Do not mess with a member of the Gracie Family.

This legendary Brazilian family can be credited with the development of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Influenced by a direct student of Judo founder Jigoro Kano, the Gracies polished the traditional Japanese jiu-jitsu, making it heavily ground-oriented and striving to make it the ultimate martial art.

As a means to do so, the Gracies would challenge all kind of martial artists back in the day in order to get their name out there and demonstrate Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu could emerge the ultimate triumphant…

You’re a boxer? Let’s fight. You’re a Judoka? Come get some. Wrestler? Karateka? Taekwondo Specialist? Let’s throw down anytime, anywhere. That was the Gracies’ mentality.

Such determination coupled with a grueling work ethic and total confidence in their newly-crafted martial art proved effective as countless members of the Gracie went on to become grappling and MMA legends, and nowadays it’d be ridiculous for an MMA fighter to enter a cage without any brazilian jiu-jitsu experience.

Among the Gracies, a few individuals stand out, and one of the most well-known of them is Renzo Gracie.

A world champion in grappling, Renzo Gracie was set to fight Judo ace Ben Spijkers on his second MMA fight, at the WCC : First Strike event on 1995. Remember how I said ‘never mess with a Gracie’ ?

Well, Spijkers seemed to not want any of that and decided to prank call Renzo in his hotel room the day before the fight, taunting him and saying Renzo’s eyes looked like Spijker’s girlfriend’s eyes…

Bad, horrible idea.

The fight starts with Spijkers slamming Renzo on the ground. Most of what follows is Renzo defending off his back… until he manages to hit a lapel choke on Spijkers, using the latter’s judo gi in order to choke him.

Now, normally the fight would be over. I mean, Spijkers got choked out cold.

But Renzo, likely angry at Spijker’s antics before the fight, kicks him and casually proceeds to step on his unconscious foe’s neck. Ouch. Check out this incident below. Yikes.

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