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ENTER THE OCTAGON:
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is an American tournament
for no holds barred fighting, and it was the showcase for Royce Gracie,
son of Helio Gracie, to demonstrate the effectiveness of their family's fighting art. The matches took place in the
"Octagon," a platform surrounded by padded fencing. On March 11, 1994, Royce Gracie stepped into
the Octagon in the first...
Ultimate Fighting Championship
Royce vs. Art Jimmerson (boxing):
Royce vs. Ken Shamrock (shootfighting):
Royce reverses and gets on top of Shamrock.
Immediately, Royce kicks Shamrock's lower back with his heel while Shamrock tries to attempt the same anklelock which allowed him to defeat Pat Smith in an earlier bout. But this time, Royce follows Shamrock as Shamrock sits back for the anklelock, and Shamrock almost gets mounted by Royce as Royce comes on top of him. Royce tries to mount Shamrock while Shamrock defends. Royce palm strikes Shamrock once in the face and tries to push Shamrock's one arm to one side. Shamrock rolls out of the position while Royce tries to keep the top position where both of them are in a partial side mount situation.
Shamrock gets to his hands and knees and Royce responds by wrapping one leg around Shamrock leg and chokes Shamrock from the side. With his one leg entwined with Royce's leg, Shamrock has difficulty standing up or maneuvering on the ground. Shamrock is on his hands and knees and taps in submission but the referee doesn't see the tap. Royce relaxes his choke and apparently demands Shamrock acknowledge his submission. The referee asks Shamrock, and Shamrock finally admits he had tapped as he nods his head in agreement.
Royce vs. Gerrard Gordeau (savate):
Ultimate Fighting Championship II:
Royce vs. Minoki Ichihara (karate) :
Royce vs. Jason DeLucia (Five Animals Kung Fu) :
DeLucia shot in with a right side kick which Royce blocked with his knee. DeLucia said after the bout that he wanted to take Royce down to the ground. Royce mounted DeLucia and DeLucia tried to bridge and roll Royce off to reverse the position. He left one arm free which Royce capitalized on and forced DeLucia into submission with an armlock.
Royce vs. Remco Pardoel (jiu-jitsu) :
Remco quickly countered by turning over to force Royce onto his back while Royce had his legs hooked into Remco's waist and applied a choke using Remco's judo gi collar. Remco held Royce's free arm to prevent the choke from being more effective as he turned onto his hands and knees. Eventually, Remco succumbed to the effectiveness of the collar choke and tapped in submission.
Royce vs. Pat Smith (kickboxing) :
Royce kneed by Smith in the clinch.
Ultimate Fighting Championship III
Royce vs. Kimo Leopoldo (Tae Kwon Do) :
When they both go to the ground, surprisingly Kimo ends up on Royce's back and rear mounts Royce. Royce rolls onto his back to force Kimo onto his own back. Royce then gets to his knees with Kimo riding on his back instead of having Kimo on his back with Kimo's feet hooked into Royce's hips preventing Royce from getting to his knees.
Royce rolls out again and Kimo can't maintain the rear mount position and winds up with Royce on top of Kimo. Kimo uses his strength to bridge and roll Royce off of him. Royce immediately holds Kimo in his guard while Kimo tries to headbutt and strike Royce which Royce deflects and neutralizes by holding onto one of Kimo's hands and protecting his face with the other hand. Royce attempts to arm bar Kimo from the guard but Kimo pulls his arm out and forces Royce to roll onto his hands and knees which Kimo tries to secure the mounted position as Royce eventually rolls onto his back.
Royce puts Kimo in guard and holds Kimo down by holding onto Kimo's ponytail while striking him in the face with his free hand. Kimo tries to choke Royce with an elbow while leaning his weight on top of Royce. Kimo escapes and Royce tries to get up but Kimo quickly clinches with Royce from behind. Royce tucks down to prevent being thrown and they both stumble tiredly to the fence and both fall to the mat. Kimo falls into Royce's guard and eventually gets caught with an armbar. Kimo is lying face down with Royce's legs wrapped around his torso and applying an awkward armbar. Kimo wearily taps out.
Royce holds Kimo by his ponytail.
Royce has a small cut below one eye and is carried out. He can't continue to fight and drops out of the tournament.
Ultimate Fighting Championship IV
Royce vs. Ron Van Clief (karate) :
Royce vs. Keith Hackney (Kenpo Kung Fu) :
Royce appears visibly angry and pursues Hackney. Royce shoots again and Hackney deflects the shoot and backs off. They both square off and apply feinting, half hearted striking attempts. Royce tries to shoot in again but Hackney's game plan is to obviously avoid the clinch and strike from the standing position. Eventually Royce accomplishes the clinch. Royce knees Hackney, as they both struggle in the clinch.
