Comments on: Guess Who’s Back?

By: Tommy Hackett

Tommy Hackett — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:14:38 +0000

Yeah, they say it’s on for 10 April 2010 in UAE, but we’ll see.

Here’s Rener Gracie’s response to Renzo at FWP. It’s also pretty interesting: http://thefightworkspodcast.com/2009/12/06/rener-gracie-academy/

By: Kenwyne

Kenwyne — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:10:34 +0000

He also trains members of the royal family in Jiu-jitsu. They’ll all be rooting for Renzo, methinks. The card if booked, I forget what the event name is.

By: Tommy Hackett

Tommy Hackett — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:19:56 +0000

Sounds great! It might actually be plausible too. I know there was a fairly big MMA show in Bahrain yesterday.

I’m thinking Sheik Tahnoon is still mad at Hughes for fixing that match at Abu Dhabi, so look for Renzo to have home field advantage there

By: Kenwyne

Kenwyne — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:14:24 +0000

Dana’s said he wants Hughes and Renzo headlining at the UFC in Abu Dhabi next year.

By: Tommy Hackett

Tommy Hackett — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:21:51 +0000

Here’s what I think… or actually, first here’s what I don’t think:

I don’t think Renzo is fighting to prove anything to Rorian & the Torrence guys. (Rener has offered a rebuttal by the way, also at FightWorks Podcast.)

I think Renzo Gracie wants to fight because he’s still a fighter, period. Since he’s really been the one carrying the flag, I think we all agree that he should be respected.

And… I think he’ll do better than some of you think They’ll probably work out a catch weight for him and match him properly.

Finally, I think this is the best audio interview since Wallid Ismail waxed poetic about Ryan Gracie (RIP) and Luca Atalla in 2000 or so.

By: Blaze

Blaze — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:13:09 +0000

A couple of points:

1) GJJ was not made for 5 minute rounds.
2) After Royce, everyone realized they had to add some form of BJJ to their game to succeed.

Gracie’s are not superheroes, but they have proven that you cannot ignore BJJ. I’d love to see the UFC go old school tournament like it was originally intended. Even a once a year tourney would be good.

By: Kenwyne

Kenwyne — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:35:02 +0000

Yes, he can speak. I’ve already said I like the guy. Miletech is past his prime also, so I don’t think that can be seen as a true refelection of the fight. He’ll cut some nice promos, for sure, and he’ll make some entertaining fights, but I can’t see what he’s got to gain - isn’t half the point he’s joining the UFC to make a point of how great Gracie Barra JJ is over Relson’s version? So if he gets slaughtered - especially by another sub specialist like Maia - then he’ll just look like a bit of an idiot.

And Hallman and Hughes fight Welterweight don’t they? I had Renzo down as a small Light Heavyweight or a Large Middleweight.

Though hardcore fans are happy to say that parts of the Gracie family is getting irritating (Rickson’s frequent gloating, the general tetchiness etc), these facts are not mainstream knowledge. For the casual MMA fan, ‘Gracie’ is synonomous with the brilliant fighters: Royce in his prime back in the 90s for example. To see it torn to shreds on a PPV may just hurt their perception of the sport: IE if this is how average the guys who won the early UFC were, then the whole orgsnisation must have been pretty rubbish… maybe it still is.

By: JRN

JRN — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:12:07 +0000

That Renzo seems unconcerned about what losing might do to the Gracie name should be considered another point in his favor, IMO.

By: Tommy Hackett

Tommy Hackett — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:10:01 +0000

Ha! Thanks for reading but I have to disagree: there’s nothing average about Renzo Gracie. The passion this man brings has been missed. With the UFC roster including other names from the old guard like Matt Hughes and Dennis Hallman, it should be easy to fit him in.

But as far as his record goes, I actually had him ahead for the Shamrock bout, although I’ll concede it was close. He beat Carlos Newton and Pat Militech before that — who both held UFC titles. Gracie also won the first round of his fight with BJ Penn before losing a competitive bout there.

We haven’t seen him for a few years, true. But hey… to hell with conventional wisdom, and to hell with marketing the Gracie name. Ken, listen to this man’s voice and tell me you’re not moved.

Give ‘em hell Renzo!!!

By: Kenwyne

Kenwyne — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:53:29 +0000

Don’t you think that him going back into the hot bed of talent that is the UFC 185ibs division is just going to damage the Gracie Legend further than when Royce came back in 2005 and got destroyed by Matt Hughes? He hasn’t beaten a fighter who stands a chance in the current UFC since before the turn of the century. (no, I don’t count his DQ win over Shamrock) Who’s he going to match up against in the 185 division. Maybe if fellow old man Frank Trigg returned to 185 we’d see a competitive fight, but if he couldn’t beat Carlos Newton clearly, then the likes of Wanderlei Silva (Coming of a Loss) Demian Maia (ditto) and Thales Leites are going to walk right through him. Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy, but even in his prime his most notable scalps are relatively minor, he beat Oleg Taktarov way back when and Maurice Smith shortly afterwards. He’s been beaten, in his prime, by Kiyoshi Tamura, Shungo Oyama and Carlos Newton. I’m omitting his losses against the likes of Sakuraba and Henderson because they don’t prove the point nearly as well. His coming to the UFC and getting beaten up live on TV will only bring the casual fan to the conclusion that the Gracies’ aren’t that great after all, and I don’t think that’s what Renzo, or any of the Gracies, wants.

In summary: Renzo Gracie, lovely guy, great at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, average at Mixed Martial Arts.