Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock were the first two real superstars in the early days of the UFC. Both men met in the historic semi-finals of UFC 1 in 1993, where Gracie managed to submit Shamrock after only 57 seconds. Almost two years later, at UFC 5, both rivals squared off again and this time fought to a 36-minute draw.
On February 19, 2016 we will see a third fight between those two MMA legends at Bellator 149. At a combined age of 100 years, many question if this bout would be a good idea.
“I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t party. I live a very healthy lifestyle”, Gracie told MMA Junkie. “I think the Royce today would have beat the Royce from 22 years ago. I don’t think it’s the same thing for him. I think the Ken Shamrock today would lose to the Ken Shamrock from 22 years ago.”
Gracie hasn’t competed since 2007, when he beat Japanese superstar Kazushi Sakuraba on points at Dynamite!! USA. According to the 49-year old BJJ black belt, ring rust won’t play a factor, even after 8 years on the sidelines. In fact, he feels that he is in the best shape of his life.
“I’ve been out of fighting? It makes it sound like I’m sitting at home scratching my nuts doing nothing,” Gracie said. “I’ve been going to the range every day. My drawing is good and fast, I’m on target, I shoot and I don’t miss. It doesn’t mean I’ve been going to battle, but it doesn’t mean I haven’t practiced. It’s like a soldier that goes to the range every day and does everything for war. He shoots, he runs, everything is on good. He’s just not in battle. That’s my case. Now I’m going to go to battle. It doesn’t mean I’m fat or out of shape.”
Gracie also went into detail on how the trilogy fight against Shamrock came about — and why it took 20 years to get it done.
“I haven’t had any offers at all: zero. No one was knocking on my door. I was sitting there watching. I’m a fighter. I have a passion for it. It’s not a job or an obligation to go fight. I enjoy traveling, teaching and fighting. It’s in my blood. When Scott Coker first mentioned to me that Ken Shamrock wanted to fight I said, ‘Thank you.’,” Gracie said. “I played a little hard to get, but for sure I knew we had to do the third fight with Ken; there was no doubt. He still insisted on fighting me. I guess the guy cannot sleep for 22 years. He wanted a rematch after I choked him out and embarrassed him and made him tap. […] I don’t know about his motivation, but I think it’s because he cannot sleep for the last 22 years. The guy at 215, 220 pounds cannot beat somebody smaller than him at 180 pounds.”
Gracie, who has made a career of submitting guys significantly heavier than him during the 90s, explains that 2 decades later, his style hasn’t changed. He will still try to beat power with technique and believes that Shamrock won’t stand a chance against him.
“I’m 100 percent representing Gracie jiu-jitsu,” Gracie said. “The jiu-jitsu my father created was for the smaller guy to beat the bigger guy. It’s not a question of if I’m going to lose; it’s how I’m going to win. That’s the style. There’s no way he can beat me.”
Gracie and Shamrock will headline Bellator 149, this February, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.