brvheart
09-13-2006, 11:17 AM
This is from Graciemag.com
Analyzing Rickson Gracie
Trainers, rivals and commentators say what they think about one of MMA’s biggest controversies: how would Rickson do in an eventual comeback to the rings?[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Do you want to create a buzz in a discussion about MMA? It’s easy. You just need to bring up the name of Rickson Gracie. You can’t go wrong there. It doesn’t matter what the level of knowledge about the sport is among the group. Everyone will feel the urge to say something. Rickson Gracie is one of the few fighters capable of provoking hot-headed discussions, only comparable to those between soccer fans.
The temperature rises even more if someone ponders about how the idol would do in a professional MMA fight nowadays. Maybe the doubt would sound like a hypothetical question, once the level of the fights today would not give much of a chance for someone already with 46 years of age and that is out of competitions for more than five. But, it’s another story with Rickson Gracie.
That’s why NOCAUTE Magazine (this piece was originally published last February)’s staff put on the shorts, gloves and got on a real fight to go after Brazil’s biggest specialists. We’ve got to 20 different opinions that may or may not help the reader build an opinion about Rickson’s conditions. But they will be useful in a future discussion, and you’d better believe that it will soon come up…
Wallid Ismail
Carlson Gracie’s pupil and Jungle Fight promoter
It all depends on his training and nothing else. If he’s training hard, in prime shape and in good health, he is able to face anyone. Being Rickson or someone else, if the guy is a real fighter, has spent his life in the world of fighting and has Jiu-Jitsu to back him up, there’s no secret about it: he just needs to go there and brawl. Everybody is always too concerned about winning or loosing. To me, everyone who steps in a ring is already a winner.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Royler Gracie
Rickson’s younger brother
Rickson gathers an impressive mixture of strength, technique and speed, specially a quickness of thought that I’ve rarely seen in another fighter. His Jiu-Jitsu is still at a very high level and his greatest virtue is to never give the opponent chances to make a mistake. In order to beat him, the opponent would have to be able to escape Rickson’s game and not make mistakes. Fighters that master Jiu-Jitsu may complicate the fight for Rickson because they are more prepared to get out of Rickson’s positions. The only thing that could maybe make things harder for Rickson is the long absence that makes you lose some of your punch and the notion of space in the ring. He needs to be training hard to overcome that but he has already overcome several obstacles and this one would be one more in his long and victorious career.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Relson Gracie
Rickson’s elder brother
MMA fighters today are almost like machines running on vitamins and taking beatings like you’ve never seen before. I think Rickson could beat each one of them if he still had the age and the proper training. But he’s 46 now. He would be stupid if he fights a top athlete. He has nothing to prove.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
You can read the entire artice in full by clicking here ([Only registered and activated users can see links])
Analyzing Rickson Gracie
Trainers, rivals and commentators say what they think about one of MMA’s biggest controversies: how would Rickson do in an eventual comeback to the rings?[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Do you want to create a buzz in a discussion about MMA? It’s easy. You just need to bring up the name of Rickson Gracie. You can’t go wrong there. It doesn’t matter what the level of knowledge about the sport is among the group. Everyone will feel the urge to say something. Rickson Gracie is one of the few fighters capable of provoking hot-headed discussions, only comparable to those between soccer fans.
The temperature rises even more if someone ponders about how the idol would do in a professional MMA fight nowadays. Maybe the doubt would sound like a hypothetical question, once the level of the fights today would not give much of a chance for someone already with 46 years of age and that is out of competitions for more than five. But, it’s another story with Rickson Gracie.
That’s why NOCAUTE Magazine (this piece was originally published last February)’s staff put on the shorts, gloves and got on a real fight to go after Brazil’s biggest specialists. We’ve got to 20 different opinions that may or may not help the reader build an opinion about Rickson’s conditions. But they will be useful in a future discussion, and you’d better believe that it will soon come up…
Wallid Ismail
Carlson Gracie’s pupil and Jungle Fight promoter
It all depends on his training and nothing else. If he’s training hard, in prime shape and in good health, he is able to face anyone. Being Rickson or someone else, if the guy is a real fighter, has spent his life in the world of fighting and has Jiu-Jitsu to back him up, there’s no secret about it: he just needs to go there and brawl. Everybody is always too concerned about winning or loosing. To me, everyone who steps in a ring is already a winner.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Royler Gracie
Rickson’s younger brother
Rickson gathers an impressive mixture of strength, technique and speed, specially a quickness of thought that I’ve rarely seen in another fighter. His Jiu-Jitsu is still at a very high level and his greatest virtue is to never give the opponent chances to make a mistake. In order to beat him, the opponent would have to be able to escape Rickson’s game and not make mistakes. Fighters that master Jiu-Jitsu may complicate the fight for Rickson because they are more prepared to get out of Rickson’s positions. The only thing that could maybe make things harder for Rickson is the long absence that makes you lose some of your punch and the notion of space in the ring. He needs to be training hard to overcome that but he has already overcome several obstacles and this one would be one more in his long and victorious career.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Relson Gracie
Rickson’s elder brother
MMA fighters today are almost like machines running on vitamins and taking beatings like you’ve never seen before. I think Rickson could beat each one of them if he still had the age and the proper training. But he’s 46 now. He would be stupid if he fights a top athlete. He has nothing to prove.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
You can read the entire artice in full by clicking here ([Only registered and activated users can see links])