RonVreeland.com

Saturday evening’s UFC 60: Hughes vs Gracie Pay Per View proved to be everything it billed itself to be: an exciting showcase of up and coming fighters; the return of a venerable UFC legend; the continued domination by a current champion. There is little doubt that the UFC has scored a financial hit with the return of Royce Gracie. The PPV purchase numbers have not been released (and accurate numbers rarely are) but I am confident that this will be one of the highest PPV revenues for the UFC ever. Royce’s return was marketed in every venue possible: radio (local stations in NYC were playing UFC spots regularly), television (Spike TV practically became an infomercial for Royce and the UFC), and even tried and true dedicated sports venues such as ESPNews hosted a brief preview of UFC 60 and a candid interview with Royce Gracie. It was heavily marketed, and no doubt it was heavily viewed. How did the event pan out? More importantly, how was it perceived by its audience?

Since Zuffa took over management of the UFC several years back, the UFC brand name has been slowly and steadily improving. Gone are the fireworks, the gaudy laser light shows and horrid looking ring girls. Gone are the unending references to professional wrestling. The UFC has already declared itself to be a legitmate sport, an event in itself: UFC 60 was just the continuation of the coming out party. Production values were top notch on Saturday night. Commentary was solid, as usual. The preliminary under card fights were surprisingly good. Three of the aired fights prior to the main event ended in slick submissions; only one went to the judge’s cards. After this, it was the main event, the moment everyone has been waiting for for several months.

There was not much doubt that Matt Hughes would win the fight. I think deep down most of us who are in the scope of modern MMA knew that Matt Hughes is considered to be one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world, while Royce is usually relegated to “legend” status. Despite reliving the magic of watching Royce tap out four uneducated fighters in the same night during UFC II, there was just very little chance that he would defeat Hughes. And in ironic reality Hughes in many ways has the Gracie family to thank for that. At the start of the fight, Royce executed his gameplan of keeping Matt away by using some decent leg kicks. Royce’s biggest motive is not to be hit. He has shown a remarkable talent at accomplishing this goal over his career. He either wants to be in close, or far enough back where he is not going to be struck. This part of the game he did exceptionally well. It was when things finally went to the ground where it became a different story.

Matt Hughes without a doubt dominated Royce Gracie on the ground, like many said he would do. Matt Hughes is 39-4 in mixed martial arts competition for a reason. He is a mountain to climb for today’s active fighters in the UFC, let alone a legend who has not stepped in the Octagon for over ten years. I admit it was painful to watch Royce struggle once the fight hit the ground. Matt Hughes at one point locked in a painful looking Kimura…the fight could have ended at that point. After this, the unthinkable happened and Royce gave up his back to Matt. The fight was downhill from here as Matt landed some devastating strikes from the back that saw referee John McCarthy step in the end the bout. There were a lot of old school veterans and new school admirers watching UFC 60: Hughes vs Gracie on Saturday night. I hope that the impressions they were left with were favorable. Looking back on the progress I have seen over the last ten plus years, I would hope that these newcomers and old timers alike saw what I did: a polished program with spectacular production values; a legitimate sport with legitimate contenders; a valid competition with its own stable of capable fighters and inspiring legends. Saturday night was about Royce Gracie stepping up the line, and passing the torch to the dominant Matt Hughes. It was a victory for both champions. 

Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter was a good mixture of fight training, actual competition and everyone’s favorite reality show element, drama. My first thought about this episode is that just about everytime Michael Bisping gets on camera he is complaining about something. I understand that when you put 16 guys in the same house hilarity is going to ensue, people are going to get annoying and tempers are going to flare. But come on…week after week this guy is complaining about everything and everyone. Bisping complains when Matt gets rowdy. Bisping complains when Jesse comes back and gets a bye into the semi-finals. Bisping complains about just about everyone and everything. Enough! Hopefully he soon will get a chance to release some of this pent up frustration. 

