BJJ ace Roger Gracie has announced that he’s decided to bring an end to his MMA career.
“I decided to stop because I didn’t think MMA was motivating me enough to keep dedicating myself 100 percent to an athlete’s life,” Gracie said. “I enjoyed it, it was a huge pleasure to do these 10 MMA fights, but I have no other ambitions. I just turned 36. I never wanted to compete longer than 38, and there’s not much else left to conquer in MMA, something that would change my career.”
One of the best and most decorated BJJ proponents ever to cross over to MMA, Gracie compiled an 8-2 record during his 10 year run in the sport.
The majority of his run was spent in the Strikeforce promotion, where he defeated the likes of Keith Jardine, Kevin Randleman and Trevor Prangley, before moving on to the UFC, where his brief stint ended with just a solitary loss to Tim Kennedy.
Since then Gracie has moved on to the ONE FC promotion, where he registered back-to-back victories and won their cruiserweight title last year.
“I just ended my career at a high level. I would have more to lose than to gain if I kept fighting MMA. If I had the same passion in MMA like I had in jiu-jitsu I would continue, but the only motivation that would keep me in MMA was money, and I’m against doing something focusing only on money. I don’t think I’d even give my 100 percent in this case, so I decided to retire and focus on other things in my life.”
Perhaps Gracie didn’t achieve everything he wanted to when he first embarked on his MMA journey, but looking back he’s proud of what he accomplished.
“I’m super happy with my career. I’ve fought 10 fights, faced several great opponents, big names, and was able to put on excellent fights. It was a cool experience to fight MMA. It’s completely different from the jiu-jitsu I competed my entire life. It was a special feeling to follow the Gracie family’s path. I saw my cousins and uncles fighting MMA since I was a kid, and I knew that the Gracie path was to fight jiu-jitsu and MMA.”
