After seeing a few highlight videos of him and some of the first UFC's, I noticed Royce was a great fighter back then, but perhaps kind of a jerk as well. Why the hell did he hold his chokes, locks, arm-bars for so long? He even held them long after his opponent had tapped and on a few occasions BJM had to pull the choke or arm bar apart.
Heheheh- I used to think the same thing, but I realized that things might have been different in Brazil, than it is here... That or I think he just wanted them to experience great pain- Heheh If you are referring to his match with Ken Shamrock, it's because Ken tapped, but wanted to continue afterward.... So in this case- Ken was the jerk- heheh. (Ken's always a jerk though--- :woo: )
With the first UFC Ken SHamrock tapped but the ref did not see it. The problem Royce foresaw was the fight continuing afer it should have been stopped. For that reason he clamped down on Gerard Gordeau damn hard in the final. Royce was simply waiting for the ref to stop teh fight rather than rely on the sportsmanship of the opponent. The only one that was personal was UFC 2 against Jason Delucia who had trained with the Gracie's and then fought against them - that was viewed as an affront. For the record, Royce is one of the nicest guys I ave ever met in the martial arts world and is certainly no "jerk"
Sometimes it's hard to know when your opponent is tapping and you don't really know until the ref comes and tackles you off. Plus you want to make sure it's official so the person can't pretend like they didn't tap. I think that if Royce was really trying to be a jerk, he would have snapped a couple of arms and put some people to sleep.
Yeah, I'd imagine that if you just cranked on the armbar the arm would snap before the other guy could tap or the ref could get there.
Depending on who you listen to, Royce either A) kept the choke on because the ref didn't see the tap and Royce wanted him to tap again while saying "You tapped, Ken" in case Ken wanted to continue (Source: "No Holds Barred: The Story of Ultimate Fighting" by Clyde Gentry) or Royce kept it on because the ref didn't see the tap and Ken somehow said "No, I tapped, he got me" (quote slightly inaccurate as I don't have the book to hand but the source is "Inside the Lion's Den" by Ken Shamrock & Richard Hanner) In the match with Jason DeLucia in UFC II, there was some history between the two: they'd fought a no holds barred match in Brazil a few years before that and I believe DeLucia had trained a bit with the Gracies. I suppose training with them then fighting Royce annoyed him a bit (I can't remember the full story offhand) and Royce kept the armbar on until he was made to release it (seven taps, if memory serves) Basically, things were different in the early UFCs - you fought until you were made to stop by the ref - if they didn't stop you yanking an armbar after the tap, you kept yanking
I had the same opinion but then i watched a video with Royce talking about his fights. One particular one the guy bit him i think it was a savate guy. His view point was if you break the only rule we have the fight ends when i decide. with all the others there was a reason why it wasn't just him being vindictive for no reason at all The vid is octagon legends or something similar
So, he's not actually a jerk... He had personal issues with some opponents, wanted to make sure the fight was over and had a lot of adrenaline. Ok, thanks for the answers, I just found it weird that he would do that as I was watching the old videos.
From what I've heard, it sounded like he wanted to make sure the ref saw so the guy couldn't keep going after Royce loosened up. Wrong on three counts. First, the challenge fight in Royce's dojo was Jason's first fight with Royce, and that was in California not Brazil. Next, Jason never took any GJJ lessons and hadn't ever trained with any Gracie before the fights with Royce. Third, since Jason hadn't trained with any Gracies or in Gracie Jui Jitsu (or BJJ) and since he was invited to fight in UFC (surely that was because of the dojo challenge), Royce couldn't have been annoyed at him about training with them and then fighting him. Like I said above, Jason hadn't trained with the Gracies then fought against them -- the cyber legend strikes again. As far as Jason knows, Royce has never had any sort of a grudge against him. And from what I've heard him say, he agrees with you about Royce -- Jason's got nothing but good things to say about Royce.
this is the truth .and in royce's case against killers like gordeau you can't afford anything less than get it done or else .
where did they get that ref in UFC 1? that guy is probably the worst ref i have ever seen.(blind too, for that matter) i could see things on the TV screen that he couldnt even see in front of his face. i sure hope that ref was banned.
Hey! Welcome to MAP Jason! Here's a great chance to finally scotch those rumours and accounts we have been hearing for years now. Was it a bit of a "niggle" with you and Royce or is that just the way the rumour mill got things started? Or should I stop asking personal questions?
Cheers! I shall now have to delete that anecdote from my mental "received wisdom" column. So anyway, STeven Seagal and Gene LeBell....
Did Royce retire or something, what Gracie is competing now?? I havent seen a Gracie in UFC in years.
I don't think Royce is retired and I'm pretty sure (although it may be just rumour) that he's fighting Bob Sapp in a K-1 mma match in the near future. A bunch of Gracies still compete; Renzo, Royler, Ryan and Crosley Gracie still compete in MMA and there could be more too, those are just the ones that come to mind at the moment.
I seriously doubt Royce would accept a fight with Bob Sapp after seeing what Sapp done to Antonio Nogueira... Don't forget; look out for the Renzo vs Penn fight on the 29th!
