Classic Fighter: Rickson Gracie

The Gracie Family is undeniably the most important and innovative family in all of fighting. Helio Gracie is know as the creator of “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu”, which is arguably the most important fighting style of MMA. Royce Gracie won 3 out of the first 4 UFC tournaments and is a member of the UFC Hall of Fame. However, there is a more talented Gracie that many people do not know about. Often referred to as “The Greatest Gracie”, Rickson Gracie is undeniably the most talented classic fighter that I’ve seen.

This 8th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu made short work of each of his MMA opponents, submitting all 11 of them. Rickson claims to be undefeated with over 400 victories in Sambo, MMA, Vale Tudo, and various other forms of fighting. We do know that Rickson has at least one loss from the 1993 U.S. Sambo Championships. He was defeated by Ron Tripp via uchi-mata in 45 seconds, however he later disputed the result stating that he didn’t know the rules of the fight.

Rickson’s control of the ground game is that of a BJ Penn or a Fedor Emelianenko. His smooth transitions from one idea to another are almost as impressive as his ability to troubleshoot different situations. It seems like he sees Jiu-Jitsu as a chess match. He prepares an attack, his opponent defends, he breaks down his opponents defense, etc…I have the tapes of Vale Tudo Japan 1994 and 1995. The ground dominance that he displayed during those two tournaments is something that I’ve never seen before. Also, his two armbar victories over Nobuhiko Takada in PRIDE are beautiful displays of technique. The patience that Rickson uses in these two fights really defines his style and the style of most Gracies. A lot of fighters try to rush submissions and positions and they actually get themselves into trouble. Rickson stays cool and composed, waits for an opening (which doesn’t take long), and strikes in a devastating manner leaving his opponent absolutely helpless.

Rickson’s last fight was against Masakatsu Funaki in May of 2000. However, the 50-year-old may not be done with fighting. Rickson has often stated that he would return to fighting if the price was right. Over the past few years, Rickson has openly criticized the skills of some of the top MMA fighters in the world, including Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. I would personally pay an ungodly amount of money to see Rickson Gracie fight a Fedor Emelianenko or a Randy Couture (age vs. age?). Also, Lorenzo Feritta has recently stated that he would love to see Rickson Gracie fight in the UFC. Although he’s already 50 years old, we may see this classic fighter in the ring, or cage, again.

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Classic Fighter: Evan Tanner

This week, we begin our first installment in a series that will be published each Monday. “Classic fighters” will examine some of the most talented, popular, and unusual fighters in MMA history. Click to read about our first choice: Evan Tanner.

It was obvious that Tanner was destined for greatness when, in a local MMA tournament, he beat three fighters in one night. Among the fighters was future UFC star Paul Buentello. Tanner’s UFC successes are well known but what usually falls under the radar is his time with the Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation. Tanner won the belt by submitting future star Heath Herring in just his fourth professional fight. He then defended his belt a record number seven times.

His UFC career was not without gold, either. Tanner won his first three UFC bouts before losing a title fight to Tito Ortiz. However, Tanner would be back in the title hunt soon enough, beating David Terrell to take the UFC middleweight title. Despite losing the belt on a cut to Rich Franklin, Tanner was always in title contention. He’s known for defeating Robbie Lawler once and Phil Baroni twice in some of the most interesting matches UFC have fans have ever seen.

Evan Tanner’s untimely death brought a void to the MMA world, but his body of work is an easy reminder of the monumental contribution he has made.

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