Royce Gracie vs Ron van Clief | UFC 4
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 พ.ย. 2022
- Thanks for support
Patreon: / grommolota
PayPal: gector123@gmail.com
MMA, UFC, Royce Gracie, Ron van Clief.
UFC 4: Revenge of the Warriors was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on December 16, 1994, at the Expo Center Pavilion in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The event was seen live on pay-per-view, and later released on home video.
As usual, virtually all martial artists of any significance were contacted by the promoters of the event. The other way they recruited was what later became known as the "Royce's challenge letters." Even Mike Tyson was "challenged" by Royce Gracie while in jail.
UFC 4 used an eight-man tournament format, with the winner receiving $64,000. The event also featured three alternate fights. All seven tournament fights were shown on the live pay-per-view broadcast, as well as the Jason Fairn vs. Guy Mezger alternate fight.
The tournament had no weight classes or weight limits. Each match had no time limit or rounds, therefore no judges were used for the night. The referee for the night was "Big" John McCarthy. Royce Gracie won the event by defeating Dan Severn with a triangle choke. The card also featured the notorious fight between Keith Hackney and Joe Son; Hackney won via submission after landing a series of unanswered strikes to the groin of Joe Son.
Play-by-play announcer Bruce Beck and color commentator Jeff Blatnick were paired together for the first time on the pay-per-view and became the regular commentary team on UFC broadcasts up to and including UFC 15. They were joined by regular contributor Jim Brown. - กีฬา
Ron took up BJJ some time after this and was competing in BJJ tournaments into his late 70s, absolute beast!
Really beast huh'
Parabéns para ele.
That's awesome
Some peoples flame just won't go out.. props to him for never giving up
We all did after watching this!! Scared the hell out of me! 😂😂😂
I would just like to say that Ive been following MMA for a while now and I’ve had long moments of doubt and disappointment regarding our community from time to time. The commercial success has brought a lot of great things and opportunities for struggling infldivivuals, but it has also brought the droves of negative, egotistical, self-centered and otherwise bad people that large numbers and popularity statistically generate.
However, when I revisit the older fights from UFC and the glory days of pride, I swell up with gratitude and appreciation to see there are plenty of respectful, honest, caring, committed martial artists still dedicated to honor and embody the true warrior spirit. It still exists, and people like all of you I see in comments - studying, observing, and watching with respect, are keeping true combat sports and real martial arts alive.
Thanks to everyone who still believes in good martial values and morals. Keep training and keep fighting the good fight of life, brothers and sisters.
Extremely well thought out and brilliantly stated.
BOXING was the ONLY WAY to test yourself in my time.
I was NOT A GOOD boxer.
Nope.
But, I'm a DECENT grappler.
Decent, not good.
Still, I WON Judo tourneys due to it.
Judoka THEN, were NOT good grapplers. They're much better now, from my observations.
Before the world discovered Jiu-jitsu, it was super effective in the street. I don't KNOW NOW.
I'm too old for fighting now.
I carry concealed. I'm a lights-out shooter though and have been since I was a kid.
Like you I am also a fan of KFC.. especially the olden days of KFC.. things were done much differently back then and I’m not so sure the changes to KFC are ultimately a good thing..
Well said 👍!
My father was so embarrassed to tell the cable company employee on the phone that he wanted to order this event. He said, “I want to get the 'Ultimate Championship'; it’s for my kid”.
😅 perhaps your dad had a premonition that it wasn’t going to end well for Ron.
I'm surprised he didn't call it the "Ultimate Fighting Challenge"
Ultimate farting competition
@@annikafanpage1745 Usually when your opponent does knee-on-belly on you and you didn't completely empty your bowels before class.
You're father sounds fem
That's Tamak behind Ron Van Clief...the Last Dragon...he beat Shonuff Shogun of Harlem. He had the Glo!!!
Yep. The Black Dragon trained The Last Dragon.
I'm still not sure if that movie was supposed to be satire...
