Did anyone give Royce Gracie a chance at Submitting Matt Hughes?

There was some serious nostalgia floating around with a huge number of people convincing themselves Royce had a shot........deep down everybody knew he was getting manhandled.

I'd take prime Ettish to beat no gi Royce all day.
 
I think people who trained knew it was going to be a wash. Personally I thought Hughes was going to win by decision easily. I didn't expect him to smash him this bad. I remember betting money with my boy's brother who is into traditional martial arts for that fight.
 
Some gave him a chance his performance against Yoshida where he out grappled him was still in peoples mind, looking back it looks foolish but nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
 
Natural Order said:
There was some serious nostalgia floating around with a huge number of people convincing themselves Royce had a shot........deep down everybody knew he was getting manhandled.

I'd take prime Ettish to beat no gi Royce all day.
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The game changed so much since Royce competed. I don't think he even keeps up with the sport. I don't even think he even owns a gym anymore. I will pick Gall over him.....
 
Steven_Universe said:
I can’t believe they made this fight.

Royce is a legend no doubt and he had balls stepping up to fight the bigger stronger wrestler who was a bad matchup for him.

But was this meant as a serious fight or a freak show at the time.

I wasn’t an MMA fan until TUF 3.
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Not a freak show at all. I know it's weird nowadays, but weight classes weren't the end all be all of who fought who. There were a few dozen guys who were basically the toughest guys in the world and they would match-up based on availability, purse size, and health status. Weight was a factor of course, you didn't put Krazy Horse against Coleman(!!!). But for the most part the toughest guy, most bad ass dudes on the planet were determined by how willing he was to fight anyone at any weight.

Ahh the good old old old days....
 
If i remember right Gracie really wanted that fight because he was claiming pure BJJ could still defeat a accomplished MMA fighter.

Everyone knew he would get tooled.

The after the fight Gracie said "he used Gracie JJ to beat me" lol.
 
All bow your heads and prey
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Amen. Coulda went longer. Amen again.
 
NoSmilez said:
The game changed so much since Royce competed. I don't think he even keeps up with the sport. I don't even think he even owns a gym anymore. I will pick Gall over him.....
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Dang.

You're probably right!
 
This fight really separated the people who watched the UFC only and the people who also saw Royce struggle (and arguably lose) against a much smaller man in Hideo Tokoro.

Most people on here knew it was a mismatch. There were some who didn't, though, and probably a lot more casuals. I remember the UFC intentionally only showing Royce's UFC record (with the Harold Howard loss removed) to make it look like Royce was undefeated.
 
Actually, a lot of people did, including Matt himself. I remember him talking in an interview about how there was a moment during the fight when he was wondering when the magical submission would come, when Royce would find a way to snatch an arm or lock up a choke. Part of that was the Royce Gracie mystique, to be sure, but then when you considered that submissions were for a long time Matt's kryptonite - getting tapped by Dennis Hallman not once but twice, getting choked unconscious by Newton in that triangle that he luckily slammed his way out of, losing his belt to BJ by RNC, and having to fight like hell to not get triangled by Charuto - it was by no means beyond the realm of possibility.

For comparison - and, as one of the biggest Ken Shamrock fans to ever post on this forum, this kills me to say - it was a hell of a lot more plausible to imagine Royce submitting Matt than to imagine Ken submitting Tito.
 
GSP83 said:
The hype made you believe he could. But in the first minute of the fight you knew the outcome.
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Yup. Royce was sort of a nostalgia pick in this fight. TS mentions how much bigger Hughes was but look at the size of some of the people Royce beat in the early UFCs? Way bigger than Matt Hughes. The difference was Hughes also had great skills.

To a lesser extent, this is why I don't subscribe to the idea that "Prime" Fedor would still beat all the top fighters that so many others love on here. I loved Fedor too and he was the best of his time but time has moved on. Like with Royce, it's not just them getting old, it's also newer fighters getting better.
 
I think I did. I definitely pick Royce in the hematch though, if it happens.
 
Blayt7hh said:
He didn’t. He pissed hot later, maybe the rematch with Saku?
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Yeah it’s my understanding that he tested off the charts in the rematch with Saku, as in with the testing they had at the time he tested so high they weren’t even able to determine exactly how much was in his system because he pissed so hot.
 
ramair455 said:
If i remember right Gracie really wanted that fight because he was claiming pure BJJ could still defeat a accomplished MMA fighter.

Everyone knew he would get tooled.

The after the fight Gracie said "he used Gracie JJ to beat me" lol.
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Royce took the fight because he needed the money. If I remember corrrctly, I think he got somewhere around a million dollars for that fight. That is the only reason.

I thought that Matt was going to dominate him, but I thought that Royce might get a lucky submission.

Definitely didn’t expect to see him get dominated on the ground, so completely, so soon.

That was a sad day.
 
I didnt.

By that time someone like Hughes was well versed and Royce was way past it and not athletic enough to hang.
 
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