Full transcript: Royce Gracie on London Real
2:17 This is London Real. I am Brian Rose. My guest today is Royce Gracie, the Brazilian MMA fighter, UFC Hall of Famer and Gracie jiu jitsu pioneer. Your father, Hélio Gracie, first created Brazilian jiu jitsu in the 1920s and it is now one of the most popular self-defense systems in the world. You were victorious in the first ever UFC event, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, in 1993 by defeating three separate opponents in one night and revolutionizing the world of martial arts forever.
2:48 You’ve been named one of the 50 greatest athletes in the world by Sports Illustrated and were the first ever fighter to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. Over the years you’ve trained the CIA, FBI, special forces and Navy SEALs, while also teaching Hollywood stars like Chuck Norris, Guy Ritchie, Jim Carrey and Nicholas Cage. Today you travel the world teaching jiu jitsu and keeping the Gracie name at the forefront of the fastest growing sport on the planet.
3:13 Royce, welcome to London Real. Thank you, sir. It’s great having you here. You know, I got to start, and I need to start by thanking you Royce and I want to thank you and your father Hélio and the Gracie family, because I think you might have saved my life and let me just tell you why I moved to London in 2002. And my life was a mess, Royce.
3:36 I had just come off the worst year of my life in New York City. The 9 11 bombings happened. I was partying too much. I had had a drug overdose. My girlfriend left me.
3:47 My best friend had fired me from my job, and I came to London, and I’ll be honest twice I was barely alive. I was like a shell of a man, and one of my friends called me from New York and said, Brian, I just started training jiu jitsu at Hanzo Gracie and I had never trained martial arts. I hadn’t been respecting my body at all, and he said, you gotta try this and so I googled someone in London and I started training in 2002. And I didn’t miss a session for eight years, and I’m telling you, it gave me my whole life back.
4:19 It gave me my confidence back, my discipline back. I respected my body. I got clean. It completely changed my life, and if it wasn’t for you and what you’ve done and your family, I might not even be alive. Now I’m a purple belt with Roger Gracie here in London, and so I just want to thank you for everything you’ve done.
4:36 It made a huge difference in my life. That’s the beauty of jiu-jitsu. It’s not just the martial art part but when we say it goes beyond the mats, yes, we try to help people guide them to the right path. It was everything, you know, and people say, have you ever had a fight on the streets? I said no.
4:59 I’ve never been close, but it was probably because I trained and I had the confidence, and I also respected other people and respected myself, that fights never happen with me for some reason, you know, because of, like, you said, it’s a mentality. It’s a way of life, isn’t it? Same with me, because I’m a professional fighter, and but I never really had a fight on the street. I had confrontations. A lot of people got on my face before the UFC growing up, but there’s so much confidence that this opponents would say, would read on my forehead, this guy’s for real.
5:44 He’s not joking around. Yeah, people can tell, you know. It’s funny. I worked on Wall Street, and I worked in the City of London, which is the equivalent, and people think when you’re a banker that everyone’s nice, but men try to physically intimidate you sometimes in the business world, and even then knowing jujitsu a lot of guys would give me space because they knew that I was kind of trained in martial arts. So there was there’s always something there that helped me, even in business, voice, you know, not just on the streets.
6:15 People think sometimes it’s just, it’s not just because, you know, martial art, that you’re aggressive, that you’re going to be beating up people, but martials will give you the confidence you see to deal with any kind of situation, so it doesn’t matter if he’s big, if he’s strong, if he’s fast once you have the confidence and you know what you can do, that you can defend yourself, not attack somebody, but defend yourself and not to lose that person. It’s so you start looking at everybody a little different. It’s so true, and for anybody listening to us right now, I highly recommend you go take a jujitsu class.
6:57 It doesn’t matter if you’re 80 years old or 8 years old, or a man or a woman or handicapped. I mean, there’s guys that train with one arm these days and beat people. My daughter learned jiu jitsu. My sons are gonna learn jiu jitsu. It’s an incredible martial art, way of life, you know, it really is.
7:16 Now I have students. I’ve taught all over the world. I travel about seven months of the year Yes, and I encountered blind people learning the art of jiu jitsu. People put their handicap, and yeah, I’m dealing a lot with soldiers right now helping them out in a program called MVP, Merging Vets and Players. It’s combat veterans that come back, and I’m trying to help them out as much as I can.
7:53 Yeah, that’s an incredible way to do that. You know, really, it can, you can change someone’s life to have a focus like that, and to get out of your brain, and it’s essentially, I’ve spoken with some teachers, I think, some Gracie jiu jitsu people where they say they don’t know someone until they’ve rolled with them on the mats. They can have conversations for hours, but until they roll with them on the mats, they don’t know what they’re really like as a personality.
8:16 Right? If they get angry, if they’re calm, if they fight dirty, if they fight clean Is that true? Yes, it is. You’re gonna, people show that character. I mean, that’s why my father would say, for you to get a black belt it takes a minimum of ten years with us.
8:39 Any other style martial art, most of them, you get in two, three years you get a black belt, but my father was a minimum of 10 years so average is about 12 to 15 years, because he would say after 10 years you know, the person’s personality, the person’s qualities, the way he thinks. Sometimes you don’t even know after 10 years, so it takes longer to know the difference. Yeah, that’s such an old-school mentality, when these days everyone’s used to getting everything quick right, like I mean, but it’s been like this for years with different martial arts in two years and you get a black belt but you don’t know who the person is, so we’re very particular on who represents us.
9:32 Tell me about, you know, your father. I’ve been to Rio de Janeiro, and I got to get the feeling of Copacabana and Ipanema, and I got to train at Gracie Baja, and I got to train with the Brazilian top team later, and it was amazing, but I always remember that image of your father from the movie Choke where Hixson’s training with him, and he’s very old but he’s still on the mats and he’s talking. He has this confidence about him, even though I know he was, he wasn’t a big physical man.
10:01 What are your memories of him, and how important was his personality in forming Gracie jiu jitsu? It was a lot of people in the beginning thought that the Gracies are arrogant, they’re trying to put down the other styles of martial art, but no, doing a quest to find out which style is the best, because everybody claimed that their style is the best. So my father, my uncles once they learned the art of jiu jitsu, they got into this quest of boxing says the best.
10:36 Okay, there’s only one way to find out. Let’s take the rules, the time limit, the weight division getting a ring, a cage, and duke it out. Let’s see which style is the best So a lot of people in the beginning was thinking, like I said, they were arrogant, but no, we’re just in a quest, and then they became my cousins, my brothers, my myself was in a quest to find out, ’cause everybody, when we got to America used to say, oh, kung fu is the best style, and every style is the best.
11:09 So my father had taught us diamond talent. We got raised with that kind of mentality of which style is the best. Let’s find out. Don’t just believe that my style is the best. My father would say used to say, hey, you gotta go proof, because there’s always a new style, a new person, a new champion.
11:31 So you gotta do it, and the fact that your father was a small guy, it affected the creation of the Gracie jiu jitsu, right? It meant that, I mean, a small person could beat a bigger opponent if they used the right strategy the right leverage, the right intelligence. He learned pretty much by watching He was very small. My uncles learned from the Japanese gentleman that was doing business in Brazil and traveling through and taught my uncles, my ankles continue their learning, and then my father was very small, couldn’t do it, so he said that watch on his mind.