Hackney pushes Royce away while holding onto Royce's uniform and strikes repeatedly at Royce's head which Royce defends by trying to get back into the clinch with Hackney. Royce quickly gets establishes the clinch with Hackney.
Royce pays hackney back by holding Hackney's head down and repeatedly kneeing him in the head while Hackney tries to block the knees with his arms. Royce pulls Hackney to the ground into his guard and tries for a submission but can't get the triangle choke. Royce uses a weak triangle to hold Hackney in place as Royce holds Hackney's one hand. Effectively, Hackney has his head and shoulders trapped between Royce's legs.
Hackney gets up and Royce uses an open guard to prevent Hackney's escape since Hackney has his back to the fence. Hackney leans forward and throws a tremendous right hand downward at Royce's head. How much contact the punch had with Royce's head is uncertain as Royce quickly holds Hackney in his guard in a tight defensive position trapping one of Hackney's arm and his head.
Eventually, Hackney sits back and Royce elbows and punches to Hackney's face. Hackney defends himself and tries to free one arm which Royce holds onto. Finally, Hackney gets caught in an armbar and taps in submission.
Royce vs. Dan Severn (wrestling) :
Severn's tactic is to place his weight on top of Royce and rides Royce while periodically trying to throw punches at Royce's head. Severn repeatedly tries to place Royce up against the fence. Royce finally goes for the triangle choke but Royce's head is up against the fence. Royce uses one leg to push him away from the fence thus giving up the choke.
Severn pushes the blade of his forearm onto Royce's neck and bears his weight on Royce and also throws a few hooks to Royce's head. Royce defends himself as usual in the guard to prevent from getting hit and waits patiently for openings.
Royce goes for the triangle choke again and wraps his legs around Severn's head and shoulder. Securing the choke, Severn appears befuddled and moves about aimlessly from side to side as his head is trapped between Royce's legs. Severn eventually taps out as he obviously cannot free himself from the choke and the pressure on his neck increases.
Ultimate Fighting Championship V
Royce vs. Shamrock --SUPERFIGHT :
In the UFCs after Shamrock's defeat, Shamrock entered the UFC to hope to fight in the tournament format to eventually settle his score with Royce. "Royce beat me clean. I underestimated his abilities and was careless," admitted Shamrock. The Superfight was the perfect venue to settle the score with Royce.
Shamrock looked more muscular than the past match with Royce and stepped into the octagon wearing black bikini trunks, wrestling shoes and knee pads. As usual, Royce entered wearing a judo gi.
As expected, the fight went to the ground. Royce had Shamrock in his guard for the first 31 minutes. Shamrock was content to stay in Royce's guard. This time, Shamrock simply tucked his head down onto Royce's head and waited Royce out. It was apparent that this tactic would allow Shamrock a draw under the rules of the Superfight if he made no mistakes. Shamrock threw some punches into Royce's ribs but Royce neutralized the attacks easily as Royce spent the majority of the fight kicking the back of Shamrock with his heel, palm striking Sh amrock's head, and consistently applying a choke with the edge of his elbow into Shamrock's throat.
Shamrock in Royce's open guard.
After 31 minutes, the referee broke them up and restarted the fight into overtime with both of them standing. Shamrock crossed the octagon and faced Royce. Royce quickly lashed out with a side kick at Shamrock. It was followed up by a slap at Shamrock's face. Shamrock countered weakly with a punch and missed. Royce kicked low again and closed the distance on Shamrock. As Royce came in with the kick, Royce followed with a straight punch which missed but Shamrock almost simultaneously followed up Royce's punch with his own straight or overhand right hand. The strike hit Royce above the eye. Royce shot in but Shamrock countered again just like in their first match by holding Royce around the shoulder area.
Royce quickly countered by sitting back and pulling Shamrock into his guard. Quickly, Shamrock's punch had given Royce a "mouse" under one eye which ballooned rapidly. Shamrock headbutted Royce to try to get at Royce's ballooning eye. Royce appeared dazed and spent time defending his bruised eye which Shamrock tried to irritate with headbutts and his hand.
With the stalemate and time running out again, the fight was pronounced a tie. It appeared that Shamrock fought his game plan of using the same waiting game that Royce and BJJ fighters used against larger opponents.
This was to be Royce's last fight to date. He refused to enter the octagon as time limits hindered his ability to defeat often larger and stronger opponents. The justification was that time limits would result in a tie or if it came to judges' decision, he may lose to an opponent. This assumption has been born out by bjj fighters losing in the UFC, fighting under time limits and judges' decisions.
After Royce fought Shamrock in the Super Fight, Royce Gracie walked out of the Octagon, with a string of victories, one tie, and one technical loss when he couldn't continue fighting after his victorious bout with Kimo.
