EXCLUSIVE ROYCE GRACIE INTERVIEW

By Scott Petersen

He started it all thirteen and a half years ago. Royce Gracie stepped into the Octagon to fight a boxer, albeit a boxer without a clue about anything resembling a real fight as he went in one hand bare and one hand with a boxing glove on, but Art Jimmerson was a professional boxer on a 15-bout winning streak at the time. Royce not only submitted Jimmerson, but went on to submit both Ken Shamrock and Gerard Gordeau in the same night to win the first ever Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Not many fighters last so long in the fight game, but at 40 years of age, Royce is still hanging around, making waves in the mixed martial arts world. It’s been almost a year since we saw Royce in a humbling defeat at the hands of fellow UFC great Matt Hughes, but MMAWeekly’s Scott Petersen caught up with the living legend at a recent International Fight League event to find out what he’s up to these days.

Wearing a Fairtex shirt, Royce indicated that he has been receiving some help from Fairtex in preparations for an upcoming fight and yes, he did mention a little bit about for whom he would be fighting and dropped some hints as to where. As usual, he seemed confident about returning to mixed martial arts competition. Plus, he dropped a few hints as to why he might be attending an IFL event. Any guesses?

In addition to his own career, Royce gave his thoughts on the recent retirement of his brother Royler. “Now he’s got more time to train me,” quipped Royce with a smile. Royler retired after a disappointing decision loss to Hideo Tokoro on K-1’s Premium Dynamite show on New Year’s Eve.

(Continue Reading)