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<h3><a href="/go=news.detail&gid=448194" target="_blank">
Kron Gracie preparing for MMA debut Dec 23
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<a href="/go=news.detail&gid=448194" ><img class="photo" src="http://img.mixedmartialarts.com/method=get&rs=50&q=75&x=11&y=118&w=310&h=165&ro=0&s=rickson-gracie-kron-gracie.jpg" /></a>
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<p>BJJ star Kron Gracie is set to make his mixed martial arts debut at Real Fighting Championship on Dec. 23 at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan. He will be fighting as a lightweight. His legendary father Rickson explains that Kron is preparing in part at Cesar Gracie's gym.</p>
"They haven’t found an opponent yet, but it’s set," said Rickson to Guilherme Cruz for MMAFighting. "Travel, hotel, everything set for him to fight on Dec. 23. He will fight at 155 pounds."
"He’s doing part of his camp there, and part at his gym in Los Angeles. The best thing is that Gilbert and the Diaz brothers will fight at the end of the year, so they are all in the same training rhythm."
"I try to be an advisor, give him support. He will have to deal with his first MMA bout, fighting in a different country. It’s stressful. We don’t want to see him now against a guy with 30 professional fights. The idea is having him fight a guy with background in a martial art and with some MMA fights."
"We don’t want to throw him into the fire like the family used to do in the past. ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter if he’s 45 pounds heavier than me, I’ll fight him.’ In the Vale Tudo days, we could understand that. There was no time limit, it was a whole different strategy. But in a MMA fight with weight classes and five-minute rounds, where you can explode without gassing, you have to work differently.
"I try to protect Kron in a way that he won’t face the worst challenge in his first MMA fight, and then he will be ready to fight the best."
Rickson expressed what will sound to many like contradictory goals. He says he can see Kron winning the UFC title in time, but he also says Kron is going to stick just to his base of BJJ, and hopes in so doing to bring BJJ back into favor in MMA.
"I can see him doing more than that," said Rickson of winning the UFC lightweight . "He’s focused, he wants to bring jiu-jitsu back to MMA. He’s not doing crosstraining to work on his weaknesses. He won’t start boxing, kickboxing, wrestling. He will use his jiu-jitsu to neutralize the wrestler, the striker, and work on his expertise.
"I don’t want him to learn how to knock someone out with a punch. He would need another life just to learn how to deal with fighters who come from this background. He has to learn how to avoid fighting his opponent’s game."
Mixed martial arts was born from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It will be at the very least fascinating to watch a great champion like Kron as he tries to raise back up the stature of the father art.
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