12:14 He didn’t invent a new art He just added leverage into the moves, so he made it easier change a couple little things to make it easier for himself, so he could do it. And is it, does it ever boggle your mind that simple thought process that your father had many years ago, almost 100 years ago now, changed the whole planet. I mean, if it wasn’t for that, then there wouldn’t have been Gracie jiu jitsu. There wouldn’t have been a UFC, because Rorion wouldn’t have done it, and then it wouldn’t have shown the whole world this new martial arts system.
12:47 I mean, that’s crazy to imagine, right? He was way ahead of his time. He was way ahead. I mean, challenging guys almost double his weight don’t have no gloves at the time, no time limit It’s unheard of. He did a fight three hours and 40 some minutes, right?
13:11 Correct. While he was sick at the hospital he accepted the challenge The is the one who didn’t want him to fight and still fight that long. What was he like as a man? What do you remember? He was a hands on, move out of my way, let me do it whatever you’re doing, something, he’ll step in, he’ll watch you for a second, and he’ll figure out the easier way to do it, and you’ll be like, hands on, let me do it.
13:49 Move on, I’ll show you how to do it faster, easier. That’s why he was, when he was watching my fights or when he was watching me training for my advice, you all always brought him in to watch the entire training. I can see that on his mind, he’s trying to figure out a way to make it easier because when I thought there was no time limit, no weight division so I mean, the time limit came in after, but it was most of my fights with no weight division, so he was always thinking, if the opponent is bigger, stronger how can you make it easy, how can he could make it easier.
14:32 And what was he like as a parent? Was he big on discipline? Did he want you to fight, as a parent? My mother was a tough one. My father was pretty much Don’t disappoint me.
14:55 He never laid a hand on us. He was against hitting kids, so he never, the discipline never came over as a slap a whip, nothing. There was nothing like that. No beating on us ever never touch us, but just the look that he would give it to us It would be like, he let me down, son. That was enough for us to break us to go, my God, I disappoint him.
15:30 You see, I don’t want to let him down So, and was it always important for you to keep the Gracie name, to keep the family respected by all the actions. I mean, you guys were really close, right? And it was important to, because you were always being judged by your actions, that meant what the Gracies were about. That’s what he taught us. He always tried to keep us on the right path.
15:57 Never drink, never smoke, party. He was against really going out to parties. It was a very disciplined life, but he lived as an example, so he wouldn’t do stuff like this. Eat the Gracie diet, he would always keep us on track with the Gracie diet and sleep early, exercise but he’ll do it himself. That’s the thing.
16:30 It’s not just he’ll tell us to do, and he will do something else. No, he would do it. He’ll follow that kind of life. Right, and you had your, he would train jiu jitsu in Copacabana, and then you had your ranch kind of out in the countryside, and you kind of had these two lives, right? Every weekend, I mean, growing up, 14, tell 14 years old about every student that came in now.
17:04 It was a little earlier than latin about 12 years old. Every student that came in, he would supply the key. They can mourn the gi to the student so the student used the kimono, did so you did not have to bring a kimono to school. so every time you show up there’s a gi, there’s a towel, every, all the bathroom stuff for you personally you use it, you put in a basket, and then on the weekend on Friday he’ll take us, the kids, ending the car load pack with kimonos, with dirty gis and towels and spend the whole weekend in the farm washing those put a load to wash.
17:50 Once that load is done, put a new load in, hang all the towels, all the gis. on the sun, Brazil, those are new dryers sun dry, the thing, so when you keep rotating, as soon as one is dry you start folding those while the next load is already washing, the next loads already drying so it’s a systematic thing that on the weekend, Sunday, he would had a drive back in town for real with the car load pack with four gis and towels ready for the week he had to do everything by the book, right? It had to be perfect so we learned how to fold gis, and the kids, we learned how to wash kimonos and dry and hang them to dry, and then fold them, and what’s it like growing up in Rio de Janeiro?
18:44 I mean, I’ve been there. It’s not as dangerous as people say it is, but it’s Copacabana. I mean, it’s an intense place, right? What is it what was it like growing up? It’s an awesome youth It’s danger, but we live life.
19:02 It’s danger, yes. There is the robberies, the crime that happens every day. I’m not gonna say it’s a peace in love place. No it’s a, but it’s a very warm people. It’s a very, the food is awesome, the people is awesome.
19:22 So every day they go to the beach, they live life they don’t just, yeah, people sometimes in America, I think they work to live. Just, I mean, they work every day to live life. Over that they live life, and they work just enough to live a good life. Yeah, that’s a part of every day. It’s a part of me.
19:48 You go to the beach, you live life over there. Yeah, I first went to Brazil, I think in 2005 and I remember I stayed two weeks there, and after a week I realized that I was slowing down, you know, and I remember I would walk down the beach, and the first week I was like, everyone’s too slow. I was going past people, and then I realized, no, I’m too fast you know, and it was this slow way of enjoying everything, enjoying the beach, enjoying the acai enjoy your training.
20:19 It was a great contrast to feel that, you know but the people is a very warming people, kind of like in the South in America they have that, the sudden hospitality right? In Brazil they don’t want you to go home. You show up as a, I bet the time came to go home back to America, or when you tell them, hey, I’m leaving tomorrow they’re going, why, why don’t you just stay longer, why you have to go? They don’t want you to go now, but yeah, it’s true, it’s true.
20:57 I remember I trained with Marilla Bustamanchi, and he was like, Brian, I’ll drive you to the airport. You know, one time I, he introduced me to a boxing teacher, Claudio Coelho, who was up at the Nobel Arch, you know, up in the favelas where I trained boxing there, and he was like, you want to train boxing? I’ll call my friend. And then one time I was training with Claudio Coelho, and he speaks only Portuguese, I speak only English he said, I’m going to call my friend, and he’s going to translate and so Pedro Hizzo drives up.
21:25 Pedro Hizzo, just by the way, if you don’t know him, big mixed martial arts he goes up and comes in, and he says, I’m just here to translate for you, and I was like, oh my gosh you know, just super friendly, you know, always making music, very tough professional MMA fighter. Yeah, oh, the hardest low kicks, and he just showed up to help because Claudio was his instructor, and he was just helping out. So, yeah, I have great memories in Rio, and in Rio de Janeiro they knew the Gracie family were tough guys.
22:00 They knew, well, not tough guys, they knew your martial art was important. They knew that you were hard fighters. Like, everyone knew that in Rio that’s correct. Right? But nobody knew that in America.
22:11 Exactly, that’s what happens when Harlem first came to America and Jordan was like, nobody knew about my father. We talked in the ’70s. nobody knew what Gracie jiu jitsu was. After all, my father is done. My family is done in Brazil.
22:30 Nobody knew about us, so that was Rorion’s mission to spread out great jiu-jitsu in America, right? And Rorion used to teach in his, in his garage. I think there in Los Angeles, and then sooner or later you kind of had these Gracie challenges where people would come in off the streets or bring their martial arts instructor, because they wanted to fight you guys, because you guys were always saying we’ll fight anybody, anywhere, anytime, and no one was really doing that back then.
