Roger Gracie: Cousin Renzo talked me out of retirement
After losing his UFC debut to Tim Kennedy, the UFC declined to renew the contract of Roger Gracie, and the heavyweight almost considered retirement.
After losing his UFC debut to Tim Kennedy, the UFC declined to renew the contract of Roger Gracie, and the heavyweight almost considered retirement:
For a long time, I considered retirement, he told MMAjunkie. I was trying to decide between jiu-jitsu and MMA. And since I couldn’t make up my mind, I let some time go by.
At some point, I made up my mind that I was going to retire. That is, until I spoke to my cousin Renzo.
Gracie’s cousin, of course, is Renzo Gracie. The 47-year-old remains a presence in the sport not only as a coach, but as adviser to his students and family members on all things surrounding the sport. He maintains relationships with all the major promoters and is often a link to new talent.
The affable MMA forefather also is a convincing character when he’s talking about his passion for fighting, and he apparently put Roger Gracie back on track.
He said there’s no way I should stop and that I should keep fighting, Roger Gracie said. And since he knows the ONE FC guys and has a good relationship with them, he made the connection. Once we got to talking, I ended up signing with them.
At thirty three years of age, Gracie has only had eight professional bouts, but returns to action in a heavyweight bout versus James McSweeney at One FC on Friday.