This week we also finally got to see Ed “Short Fuse” Herman fight. Ed has been touting his greatness since day one, and he is probably the only fighter with the experience to back it up (Ed holds an impressive professional MMA record of 10-3). Ed gives us a brief insight into his upbringing and family life and I felt that this was a brief high point in what is otherwise been a cheeky “inside look” at the fighter’s lives. With the exception of Josh Haynes, whose son has some serious medical problems, Ed’s short bio is the most compelling. Apparently Ed comes from the worst of troubled homes: substance abuse, physical abuse and emotional abuse all under the same roof. The product of this upbringing is what we see in Ed Herman: a brash, uncaring fighter who is not concerned about his opponents and is overly confident in his abilities. Contrast this with his opponent, Danny Abaddi. Danny is a fighter we have heard very little from throughout the series, up until now. Last night we were treated to a bizarre series of statements and actions that left me wondering just how someone like Danny made the cut in the first place. The man is just bizarre. He certainly hasn’t been making any friends in the house besides Matt, and Matt doesn’t hear so well. Danny likes to talk about things he has done, things he is capable of and things he is going to do. The problem is, I don’t think Danny can convince himself about any of the exploits: he certainly hasn’t convinced anyone else in the house about them. Michael Bisping took some time to express how annoyed he is about the whole thing, as expected. Anyway, Danny must be realizing the entire time up to this point that he is going to have to face the feared Ed Herman.  He suddenly develops a back injury, most likely posturing himself for either a way out of the fight or a convenient excuse for the defeat he is undoubtedly going to receive. I don’t think any of the crew were buying into Danny’s sudden back injury. Fight day arrives and Danny looks uncertain at best about facing Ed. Herman is just ready to finally be fighting and continues to gripe about not being picked by Tito.

Does Ed live up to the hype? The fight between Danny Abaddi and Ed Herman was definately one sided, with Ed Herman easily controlling the pace of the fight and ending it with a nice armbar submission in the first round. Was it a good perfoamance? Yes. Was it indicative of Ed Herman’s greatness? Hardly. I don’t think Danny Abaddi was a true challenge for him. We will have to see how things develop in the semi’s.

Overall, this was a good episode this week, with a good balance of training, competition and silly drama. Next week we finally get to see Matt Hamill step into the Octagon. This is the fight I have been waiting for this entire season. 

UFC 60: Hughes vs Gracie is almost here. The marketing machine is in full swing and the return of UFC legend Royce Gracie is what everyone is talking about. The exploits are relived, the myth of the unbeatable Gracie Jiu Jitsu still hangs in the air ever so slightly. There is no doubt about it, the Gracie family practically hand delievered the model for modern day mixed martial arts. The early UFCs, in all their hilarious and brutal glory, laid the foundation for the modern day mixed martial artist: not in the huge bar-brawlers boasting an undefeated 500-0 record in bare knuckle-combat but rather in a lanky, 180 pound Brazilian who despite a huge size and weight disadvantage managed to defeat them all. If the first four or five UFC events taught us anything, it is that what we knew at that time about modern competetive fighting didn’t really amount to much. One by one, the pure stylists were defeated by that same lanky Brazilian. At UFC II, he defeated four of these opponents in the same night. Then, just as quick as he began to make in impression on the beginnings of the MMA world, he disappeared, cementing his legend status forever.

Now, Royce Gracie may be in danger of the same fate that early opponents like Jason Delucia, Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn faced: he may very well be beaten on Saturday night on an improved version of himself.

Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn and Jason Delucia are all very talented fighters, but they shared one thing all in common: they are very one-dimensional. They all proved to be a challenge for Royce, even in the early days (well, not Delucia so much) but Royce capitalized on experience, discipline and pure technique. He has been doing Gracie Jiu Jitsu his entire life. It is in his blood, and it is his family’s heritage. The problem is, that’s about all Royce brings to the table on Saturday night. While it has proven effective time and again in the past, is it enough to defeat a fighter who has the same attributes with an improved base and improved skill set?