23:03 Right? We offer to the students, hey, if you have a somebody, a teacher or a martial arts, that doesn’t believe, bring them in, because the students will come in and tell us back in the garage days, hey, my wrestling coach doesn’t believe this stuff works sure, bring them in, bring him in, but the idea was not the crazy challenge back then. It wasn’t exactly to beat this them up, to beat the crowd instructor, or the student, or whoever shows up back in the garage.
23:43 The idea was to prove it to them that our style was better and to gain that person as a student, because back then we used to offer for every student for every student that it was only private, half an hour private classes. Okay so every student, every friend that you bring, to take a free lesson private class, even if it doesn’t sign up. It comes in, take one free private class you get a free private, half an hour private, too okay, so your friend will grab, will have a, receive a private lesson so if you bring four friends, you got four privates if you come once a week, that’s your month.
24:34 So that was it, and then students used to spread out the word and then sometimes once in a while they would tell the instructor a friend that’s a black belt or somebody they know, and the guy will go, I don’t believe all this stuff sure, well, bring him in, and we’ll do a little sparring but yeah, they will come in to fight. We were in a mission to try to convince him to become a student so we can’t beat him up. What would usually happen what would happen usually when someone came in and wanted to I don’t know, fight or prove themselves.
25:16 What would usually happen? Oh, they will come in. We just like, okay, a lot of times we film those but a lot of the times you do your thing. What do you want to do? The wrestler, well, just let’s rest so, I don’t believe you can take me down.
25:32 I’m the best wrestler in town. Over here, sure but when we go to the ground, even if you take me down, we continue, and tell somebody quit so even if he takes me down, but now I’m on the border, but I soon meet him. He’s like, wait, how did you do that? That’s not part of wrestling. That’s, we’re not doing wrestling or karate guys who show up, and as soon as we get in a clinch, take them down, they’re like, okay, stop no, stop for what?
26:01 We said let’s continue until somebody quit you see, karate is good, but if you don’t know how to escape from the bottom you’re stuck. So that was the idea. It’s very, we were very under control not to hurt the possible future student, but they would continue to fight us. They want to fight us, we want to gain a new student. You know, people listening to this now, Royce this isn’t going to make sense, because the UFC has been around for 27 years, and we’ve seen, you know, the best fight, the best fight, the best.
26:39 We’ve seen the sport evolve, but back in 1993 martial arts was strange. It was so fragmented that everyone thought their art was the best. Everyone thought their instructor was a god, right? And, and no one had ever tested it. So it was weird.
26:57 You had all these pockets of people around the world that were delusional about the effectiveness of their martial art, and no one had ever tested it, which, it’s weird that it took that long, right? Well, okay, on the beginning there was a style of martial art against a style of martial art. It was karate against kung fu. It was wrestling against kickboxing. It was one style against the other when we came in, teaching and challenging and trying to prove that our style was the most complete art of self-defense it was the bond in between wrestling, karate, boxing.
27:42 You see all the styles. He glued them together today. So back then was a style against the style. Today is more of a, the athlete against an athlete it’s not, you see, because they all, of course, most of the fighters today, Lyoto Machida comes from a karate background. Randy Couture comes from a wrestling background but karate and wrestling doesn’t have triangle chokes and arm locks, and they can’t even do the chokes, so and they do win sometimes with chokes and unlocks, and so that means they combine the jiu-jitsu became the glue between all the styles.
28:28 More like, is who have the better, the best strategy who is, have the best, best card, the best endurance, who have the best. You see, so training and hostility and the sparring partners, and so the best food, everything counts today, so it’s one athlete against another, because everybody knows the same thing. Yeah. And now everybody knows some jiu-jitsu you have to, you have to know some, or there’s no way you’re going to make it through, probably, two minutes of a fight.
29:06 You have to know that’s like I said. I mean, again, is it a strategy game, a strategy. A lot of people confused for the viewers. A lot of people confuse, what’s your strategy for this fight? And the guy goes, well, my strategy is, I’m gonna come in, I’m gonna throw a one, two punch combination, I’m gonna shoot in, take double leg, take him down, mountain, a mop on it, and then punch him until he turns around, and I’m gonna choke him out.
29:36 That’s not a strategy. That’s a wish. The opponent didn’t do a thing A strategy is knowing what your opponent is going to do when is he going to step, so I can hit or tackle him, or, and choke him, or knock him out so I know my opponents. When is he going to step? When is he going to do this move, so I can hit him, knock him out at the right moment, the right timing.
30:09 So a lot of people say, well, but that was luck. You know, there’s no such thing as luck. If you go back to training, to the person’s training camp, he trained that so many times. You see, he studied the opponent, so you don’t win the fight when you won. You win the fight when the opponent makes a mistake.
30:31 Yeah, yeah. And I want to talk about how well your father used to say your first job as a fighter is not to lose, right? And by not losing, then you figure out the win correct. Example that he always gave is, if we are going to play ping-pong okay, table tennis, every time you throw the ball, my side of the table no matter who, doesn’t matter where you put the ball on my side of the table, I’ll catch that ball, and I’ll put it back on the center of your table.
31:03 What am I doing? I’m playing perfect defense. There’s no way I’m going to lose, because it doesn’t matter with the ball on my side, I’ll get the ball and I’ll put it back on the center of your table so when do I win? That’s become the question. When you miss the table did I win?
31:22 No, you lost. You’re the one who misses the table you see, so it’s, is that’s the art of Gracie jiu-jitsu. It’s a very defensive art. It’s not of a attack and aggressive and go for the win. No, it’s a defensive art.
31:40 I’m capitalizing on a person’s mistake Yeah, I struggled with that in my first few years of jiu jitsu, because, you know, everybody was, oh my gosh, I would see the triangle choke, and then I would try to get it, and then I would miss it, and I would then try to get it again, but it was too late. And I think it was Mauricio Gomez, who’s the father of Roger Gracie here in London. He said, he said submissions are like, are like waiting for the bus. He said if you miss one, you just wait, and another one comes along correct.
32:11 So he said it’s like a, you capitalize on the person’s mistake so person makes a mistake. If you miss, wait for the next one, because if you try to go for the win that’s when you start making a mistake. Yeah, you start to press and push and pushing the person out, capitalizing on your mistakes. It’s good philosophy for life too, huh? So I right.
32:42 So tell me about the UFC. Your brother Rorion came up with that idea. It finally happened in 93 what do you remember about, you know, that time, about coming up with the idea, and then, of course, you know, you being selected. I mean, those are some big moments there. What do you remember about that?
33:01 I always I think was a little reverse psychology in my family. you used reverse psychology, because I always want to do it. I want to zone hey, I grew up training. I want to fight. I want to do it, I want to do this, even if it was a simple self-defense demonstration.
33:26 Choose me, choose me. I was always like, but there’s so many of us that they’re like, no, no, no, you’re not. There’s one better than you. We’re gonna keep you aside so it’s like, why’d you choose my brother, my cousin, instead of me for a demonstration, for a simple demonstration, or for a fight so I see them doing it. I want to do it So when the heart don’t give me the opportunity, I was.
