When and why did MMA legend Royce Gracie stop competing? All you need to know about the UFC 1 Tournament winner's combat history
Royce Gracie is widely considered to be one of the most influential personalities in the world of mixed martial arts. The Brazilian is regarded as a pioneer of the sport and has numerous achievements to back that claim.
Gracie was last seen in action at Bellator 149. At 49, the MMA legend locked horns against his former foe, Ken Shamrock, in February 2016. The bout was a trilogy fight, as the two athletes had competed twice. Gracie had won the first encounter via a guillotine choke, and the second bout was declared a draw.
In the third fight, which took place at light heavyweight, Gracie again got the better of Shamrock and defeated him via TKO in the opening round. That was Gracie's last outing as a professional MMA fighter. After that, the Brazilian turned to teach jiu-jitsu to kids that mainly focused on the self-defense aspect of martial arts.
Royce Gracie started his MMA career at UFC 1 and defeated Art Jimmerson, Ken Shamrock, and Gerard Gordeau all in one fight to win the tournament.
The Brazilian built upon this impressive feat at UFC 2 as he defeated four fighters - Minoki Ichihara, Jason DeLucia, Remco Pardoel, and Patrick Smith, in one fight to win the second installment of the tournament.
Gracie was also declared the winner of UFC 4 after he scored back-to-back wins against Ron van Clief, Keith Hackney, and Dan Severn.
In a career spanning 20-plus years, Gracie has competed in 20 MMA fights and has been victorious in 15.
What did Royce Gracie say about modern MMA gyms?
Royce Gracie does not seem to be a big fan of how modern MMA gyms compete today. The MMA legend interviewed with a Brazilian news outlet, Globo, and some about the mentality of modern gyms.
The 56-year-old said, according to him, modern gyms were straying away from the roots of martial arts. The Brazilian criticized the approach of learning martial arts to compete instead of learning it for self-defense in real-life situations:
"Nobody enters the martial art because he wants to compete. No one puts a son to take up martial arts because he wants his son to win a championship. Parents want the child to learn to defend himself. A lady, a woman, goes into martial art because she wants to learn to defend herself."