One thing is certain: that question has a lot of people scratching their heads, and even more people are going to be purchasing Saturday night’s PPV to find out. How can you not see this match? One of the pioneers of the UFC, technically undefeated in the Octagon, going up against one of today’s most prolific and proven champions? This is a marketing goldmine, as evidenced by the UFC’s unrelenting advertising on DirecTV, Spike TV, and everywhere else they can get the word out. Not that I blame them. I watched the announcement back on Ultimate Fight Night some months back and practically wet myself. Of course I knew it was going to be announced ahead of time, but it didn’t dawn on me until watching the announcement how important this match was going to be. Gone is the stigma of the UFC as being a “barbaric” sport where people only aim to hurt each other. Gone is the excessive blood and injury associated with the early events. Gone also is the marketing portrayal of the UFC promising the gore in “no-holds barred” and ”no-rules” combat. We have seen those matches: the broken limbs, the flying teeth, the fighters knocked flat unconscious and still beat upon with no referee intervention. Those days are gone and replaced with a polished and viable sanctioned sport in its place. The UFC has in fact reinvented itself and come out smelling like a rose. The only thing that really came out of the early UFC days unscathed has been the legend of Royce Gracie, the man who defeated them all. On Saturday we will find out how more than ten years has affected things. Which will be triumphant, the legendary Royce and his family’s name? Or will it be the embodiment of the modern sport in Matt Hughes?

Either way, Royce has nothing to be ashamed of. His family and his exploits have given birth to what we call modern MMA. Sometimes, it isn’t so bad when you lose a fight to a relative.

The International Fight League debuted on Fox Sports Network yesterday afternoon. I was able to get a glimpse of the upstart MMA organization and of course wanted to comment on it. The first thing I have to make mention of is that I was fairly impressed with the production values: you can tell that this broadcast was originally intended for TV and not as much for a live venue. As far as I know, the IFL does not have a PPV deal so they must be marketing this as a television sporting event. They really pushed the team aspect to the forefront: a lot of emphasis was placed on the coaches and the overall team score rather than the individual fighters. The fights themselves were pretty entertaining as well, although with four minute rounds I got the feel that the fights were pressed a bit on the standup portion of the game. It is hard to tell how developed a ground match can get in four minutes. Only one of the bouts broadcast yesterday ended in submission (Alex Schoenauer caught Travis Wiuff in what looked to me to be a toe hold but shows up on Sherdog as a “heel hook”…I thought that small joint manipulation was illegal?), the rest of the bouts ended in KO or TKO with the exception of Amir Rahnavardi’s fight going to the judges.

The one thing I did notice is that they had the clock working against them for this broadcast. There was an hour time slot given to them, which means that at least one of the fights was truncated due to time. Another thing I noticed is that There was very little presence of commentator Shannon Knapp, and no sign of color commentator Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Stephen Quadros was his usual good self as commentator, although a but subdued in my opinion. The whole show flowed very well and seemed to have a good polish comparatively to other team-related sports. The “box score” was shown frequently throughout the event to let everyone know that Bas Rutten’s team, the Anacondas, was getting mauled by Pat Miletich’s Silverbacks. To be fair, it should be known that Miletich’s team is hand-picked from Miletich’s gym: these guys fight together and work together all the time; in essence they were already a team and come from an awesome crop of fghters and trainers. Bas’s group has not had much time to train with Bas or work together as a unit. It definately showed. They were outclassed by the world class tutelage of Pat Miletich and the countless hours that his team has already put into training together as a cohesive unit. I think this gives the Silverbacks a distinct advantage for the next round of matches, slated for next month.

Overall it was a good show and a great first broadcast. There were no technical glitches, a seamless transition between the commentators and the fights themselves, good empahasis on the team concept and the importance of the coaches (I did like the overlay of the coaches shouting advice to their fighters while they were in the ring). I am thinking that the rest of the items I was looking for (color commentating, extended fighter interviews and Shannon Knapp) will be included on a future DVD release of the entire event. I have to say that after watching the broadcast yesterday, I would strongly consider buying the DVD and adding it to my MMA collection. Time will tell if The International Fight League can break through the PPV stigma of MMA mainstream events and make a name for itself. It would be exciting to see a mixed martial arts league come to fruition and become a standard for sporting events around the country and eventually around the world.

Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter was surprising for me. Most of the episode was spent building up the fight between Team Ortiz fighter Josh Haynes and Team Shamrock fighter Tait Fletcher. I had originally predicted this fight as going for Tait as we have recently seen him making a public appearance at UFC 59. Josh Haynes recounted the touching story of his son’s battle with brain cancer that he has survived, and that Josh is going to do everything in his power to succeed for his family. A touching story, but a bit out of place. We aren’t concerned much with the fighter’s motivations, we want to see how their skills are going to stack up in the Octagon. Josh and Tait mixed it up fairly well, with Josh getting the better of the exchanges on the feet and Tait having the much superior ground game. At the end of round one I had the fight scored for Josh as he resisted the take down, worked to get back to his feet and landed the better exchanges on his feet. Round two looked to be Tait’s. He managed to bring the fight to the ground and still work for submissions. At the end of the second round it looked as if he had a triangle choke locked in before time ran out. At this point things became strange. Both the fighters, the coaches and even Dana White figured the bout to be a tie up to this point, which would move the fight into a “sudden death” third round. The winner of that round would be the winner of the fight. Referee Herb Dean was about to start the fighters for this third round when the Nevada State Athletic Commission stated that they hadn’t finished with their sore cards…the fight was ruled a victory for Josh. This means that Tito’s team has improved to 5-1 throughout the competition. Shamrock was making his usual whimsical statements about the loss, my favorite being “we just can’t get a break”. Well Ken, perhaps you should have examined exactly how prepared your fighters were coming into the fight. It sure looks to me like Tito’s team has things pretty well put together.

We also got to see the return of Jesse Forbes for Team Shamrock. All of us saw this coming, and in due fashion the majority of Team Ortiz looked a little upset about a guy who lost his fight advancing to the semi-finals. Tito Ortiz himself had some solid points to make about the issue, and in reality is probably the only one who has the right to gripe about it. Ken Shamrock is getting a free pass here. In typical fahion there is camera time given to Michael Bisping, who in typical fashion whines about one thing or another. I can’t recall exactly what he said: I stopped listening to his bitching after episode three. Let’s hope that he is as good a fighter as he is reputed to be because I am tired of hearing him complain. Another fighter who we will hopefully get to see fight soon is the much vaunted Ed Herman. He apparently is set to fight next week against an as of yet unnamed opponent (most likely against Danni Abaddi).

PRIDE FC has recently announced that due to injury Fedor Emilianenko will not be able to participate in the open weight grand prix tournament. Fedor was hoping to be able to fight in the next round of the tournament, but the doctor’s have not given him the ok to return to the ring. Fedor has been fighting for some time with a severely injured right hand: he had surgery on this hand after his victorious epic battle with Mirko “CroCop” Filopovic. The corrective surgery required the addition of a steel plate to his right hand. This steel plate cannot be removed in time for the next round of the open weight grand prix tournament. Fedor is the PRIDE FC current undefeated heavyweight champion, and is considered to be the best pound for pound fighter on the planet.

Fedor’s replacement in the tournament is none other than the current PRIDE FC middleweight champion, Wanderlei Silva. Silva’s noted absence in the opening round of the tournament has since been attributed to a contract dispute between the champion and PRIDE’s parent company, Dream Stage Entertainment. There is no official word on whether Silva’s contract dispute is completely settled: but it has been settled enough for Silva to compete in the next round of the tournamnet. If PRIDE cannot come to terms with Wanderlei, he will become one of the hottest free agents in all of mixed martial arts.

The second round of the open weight grand prix tournament is shaping up to be one of the most exciting events ever. The probable eight quarter-finalists are Wanderlei Silva, former PRIDE FC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mirko Cro Cop, Mark Hunt, Hidehiko Yoshida, former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett, Kazuyuki Fujita, and Fabricio Werdum. The quarter-final match-ups will be announced by PRIDE in the next few weeks.

Mixed Martial Arts legend and fan favorite Bas Rutten is rumored to be making a comeback to the fight game, according to MMAWeekly Radio. According to the interview, Rutten stated that there is an 80& to 90% chance that he will fight again sometime this year. He also mentioned that his comeback may take place in the IFL this summer. There are many people who would love to see this happen, I am one of them.

