A couple of weekends ago, I had a ton of fun at a “Modified MMA” tournament hosted by the good people of Warrior-One, an MMA retailer and training center just north of Seattle. The event offered an opportunity for a hopeful fighter to begin to bridge the gap between jiu-jitsu matches and MMA, by beginning to mix strikes with grappling in a controlled setting. It’s the kind of community event that I hope to see more of.

While at Warrior-One, I picked up our sport’s newest full-length documentary, Renzo Gracie: Legacy. Similarly, Legacy attempts to bridge that gap between the personal side of one of our greatest figures, and his achievements in the sport.

It’s mainly successful, although it also left me wanting more.

Let’s back up a bit: I have always a fan of Renzo. I loved his interaction with his family in the Smashing Machine DVD, including playful sparring with his kids. He always showed a never-say-die spirit in his fights, generally tempered with sportsmanship — like how he saluted Kazushi Sakuraba after their bout, or after his fight with Alexander Otsuka, where he said “if I were better then him today, it’s because I train with good people like him.” Yeah, Renzo has had some rough moments too, but even those seem due to his passion for the fight game and his family’s place in it. He’s just basically an easy guy to like.

So, the Renzo of Legacy surprised me a little. The interaction with family is there, but mostly in street fight stories with his uncle Relson, and sparring with his late brother Ryan. What Legacy is all about is the passion that Renzo has for jiu-jitsu and fighting, and this is portrayed vividly. Some of the first bits of dialogue describe its subject as a “street fighter from Brazil,” not a martial artist, as Renzo compares his abs with those of his training partners.

Legacy follows ten years in the life of Renzo Gracie, beginning with his US debut at Reality Superfighting against Oleg Taktarov in 1996, and finishing with his comeback fight against Pat Militech for the IFL. Filmmaker Gelthin Aldous offers 78 minutes with BJJ royalty in and out of the ring, plus 90 minutes of “extra footage,” making this an easy recommendation for a big fan or practictioner of the sport. But beyond that… honestly? It’s good, but not great.

What was new to me? The time spent with Renzo’s father Robson is memorable. Robson Gracie is described as a revolutionary in a insurrection in Brazil. Renzo describes seeing his fathers admiration of men who survived government torture — and that these stories are vital to become a fighter. He later visits his father in Rio in another fascinating segment.

What was old news? Sadly, I have to call out some biases. Oleg Taktarov is said to be 40 pounds heavier than Renzo for their bout. (Huh?) There’s more of the strange leading away from BJJ’s roots in judo, including a bizzare description the Kodokan as “Japan’s last samurai school” rather than “the birthplace of judo.” This would all appear to be a step back from the more even handed approach to BJJ history in Renzo’s book, “Mastering JuJutsu.”

In his review, Elias Capeda described Legacy as “an instant classic” which “accomplishes the rare feat of being able to both satisfy the most ardent and informed sports fan’s desire for fresh, new perspective and knowledge and serve as an understandable primer for the uninitiated.” It’s true that Legacy delivers on some new material, and is a good primer for MMA & BJJ, albeit with its own set of biases… but I just don’t see it as a classic.

It feels incomplete. For one, too many of the bouts described in the film lack any footage at all. It’s certainly not hard to imagine small independent filmmakers struggling to get the rights for PRIDE library. But, the great upside of Legacy’s shoestring approach should be that a new perspective is offered, one that has no fear of offending anyone, but that doesn’t really pan out either. There is hardly a negative word to be found of its subject.

We’re ten years from Choke and six years removed from Smashing Machine, and Legacy certainly is a great addition to that library. Its bonus material offers a startling amount of footage from interview segments to grappling matches with the legend and the film itself isn’t a bad primer for the new fans. Legacy is well worth a buy. It’s just not quite the classic documentary that some of its fans describe.