33:56 It’s quietly But I’m over there like, hey guys, I’m here, don’t forget about me. I’ve been training all this time I can do this. So the hoarding, my father decided to give me the chance Yes, I’m very. I learned from my father to control your emotions So when my father said yes, you’re gonna do it, I’m okay, thank you Awesome. But inside I’m going yes, but I’m on outside.
34:40 I’m like, oh okay Thanks, guys. It’s very, yeah, yeah. You have one of the best poker faces in the game. Royce, does that come from your father or from your whole family? For my father.
34:55 Okay, it’s like, it’s like, my father was against celebrating a win. He’s like, why, it’s your job. So a lot of times When I won, I’m like, okay, raise my hand, thank you very much. People, like, wait, there’s no emotion. He’s not sad, he’s not happy, he’s not It should be celebrating what?
35:27 It’s my job to win. When I lost, those a couple of times that I lost, that’s when I went back to locker room and thought, what happened with the train got derailed because I knew he was going to do it. I do want what happened was, it got trying to figure out where did what happened with the train got the real but but the winds, yes. Some of the browsing cousins celebrate and pick me up, and but most of the time was like My father’s like, do not celebrate, because celebrating, you are putting down your opponent You already beat your opponent and you’re gonna do a dance on top of that, on top of him.
36:08 It’s why there’s no necessity for that, you know. I’ve heard the same thing, Royce, from some great champions that I’ve sat in this studio with Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates. He was six-time Mr. Olympia, right, bodybuilder. And I said, what did you do the night you won? He said Well, first of all, he said the next day he started training, which I know you do too, but he said I was supposed to win.
36:32 That’s what he said. I was supposed to win. He tried to win. Yeah, I didn’t train to lose. So my father was totally against that, the celebration.
36:45 Okay, you go on the back, you and your team. Yes. But there’s no reason to taunt your opponent more, put him down more. He’s already feeling bad that he trained to win too, and he lost. Nobody changed to lose.
37:01 So, but he lost, and you’re gonna taunt him, make fun of it, and So tell me about the UFC. Was it difficult to get it finally done? Was it something that Rorion had talked about for years, and then when it finally happened, I mean, it was supposed to be a showcase for Gracie jiu-jitsu, is that right? It was a showcase, to it was not exactly a showcase. Nobody knew what was gonna happen, so he can’t be a showcase for the [expletive].
37:35 I could have took a punch that hit and not got knockout. So it was a gamble. It was a bringing the concepts from Brazil that my father, my uncles, my cousins, my brother’s been doing Brazil. trying to figure out which style is the best when Rorion first came to America everybody was like, karate is the best, kung fu is the best, everybody. We went back in time so, like, hold on, what’s going on here, man, that’s Our, let’s start with the Gracie challenge.
38:14 From the Gracie challenge took too long to spread the word of jiu-jitsu that’s when Harlan decided to create the UFC, and yes It was a showcase for jiu-jitsu, but it was a gamble. because nobody knew what was going to happen. There was a sumo wrestler, karate, the top guys, boxing at the time, on their style, the champions of all champions of their style. And so let’s talk about that night. I mean, and it was difficult.
38:45 Sorry, it was difficult to put it together. Yes, a lot of people did not believe her, even people inside the family. was like, dude, there is no way how you gonna pull this off? It’s against the law in America to fight on the streets. This is not previous, you, if you fight on the streets, you get arrested.
39:09 How are you gonna manage to put this on national TV? How are you gonna put this on national TV? There’s no way. So a lot of people doubt hard. Yeah, it took some serious vision to do that, and not a lot of people know that at the time, you know.
39:27 Hicks and Gracie was fighting in Japan and making a big name for himself. And there’s a great movie, Choke, where you can see your father Hélio and Hixson training, and you can see Hélio talk. It’s great stuff, but you know, Hixson was the most obvious guy to put into the UFC. You know he weighed a lot more than you, right, had fought a lot more professional fights, and it would have been the smartest thing to put Hixson in there to take care of business, and yet instead they stick this young kid who’s barely 170 some pounds in there.
39:59 As you instead, why? I think they save Hixson. I think this is my father in Harlem’s plan, give me a chance. If something happens, hold on, Hicks is the champion of the family. Let’s bring in the heavy-duty weapons over here.
40:23 So they save Higgs on that one. You see, Hicks is the champion. Why put the champion? No, let’s put the underneath one. Let’s put the a young one they haven’t fought yet, to show the art of jiu-jitsu, more of an average size.
40:39 Those many brothers and cousins that could have done the same thing I did. It’s just I was on the right weight at the right time. These brothers and cousins, they’re too light, a little too heavy. or had some other professional fights before. I never had a fight before professionally, so So you’re the only guy in the UFC that never had a professional fight, right?
41:02 All them, all the others had fought in tournaments and things like that, right? Yes, never had a fight before. Not even on the streets. That’s crazy. That’s crazy.
41:14 Do you remember that night? I mean, do you remember what it was like when all the fighters finally realized that it was real, and it wasn’t some wrestling match, it wasn’t scripted there’s no time limit, you know, and it was actually happening, and it gonna be on television. What do you remember that what was it like? I think people realized that On the, not a press conference, but the rules meeting that they start, people start to kind of wait, but I want to do this, I want to do that stuff everybody start to kind of, I want to wear this, I want to wear that, I want to wear shoes, don’t want to wear bandages on my neck, I want to, can I do this?
41:55 And that’s when Teila Tuli got up and said Hey, I’m here to fight, man. There’s no rules on this thing. I’m here to fight. Whatever wants to fight, show up tomorrow. and just walk out, and everybody was like, okay, this thing’s for real.
42:10 And the next day, as soon as the first fight started, the giraffe will kick Teila’s tooth out That’s when everybody in the back was like, oh, it is real. There’s no joke over here. I remember many, you watch that first UFC, he literally kicks his tooth out, and the guy’s tooth goes flying. And I heard that there wasn’t even going to be a referee in the cage at first, and the last minute, you got John McCarthy in there, but it might have just been two guys in a cage that just got locked, right?
42:46 I mean, was that rough? On the first UFC, actually, there was a Brazilian black belt negotiation for my father that he was over there to watch, and last minute was like, you know what, let’s put a referee, ’cause everybody’s complaining it would be too brutal, but the referee had not really much of a saying song. So it was just the person in the cage to kind of control the fighters. If somebody tapped, somebody quit for them him to step in and separate, but there was no rules, there was no time limit, there was no weight division No gloves.
43:26 It’s very rare. Groin strikes are legal, eye pricks are legal, everything’s legal. There was no eye gouging or biting. That’s the only two things that are not legal, okay. And so you show up in the Gracie signature family, where everyone’s got their hands on the shoulders, and you all walk down in a line, you’re there, and Hélio’s there, and probably Royce was there, Hélio.
43:55 Yep, okay, everybody’s there, and explain to people what it’s like to fight three times in one night, because after the first fight, I can only imagine all your joints they start to kind of seize up, and then the adrenaline dump. I mean, to fight again and to fight it again I mean, it’s a completely different ball game, isn’t it? It’s a strategy game. It’s a strategy game. You can just come in and It’s in, give all out on the first fight, because there’s somebody else waiting for you.