Bas Rutten is one of the first official heavyweight champions for the UFC. He was also three-time King of Pancrase. The impact he has had on the world of MMA is legendary. He is also a dynamic personality and recently ended a long term tenure with PRIDE FC in Japan, acting as their color commentator. While the prospect of Bas coming back to active competition is exciting, there are a lot of question marks surrounding his comeback. Bas is 42 years old, for starters. Secondly, he has been out of the game since 1999. Bas has never been known for having a solid takedown defense. How we he fare against the more seasoned and modern competition? Regardless, there are a lot of people that would love to see his return. Bas retired due to injury in 1999 after defeating Kevin Randleman by split decision for the UFC heavyweight championship.

So Quinton “Rampage” Jackson pulled a fast one on all of us by hyping up rumors of him joining ranks with the UFC, only to ultimately sign with the newly invigorated World Fighting Alliance. Rampage recently became a free agent after his contract with PRIDE FC expired. He is the second high profile fighter to leave the ranks of PRIDE FC in the last few weeks (PRIDE FC legend Kazushi Sakuraba split unexpectedly just a short while ago). Rampage’s exit from PRIDE is no controversy, however. He has been talking about not getting represented fairly in Japan for quite some time, and has shown considerable interest in fighting here in the United States. The original rumors were that Rampage was going to sign with the UFC. Rampage’s website was overhauled and showed a collage of photos from when he defeated the now current UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell. Quinton then stated that he would have an official announcement about who he has signed with on April 15, which just happened to be the same day as UFC 59: Reality Check. People practically had Rampage signing with the UFC as a done deal. I was desparately hoping this to be the case. It looks like we were wrong, and the alternative does not look so good for Rampage. 

Signing with WFA shows us a few things. First, I am sure that Rampage was paid some decent coin for signing to fight with them. That is a clear victory for Rampage as that is what he was ultimately concerned with anyway, getting paid. He has made that motivation very clear. He wants to be compensated well, and wants to be marketed and ”exposed” here in the States. I am not sure that the WFA is the place for the second goal to be met. There is also the problem of competition in the WFA. Rampage has been mixing it up in Japan with some of the world’s best fighters during his tenure with PRIDE FC. The UFC would have presented some fighters of challenge, but for the most part the level of competition would have been drastically lighter in the UFC. In the WFA, the compeition will almost be non-existant. The only apparent exception being the fight just announced in the WFA, Rampage versus notable middleweight Matt ”The Law” Lindland: an impressive but not very exciting fighter. It would be easy to see Rampage tearing through the ranks at WFA and being king of a very small feifdom there. Ultimately I think it is a waste of his time and talent, no matter what they are paying him.

So so long, Rampage. You will end your career fighting for the minor leagues, and plowing through the ranks with little effort. Why you chose not to sign with the number one MMA organization in America is beyond me, but you have your own reasons. I don’t see you becoming as much a household name with the WFA as you would have undoubtedly become if you had signed with Dana and the Zuffa crew at UFC. You have given us some of the most exciting fights ever in PRIDE FC, and for that we are thankful. I just wish we could part on better terms. I am not going to be paying for a WFA event just because you are fighting in it; it just doesn’t stack up to the caliber of fighters and production values that we currently have in the UFC and PRIDE.   

Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter was probably the most interesting I have seen all year. This was the first episode this season that did not have an elimination fight, for reasons I will get into. Despite this, the episode was full of humor, ridiculousness on the fighters’ parts and some telling insights into the character and dedication of at least three of the fighters.

