Rickson Gracie
Jiu-Jitsu taught me to have respect for the people around me as well as respect for myself. It made me believe in my own strengths and knowledge.Collection: Respect
It's all about your mindset; it's how you think and what you believe, what you're ready for and prepare for, and how you're able to accept and surrender everything around you.
People think just because you get slapped on your butt and start to cry when you're born, you know how to breathe and stay alive.
You become a good martial artist, you're going to become a happier person, because you're able to conquer your happiness outside of the mat.
There are a lot of beneficial aspects of jiu-jitsu regardless of kicking butt in a fight.
I breathe jiu-jitsu, so I never had this outside view of the sport.
I cannot say that Bruce Lee is 100% legit, but everything he says has a profound, deep sense of truth.
I never liked clashing heads - I always liked catching someone when they were distracted, to surprise them.
Jiu-jitsu is an animal that never stops growing.
Martial arts are unpredictable.
Jiu jitsu is the first martial art. It combines the elements of striking, which became karate, with the balance which often become part of Judo, and grappling, submission.
I think martial arts, when it's practiced with a complete idea, is a metaphor for life.
My uncle and my father had the intention to create a clan of fighters and, in order to do that, they couldn't be limited to one relationship and two or three kids.
My entire life I was son of Margarida Gracie when, in reality, I was surprised that's not a fact.
I didn't want a girlfriend that had that type of relationship with me, a weak relationship, of not knowing what I do, not being OK with the things I want, etc.
When you're a kid, 12 or 13 years of age, you don't understand much of life.
Every average person could learn and enjoy the ability to deal with situations and come out victorious. The idea of the martial arts is transformative.
I was born and raised in a family with a very unique culture and lifestyle - being exposed to being a Gracie as a martial artist. I learned how to eat differently, to have different conditioning, how to respond to challenges in life.
Something I always did in between fights, preparing for somebody, a normal practice exercise, is visualizing a situation with different outcomes I can pursue.
In my case, I was representing my family name, honor, legacy... I did not see it as a sport requiring winning or losing a game. For me, it was honor, tradition.
Sometimes people are going to hate what I said.
What makes you tough is your mindset and I believe anyone can be tough.
In the first fight, Zulu spent most of his energy trying to beat me as quick as possible, and I eventually finished him when he got tired.
I try to protect Kron in a way that he won't face the worst challenge in his first MMA fight, and then he will be ready to fight the best.
Metamoris tries, by removing the rules and bringing longer matches, to bring more dynamic matches with more finishes.
If there's no penalty for stalling, fighters will find a way to control the match and the time, looking for a comfort zone.
A real match, with fighters going for all or nothing, is what people want to watch.
You should have the option to say 'come on, if you don't fight the way people expect you to, go home. You're disqualified. Go away.'
I don't like taking the toughest path, I like taking the door that's open, the easier way to win.
The quickest, the more efficient way, and causing less pain and trauma, the better.
Seeing Kron trade punches with someone, I don't feel comfortable with that exchange. I'd never do that. But seeing him do that, I see he's confident, he's trained, and he wants to test himself.
We want to create a new paradigm and recover values from the fight that were lost over time.
All martial arts are different. They all got deluded by the sporting aspect.
The core of jiu-jitsu is finding yourself comfortable regardless if the guy wants to punch you in the face, if he wants to head-butt you or throw you on the ground. So that's the concept.
Even though I admired my father as an example, as a general... on the relationship side, I felt he lacked a bit.
I know this might sound like an exaggeration, but Helio Gracie was to Jiu Jitsu what Albert Einstein was to physics.
There is no tomorrow, because life can change forever in the blink of an eye.
When I was fighting, each fighter represented a single style of martial arts.
Something my dad would say was that it's not important to win, but it's important to know how not to be defeated. The art of invincibility is the most important attribute in Jiu-Jitsu.
Never head into a fight just to win, but make sure you aren't beat.
My great grandfather came from Scotland to Brazil, George Gracie, from Dumfries.
In terms of society, we need positive influences to imbue stronger people - MMA doesn't bring anything to the table for that.
It's not only for the young, but people in general - jiu jitsu helps you make the most of yourself and understand yourself with skills based on leverage, strategy and techniques that help you become more confident about positivity which once you know how to apply, becomes very valuable in your life.
I didn't fight in the UFC when it started because my family felt it was time to give Royce the exposure.
A Japanese diplomat and jujitsu expert, Konde Maeda Kome, came to Brazil in the 1920s and there he met my grandfather, Gaston Gracie, who was also a diplomat. My grandfather then became a student of Kome. He passed the jujitsu on to his sons, and my father Helio, the most creative of the Gracies, took it and made it very effective.
I work out for about an hour each day on the mat. I do exercises that use my bodyweight, then I practice sparring at different ranges. For an hour, I'm like a happy monkey in a cage.
I believe in a code of honor, my personal Bushido. I'm not in a fight to make blood. I'm there for the technique.
I just really want to spread the techniques to others.
That is my mission in life to spread the sport around the world.
Our fears don't stop death, they stop life.Collection: Art