Just learned this today on tiktok
@@perfectsplit5515 it was just a silly melding of musical with blacksploitation flick with kung fu movie. Not necessarily satire, but it was just a bunch of things thrown together. Lol. It was the 80s. I’m sure a lot of Coke was involved when coming up with the screenplay
Taimak
Loved how Ron Van Clief immediately goes and shakes Royce warmly by the hand and says well done
Not a hint of ego from the legendary Black Dragon
I don't think ron van Clief trained to fight on the ground I think if that were Bruce Lee Gracie would have lost big an quick.
@@clevelandantwine8985Bruce was a great guy and an inspiration to millions but Gracie would have finished him easily. Gracie beat loads of big fast full time fighters. Lee was not in that league
@@michealbreathnach2928no lo creo. Lee también era bueno en el suelo y tenía esa capacidad flexible incluso más que Gracie... Lo dudo... Creo que ambos estarían parejos.. a lee le gustaba ese tipo de peleas sin reglas
@@clevelandantwine8985 Coincidentally, Bruce Lee's student Paul Vunak did begin training under Rorion. He even said in an ad, "Someone with 20 years of martial arts training can easily be beaten by someone with only a year of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu".
@@erickgamarra7032 Sorry, I don't know whether you are agreeing or disagreeing with me or calling me every name under the sun. I don't speak your language but you obviously speak English too.
Ron has heart enough to get in the ring 🙏🏽
He certainly had a lot more balls than all the "Magazine Warriors" who went on and on about how they would beat Royce in the magazines - but never backed it up in real life.
Royce respected that Van Clief was willing to put up, even though he failed.
This fight is one reason why Royce (despite his flaws and short-term failures later on) is the most influential MMA fighter of all time. He changed the perception of society. In the pre-UFC era, that vast majority of martial artists trained only in one striking style, and had no idea of what realistic fights looked like. They had no idea that a decent grappler could take down a great striker, even if he was the best striker on Earth. Royce changed all that. He showed how deficient it was to train only in striking. IMO, he is as influential as Bruce Lee.
All respect to Bruce Lee, but the Gracie family is much more influential to the world of martial arts than him. Bruce was a theorist not a fighter.
@@viniciuslessa9682 Bruce Lee was not a tournament fighter, but he was a streetfighter. He did not want to be constrained by the tournament rules of any of the martial arts competitions of his time. He would beat up world champions. He sparred against heavyweight boxers. He beat Bolo Yeung in a fight. Modern MMA is actually what he envisioned for Jeet Kune Do - a fighting competition unrestrained by the constraints of any one individual style. And in the long run, MMA competition proved his theory (the best fighter is not necessarily the master of any one style, but the one who can adapt to the styles of all the other fighters) and disproved the Gracies’s theory (our style is the best).
@@perfectsplit5515 I think under the no rounds, and no rules the Gracie's style was the best. With todays rules in MMA it favors the striker.
@@geewalker2015 I would say the “best” is a composite of BJJ, Muay Thai, and wrestling; because that combination allows a fighter to adapt to any other style, in compliance with Bruce Lee’s theory.
Not to mention, Royce took on several opponents who outweighed him by 20lbs. and more.
Royce took right approach at the outset, respect Ron entering the Octagon at that age .
Most karate people at that time just talked about fighting Royce. Van Clief was one of the very few who actually went out and did it.
Having rolled with Royce and been rolled by him, this was predictable.
Rorion Gracie is one of the kindest and classiest men I've ever met. His brother is a BEAST! But, Royce is the man who gave me the most important lessons I ever learned on a mat. Royce may be a beast, but he's also a profound teacher.
Obrigado Gracies!
Most influential MMA fighter of all time
Most nowadays don't realize how big this fight was for some as when I was growing up Ron was a huge name in martial arts in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Ron 51 gets in the cage with the legend of the time Royce Gracie gotta respect this man.
Karate used to have such a mystical image, with the 10th degree Master stuff. BJJ reality arrived and changed everything 😐
Royce shattered the perception of karate being the standard for unarmed combat and self-defense. Many karate people had their egos crushed. The more mature ones started over in BJJ as white belts.
