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Originally Posted by Bobcat1 Royce and the Gracies definitely have earned thier respect. But there are two qualifiers to that statement.
First, the early UFC's were to some extent an info-mercial for Gracie Ju Jitsu, because Art Davies used to consult with Horion before they signed anyone up to fight. Royce never fought either Marco Ruas or Oleg Taktarov. From what I've read, Horion actually tried to pass off Taktarov as a low level fighter, so that Art wouldn't sign him up. And Royce quit just before Ruas entered the UFC scene.
Second, Rickson never fought any of the greats of his time: Mark Kerr, Mark Coleman, or Marco Ruas.
Still, their achievement is unparallelled, and they opened the eyes of the martial arts world. |
Yeah, you have to also wonder if Royce would have been dominant had UFC began in Japan. I think not. However, I have a lot of respect for what he has acheived.