It is no secret that Matt Hamill is not a favorite in the TUF house. Matt is a world-class wrestler, and his skill and work ethic has earned him the respect and admiration of coach Tito Ortiz, and the complete disdain of just about every other fighter in the house. Matt works hard, trains hard and possesses some incredible wrestling skill. He is new to MMA so he may be vulnerable to the submission game, but he looks solid elsewhere. Throughout most of the episode, the Matt Hamill situation finally comes to a head. The other fighters are tired of him training at 100% all the time. Fighter Michael Bisping, who has been bitching about Matt the entire time, got schooled in the takedown drills by Matt once again; he in turn was very angry at the fact that Matt was defending takedowns on purpose without even using his hands. I can tell that although Matt comes across as trying to be funny, he definately is not cocky by nature. He has a lot of skill and by him defending takedown without his hands he is demonstrating his desire to push himself farther rather than be arrogant to the other fighters or show off. Unfortunately, the rest of the crew didn’t see it that way. During training Matt gets his clock cleaned a few times, taking a strong uppercut to the jaw by one fighter and taking a solid leg kick to the head by another. These attacks looked deliberate as a few of the fighters were talking about upping their striking power just to even the playing field with Matt. It is doubtful that Matt has been hit very hard before in his wrestling career and it has taken its toll on the young fighter. He is taken for an MRI but comes back without incident…the psychological damage nonwithstanding. Hopefully Matt will be able to overcome the shock of the sport actually being full contact and be able to pull through. My prediction will be that Matt makes it to the finals. It is very telling that the other fighters cannot stand him for really no good reason. Truth be told, it is most likely that they are threatened by Matt’s abilities.

Meanwhile, a mysterious letter arrives at the TUF house that is addressed to fighter Noah Inhofer. Apparently there has been some troubles at home for Noah. We are left in suspense for several minutes wondering what the problem is: Noah is pacing the outside grounds, close to tears. The other fighters rally around him, fearing the worst…all contact with the outside world is forbidden in the TUF house, so for this news to come through it must be something very serious. A few fighters are praying for Noah and hoping that everything is alright with his family. There are talks of illness, car wrecks and plane crashes. Noah is in tears at this point after pacing outside and finally comes in to address the group. Apparently, Noah has been notified in the letter that his girlfriend of six months has apparently gotten word that Noah may have cheated on her. There is a collective “wtf???” from the group as the reality of this dramatic display sets in. No one can believe that this is even something to bring up. On top of this, the other fighters are bitter that they cannot speak to their families and check on them. Noah makes it clear that he wants contact with the outside world to fix this situation. In comes UFC President Dana White.

Despite the suspiciousness of the whole situation (if contact with the outside world is strictly forbidden, how could a letter with such paltry content find its way into the compound?), it makes good television. Dana confronts Noah on the issue, and practically defeats him then and there in the mental game. Noah comes across as being a stubborn three-year-old who insists he wants a phone call to fix the problem with his girlfriend. Dana tries to show him the error of his ways before finally giving him an ultimatem: you can shutup about this and screw your head on straight, or you can choose to leave and I will fly you home today. Noah inexplicably chooses to leave. Dana is a likable and ornery character to begin with, and he makes one of the funniest statements I have ever heard in connection with the UFC:

“I’m not a dickhead. If his mom was sick; if his dad was sick; if his grandparents; his aunt; his uncle; his wife; his kids … if something was wrong with them, by all means we’d let him make a phone call…his girlfriend of six months is upset that he might be cheating on her … heh heh … I don’t give a f***”.

I can’t tell you how funny this was to watch, given the circumstance. Noah says his goodbyes, packs up his stuff and leaves for good. The fighters all share one more collective “wtf??” and get back to work. Since the lineups have changed now, the fight previously selected between Team Ortiz and Team Shamrock has been postponed. Dana announces that a fighter who has been previously eliminated has to return to fill the void created by Noah. The returned fighter will most likely be Jesse Forbes, whom Noah dispatched earlier in the season.

Of course this is good news for the fading Team Shamrock, who has lost four of the last five fights in a row. Shamrock continues to not get along with his stable of fighters. More arguments ensue, more fighters get pissed at Ken’s leadership style and attitude. Ken accuses a fighter of acting like a three-year-old when in fact it is Ken that always ends up looking ridiculous. Ken continues to show a complete inability to connect with his fighters on even a basic level. I am sure some of this portayal can be chalked up to the way the show is edited, but you can’t subtract some of the more obvious themes from the people involved: Tito is loved and respected by his fighters, while Ken is dismissed as being in this for himself more than the team as a whole. How will this dynamic affect the rest of the fighters on the dwindling Team Shamrock? We will find out as early as next week, when Team Ortiz fighter Josh Haynes takes on the brash Tait Fletcher. Since Tait has made a recent appearance in the crowd at UFC 59: Reality Check and was highlighted during the event, I think it is safe to assume that next week Team Shamrock will finally win another match and regain control of the fights selection. We may then all finally get to see Ed Herman from Team Shamrock, considered to be one of the favorites, step into the Octagon and get to put his skills to the test. According to him, they are unmatched in this competition and he can’t wait to prove that fact.