Unless you're into grappling it gets boring to watch. I read the interview they did with Ron after the bout, he was very gracious and complimentary.
I looked forward to this matchup and was hoping to see Ron do much better and last longer based on his decades of martial arts training and practice. But I wasn't surprised to see it end this way for him. He soon decided to train in BJJ after realizing the limitations of his previous knowledge.
How did you know Ron?
@@stocktonhippie6573 I never personally knew Ron. I know about him.
@@Quantum3691 my bad, that's what I meant, how did you know about him? If I may ask
@@stocktonhippie6573 Since his days in kung Fu cinema in the 70's.
@@stocktonhippie6573Ron Van Clief had an ad for instructional videotapes in the Panther Productions full-page ads in Black Belt Magazine prior to UFC 1. It was before his hair turned gray. I thought he resembled Damon Wayans from In Living Color.
Ron is still a legend. To compete at that age is amazing.
Nice tô meet you: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu the best ART of world
Actually, the best is a combination of BJJ, Muay-Thai, and wrestling takedowns.
Big props to Van Clief for stepping in there. The one who should have really been in there was Benny Urquidez though.
We both read that whole full page ad challenging Benny in that issue of Black Belt Magazine.
Yep benny urquidez chickened out big time.
The jet would have crashed trying to fight Royce, give your head a shake!
@@paulosicne8498so did van dam with Wesley Snipes and Wesley chickened when by Joe Rogan
Dang thanks for posting this classic
I was there in Tulsa that night. I still have my event program with Jim Brown's autograph.
That means your cable connection didn’t cut off about 15 minutes into the final match (like mine did 😢)
I sure do remember that night! My friend Brennan endlessly calling the cable company while we sat in the basement watching nothing and bitching!
The football player?
@@KickingAssDaily Yes, the NFL hall of famer was in fact, a commenter in UFC 1-5. He didn’t really know what was going on, and struggled. By UFC7, they brought in Don Wilson to give commentary, and he really knew what was going on.
People don’t recall how much of a legend he is.
Yea he was hell on the elderly.
The Gracie UFC Conspiracy (Bill Superfoot Wallace)
th-cam.com/video/I_tMkWoUN18/w-d-xo.htmlsi=vbwfBF7eNEUqxaYm
@@outkast187 Ron Van Clief was a 9-time US national karate champion and national karate champion of multiple other countries. He was also a 2-time world full contact karate champion. (Unless I am mistaken)
Mutual respect from these two fighters. Ron really realized he doesn't how to respond to Royce. Meanwhile, Royce clearly doesn't want to seriously hurt Ron. He can land some serious punches but he just didn't do it.
Apart from those 12-6 elbows on the back of the head 😂
If you watched these early events and had the balls to get in there, you are a fricking beast.
Lol gay
"If you watched these early events and had the balls to get in there,"
If you watched Scott Morris get pounded by Pat Smith - and get carried out of the ring - you had to be a freaken beast to walk in there.
Golden days of UFC. It was great.
All those years of Martial Arts training to be taken down in 5 seconds.
That's life
In 1993 barely anyone knew anything about BJJ and were not necessarily excepting to be taken down instantly in a martial arts competition, sounds naive but the landscape of martial arts was completely different then it is now
@WarriorEsoteric RONG
I'm from New Zealand, and we used to train wrestling judo and boxing lol
@@devriestownHe's not wrong. The few like yourself who "cross-trained" in different arts understood the advantages of training in different ranges of combat. The majority of those from the U.S. who participated in the UFC had a very limited view of training outside of their traditional arts and soon found out how limited their knowledge was. The majority had only one or two and sometimes three arts under their belts but not much to show for it. The UFC completely shattered and destroyed many belief systems since that time.
He got knocked out in a Kumite-esque tournament in Europe in the 70's
Royce é o Bruce Lee do Brasil. Fez florescer uma arte marcial quase morta (jujitsu). Elevou e projetou o nome da sua família para o mundo. Não existiria jujitsu brasileiro se não fosse Royce Gracie.
Royce hears “10th Degree Black Belt” in any other discipline and probably just thinks to himself, “Just don’t get hit.” From the moment he took Van Clief down, Royce knew it was just a matter of time.