44:33 So if you win this, you gotta fight again. So you can hit all out, the punch, because you, there’s no gloves, so you break your hand You break your hand, you can come back to fight the next one. So it’s a very strong strategic night, right? You gotta plan this fight and the next one. So at the end of the night, your hand is raised.
45:00 You are the Ultimate Fighting Champion. Did you realize after that night that this event was going to go on and change the world, that it was going to be the biggest pay-per-view event, that it was going to turn into controversy and senators and calling it a blood sport? I mean, did you know that you guys had found something special that night, or were you still not sure? We knew those, that was the way to show the world about Gracie register. I was just, in my mind, like, yes I did it.
45:38 I made my family, my father, proud. I continued the legacy of the family. And my father, did he say anything to you that night after you won? He just came in. He didn’t just, it’s a hug and a kiss.
45:52 That’s enough. Okay, that’s pretty good, to get the hug and the kiss. Right, that’s enough. I know. Yes, and so you did it.
46:04 You proved Brazilian jiu-jitsu as the dominant art form. That first UFC, I mean, that was a big deal, and it finally approved Gracie jiu- jitsu, and then everyone started asking questions, right? Who are these guys? Who’s this skinny guy? What’s going on, right?
46:20 And then people said, maybe he’s just lucky. What was it like after that, the Gracie Academy? Double sizing, like a month later, a double size after the second year, c, and then it doubled again. And I literally went from a double to the side. And then double to a second floor upstairs, and in the UFC 2 you fought four times that night?
46:50 Is that right? Right, in one night. Yes. What was your hardest moment in those first, you know, five UFCs, and your best moment What do you remember? Is the hardest thing to do, the hardest guy to fight, or the hardest moment?
47:04 And what do you remember as the best memory? Remember, well, they’re all tough, man. Fighting three fighters in one night And then UFC 2, I remember after the fourth fight I told Jordan Man, I have a lot of endurance before fights, I’m tired. He got me tired that night, and then you have UFC 3 against Chemo. It’s one fight, but because of peace means 20150 pounds.
47:38 Super strong, you see. But I used the wrong strategy on him too, so And then UFC 4, fighting against Ken Shamrock. You see, I mean, I guess then seven, you’ll see the fourth, then Seven. Yeah, you just fight with Ken Shamrock for 36 minutes. So they’re all tough, then, was beating every, people say, well, then several jiu-jitsu, no, watch what then Sakuraba did to the first two opponents before he got to the finals, it was pretty much just throwing them around.
48:16 Just slamming people back and forth, man, so until he run into me Yeah, he’s a massive wrestler, and he was just grounding him and pounding him, right? 265 pounds, All-American wrestler, and Ken Shamrock as well. I mean, he’s not a small guy. He, and he knew some catch wrestling, right? He had some leg locks and stuff, so he wasn’t foreign to grappling But you still, well, you beat him after 36 minutes.
48:46 I mean. 220 pounds, solid, built like the Zeus, god, yeah, of Greece over there, and he’s, and he knew grappling. He was fighting in Japan. He was fighting the MMA, tapas style, Japanese style. So when creation, but yeah, first fight I beat him in less than, less than a minute.
49:16 It was 58 seconds, I think. I choked him out. So he couldn’t understand that. How can somebody smaller than him then, you better grappling than he did, so in UFC 2 he came in to play for the draw. I mean, if UFC 5, when we fought again, he played for the draw.
49:36 So he was satisfied with the drama. What are you thinking when, again, not too long ago Bellator, right? Yes, we fought on Bellator about three years ago. And I beat him, knock him out first knock out, my last fight, first knockout in my career. What’s that like, fighting a guy 20 years later, more than 20 years later?
50:07 I guess he’s the one who challenged me. He’s the one that was calling me out, talking to Bellator, I want to fire the voice, I want to fight, boys insist on that. He wasn’t satisfied He wasn’t. He was unhappy that he lost the first fight so fast, got caught by surprises, the skinny Brazilian that knew more grappling than he did. He was, I guess he didn’t get satisfied with the draw.
50:36 On UFC 5, so he had to challenge me again. And what’s it like when you walk into a cage and you’re staring across at a guy like Kimo Leopold, who just carried a 14-foot wooden cross down the entire stadium before he gets into the ring? He’s massive, or a Ken Shamrock, or a Dan Severn? Like, what are you thinking? I mean, you obviously look fine, you got the poker face, but what are you feeling inside?
51:09 Nothing. I’m not even thinking about going home to eat dinner that night. It’s an automatic pilot is on, not thinking about anything. I think the way my father explained was, they are more worried about you that you should be. What about them?
51:31 Because they have the size, the physique, the professional fighters on their style. They’ve been doing this for a while too. But they got the size on you, and they look down, and they see you. And they go, they’re probably thinking, what is he hiding? That gets them worried.
51:55 So yeah, they’re more worried about you, then you should be aware about them. That’s like mental jiu-jitsu, using their power against them, their strengths against them. That’s my father’s, I mean, again, philosophy. That’s amazing, and you’re just there, you’re present. Let him worry about you, right?
52:23 Just worry about you being present, game plan, just be there, right? You went on to fight in Japan. You had some two, I think, two epic bouts with Sakuraba. an incredible legend in Japan. What was it like fighting in Japan and in Pride versus the experience in America, and what do you remember most from those battles with Sakuraba and Yoshida?
52:47 I mean, you fought some big guys in Japan too? Akebono, which was, how heavy was he? 500 pounds? 490,480, 40. 600,190 pounds.
53:04 Yes, ticks eight. How do you fight a guy like that? How do you find it? Okay, when I accept the fight, everybody was like, oh my god, you’re crazy, how can you fight somebody that big? How are you gonna take him down?
53:20 He’s the best sumo wrestler of all times. He gets paid not to put his knees on the ground. There’s no way you’re gonna take him down. So, and you cannot punch him. How are you gonna, how are you gonna beat such a guy?
53:34 Again, with this, not with this, my father said he’s gonna rush into you. When he rush in, you pretty much sit down. He’s gonna fall on top of you when he gets inside your guard Then you can beat him up, and that’s exactly what happened. So I just kind of threw a little kick and sat down. He came at me, fell on top of me.
54:05 The first time I started to go through his back, he got up, he actually shoved me off his back. I was mad with that, because I was off the ground bouncing the ropes. He came back. It’s like, I can’t believe he just shoved me off like that. And then second time exactly the same thing.
54:20 I threw a little kick, set down, he came right inside of my guard again, but this time I caught him in a arm, a shoulder lock, on my plata with a wrist with a wrist lock together. Wow. After the fight, after the fight. Before the fight, everybody’s like, you’re crazy. The guy’s so big, you can’t take him down, you cannot punch him After the fight, oh yeah, you won because he’s big and slow.
54:48 What I tell people is, walk up to a six foot eight four hundred and nine person and slap him on the face. You see how slow they move? It’s a train coming at you. And so how do you deal with the critics? How do you, people, deal with people that criticize you in fighting, etc.?
