The Gracies are a family steeped in tradition and are synonymous with Brazilian jiu jitsu. When someone says Gracie, I immediately think black belt. Being from such a large and famous family that pretty much creates the blueprint for badassery, almost insures that you’ll find yourself a part of some legendary story or two.
From the patriarch, Helio, all the way down to his youngest descendants, there are always tales of some feat or accomplishment they have achieved. They have studios around the globe, Bullyproof programs for children, empowerment seminars for women, and many more community outreach programs. In America, the closest thing we ever had to a royal family was the Kennedys. In martial arts, it’s the Gracies.
Recently, I did an interview with World Series of Fighting middleweight prospect, Dave Branch. During the course of the interview, we ended up talking about his BJJ coach, Renzo Gracie. I’ll admit, Renzo is one of my favorite people in general, so I always seek out a story when I get the opportunity to talk to him or one of his students.
Branch did not let me down. He told the amazing story of how Renzo once broke a man’s foot without even touching him. Yes, you read that correctly. He never touched him. Here is the story, as relayed to me by Dave:
He told me a story about one time when he was in Brazil. There was a bully that kept f***ing with him, right. Renzo said that he couldn’t beat the guy, because the guy was much bigger than he was. The bully, in Brazil, he was like a good soccer player or something, so Renzo tricked him.
He told the bully to meet him at the beach. Renzo took two boxes, and one of the boxes was empty, it was just an empty box. He took the other box, and he put it over a small boulder. He told the guy, ‘I bet you my man, I can kick this box farther than you into the water.’
Of course he kicked the box that didn’t have a rock on the inside of it. He kicked the hell out of that box [laughs]. The bully is like, ‘Aw man, you can’t kick this box farther than me’, and the guy went to kick the box as hard as he could, and he broke his foot.
I don’t care if you’re a fan of the Gracies or not, that story is awesome. It’s not about the size of the dog in the fight, it’s about the size of the brain in the dog. Renzo Gracie is a very smart dog.
You can follow Renzo via his Twitter account, @RenzoGracieBJJ
You can follow Dave Branch via his Twitter, @DavidCBranchMMA
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