I would expect Royce to think in Portuguese. ;)
I remember sitting in Tompkin Square Park, burning one with some friends and Ron Van Clief. He was telling us he had an upcoming fight in the UFC. We didn't think it was a good idea, but we wished him luck. Several weeks later, we watched the fight at a friend's house. We couldnt believe even with Taimak in his corner, he didn't land 1 strike.
I attended this event. A lot of famous old school fighters fought in this one. It was great!
wow, how are u even able to write at your age of 115?, just wow
@@flisko123 🤣 IKR!
This 10 black belts holder was lucky he wasn't fighting Tank Abbott. 😮
True. Tank was a Brawling Beast. He would've seriously hurt Ron.
Hard to believe that he wasn't even the best of the Gracie team at that time.
Ron Van Clief is a legend who was taught by the legends. He was taught by late great Moses Powell, Ronald Duncan,George Cofield, Florencio Visitacion, Thomas La Puppet, Lil John Davis, Peter Urban, Jhoon Rhee, Bruce Lee, Bocsom Kam. He's also at 51 he fought Royce Gracie in UFC 4. After his defeat he actually became a student of the Gracie family. He also trained with Oleg Tarktorov and former UFC champion Maco Hues.
Legends of a bunch BS apparently. All that “training” and some big jacked guy with not a day of martial arts training casually walks in and does better ( against the Gracie’s ).
@@nenzonenzo I mean it's not that surprising, just being extremely strong is a decent defence against BJJ. Better than being smaller and also not knowing how to defend against it.
@@nenzonenzo "some big jacked guy with not a day of martial arts training casually walks in and does better "
One individual outcome does not represent the overall trend. Pedro Sauer also fought a big jacked bodybuilder. Do you know what the outcome of that was?
Do you know how much of a weight advantage Dan Severn had on Royce when they fought?
True story - back in the Spring of '94 I told my father I wanted to give up karate and buy the GJJ videotapes to start learning GJJ. My brainwashed father doubted the existence and legitimacy of the UFC and said that he thought my karate teacher could beat the Gracies - based on the fact that my sensei was a 6th degree black belt.
Then several months later Royce beats up a TENTH degree black belt in karate. It was one of those rare issues where the son was wiser than the father.
Lots lf issues son may be wiser
Is that Bruce Leroy from "'The Last Dragon'" in Van Clief's corner?
That's what Campbell McLaren said on JRE. I was just listening to it before I came here.
Bruce Leroy also reffed a few fights, too.
Yep. Ron was his Instructor. Chinese Gojou or something.
I noticed Bruce Leroy right away 😂 I heard last week that they are coming out with a movie or show on Sho’Nuff from Harlem. Thats nuts 😂
Royce podia ter feito o que queria nessa luta. E o coroa é de respeito. Um guerreiro por entrar com 51 anos, com um fisico de um garoto.
Gotta love the Apollo Creed style trunks!
That shadow boxing tho... 😂😂
loved the 90's ufc
It's crazy.
Ron Van Clief was a legend.
Royce Gracie was a kid taking down legends.
Thus a new legend was born.
Royce Gracie.
Gracie Jiu-Jitsu!!!
It was a landmark fight - because Royce literally defeated a grandmaster martial artist.
It looked to me like the promoters were respectful & kind to Van Clief in letting his 1st (&, as it turned out, only) fight be against Royce. Royce didn't have to hurt Ron to beat him, the same wouldn't have been true of bigger, younger strikers.
The same was true for Dan Severn in that tournament; when he won, he won without hurting his opponents.
@@perfectsplit5515 ge slamed the fuck out of Anthony Macias. The small fighter probably got concussed from beating the back of his head on the canvas repeatedly
Helio was defeated multiple times. He was taught by his brother, not the Japanese Maeda. Helio was the 5th and youngest brother to learn from Carlos Gracie Sr. George Gracie was the 1st family champion.
Helio lost notably when Masahiko Kimura broke his arm in 2 places. The Gracies have a weird way of claiming "moral" victories, because Helio never tapped.
