It is widely understood that mixed martial arts has developed radically from its Vale Tudo origins, and now draws from striking, BJJ, and demonstrably, above of all from wrestling. Some members of the Gracie family has been faulted at times for not keeping up with the changes in the sport.

However, in an interview with Guilherme Cruz last year, the legendary Royce Gracie took a contrary stance, arguing that the reason Gracie family fighters are not doing dominating the sport is actually because they are cross training, citing Roger Gracie as an example.

“Jiu-jitsu is enough,” said Royce. “I’ve trained boxing in the past to learn the distance, trained wrestling to understand how he would take me down, but I won’t get there to fight my opponent’s game. The guys from the family want to complement their game, like if jiu-jitsu was incomplete. I guess they forgot a little about history.”

Both Roger and his trainer Renzo offered rebuttals at the time. Further, Renzo, who embraces a progressive approach while being fully mindful of his roots runs the highest-grossing martial arts school in North America, and has turned out a vast number of champions, including Frankie Edgar, Matt Serra, Georges St-Pierre, and Chris Weidman.

However, Relson Gracie has now taken Royce to task, but for being too progressive.

I think he and Renzo have forgotten Jiu-Jitsu a bit,” Relson said to Brazil’s PVT as translated by the terrific BJJEE. “Nowadays, you go in the gym and see them fighting Muay Thai, kicking etc. I’ll never use this in my life to fight someone. Helio Gracie would not like that, but Royce trains these things. And Royce lost to Hughes because he changed his style. If he had fought Jiu-Jitsu…”

“I think Royce disrespected my father. I have no more communication with Royce since then. I do not talk to him anymore. It affected me a lot. He took a beating because he was fighting Muay Thai. If he had walked backwards using the stomp, he would had caught Matt Hughes. If he had done it earlier in the UFC … But he changed his coach. Put me out. He never lost with me,

Royce was the most amateur member of the family to fight in the UFC. If someone was to put in there to kick butt it would have been Rickson, me, or anyone who was more of brawler than Royce. Royce was never in a street fight as a boy. He never won a gold medal in Jiu-Jitsu. So, he was the most inexperienced fighter in the world. Royce has fingers like a pianist. But he followed Helio Gracie’s plan, and it paid off. On the day that he began to change, it was over for him

So what do you think UG? Is the Gracie family not doing as well relative to the rest of the sport as Renzo suggested because they enjoy a better life, or is it because they strayed from their roots?

While it is always easy in life to make light of previous generations, please don’t forget that this is where mixed martial arts came from, because then you are disrespecting yourself.