Will there ever be another dominant Gracie in MMA?

There may have never been a UFC if it weren't for the Gracies, specifically Royce.
But since Renzo, there hasn't really been a
dominant Gracie in Mixed Martial Arts.

Roger was touted (and still has the potential) to be the next great Gracie fighter, but his stint at 205 stalled with King Mo, and he'll now be fighting at 185.

The future of the Gracies legacy may or may not be inside the Cage, but their impact on MMA will continue by training fighters, and making other fighters better. And by teaching their artform to the masses.

Who is the next great Gracie fighter in MMA? Will there be one? Why or why not? Phone Post

I guess that's a no? lol Phone Post

 Kyra has a chance,but even the women in MMA are pretty much cross trained now.

I don`t think that there will be another dominant Gracie in MMA.Only in sport BJJ.

The answer to why is ......everybody is cross trained & there is time limits.

Roger would be a huge 185er that said I think the Gracies depend on the bjj to much. But I would never say never. Phone Post

No, it will never happen.

The Gracies were successful because of their style, they caught the North American Martial Arts world with their pants down, and they won because of what they knew because understanding the fight game was more important than athletism.

Today, no one is ignorant to the game anymore, and the top fighters are far far more athletically gifted than any Gracie will ever be (unless they start breeding with athletism in mind, in which case a few generations down the road who knows). But as things stand today, never going to happen. They are very proficient in their style of JJ, and will likely always be, but due to genetics, and not as well rounded training, they will never be a force in MMA again.

What sweepnchoke said.

Gracies were like the Mongol invading Europe. Grace jiu-jitsu was the horse archer of the early-mid 90's. Nobody knew what the fuck to do. Everybody's caught up to it now.

If Dan Severn had 6 months of BJJ training before UFC 4, he would have crushed everybody.

There's no field of training Royce could have done during 6 months that would match Severns.

And that's how it is now. You can be a blistering world class jiu-jitsu practitioner, but it can be shut down by a rather wide array of fighters under MMA rules.

ttt Phone Post

Yes there will always be room for another great Gracie fighter. The name will always get passed down and one day it could be the name of another great jiujitsu fighter representing their family heritage of being bad ass vale tudo fighters. I would think that he would have to be just as good at striking and/or wrestling. Jiujitsu will always be on point. Phone Post

How the hell would I know?

ttt Phone Post

pretty much what sweepnchoke said. Adults who are familiar with bjj have kids learning bjj right out of the gate like the gracies themselves.

I don't think it can be ruled out though. There's something to be said about that family culture and history that drives the next generation to continue a heritage. It's much more of a driving force than the interest of your avg kid no matter how athletic he is.

Unfortunate that Roger got headbutted. He admits to a strategic mistake, but if he was to lose I just hate to see it that way.

It is a family that loves to breed and loves to fight.

I don't see their future generations being any different and out of all of those fighters I'm sure there will be at least a couple who succeed.


MMA is not the best ruleset for bjj and their chances for success improve drastically under vale tudo rules, but plenty of Gracies are adopting their beliefs of how to fight in order to succeed in this sport too. They will be well represented I believe in the future.

 It seems most of the Gracies are more interested in the training aspects of things now.
As opposed to the fighting.

As Rener put it.
There are 3 phases of martial arts
1. Building phase
2. Proving Phase
3. Sharing/Teaching Phase

Forgive me if I've got those names wrong, but something along those lines.
Helio and Carlos did the building/making of the art
Early guys like Royce and Rickson did the proving that it worked.
(and now you can't be an MMA fighter and not know BJJ)
and now Rener (and family) are sharing and teaching it.

Ultimately that was the goal the entire time, to teach it, and have it be the number 1 martial art.
The goal was never a family of fighters. They just had to prove it worked to a large audience.

I'm a JJ guy trained with the Gracie's for 15 years. Royce was dominant because of everyones " lack of knowledge " to ground fighting @ the time. As much as I respect Renzo I can't say he dominated any era. He fought everyone and often tho. With all that being said unless the new generations begin cross training really early I'm gonna say no!! Phone Post

12SixElbow -  
(and now you can't be an MMA fighter and not know BJJ)



That Russian HW did pretty well without it.

As to the original question, id be excited to see Roger at MW too but theres a lot of other factors to being a top 5 MMAer.

Since most of the Gracie live in US with their kids and grandkids growing up. Won't be long before you get a Gracie who wrestled in high school, lift weights and train in striking while all the time doing Gracie Jiujitsu. Javier Vasquez married rose gracie that kid will be a terror. Phone Post

Wasa-B - 
12SixElbow -  
(and now you can't be an MMA fighter and not know BJJ)
That Russian HW did pretty well without it.


 Which one was that?

I know your dumbass doesn't think Fedor did no BJJ training.

Even though they are girls Phone Post

12SixElbow - 
Wasa-B - 
12SixElbow -  
(and now you can't be an MMA fighter and not know BJJ)
That Russian HW did pretty well without it.

 Which one was that?

I know your dumbass doesn't think Fedor did no BJJ training.


Who do you think he trained under?