@@ginzo666 Kimura said that if Helio could last 3 minutes against him, then he would declare him the victor. It took 15 minutes for the huge Masahiko Kimura to beat the tiny Helio Gracie. The next day, a huge line of students waited outside Helio's school to receive instruction from him.
Prior to his fight with Kimua, Helio choked Kato unconscious in a match.
@@perfectsplit5515 The size difference was really nothing compared to some of the fights PRIDE put on. Helio got his ass beaten fair and square.
@@ginzo666 And all these people got their @$$e$ beaten fair and square:
-Helio Gracie vs Kato (judo)
-Rigan Machado vs Ron Tripp (judo)
-Royce Gracie vs Remco Pardoel (judo)
-Renzo Gracie vs Oleg Taktarov (judo)
-Renzo Gracie vs Ben Spijkers (judo)
-Renzo Gracie vs Sanae Kikuta (judo)
-Wallid Ismail vs Shungo Oyama (judo)
-Fabricio Werdum vs Fedor Emilianenko (judo)
-Mackenzie Dern vs Savannah Yagi (judo)
So what's your point?
KAZUSHI SAKURABA
"The Gracie Hunter"
Minha inspiração no jiu-jitsu Royce Grace
Jiu-jitsu melhor arte
Otima arte,e a familia grecie fez historia!Mas o sakuraba arrebentou todos eles!
@@antoniocarlospimenta5272Sempre tem um idiota pra pegar o p** do Sakuraba, levantar e chupar o saco dele.. hahaha Os Gracie construíram o mundo moderno do MMA, o Sakuraba foi só mais um. Mas sempre tem um bocó brasileiro pra falar merda.
@@antoniocarlospimenta5272sim, o pior pesado do BJJ é o verdadeiro jujutsu
Jiu jitsu anos 90 era top
Whenever someone does something that the opponents arent used to, they'll always have a huge advantage. My sifu once explained to me that back in the 60s, people in North America werent accustomed to people kicking and doing backfists and things like that. So they beat a lot of people because of that. Eventually it wasnt so easy anymore. Remmeber Rick Roufus when he took all those leg kicks from the Muay Thai fighter? Again, he was dominated because he had no defense for it. But eventually people caught on and learned leg kicks and defense. At this time in 1994, BJJ wasn't well known yet, so many people were taken down quickly like in this match. You'll never see this kind of advantage again since most people understand it now. The only time you will see that is with stubborn traditionalists who refuse to evolve. In that case, they deserve it. Anyone who truly understands the true essence of martial arts would never be so stubborn.
👍🏻 Absolutely agree, with one small modification: ...”the true essence of FIGHTING SPORTS”..., just to make a difference between martial arts and fighting sports.
@Memorixt I see where you're coming from, but it applies to martial arts or street defense just as much as it does to sport. I've been doing this stuff since the 80s and I've seen thr differences in how people view fighting. People will tend to do what they see on TV and movies. In the 70s everyone thought they were boxers. In the 80s everyone was a taekwondo or ninja guy. In the 90s Muay Thai and kickboxing was the thing and so on. I've been in a number of situations and I can tell you people may not know how to fight but they will try to emulate what they've seen or what's popular
The real reason is that karate and kung fu of that time and place weren't authentic, they didn't even understand their own training methods and techniques - mainly for cultural and economic motives behind the popularizers. Chinese martial arts is mostly wrestling, and this guy has a chinese system - does he look like he can wrestle?
It wasnt just BJJ. Wrestlers like Dan severn and shootfighters like ken shamrock dominated the non grapplers as well. The irony is that today BJJ has become so watered down by competition that people forget that the Gracies used stand up to take their fights to the ground.
You know everything that is to follow is gonna be a bunch of dumb shit when they lead with: my “sifu” said . Lol
Lección maestra para ganar sin romper huesos...Master lesson to win without breaking bones...👏👏👏👏🥂
Got to give it up to Ron.
Coach: "Ron, the only way this guy can beat you is on the ground. Whatever you do don't throw any kicks until later in the fight.
