Rickson Gracie
Rickson Gracie has often been referred to as the best fighter from the revered Gracie clan and was reportedly the family’s first choice to fight at UFC 1, though ultimately it was Royce Gracie who was chosen instead.
Nevertheless, Gracie racked up an undefeated record of 11-0, which included two victories over Nobuhiko Takada in the earliest days of the PRIDE promotion.
THE BJJ master seemed ahead of time in many respects, but after a submission victory over Masakatsu Funaki in the year 2000, Gracie began distancing himself from competing in MMA.
There was talk of him fighting the legendary ‘Gracie Killer’ Kazushi Sakuraba, among others, but the death of Gracie’s son Rockson in 2001 led to him putting his career on hold and he would never return, despite big money attempts to lure him back into the ring.
In all fairness, Gracie was already 42-years-old by that stage, but still, given that he didn’t appear to be injured and was undefeated, it’s unfortunate that one of the most revered fighters in the history of the sport hung up his gloves before testing himself against some of the bigger names in MMA at the time.
