why was royce afraid of hackney?

This is one of my all time fav fights and I have watched and analyzed it many times. Something that strikes me as odd is how Royce is tentative right from the start. Compare this to how he reacts to his other opponents. He quickly clinches with Ken. Sizes up Pat Smith and Gordeau very casually and EASILY moves in for the clinch. Same with De Lucia and that Japanese Karate guy. Now the funny thing is that many of the above fighters are way better strikers (at least on paper) than Hackney and yet right from the start of the fight you can see how tentative Royce is. He does not move in at all. He seems thrown off. Why is this? Did he somehow know that Hackney had something up his sleeve? Did he know that Hackney was planning on sprawling? And look what happens when he finally moves in for the clinch. He completely blows it. Was Royce psyched out for some reason by Hackney? Did Hackney just employ a better strategy then previous Royce opponents. Or maybe this air conditioning repairman from new jersey was just very good. Any theories?

Had he seen Hackney punch Joe Son in the nuts 50x by the time Royce fought Hackney? If so, perhaps Royce was terrified of the possible Hackney groin barrage.

I think word must have got about Hackney doing some training to counter the takedown. Funny thing is, is the month that fight happened, there was an article in Black belt about the "new" sprawl defense. I remember thinking, Hackney must read Black belt too.

Had he seen Hackney punch Joe Son in the nuts 50x by the time Royce fought Hackney? If so, perhaps Royce was terrified of the possible Hackney groin barrage.

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uhhh... don't think so


He knows White Tiger Kempo Kung Fu. He's a giant, and midgit, slayer.

uh can i get a serious answer?


Was Hackney the guy that practiced 5 animal Kung-Fu?I know he was the air conditioning guy known as the giant-killer,but wasn`t his style 5 animals?

Nah, you're thinking of Jason Delucia. He was the 5-animal Kung Fu practitioner from the early UFC's (and later in Pancrase).

Hackney practiced "White Tiger Kenpo Kung-Fu." I always though Kenpo was Karate, but whatever.

As for Royce, maybe it was how Hackney's stance/movement reacted to his own? Hell, maybe he simply didn't have an "I'm scared of being taken down" look. Perhaps they saw him training takedown counters?

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Crowbar, you are right about the AC thing, but I think Hackney was a Kenpo based fighter.

"Did he somehow know that Hackney had something up his sleeve?"

Yeah, big F'n arms that could toss Royce around. j/k

My favorite thing about that fight is when Royce is on his back, Keith throws a haymaker down at him which Royce caught and deflected so smooth and casually that it was amazing. One of the fights that made me a permanent Royce fan.


Thankyou for schooling me in this area.

that was royces best fight imo. he did some ok clinch knes and stand up (for royce)... eventually got him down and out. i think cuz he was having problems getting the takedown he looked "afraid". to me he looked pissed off.

After the fight, Royce had a lot of good things to say about Hackney. He said Hackney was strong and hard to take down. He also said that Hackney hit him with some shots that hurt him.

Hackney was sprawling on Royce's takedown attempts. So, he either had a wrestling background or was training wrestling to get ready for Royce.

Ever since the groin attack Hackney struck fear in the
hearts of all competitors

Hackney was one of the better guys in those days, Royce and the gracie crew are no fools... they recognized it and took him seriously

"My favorite thing about that fight is when Royce is on his back, Keith throws a haymaker down at him which Royce caught and deflected so smooth and casually that it was amazing. One of the fights that made me a permanent Royce fan."

You make it sound like Hackney was some slob. Actually Hackney employed a very solid strategy, gave Royce fits by frustrating his takedown attempts, and landed some clean shots.


"i think cuz he was having problems getting the takedown he looked "afraid". to me he looked pissed off."

Yes he looked pissed off after the 3rd takedown attempt failed and even throws a haymaker but even before that, right from the begining of the fight you can see in the royce's body language that he is unusually tentative.


"My favorite thing about that fight is when Royce is on his back, Keith throws a haymaker down at him which Royce caught and deflected so smooth and casually that it was amazing."

I remember that! I was like,

Woah!
*rewind*
Dude!
*rewind*
Duuuude.

Wasn't Hackney in some "secrets of the octagon" video?


I think that I did see a picture of him on the tape.But Im not sure at all.<br><br>TTT for Hackneys Heating & Air Conditioning

I think it was from the first shoot attempt. Hackney obviously faked an attack to make Royce shoot. When Hackney stuffed his shoot and got in some fast hard shots, Royce wasn't afraid but had to be more careful in closing the distance.

And yea, I remember the punch he caught. It wasn't a haymaker either. Hackney had a fast hard punch coming down as they were hitting the ground. Looks like it would have connected solidly with Royces chin but he just grabs it out of the air like it was a softball catch.