Ron: "I disagree. I'm going to bust him up with front kicks as soon as the bell rings."
I read somewhere? That Royce's father told him to take it easy on Ron. He liked him & had respect for him. Plus he was a legend in karate.
Nice how the Gi did not look like a NASCAR vehicle billboard back then!
🤣
Crawling around on you back like a crab is not a good defense.
Ron Van Clief was the oldest athlete to fight in the UFC and the first openly homosexual fighter
Какво достигнуће, човече? О чему лупеташ?
He's not gay
Black belts in 10 martial arts vs. a black belt in 1 martial art. Seems like grappling was not one of those 10 martial arts. Perhaps a black belt in judo should have been one of the 10, or maybe a few years of wrestling. Ron was in awesome physical shape though.
Training to competently defend against takedowns - was not in any of those 10 disciplines. Those styles have street-self-defense techniques to theoretically nullify takedowns, but those moves could not be trained within their respective disciplines.
@@perfectsplit5515 Kick in the groin and poke in the eye are their defenses against take-downs, the same ones a completely untrained person claims they would use.
Ron van Clief - Black Dragon Karate.
Man! You sound like you straight out of a comic book.
Within seconds an umpteenth Dan in karate is on his back panicking and pulling hair. So much for 100s of hours of Katas.
Kiai!!!!
This was the first UFC fight I ever saw. It been 30 years, & Ron Van Clief still older than me, in this fight.
Gracie was nothing short of a visionary and an artist. Few people in history can make everything before them seem obsolete.
Chasing dreams in alamance. Greatest 5 seconds ever.
Why did take Royce so long to submit his opponents? A question I have pondered for decades...
Royce's Jiu-jitsu style was like that, he'd fight at his own pace and he never rushed things, he'd let his opponent expose themselves and make a mistake. The only time he went out of his Normal strategy is when he fought Kimo, he actually put too much physical effort into it, he wanted to show Kimo he wasn't going to bully him around with his strength, so Royce got caught up in using too much of his own strength he said.
I once recall Rickson said that Royce's style was "too passive"; that he was too much of a "nice guy". While Royler's style was "too aggressive". And that his style was just the right balance between the two extremes.
@perfectsplit5515 true, yet Royce was still physically Bigger than Royler and that helped him as far as MMA compared to Royler. Royce fought Saku for over hour and a half and Saku couldn't get Royce in a Submission, but Saku did get that Kimura against Royler. JS
Even though bjj was superior in those days he was still fighting legitimate fighters & they were trying to fight back
I mean the guy may have been 51 and inexperienced against BJJ, but he was still a highly experienced fighter and very strong. It's not that easy to submit someone like that, even for an expert.
Royce had the right arm bar at the point of take down, but huge respect for Ron! I watched this fight back in '94.
people still draw the wrong lessons from this, despite the fact that most UFC fights now look more like Ron Van Clief's game plan than Royce Gracies'. That's because you need some historical, sociological and game theory knowledge to why martial arts change - you can't get it from saying "X style works".
Royce's gi top helped him greatly.
Taimak from the last dragon is in Ron's corner. Anyone notice??
"There are no rules." I miss those days.
Excelente luta
Always hated that he would hold on longer then needed after getting the submission, watching royce fight Matt Hughes later was great to watch.
almost as great as watching GSP kill Hughes twice
The good old UFC!
Sensei Taimak behind him. U know, The Last Dragon. Sho 'nuff.👍🏾
This was a TERRIBLE match for Gracie. He made sure there was no stand up game in this match and went for a submission. This is what turned me off from early MMA.
La prinera leyenda de la MMA
Que adversário complacente.
You can't win with karate if you can't use it 😂
Should be 4 rules.No biting,no fish hooking, no eye gouging or low blows.style vs.style.
51 year old fighter...UFC was crazy af
That is a thought. Benny the Jet should be the one in there. 😢
51 years of martial arts trumped by hug.
The carebears were right.
Years later, Van Clief confessed that he was fighting with an injured ankle.
Ron should have asked his brother Lee to take this fight
Angel Eyes!