55:06 How do you deal with that? I tell them, go do what I do. Where I go, the fights that I pick, most people stay home, watching on TV, eating popcorn, drinking soda So, hey, you want to criticize me? Go ahead, go do what I do. Go over there, do it.
55:26 It’s easy to stay home and talk trash. And what about Japan? How was it different fighting there, and what was it, what do you remember from the Sakuraba fights? The Japanese crowd is very quiet. The clap when there’s a good move, for a second they do a quick clap and stop.
55:53 They cheer for a second and stop, so you can just ask them to fight Japan, because you can hear all your coaches. They don’t have to scream. We can have a total conversation during the fight. So there’s no screaming from the crowd. There’s no yelling.
56:09 Now it’s very quiet, very respectful. They stay silent. A good move happened. They clap, stopped, the cheer stopped. very quiet.
56:20 So it’s good to fight Japan for that. You can listen to the coaches, Sakuraba. Those are, incidentally, Sakuraba. The press conference as soon as I arrived in Japan They, for the first fight, because we fought twice, first fight. He’s a very good opponent.
56:42 So they separate me from my team. Arrive together, we’re supposed to go to the hotel Last minute, they go at the airport, they go, send the team to the hotel. You come with us, we’re gonna do a quick. The team wasn’t very happy with that. They don’t want to leave me alone with them, but I was like No, it’s okay.
57:03 So we went to do this interview. We got there. There was a major press conference and Sakuraba and I, so they set me up on that one. Did the press conference say? The promoter says some words.
57:21 There’s a translator next to me, and I say a couple words. Okay, like always being respectful, my opponent is worth reporting. The fight is no time limit. Tell somebody, no rounds, does unlimited rounds until somebody quit. Okay, and they give the mic to Sakuraba, and Sakura said, the translator translating to me, said he said, yeah, Royce, his opponent is a good opponent, something like this, but I think we should do a purse to the winner, winner take all Oh man, right there.
58:11 If I accept that and the mic came back to me, what do you have to say about that, is, if I say okay, I accept, I’m following his leadership. making the first two a person, the winner take all purse to the winner If I say no, I want to get paid, I’m afraid to lose. If I say yes, I’m following his issue. If I say no, I’m afraid, I’m that, I’m gonna lose. I want to get paid.
58:42 So I look at him, I look at the media, and I stood up, and I said, hey, you’re a man, I’m a man. Let’s do it right now. Promote and get the bag of money, put outside the door if I quit, then everybody get outside the door, and the window will be right out. I gave the mic, went back to him. He didn’t know what to say.
59:03 He’s like, he got shut down, he’s like got quiet, didn’t say a word, got the mic back, and said, look at the music, and I said, I think you guys are gonna have to wait ten days or two weeks from now. When I got that, two weeks to see this fight, I don’t think he wants to fight one right now. That was a good move. It’s, I’m quick on that when it comes to that, yeah, I’m a man, man. You don’t have to wait until two weeks from now.
59:35 Let’s do it right now. I’m going to put the bag, and I met, and I’m mad, even on jet lag, man, I don’t care. Let’s do it. You’re a man, I’m a man. You’re calling me out, man.
59:45 There’s no time, and there’s no place That’s what I learned from my family. Those early days of Pride were amazing. I mean, if people don’t remember And I went to Pride twice. I actually went to Pride once, and I went to Bushido a second time to watch Marilla Bustamanchi fight Dan Henderson, actually, and and people don’t remember Pride was bigger than the UFC. It was better than the UFC.
1:00:12 It had better fighters, better production value back then in the early 2000s. It was an amazing show, but it was basically Brazilians against Japanese, right? All the best fights were the Brazilians against Japanese. You have these two strong cultures but very different cultures coming together on these big stadiums, sometimes a hundred thousand people, in these rings. I mean, it was incredible time, wasn’t it?
1:00:36 But I mean, Pride was better. because I think the UFC was having a hard time at the time. Yeah, with where can we do the show? They were trying to ban the shows, a major one in America. So you can do the show only in Indian reservations.
1:00:55 You couldn’t do it like they do today in Las Vegas. You see? So yes. And all the good fighters decide, okay, I can’t fight in America, so let’s go to Japan. You see, so that’s why, for a long time, they held the top five top fighters, was over in Japan.
1:01:18 So, but today’s Bellator is putting up some shows that are very good. in the Bellator and with, in Italy when they drop down the cage The cage comes from the city. They do kickboxing event. and then they take the ropes, the balls out, and drop down the cage and start MMA fights. Unbelievable.
1:01:46 We gotta go check it out as soon as this whole thing stops and we’re able to travel freely again. You should go check it out. Yeah, they do great fights. Repair shows are very good. Yeah, they do great.
1:01:59 I had Scott Coker in here in the studio. I’ve talked to him, and I’ve had a bunch of Bellator fighters, Michael Page, and all that stuff as well. They do great fights. How do you feel about mixed martial arts today? You know, how has it changed in the 10 or 20 years?
1:02:16 Did it surprise you, how it changed, and what do you like about it? What do you not like about it, to change Okay, I’m going back to that on the beginning. It was a quest. I think people were trying to find out which style is the best. Today it’s more the athlete.
1:02:38 So the rules got implemented I understand the rules, you see. I understand people who sometimes say the rules favor the grappler, and then favor this stand-up fighter. No, the rules are equal for both of them. The time limits equal for both of them. The weight divisions equal.
1:03:00 So these strategies, who has the best strategy? I understand It became a show to find out who is the best fighter. And are you happy with the way the productions are now and the fighters, and are you happy to see it evolve? Are you impressed with the fighters of today? Oh, very impressed.
1:03:23 Very impressed. There’s so many talents, man. It’s the kids today. They grow up training for this. They don’t train a martial art anymore.
1:03:40 They train all of them. They’re mixing. They’re learning jiu-jitsu. You go to a school today, it’s very rare that you go to school, I mean, most of the guys, they learn even if they go to the school. They learn jiu-jitsu.
1:03:53 They learn wrestling. They learn kickboxing at the same school. If they don’t have kickboxing at that school, they go to a different school, they will learn kickboxing, and you see taekwondo karate or whichever styles you see. So even if they don’t have all the the arts in one place. It’s so easy for people to go around and find and do wrestling on one school and boxing at a different school.
1:04:28 And she was just in a different school, and then Jude in a different one, you see. So A lot of the schools today, they implement, they all have, they got to get the Who are your favorite fighters in the last few years? Oh man, MVP, Mike Van Page, he puts up a show. Yes, the kid’s good. Yeah, he’s good.
1:04:53 He’s been here. I’ve had him twice on the show. I’ve trained with him a couple times. He’s fantastic. How important is that, Royce to put on a show and be a good fighter?
1:05:07 Sometimes I remind them, it’s kind of like the movie Gladiator. When Russell Crowe, the Gladiator, walks south by himself, beats everybody And look at the crowd and goes, are you not entertained? Come on, you’re a fighter first, you’re not an entertainer. So be yourself, but don’t live a double life, you see. Try to entertain the crowd too much that you forget that you’re a fighter, that you’re coming out to entertain.
