Royce: I'm here to prove Gracie JJ still works

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                                Royce: I'm here to prove Gracie JJ still works

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                    <p>Royce Gracie has a trilogy fight with Ken Shamrock at&nbsp;Bellator&nbsp;on Feb. 19 in Houston, Texas. Gracie won the first fight by tap out, while the second was a draw. It will be a one-fight contract. By fight time, their combined ages will be 101.&nbsp;Gracie&nbsp;has not fought since June of 2007.&nbsp;</p>

Gracie hoped to secure a one-fight contract with the UFC in 2011. He has alluded in the past to hoping for a rematch with Matt Hughes. It didn't happen.

"Dana White didn't show interest," said Gracie to Brett Okamoto for ESPN.com. "I said I wanted to do it, but he didn't show interest. That's OK. We didn't push it."

"Scott Coker is the one who brought me out of retirement. Ken is just an opponent. It happens to be him, but had they offered me somebody else I would have taken it. I'm not putting myself in the cage against any champions, young kids who are training every day, but Ken is a good matchup.

"I made peace with retirement, but when you're a fighter, you're always a fighter. Coker offered me the fight and I said, 'I'll play a little hard to get.' But when he called back and said, 'This is the guy, he wants you bad,' I gave in and said 'All right, let's do it.'"

"That's the point - that somebody smaller can defend himself and not lose to someone who is bigger and stronger. I was fine never fighting Ken again because I'm ahead on the scorecard, but the guy has been losing sleep for 22 years.

"How can somebody with that much weight and that physique not figure out a way to beat a smaller person? I'm here to prove my father's self-defense still works, even for an old man."

"I never put a 'last one' tag on my fights because you never know. I'm just thinking about this one right now."

"Wouldn't you love to see Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield go one more time? It's not like just one of them has aged. They've both aged. They're both icons. There is no age as long as the body feels good."

Tyson and Holyfield have a combined age of 102, very nearly identical to that of Gracie and Shamrock.

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Geriatric fights are awesome as long as they don't last more than a round. Phone Post 3.0

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Lol It's already been proven Royce.... But I support him fighting anyone that's near the same skill level/age as himself. As long as he isn't being sent out to get slaughtered for youngsters to make a name off of I don't mind "old timer" or "senior class" fights... Phone Post 3.0

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So is he showing up to fight, or to do a 'self-defense' exhibition?

Meh.

I'll still watch, but have low expectations Phone Post 3.0

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That kid Brian Ortega is proving it today...and he's doing a pretty good job.

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As if the Gracie Online Academy wasn't proof enough

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i like it so much more then seeing legends get anhiallated by young up and comers who wash out before they become anything...

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Beating Ken will not prove that Phone Post 3.0

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Based on his logic, if he loses, does that mean GJJ doesn't work?

Also, who is this imaginary demographic of people who say "GJJ doesn't work."? Magic: the Gathering fans? D&D players? Is he trying to convince MMA fans?

#toxoplasmosisisabitch

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This won't go well. Phone Post 3.0

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Oh... this again.



Hey Royce, it works. It's been proven. Phone Post 3.0

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Catch wrestling works. Phone Post 3.0

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Do it in Japan and juice them both to the gills

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Was pretty much ineffective against Hughes.

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crowbar - 


Was pretty much ineffective against Hughes.


That was hilarious - who the fuck gets a high school move like the Stretcher pulled on them? That shit stops working in high school. Royce got flattened by a junior high school wrestling move.

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Any chance Ken does a work? Phone Post 3.0

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hesjustduckingeddiebravo

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Zero excitement for this match.

Why actively diminish yourself as a legend? Wasn't the failed test after the Hughes fight enough?

There is not one good reason I can think of for Royce stepping back into the ring/cage.

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UltimateKeyboardWarrior - Any chance Ken does a work? Phone Post 3.0

 

I thought about this a lot.  There are several ways to look at it.

Ken got a lot of unwanted attention from his shady Kimbo fight.  He knows people will be watching his next fight very closely for any more fuckery.  That would encourage him to avoid any worked fights.  For awhile at least.  He might very well be fighting to win against Royce.

Now from Royce's point of view, he could have taken this fight based on seeing how much Ken had declined in his Kimbo fight.  If Royce thought Ken was really trying to win againt Kimbo, he saw an aging fighter that not only couldn't hurt his opponent with punches, but couldn't finish a fully sunk in RNC against someone who had no ground experience and wasn't defending the choke at all. 

So he could end up being surprised by facing a completely different Ken than the one he saw a few months ago.

However, I still think we are going to see a highly questionable fight.  Ken could easily win against Royce by keeping it standing.   But if you are tuning in to see a nostalgic match with Royce wearing a gi, you are not going to want to see Ken jabbing his way to a 3 round decision.  You are going to want to see Royce on his back trying to work a submission. 

I think you will see either Ken taking Royce down and laying in his guard every round, or he will "allow" himself to be pulled into Royce's guard.  There will be several times where Ken almost taps to a "submission" then barely gets out.  Ariel will interview Ken and ask him why in the world did he keep taking Royce down and he will say he wanted to try and prove that he could beat Royce at his own game.  My best guess is it will be a semi-work.

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i think gjj works but he will still lose. Ironic really the person who undeluded millions of people ends up deluded. Dont feel bad it happened to Einstien too.