RIO DE JANEIRO \u2014 Roger Gracie is one of the best to ever do it when it comes to Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling \u2014 the No. 1 all-time, depending on who you ask. Just don\u2019t ask him to engage in that debate.<\/p>\n
The fact that Gracie stopped competing in 2010, doing only three superfights since, distances him from the young generation of grapplers and fans. His highlights are available online and he\u2019s still treated as a living legend in seminars and appearances, but others shine in a time where clips and hot takes go viral and helps create the mystique around younger beasts like Gordon Ryan.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like saying LeBron James is a GOAT when you weren\u2019t around to watch Michael Jordan do his magic. Or maybe Tom Brady over Joe Montana, and Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo topping Pel\u00e9\u2019s greatness.<\/p>\n
Gracie dominated his division \u2014 and the absolute \u2014 between 2005 and 2010, winning 59 of 63 matches to claim two ADCC gold medals and a historic 10 IBJJF world championships, among other titles. He would most often compete in those two tournaments in an era where there weren\u2019t many options for elite grapplers.<\/p>\n
Nearly a decade removed from his last time on the mat, when he choked out a prime Marcus Buchecha in 2017, Gracie said he\u2019s fine if some say other names when asked who\u2019s the greatest grappler all-time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI built such a big name in jiu-jitsu that it\u2019s hard to erase over time,\u201d Gracie told MMA Fighting. \u201cOf course, as time passes, the importance fades a bit, but I still feel there\u2019s a lot of recognition for what I\u2019ve achieved \u2014 and there always will be. I don\u2019t have the illusion that as time passes the new generation won\u2019t see champions from the past. But recognition isn\u2019t what matters [to me], though. What matters is what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gracie mentioned Mica Galv\u00e3o, Tainan Dalpra, Mikey Musumeci, Diogo Reis and Nicholas Meregali as the ones who likes watching the most today.<\/p>\n
Gordon Ryan often gets the recognition in GOAT debates given his dominance in grappling in recent years, running through competition between 2017 and 2024 \u2014 and winning more than 100 matches with only five defeats over the past nine years.<\/p>\n
With an often heated argument when it\u2019s time to crown Gracie or Ryan the GOAT \u2014 or the ones who preceded them in the early days of jiu-jitsu \u2014 Gracie doesn\u2019t think the debate is fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s normal, there will always be comparisons,\u201d Gracie said of the praise around Ryan. \u201cBut you can\u2019t compare generations. The only fair comparison would be if they competed against each other. Without that, it\u2019s meaningless. I don\u2019t even think it\u2019s nice to compare. Every champion used the tools needed to overcome the challenges of their time. Everyone had their own journey, their own battles to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some argue Gracie could have gone on a longer reign had he not decided to transition to mixed martial arts in 2010, a route he chose to go to represent the family in Sengoku, Strikeforce, UFC and finally as ONE champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the early days, up until my generation or a bit earlier, no one made money with jiu-jitsu,\u201d Gracie said. \u201cThere were no paid competitions, it was all amateur. Fighters had to go into MMA to make a living. But now, jiu-jitsu has grown so much that it\u2019s actually easier to earn a living through it than through MMA.\u201d<\/p>\n
If jiu-jitsu and grappling paid big-money prizes like the ones we often see today, Gracie admits \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have made the transition to the rings and cages.\u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cI was part of the last generation that felt the need to represent the family in the ring,\u201d Gracie said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I fought MMA, because I felt the need to represent the family in the ring just like the Gracies before me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RIO DE JANEIRO \u2014 Roger Gracie is one of the best to ever do it when it comes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-372783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}