Royce Gracie

Royce Gracie was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on December 12, 1966, and grew up inside Jiu-Jitsu. He is the son of Helio Gracie, who gave him his black belt at 17. At 18 he moved to Torrance, California, where he started teaching alongside his brother Rorion.

The family picked him to represent Jiu-Jitsu at the first UFC, on November 12, 1993, in Denver. He was the lightest fighter in the tournament and won three fights in one night, all by submission, the last one against Dutch fighter Gerard Gordeau. He won again at UFC 2, in March 1994, with four victories, and at UFC 4, in December of the same year, when he submitted Dan Severn with a triangle choke in the final. Those three titles introduced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to the American public.

In 2000, in Japan, he faced Kazushi Sakuraba in the Pride Grand Prix. The fight had no round limit, lasted 90 minutes and ended when the Gracie corner threw in the towel. He returned to the UFC in 2006 against Matt Hughes and lost by TKO in the first round. The following year he won the rematch with Sakuraba by decision. His last fight was in February 2016, at Bellator 149, a first-round win over Ken Shamrock. His MMA record is 15 wins, two losses and three draws.

In Jiu-Jitsu competition, he fought Wallid Ismail in December 1998 in a match with no points and no time limit, and was submitted with a clock choke. Royce is a seventh-degree coral belt, but since his father died in 2009 he has worn a navy blue belt in honor of Helio. In 2003 he entered the UFC Hall of Fame in its first class, alongside Ken Shamrock, and today he runs a network of schools that carries his name.