Mixed martial arts legend Royce Gracie, one of the greatest fighters of all time, shared his choices for the MMA Mount Rushmore.
Gracie won UFC 1 on November 12, 1993, winning an eight-man tournament bracket featuring martial artists from all sorts of different disciplines to show the world that Brazilian jiu-jitsu was a legitimate martial art that could help a smaller man defeat bigger men. Following Gracie’s win at UFC 1, BJJ became one of the most popular forms of martial arts training in the entire world, and Gracie’s win that night is one of the biggest reasons why.
A UFC Hall of Famer in his own right, Gracie is widely considered one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time. So when he was asked to name his MMA Mount Rushmore, it was very interesting to see his choices.
Royce Gracie Shares His MMA Mount Rushmore
Speaking to UFC legend Georges St-Pierre on the “GSP Podcast,” Gracie shared his four selections for the MMA Mount Rushmore.
“I definitely have to put my father (Helio Gracie) in there. He’s the one that — my uncle Carlos is the one that first learned, but my father is the one that developed the defensive style, the whole how to defend yourself. He had leverage from the techniques, so he’s the one that developed the whole MMA, and challenged everybody, went for it. So it definitely would have been my father,” Gracie said (via MMAFighting.com).
“You (St-Pierre) would be there. I would put Anderson Silva. And if I had to choose four, I would definitely put Jon Jones in there. That would be my four guys that I would choose.”
Royce Gracie’s MMA Mount Rushmore
Gracie’s four choices for his MMA Mount Rushmore make sense. Obviously, Helio Gracie — who died in 2009 at the age of 95 — never fought in the UFC. But he is the one who helped develop BJJ, and its impact on mixed martial arts is undeniable.
As for St-Pierre, Silva, and Jones, all three of them are no-brainers for any MMA Mount Rushmore, as they are the best three UFC fighters of all time.
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