Everyone says Rickson but his MMA competition is weak IMO and his competition in grappling was weaker compared to more recent times. Renzo is the greatest in MMA to me its either him or Royce and Royce only was successful vs top guys in 93-95 when noboddy knew much about BJJ as years went by he got trashed by Sakuraba,Yoshida,Hughes. Renzo in the early days defeated Oleg Takatorv and Maurice Smith 2 former UFC Champions who where also much MUCH larger just like Royce's most well known victims. In 06-07 Renzo defeated 3 UFC Champions back to back to back Carlos Newton,Pat Miletich,Frank Shamrock and was competitive with BJ Penn in 2005. What Renzo accomplished agianst more modern day fighters sets him atop Royce and if Renzo could pull off a Hughes win OMG it would be incredible to his legacy. Id say Roger Gracie is the most accomplished Gracie in grappling competition.
I would agree that Renzo was the most accomplished mixed martial artist of the family - but Rickson was the champion of the no-holds barred era. Renzo hosts the best record and finest top tier opossition out of any of the Gracies. Renzo is a great fighter without a doubt. As great as Renzo was - he was still Rickson's understudy. If one asked Renzo this same question he would most likely answer "Rickson." One could sight Rickson's record and state there were a lack of big names but at the time the names were few and far between. Rickson did what he was supposed to and beat his competition in Brazil and then set out as the family representative for years - submitting everyone behind closed doors - paving the way for his brother Rorion to help create the Ultimate Fighting Championship. I only see two, perhaps three fighters of his era that Rickson should have fought but didn't. The Sakuraba fight never happened because of what the Gracie family considers an early stoppage between Sakuraba and Royler. Rickson left Pride after that - fearful that the Japanese would do anything to win - even if it meant bending the rules or stopping a fight early to give their fighter the win. One could make a case that exacly that happened in the Royce/Yoshida match years later. Rickson went to the inaugural Kingdom to fight Funaki who was the rising King of Pancrase. Funaki's record included victories over Ken Shamrock, Maurice Smith, Bas Rutten, Guy Metzger, and Jason Delucia. Rickson could have fought Ken Shamrock - but Ken was already submitted by Royce - so why should Rickson have to fight someone that his little brother choked out? A natural rival to Rickson would have been Marco Ruas. Rickson went to Marco's dojo in Brazil and challenged Ruas - but Marco turned him down - claiming he needed time to train before fighting Rickson. Japanese fight Yoji Anjoh challenged Rickson at his dojo in California. Rickson was home - sick in bed. He got out of bed, drove his moped to the dojo and choked Anjoh out. Then he woke him up and choked him out again. There were some guys that one could have made a case for such as Bas Rutten - but still he lost to Funaki and was retired for years. The loss of Rickson's son cost him his fighting spirit. From what I understand - Rickson was contemplating challenging Mark Kerr - who at the time was the most devastating wrestler on the planet - but after the Funaki fight he never fought again. There are plenty of guys on here with some interesting views on this subject. I'm curious to see who chimes in next.
Ralph is often overlooked because Gomi landed a knee at the start of their fight, but losing to Gomi at that time was no shame. In terms of sport BJJ Royler was a god, and then it comes down to how you define family. Roger is a Gracie on his moms side, so some would say that wouldn't count, but he might be the best in the world in a gi; then you have the Machados who are cousins I believe, and the Riberios who I think are related as well.
Roger's dad Mauricio Gomes is a badass in his own right have you ever seen the youtube video of him and Renzo rolling at Renzo's school ? I enjoyed that as much as any sort of grappling battle ive seen even if it wasnt an offical match.
I would sya royce gracie is the best of them. TO be fair renzo gracie didn't really beat frank shamrock. Shamrock hit him in the back of his head and he couldn't continue so he won by DQ.
Rolls was another pioneer in the Gracie family. From what I understand, he brought a lot of wrestling holds and tie-ups into his jiujutsu. Rolls brought Rickson up and helped turn him into Rickson. It's too bad Rolls passed so early. The Gracies have had a storied history that's for sure. Carlson, Helio, Relson, and so on and so forth. They all have their own respective history as champions.
Yes Renzo did beat Shamrock. Renzo was dominating that fight and has a strong side control working in the 2nd round when Frank fully aware of the rules throws 2 knees to the back of Renzo's head either looking for a a way out of the fight, a standup or maybe a cheap victory.
Renzo was dominating Fank Shamrock. If illegal blows were allowed - Renzo would have elbowed and headbutted Frank's teeth into his throat long before Shamrock could have hit him with that illegal knee.
in jiujitsu terms rickson! in mma its royce though renzo has a legitimate case for no.1,little off topic but they actually descended from scotland!
the family would probably tell you relson, when it came to getting it done on the street and dojo challenges he did the dirty work, as he got older he respected his fathers wishes to let his younger brother rickson step in and fight nhb, which essentially is the same thing rickson did when royce fought in the ufc...relson was the defacto world champion for 22 years running in both his weightclass and the open weight division and as far as jiujitsu knowledge relson himself would say not a single one of his brothers could offer anything to him (he likes to talk down about rickson somewhat, maybe jealous at the fame who knows)
true but its never been in a gracies nature to give up like that, if it had been royce or rickson in the same perdicament you would have to imagine they wouldnt stop fighting, especially considering their style of jits was made for the street
there all amazing talented fighters and I think they all deserve a mention for there discipline and attitudes.