@@crackerjack9320 I thought no one would get that reference
@@beerbug2020 lol. I was raised on the classics: Dirty Dozen, Great Escape, 60s Bond.etc...
@crackerjack9320 me too mate. They don't make movies like that anymore who was your favourite bond?
Ron is also a ninja…
The fabric of the jacket can suffocate the opponent who is instead bare-chested. It's a big plus
Mas o americano Ron van Clief, já estava muito velho, com 51 anos, para lutar com um jovem de 27 anos.. O americano não teve chance de mostrar o seu Karatê
Times have changed, it’s not that easy anymore.
Lol😂
8:55 looks like Royce didn't let go after the tap and waited for the ref to separate him
А можно было Ройсу найти 90-летнего соперника?
Ron Van Clief was (and is)a martial arts inspiration to many of us in the 70s and 80s. But this match really opened a lot of eyes to martial arts truth.
Época que ninguém conhecia o Jiu-jitsu ...daí o Jiu-jitsu nadava de braçada. Hoje em dia essa moleza acabou...rsrs
Okay that was bad. If you know that once he get a hold you it’s over why would you let him? With all those years you should be able to read him and avoid giving him an advantage and keep him at striking distance. Secondly, learn grappling or catch wrestling before agreeing to a match with a worldclass grappler.
Its pretty cool that he tested himself at that age.
Van Clief appeared ready for a classic standing fight only. A basic knowledge of wrestling and traditional judo would have served him better. But this competition wasn’t really mma but more single style vs single style.
Thus ground fighting styles win more often than not
He came into this with zero preparation as though he thought he could land a kick that would send Gracie flying out of the ring like a karate movie or something.
….but that was the 90s and Gracie was one of few people who knew what he knew. These were the best days of this entertainment form.
And as someone said in this comment section ….apparently Van Clief was convinced and learned BJJ and wound up competing into his 70s
Imagine him having say 10 years in judo or wrestling before this fight ….im not saying he wins but it would have been much better and more entertaining
But again it was the 90s and the Gracie’s were teaching the world and proving thier methods
Nothing but good memories of Hoyce and the beginnings of BJJ
Not only strikers at the time were oblivious on how to be on the ground but also a gap of 24 years. Could be Gracie's father.
According to the guy helio never lost to kimura and others.
Felt bad for Ron in this Fight,I used to sày hi to him on the way to his gym.
They spelled it Taimak with an i in the movie. Top movie, can't get it for free any more. Brilliant music score too.
So much for 40 years of training
LoL 🤣
I mean I'm sure it was highly effective against 99% of people at the time, just not this particular Brazilian.
Yep, straight down the tubes...
Royce took longer than I thought he would
Royce wanted NONE of that smoke standing with Ron!
This guy was channeling his inner travolta
I remember meeting Ron van in New York City when I was a kid , he lived in my block. He talked a lot of smack and acted like he knew everything. Well now he can show off with Gracie 😂😂😂😂😂
At least Ron was coming in all natural
😂
Is that Taimak from the Last Dragon?!
That what was so scary about BJ back in his prodigy days, because he had world class BJJ and boxing.
Ron had Bruce Leroy in his corner!!!
Let's see Gracie in the boxing ring.
Lame, and we've seen straight up Boxers in the UFC they get smoked. Back in 1994 it was about individual styles and what was most effective in a (fight) punching is only one aspect of fighting.
What a lame comment.
Why is it that when UFC fighters get challenged by Boxers, it’s mostly the UFC guys have to play by Boxing rules?
Let’s see Mayweather in the Octagon.
I still remember how jealous and insecure my karate schoolmates were back in Spring 1994. They handled the early UFC very immaturely. So many of them were saying how they wanted to fight Royce, and claiming that our sensei said that he could beat the Gracies. Of course, none of them actually did fight any of the Gracies; they just talked about it. And when I spoke to my sensei in late 1994, he never claimed that he could beat the Gracies. All he said was that he disliked their style, and that he believed that a good wrestler could beat them.
It really showed me how cowardly the culture of TMA is.
The best....