MMA: Renzo Gracie goes all in for Asian mixed martial arts and ONE FC

“The day Pride FC was sold was one of the saddest days of my life,” said Renzo Gracie, a mixed martial arts legend and a member of the sport’s first family. “The owner did not have the values, the love for mixed martial arts (MMA) to hold on to the company.”

 

Gracie took the sale of Pride FC personally because he invested so much in the company. “The first contract they have me was for three fights in one year,” Gracie shared. “But they only made me fight twice during that year.”

 

He could have walked away. He could have asked for more money for a fight, but when he was approached if he’d be willing to fight one more time even if the year had passed, Gracie said yes without a moment’s delay.

 

“To tell you the truth, I would have fought for free but it’s a good thing they never asked me to,” Gracie japed.

 

He stood in front of a crowd of his peers in the MMA family, a room filled with about 500 people eagerly wanting to hear what the legend had to say. Gracie spoke at the Asia MMA summit convened by ONE FC. It was a collection of all the stakeholders in the fight game and Gracie was undoubtedly one of them.


 

 

“When I fought for Pride FC, 60,000 people watched the event,” he recalled. “I was sitting beside an 80 year old lady and she was shouting at the fighter, telling him what to do.”

 

When the UFC bought out Pride FC, Gracie was gutted. He stayed in the fight game but he never got the electricity that was generated by the Asian community.

 

“When I saw ONE FC being created, I wanted to help out,” Gracie shared. “This passion from the Asian people is amazing.”

 

Gracie added that he is hopeful about the growth of MMA in the Asian region.  “I think that MMA will be the number one sport in Asia and I’ll tell you why. When people watch hockey or basketball, they want to see fights. When people watch NASCAR they want to see car crashes. In MMA, that’s always guaranteed,” Gracie said which caused the room to explode in laughter.

 

“The only way you can give a sport like swimming the same excitement as boxing is if you release a crocodile after the swimmers dive into the pool.”

 

“Whatever they need, I’m a phone call away. Well, a phone call and an 18 hour flight away,” Gracie said. “Because one day I truly believe that my son will fight here for ONE FC.” - GMA News