its been years since I've seen the Gracie in Action tapes and no longer have them. Does anyone remember the wording/story at the beginning of one of them as all I can remember is a knight that was wounded berating other knights because they had to look away when the enemy was beign killed and asked them if they were maidens and the battle is meant to be won and this is what happens when you don't win.
When Gracie in Action first came out I was convinced Royce was damn near invincible.
"There were young knights among them who had never been present at a stricken battlefield. Some could not look upon it -- and some could not speak. They held themselves apart from the others who were cutting down the prisoners at My Lord's orders, for the prisoners were a body too numerous to be guarded by those of us who were left.
Then Jean de Rye, an aged knight of Burgundy who had been sore wounded in the fight, rode up to the group of young knights and said: 'Are ye maidens with your downcast eyes? Look well upon it. See all of it. Close your eyes to nothing. For the battle is fought to be won. And it is this that happens if you lose.'"
Then a lion eats Chris Rock.
outstanding MOWA
pUTA MAN, QUE CALOR!!
Rorion has the smooth vocal flow....Probably would be outstanding in hollywood as a voice over person
"When Gracie in Action first came out I was convinced Royce was damn near invincible."
Yep...and his attitude was much different. Very humble in the first few UFC's.
"I am the Royce I'm always going to be, there is no change in Me"
What are you going to do with your winnings???
"Go to disneyland".
I had this quote up at my academy in NJ through the years...
Royce is far from the best Gracie/BJJ person out there.
But, unlike what is implied above, that does not mean that he was not, in fact, "damn near invinceable" in the early UFCs.
People like Fedor simply did not exist, because the sport of MMA outside of Brazil was created by Rorion and Royce through the UFC. Matt Hughes handily spanked Royce when they met, but had they met in UFC 1, I would bet that Royce would have finalized him within 2 minutes.
"The kung fu master can not understand how he keeps getting choked out against the shuu-shitsu fighter"
FingerorMoon - "The kung fu master can not understand how he keeps getting choked out against the shuu-shitsu fighter"
We should consider this carefully, for what happened was a true paradigm shift. At such times, though our eyes see, many simply will either not believe it or their eyes will deceive them. Even when it is explained and shown time and time again, 'experts' will not admit the truth.
Witness Bill Wallace, who was still arguing against MMA in the late 90s in his BBmag columns (and Wallace was reportedly a Judo Brown Belt, first).
Look at Raymond Daniels, absolute star and king of WCL, who had time to watch countless MMA fights and UFC matches, still believing his TKD style of flippy kicking would allow him to be the champion of his division in MMA. In his first cage match, he was beaten badly (RNC) by a veritable no-name MMA fighter, Jeremiah Metcalf - don't think he threw more than one kick, lasted into R-2 by pulling guard. Daniels never fought again.
It's like watching your first soccer match. When you don't know the structure it's impossible to follow at first. Likewise, if you don't understand guard and mount, positions and submissions, what Royce was doing looks like magic. You simply can't believe what you're seeing (especially coming from a background of TMA, with all the faulty preconceptions one had back then).
I wish to add that (in part, because causation is complex--every cause is itself caused by a previous cause [although Abrahamic monotheists don't believe this]) Royce lost the initiative and subsequently the match to Matt because he tried to throw an elbow at him which permit Matt to get the advantage. The moral is that if you don't or can't do jiu-jitsu, then you can't win the contest using jiu-jitsu. Royce lost because his Muay Thai wasn't as good as Matt's wrestling.