Rickson Gracie
Calm pressure, perfect timing and an unbeaten MMA record
- Born
- November 21, 1959, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Nationality
Brazil- Height
- 178 cm (5′10″)
- Style
- Pressure and back control
- Weight
- Middleweight
- Active
- 1980–2000
- Status
- Retired · age 66
The record
Professional MMA/vale tudo record (Wikipedia). BJJ Heroes lists 10-0 in recorded jiu-jitsu matches. The popular '400-0' figure is unverified, and he lost a 1993 US sambo match to Ron Tripp.
The story
ickson Gracie, a son of Hélio, became the family's standard-bearer in the 1980s, and several elite Brazilian fighters have named him the best jiu-jitsu practitioner they have seen. At 20 he was matched in Brasília with the much heavier Rei Zulu and finished him with a rear-naked choke, then beat him again in 1984. In Japan he won the Vale Tudo Japan tournaments of 1994 and 1995 and armbarred pro-wrestling star Nobuhiko Takada at Pride 1 and Pride 4, bouts credited with helping popularise MMA there. His last fight, a choke win over Masakatsu Funaki in 2000, closed an 11-0 professional record. Claims of hundreds of unbeaten fights are unverified, but his control from mount and the back became a template for later generations. He was promoted to ninth-degree red belt in 2017.
Tap a technique with an arrow to learn how it works.
- Vale Tudo Japan tournament champion (1994, 1995)
- Retired unbeaten in professional MMA (11-0)
- Legends of MMA Hall of Fame (2014)
- Promoted to 9th-degree red belt (2017)
Defining matches
- 1980WINvs Rei Zulu (rear-naked choke, Brasília)
- 1994Won Vale Tudo Japan (three wins in one night)
- 1995WINvs Yuki Nakai (rear-naked choke, Vale Tudo Japan final)
- 1997WINvs Nobuhiko Takada (armbar, Pride 1)
- 2000WINvs Masakatsu Funaki (rear-naked choke, Colosseum 2000)
Study Rickson's back attack: lock the seatbelt grip, get both hooks in, win the hand fight, then slide the choking arm under the chin for the rear-naked choke. Seven of his 11 professional wins came by that choke.
