I?si=6xiOps1DxfQe3Llp