1:05:41 No, don’t come out to entertain. MVP, Marvin, Marvin on page, he fights like that. Douglas Lima. I love the Brazilians, man. The people, brothers, abbreviate doom.
1:05:58 Yeah, they all, goodbye. I like men. I like the guys there on the top. because they know how to use this. They know how to use strategy.
1:06:11 You see. So that’s why, that’s how they got to the top. Yeah, you know one thing, I saw maybe about 10 years ago, Royce, is that guys were getting into the UFC as athletes but not as fighters, and sometimes you saw that on the UFC reality shows, where guys were going into this because they thought they could make a career as a fighter, but they weren’t really a fighter in their head, you know, like they weren’t ready, like you were, to fight at the press conference with Sakuraba.
1:06:43 You know, do you ever see have you ever seen that in fighters, where you’re like, he’s more of an athlete than a fighter, and this guy is actually a fighter. I met two Navy SEALs that became Navy SEALs and they didn’t know how to swim. I was like, what are you thinking when you signed up to become an epco It’s like, I thought you were going to teach me how to swim. So I had to learn as I go. So same thing happens with MMA.
1:07:13 Some of the guys sign up and thinking, yeah, I’m gonna learn as I go I’m gonna learn to become a tough guy, but mentally they’re not They have all these skills and they learn everything, but mentally they are not. So that’s, those guys don’t last long. Have you seen guys in fights where you can just tell they just mentally quit, not physically quit? They just mentally quit And it’s because of something deep inside of them that just didn’t allow them to be a champion, but they had the skills, they had the physicality, they had the cardio, but something just made him think I don’t want to be here anymore.
1:07:53 I’m going to tap out. Have you seen that? I It’s hard. I can understand, some of the guys have so much talent that the people around would push the person, man, you’re very italian, very talented, go, go, go, you can do this, but Mentally he’s not there. He’s not what he wants to do.
1:08:21 Yes, happens all the time. It happens all the time. You see it when fighters get older in their careers, you know, and their priorities change. I mean, we just saw Cowboy Cerrone fight at the UFC over the weekend, and Cowboy’s been around for a long time, right? He’s got the most wins in the UFC and the most head kicks.
1:08:40 Like, he’s a legend, but you know, he just had his second kid, and he’s been fighting for a long time, and at some point you know, you wonder, is, you know, when do you hang it up? You know when do you stop? When do you choose to do something else? I mean, how can fighters learn to do that, and Did you struggle with that? You didn’t really struggle with when to know to retire, right?
1:09:01 No, because when I felt like that, I took a long break. I’ll take a break. Some of the guys, they just gotta step back take a break, but they’re afraid that if I take a break I’ll be totally out. No, it doesn’t mean that you’ll be, you take a break, it doesn’t mean that you stop training. take a break, or skip a fight or two.
1:09:33 Instead, have to fight every two, three months, have to be on the spotlight. Fight, you, your body doesn’t recover, so you’re getting older. You need a little space out in between one fight, another maybe take a month off after I fight. Yes, I’ll take a month of pushing the body. I’ll continue on training and teaching.
1:09:53 My son is fighting alpha Bellator. After the fight, after, if I tell him stop, take a break take a month off. He can’t handle a month off. I want to go back, I want to go train, I want to go train, do it very lightly, but I want to push. No, don’t, you got to let the body come down and then start to build back up again.
1:10:16 And he’s younger, and an older person should even do that more. You see, but sometimes they, the body wants, mentally you want to go but your body doesn’t let you. So okay, my father training for my fights, a lot of the times I saw on him that he’s doing what I’m doing, mentally He’s doing the workouts, the lifting. He could physically not do it anymore, but he was standing there and watch every time I go for a run. He will watch me run on the soft sand.
1:10:55 The knuckles stand, sitting over there on the bench, and watch me run, watch me come back. He said, physically he cannot do it, but mentally he’s over there running with me. So it takes a little longer sometimes for you to recover. You’ve got to know when to stop. I think a lot of fighters, Royce, they love the adrenaline they get from a fight, the crowd, the uncertainty, and also their identity is as a fighter, you know, and they can’t walk away from those two things, but you never were like that, were you?
1:11:30 You were okay to walk away sometimes. Yes, I was very, very okay walking away. Okay, and you’re, you didn’t need to be the champion to be, to feel good about yourself, you were okay. I mean, it never seemed like, I know what I did, right? I know my place in history.
1:11:54 Tell me about training law enforcement and FBI and CIA. Why is that a passion of yours, and is that more important today, more than ever, as we see police you know, trying to work with the public in a way that’s safe for everyone. Again, Gracie jiu-jitsu gives you confidence. Not just giving confidence to give, but give you confidence, because it doesn’t matter what the opponent do. We teach the person how to escape, how to defend themselves So a lot of the times they don’t know what to do.
1:12:36 I mean, they know they’ve learned the basics, a crash course when they go to the academy, but they get over the, out there, and somebody starts to resist if you don’t know somebody do something different than what they learn at the academy they get stuck. So I have this, the places where I teach, the departments that I teach We have big success on controlling the suspects. Do you think law enforcement needs more training these days, and more training in in grappling and Gracie jiu-jitsu, of course.
1:13:23 Okay, the such the suspects over there, out there, they’re not, they’re learning too. They’re learning how to fight. They watch MMA on TV. They watch Bellator on TV, and they go, they go practice stuff. So if they offer resistance to the law enforcement, the law enforcement guys don’t know what to do, or what No, very basic, meaning it becomes harder.
1:13:58 You got a lot of kids and a lot of pets. Yes, four kids and three dogs, man. It’s very hard to keep it What’s with all the kids in the Gracie family? The Gracie family’s so big. I think your father had nine kids, and your uncle had 21 kids.
1:14:16 I mean, I remember the Gracie family tree. There was a website, this is like 10, 15 years ago, and it was so big, and most people have a name that starts with the letter R. What, tell me about this. Like Henson said, ‘We’re not a family. We’re a factory of fighters.’
1:14:40 And that’s just always been the Gracie way. Yes, and when you look out there at Hanzo and Hixson and you know, Kron and like all these great Gracies from around the world, Royce, and I mean, you must be, you must be proud because each one has kind of done their own special thing, right, in different, Roger Gracie here in London. I mean, they’ve all gone and put their own personality into the sport, right? Yes, everyone have their own personal style of fighting, but we all do Gracie jiu-jitsu, some a little more aggressive than the others.
1:15:29 You know, we heard recently that Mike Tyson’s coming back for a fight, and I know you, you and Mike were always talking about fighting But I heard he doesn’t want to fight, you, or he didn’t want to back in the day. What was that whole history with you and Mike Tyson? We challenged Mike Tyson because he was the best boxer at the time. So, I heard that he accepted but the people around him did not let him fight back in the day. So I met my task a few times And super nice guy, always very respectful, and he’s like, man, yes, I want to do it, but I’m glad I didn’t do it, because if you take me down the ground I would be done.
