Rickson likes Metamoris, would tweak rules, rules out competing

Rickson Gracie has a record in Jiu-Jitsu that will never be equaled. He never tapped, he never lost, and he never failed to tap his opponent.

I asked Renzo once, a long time ago, how good Rickson was. I wanted to know if he was as good as everyone was saying; in the grainy video available of him in action it was a little hard to tell if he was fighting Hugo Duarte, or a penguin.

Renzo looked thoughtful, waited briefly, and then said with a sober look on his face, “he’s perfect.”

The 8th degree black belt, who turned 56 this week, spoke recently with Guilherme Cruz for MMAFighting about Metamoris. The Ralek Gracie founded event which features 20-minute, submission-only events, takes place Saturday at 5:00 p.m. ET, live on Internet PPV.

“I think it’s a progressive idea,” said Rickson. “Metamoris tries, by removing the rules and bringing longer matches, to bring more dynamic matches with more finishes.”

That said, Rickson doesn’t think the rules are perfect yet.

“If there’s no penalty for stalling, fighters will find a way to control the match and the time, looking for a comfort zone,” he said. “It makes it exactly like a modern jiu-jitsu fight, but longer. It’s the same boring match, but lasting longer.

“You should have the option to say ‘come on, if you don’t fight the way people expect you to, go home. You’re disqualified. Go away.’ You’re there to watch a match and it doesn’t happen because the rule allows you to do whatever you want, so people go there and fight for a draw because they already got paid.

“A real match, with fighters going for all or nothing, is what people want to watch.”

Sadly, Rickson will fight no more forever, at least in public.

“I don’t see myself competing anymore because I’ve completely lost interest in competition, and my injuries wouldn’t allow me to perform the way I would like,” he said. “It’s not something I think about anymore. For those who still have this motivation, I think it’s cool.”

Watch Renzo grapple with Sakuraba Saturday by going to Metamoris.com.