This isnt Greatness of Royce cause he truly was great and we all know it. Sure he was flawed, the man won. period. Here it is.
1993 this crazy ass thing called UFC is put together by a couple lawyers and helio Gracie. Renzo is considered the best fighting Gracie at the time but the Gracie's decide to enter 6 foot 175 pound Royce into the octagon in the inagural tournament.
UFC 1 Royce is facing Art Jimmerson, forever the poor son of a bitch to start the Gracie legend and wear 1 boxing glove into the octagon. The fight goes 2 minutes and Royce smothers ol Art on the ground and in over 2 minutes Art taps.
Next up is
Ken Shamrock, without a doubt the most accomplished man in UFC 1, Royce survives an early takedown to end up side by side Shamrock and choking Ken out, Ken taps in under a minute. The ref doesn't see it, Royce lets go, the ref wants o restart them, Royce grabs Ken and says tell them,
and Ken says he tapped.
In the finals
Royce is facing Gerard Gordeau , in just over a minute Royce has the back in is submitting Gordeau via rear naked choke. Just like that Brazilian Jiu Jiutsu mattered in the world of MMA. The
little guy had won the inagural UFC tournament.
4 months later at
UFC 2 Royce is in the largest tournament ever in UFC history. First up is
Minoki Ichihara, in Royce's longest bout in the UFC Minoki goes past the 5 minute but is clearly outmatched on the ground. Royce always cleverly using his gi wins via tap out
due to lapel choke (which Royce almost used exclusively).
Next up is poor
Jason Delucia, all I have to say is he is the poor bastard that got his arm mangled by Royce due to the refs unintelligence. Jason was a tough fighter that trained with Lions Den.
Next up is
Remco Pardoel, aside from Ken, the most accomplished fighter Royce has faced. It isn't even close, Pardoel is completely mismatched and tap due to lapel choke in over a minute.
In the finals of UFC 2 Royce is facing
Patrick Smith, the tough striker of the early UFC days, it again isnt even close, Royce has Pat tapping from PUNCHES what???? isnt that impressive, alot of Royce's fights were won by him simply overwhelming guys on positioning, this was one of them.
Royce wins UFC 2, 4 fights, under 10 minutes.
Royce is 7-0 in UFC and MMA and has won the 2 UFC tournaments to take place. Brazillian Jiu Jiutsu is considered the key to MMA/UFC and fighters all over start trying to copy the Gracie guard.
UFC 3 is 6 months later and Royce enters again looking to defend his titles. He is the clear crowd favorite.
He is facing Kimo Leopoldo. In maybe the first classic match of the UFC Kimo tosses Royce around like a rag doll and Ryce pulls hair, pot shots, and uses the gi on Kimo. Ony 4 minutes go by, it seemed like 15, it was nuts how slow time seemed to go in this fight. Finally Royce gets an arm and
Kimo is tapping. the fight is over and so are both fighters.
Next up is
Harold Howard, Royce walks to the cage, and Renzo throws the towel in, mass confusion takes place, Kimo and Joe Son storm the octagon thinking they get to fight, they are told they are out and Royce has forfeited. It is Royce's first official loss in MMA.
Royce is 8-1.
3 months later is
UFC 4 a very good card. In the first round Royce is facing the oldest man in UFC history, Ron Van Clief, the black Dragon. Royce seems to take mercy on Ron and gets him to the ground, lands some punches, eventually gets Ron to roll over, gets the back, lands punches and sinks in the choke.
ROn taps after 3 minutes. Ron is in his 50's and of the 9 men to be in the ring with ROyce only 2 have lasted longer.
Next up is
Keith Hackney a tough credible fighter from the old days, who had just done a number on Joe Son's nuts. Royce and Keith stand and Keith is getting the better of Royce but then boom, of course, they go to the ground. The crowd cheers,
5 minutes in and Royce gets the nut puncher's arm and its all over. Keith taps.
In the Finals
Royce faces Dan Severn. In the greatest finals match up of all the UFC tournaments EVER Royce is literally on his back for 15 minutes, getting punched, head butted, and tossed around. The original PPV went over time and the PPV broadcast ended with no one knowing the winner. Really Royce kept getting his ass battered, when all of a sudden he wiggled his hips up around Severn's head. Blatnick (old announcer) says well theres nothing there.
All of a sudden Severn's ass is up in the air and he is trying to pull out, Severn taps, Jim Brown says never doubt this man again. And USA is introduced to the triangle choke.
Royce Gracie wins UFC 4 tournament. He has won 3 of the first 4 UFC tournaments. He is 11-1. Next up is
UFC 5. Royce Gracie vs Ken Shamrock for the SuperFight Title. Sadly for Royce it was not meant to be his night. He is man handled again, only this time the submission never comes, he could never come close to even attempting a submission on Shamrock as Ken stays in the guard for basically 30 minutes, and 4 minutes of a 6 minute overtime. The fight ends a draw after 36 minutes. ROyce who took alot of headbutts and pot shots has a fractured eye socket and busted nose and 2 cut eyes. He doesn't fight in the UFC for 11 years. THe legend is done in the UFC. Passing of the torch moment.
Royce is 11-1-1.
5 years go by and
Royce finally enters the Pride Grand Prix 2000, in the first round Royce gets a unanimous decision over Nobuhiko Takada, looking beter in the stand up than in his early UFC days.
Next up is
Kazushi Sakuraba, in perhaps the most famous MMA match of all time. Goes Hour and 45 minutes. Royce comes close to getting a Kimura early but his own "Gracie Rules" hurt him as he does good early, and would have won a 15 minute round fight but is methodically broken down by Sakuraba who chops Royce down with leg kicks and forces the towel to be thrown in. In a amazing moment
Sakuraba grabs Royces hands, flips him on his back and nails him with a punch. Royce's first real MMA defeat (Walid Ismail was in a grappling tournament in 1997). Royce is 12-2-1.
3 years go by and Royce come back for Pride Shockwave 3 against Hidehoki Yoshida, honestly sad to watch as Royce goes the 20 but I think he honestly lost this fight. The fight was ruled a draw, but Royce looked like he took the worst of the Kazushi fight, even if it was 3 years later, he just looked different, hey its 2003 bird not 1993
In
2004 Royce submits Chad Rowan via wrist lock in 2 minutes in K-1, he then has a draw with Hideo Tokoro in K-1 2005. Royce's record is 13-2-3.
It is
2006 UFC 60 Royce Gracie comes back to UFC to face Matt Hughes. It is a sad fight to watch. Passing of the guard my ass it was old vs new, prime Royce makes the fight alot more interesting in my opnion. Either ways, Royce gets taken down after some initial standing success and ends up in a nasty ass arm lock. He somehow survives but its over, his arm is grinded and he gives up his back, Matt flattens him out and unloads, Fight is ended,
ROyce Gracie has been TKO'd, stopped by punches for the first time.
Royce is 13-3-3.
In
2007 at K-1 Royce and Kazushi fight a rematch going 15 minutes, and jsut like I said about the Pride match, ROyce got the better of Kazushi and won the 15 minute 3 round decision by being more active. After Royce failed for PED's sadly.
It was a sad end for such a legend. Royce currently has a 14-3-3 record. Won UFC 1, 2, and 4. One of the true greats of the openweight era.
In 1994 Royce went 8-1, winning UFC 2 and 4, beating Dan Severn, Kimo, Remco Pardoel, and Keith Hackney. Very impressive.
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