Rumors are eminating from Brazil and elsewhere that MMA and Jiu Jistsu legend Rickson Gracie has been intensly training over the last several months and may be gearing up for a return to mixed martial arts active competition. For those of you who have never heard of Rickson Gracie, he is a legend in the world of mixed martial arts and competitive Jiu Jitsu. Rickson is reported to be one of the best (if not the best) Jiu Jitsu practitioners in the world, and he is considered to be the champion of the Gracie family. He was originally pegged to be the star fighter in the early UFCs (an event designed in part by Rorion Gracie to show off the effectiveness of Gracie Jiu Jitsu) but Royce was chosen instead because the competition was considered too easy for Rickson. Rickson went on to make a name for himself while fighting in Japan for Vale Tudo Japan and a few high profile fights for PRIDE FC and other Japanese organizations that could have afforded him. Rickson boasts an 11-0 record in witnessed MMA fights. He supposedly has not been beaten (ever) in a Jiu Jitsu match: Rickson is supposedly 400-0 (yes, four hundred!) in any sort of official match or fight. Of course these claims are hard to substantiate but they help feed the fervor of Rickson’s legend. There is no doubt that Rickson is a formidable opponent and an expert in Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Unfortunately for us, his skills have not truly been tested in the MMA arena as most of the competition he faced consisted of mediocre at best opponents. The rumors of Rickson making a return to MMA are nothing short of legendary. This guy could sell out an arena in no time.

Now that former PRIDE FC legend Kazushi Sakuraba has joined up with popular Japanese MMA promotion K-1 HEROS, Rickson’s rumored return might not be so impossible to believe. If Rickson were to return to MMA, this would be a fight he would be interested in taking. Sakuraba has been nicknamed “The Gracie Hunter” after defeating four members of the Gracie family in PRIDE FC: Royler, Royce, Renzo and Ryan.  Kazushi Sakuraba is a legend in his own right and is immensely popular with the people of Japan. K-1 HEROS definately has the financial backing to afford both Rickson and Sakuraba to fight for them. Rickson reportedly charges anywhere from one million to five million dollars to fight for an organization. This theoretical matchup may be one of the most expensive fights in MMA history: but a legendary one no doubt. Is even more mind-boggling to try to predict the winner of the match. Rickson has never taken a fight to decision: he has always defeated his opponents by submission, his favorite finishing move apprently being the rear naked choke and armbar (spawning the now-famous catch phrase in MMA: “Rickson by armbar!”). Sakuraba has faced top competition for most of his career, oftentimes being outweighed by his opponents. He is notorious for being able to escape submissions and has already shown an ability to defeat specific grapplers. The match up is an excellent on one paper: I hope that K-1 can pull it off, because it would be a marketing triumph for the organization.

If in fact Rickson returns to the MMA world to compete, there are quite a few other fighters who would love to mix it up with the legend himself as well. One of these fighters is fellow legend Bas Rutten, former UFC heavyweight champion and three times King of Pancrase. Bas has wanted to fight Rickson for a long time and states that Rickson is the only person that he would come out of retirement to face. Bas openly challenged Rickson to any kind of official fight while Bas was still King of Pancrase in the late 1990’s. The challenge got no response. Bas has made it clear that he would be delighted to fight Rickson, as Rickson is considered to be the best of the best. On a side note, there are also unconfirmed rumors of Bas training more rigorously than usual and even more unconfirmed rumors of Bas signing to fight with different fighting organizations in the US. Rumors are just that, rumors: but the beauty of this all is that if there is any merit to any of these rumblings, it would mean excitement in the MMA world like noene that has been ever seen before. Sakuraba, Rutten and Gracie are stars. If Rickson steps into the ring to fight anyone, it is going to be a hit. If he steps in against a fellow legend, the match will be legendary in itself.