1:16:26 And I said the same day, hey, Mike, if you would have hit me, you don’t even have. You don’t even have to hit me, if your head will go by next to my face, will probably knock me out. He can hit hard. Yeah, how do you fight Mike Tyson? I mean, because you challenged him when he was at his peak, right?
1:16:43 He was the scariest man on the planet. How would you have fought him? Oh, a guy getting a clinch? There’s no way I can outbox him, out punch him. There’s no way You have to get in a clinch.
1:16:56 If I pass the first sequence of punches If I don’t get hit, if I get hit, forget it. One hit, poof, you’ll send me to another planet. I hit for my thousand. No, but if he missed that punch and I gained a pinch and take him down the fight will be on my terrain. Is there still a possibility you’ll fight him No, no.
1:17:23 He’s coming back to boxing, right? He’s got a backseat match in two months And I’m fighting MMA, so no, we’re not going to meet. Okay, and what about you? Are you retired? Oh, yes, I’m done.
1:17:37 You’re done? I was done. I was done 10 years ago. They keep bringing me back in And what’s your life like today? What do you spend your time doing?
1:17:49 I know you travel the world Why do you travel so much, and like, what are your plans for the future I travel about seven months of the year all over the world, teaching the art that my father create. So and then Yeah, that’s pretty much the, my life, taking care of my four kids. Yep. And following the Gracie diet, that’s a big thing. Life is good in my world.
1:18:18 No complaints. And you follow the Gracie diet, that’s a big part of what you do as well, right? Worse, yes, always. It’s a degree diet. It’s not exactly a diet, okay.
1:18:32 It’s more of an eating habit. We eat everything We just combine the food towards the east digestion. I’m just doing a crash explanation We, everything, we don’t eat pork just because my uncle considered it’s a dirty animal, eats trash. It’s everything we don’t eat. Hot, spicy food.
1:19:01 There’s no soda, but we pretty clean. But we, meat, yes, fish, chicken, yes, vegetables, fruits, yes, we just combine them towards this digestion. When do you get sick? You get sick when you’re going to train jiu-jitsu and working out and doing boxing, and you’re running, and then you’re walking and you get home and there’s trouble with the kids, and they’re not doing good in school, and the wife is complaining and then you do one of those. You eat a typical your body is already stressed out.
1:19:43 The money that the house that you’re selling didn’t come in yet, and all these stresses from work and everything, and then you eat a typical Thanksgiving meal, let’s say a Christmas meal, that you mix and stuck engraving, and you mix everything, you put everything in and then you take a nap, and you wake up, and you’re sick. Then what do you do? You complain. The weather, the weather. Oh yeah, it’s too hot outside or it’s too cold, all the air conditioning was on.
1:20:18 You blame everything else, not what you put on your body. You see. So we eat everything, we just combine the food towards the east digestion. I can’t afford to get sick teaching the way I teach fighting, you see, getting ready for a fight and get sick. So we eat, we just combined the food because I use digestion.
1:20:40 That’s the easiest way to explain it. Yeah, no, it’s a fascinating diet. People can look into it more online. Just a couple final questions. Royce, what was the best day of your life and the worst day of your life?
1:20:53 Best day of my life, man. I think was the birth of my kids. I enjoy those guys so much. There’s always something happening around here, man. You’re like a kid when you’re around your kids, right?
1:21:09 Well, yes. It’s non-stop at my house. I go to work, I travel, so I can rest, because if I stay around here man, it’s non-stop, always up to something. And what about the worst day of your life? I hadn’t had that yet, because, okay, okay, like my father learned from him I always say I’m a product of my father’s work.
1:21:43 So that’s why I always mention him. Everything happens for a reason. So the worst day have, haven’t met that day yet. There’s bad things that happen. Oh, I crashed my car before, that was horrible.
1:22:03 Oh, I lost a parent here and a family member there. Yes, it’s horrible but I cannot say that’s the worst day, because it happens for a reason. Yes, I lost a fight before for a reason, to teach me a lesson, so I understand. Yes, I broke my arm, broke my shoulder, broke my leg. Yes, for the reason you see.
1:22:31 So it’s not, I don’t look as the worst day. Every day life is good in my world. Every day’s a good day around here. What scares you, boys? Okay, there’s two answers to that.
1:22:54 One, again, as a parent, that something will happen to my kids but again, if it happens for a reason, something bigger, something, it’s to teach a lesson. But it’s scared because a kid is not supposed to go before the parent. You see, chronologically doesn’t work that way. I heard you, message your head up pretty bad So yeah, but again, we understand that in a family. Now what scares me?
1:23:40 Nothing, because being afraid is It’s a product of your imagination. It’s what you think is gonna happen. Oh my god, I’m afraid of flying because they play my fault, my fault my crash. Wow, this is, it’s easy for you to crash your car, get in a car accident, in the plane, fall I’m afraid of going to water because these sharks. It’s a lake, dude.
1:24:18 There’s no sharks in this lake. I never know You see, some people live with a product creating their imagination. It’s a product of imagination, being afraid of something I’m afraid of dying? No, I’m not. I’m not stupid.
1:24:33 I’m not gonna jump from the second floor, high, straight head down the cement. That’s stupidity. But being afraid of something, if you tell me don’t go in that water, don’t touch this dog because the dog will bite you. Okay, then I’m not gonna touch that dog. Now, if you tell me touch the dog, don’t worry he’s not gonna bite you.
1:24:59 I’m gonna jump right in and go, done, let’s do it You see, it’s safe. Yes, okay, he’s not gonna bite. No, okay. Why am I gonna be afraid? You see, there’s difference between afraid and stupidity.
1:25:16 Don’t go swimming on that waters, it’s full of hungry sharks. Nah, I don’t care. I’m not afraid of sharks. That to me is stupidity. Now if you tell me don’t worry, their sharks do not bite.
1:25:32 Done. I’m going to jump right in and swim with them, and I’ve done that before. I scuba dive with sharks. The guys, the instructors were like, hey, do you want to swim with the shark? Go check out all the sharks.
1:25:44 Sure They don’t bite. It’s like they haven’t bothered beat anybody lately, so No, they don’t bite around here, so yeah, we swim with trucks. Awesome. That’s incredible. Last question.
1:26:00 I always ask guys, if you could pick up a phone and call up the 20 year old, Royce Gracie. He’s 20 years old. How old were you when you fought UFC the first time? 26. 26, okay, if you could call up the 20 year old Royce?
1:26:13 I guess he’s in America, right? And give him some advice based on everything you know now, what would you tell that young man? Powerful, powerful advice.
1:26:48 Royce, thank you so much, I appreciate the time and thank you for bringing jiu-jitsu into the world with your family and your father, and like I said, it saved my life, and I would say to anybody listening, go out there and learn Gracie jiu-jitsu. It’s a game changer. You don’t have to be a tough guy or a big guy or anything. Everybody can learn something from jiu-jitsu. Thank you, sir.
1:27:16 All right, there he is, Gracie the legend. Thanks, sir. Next time we’ll do this in California. And I wish you all the best. Thank you.
1:27:23 We’ll do in person next time. Yeah, for sure. All right, thanks so much, Royce, and thank you all for watching. I appreciate it. We will see you next time on London Real.
1:27:31 Take care.
