Royce Gracie immediately settled as MMA's best hunter when the sport was launched in 1993.
The Brazilian submission specialist used the soft art of Jiu-Jitsu famous to subject much larger men to win three fights in one night and to be crowned the UFC 1 champion.
Royce Gracie's reign at the top saw him do the same on UFC 2 and UFC 4 during a legendary 12-0-1 point in MMA.
In the end, Kazushi Sakuraba destroyed his perfect record by winning a TKO victory in the longest MMA fight of all time. Royce Gracie broke his thigh and the towel entered after 90 minutes to start the next phase of his career of Hall of Fame.
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Royce Gracie defeated 490LB Sumo wrestler
Gracie was unable to immediately bounce back from his first loss when he fought against Hidehiko Yoshida.
Their modified rules of December 2003 ended in a draw after they had reached a time limit.
After that, the 58-year-old fight icon made the daring decision to make a 6ft 8in, 490LB Sumo Wrestler.
'David vs Goliath' matchups had become popular in Japan in the 1990s. Boxing Legend Butterbean took a famous part in one and suffered an embarrassing loss despite wearing 245 pounds in weight in his MMA debut against Genki Sudo.
It was a similar story when Gracie, who was 180 pounds, against Akebono Tarō Vocht on K-1 Premium 2004 Dynamite !!.
Gracie opened with a leg kick before he circled his huge rival. Akebono immediately closed the gap by charging his colossal frame at Gracie, who took the watch and went to work with the submission skills that made him a superstar.
After a stalemate on the ground, Gracie tried to take the back of his opponent, but he got up and they got back on the feet.
Another Lame Kick attempt continued with the fight that returned to the mat where Gracie wanted to be clear.
The former UFC champion cracked Akebono with bumps to the head to distract him from the entry he set up. It didn't take long, the arm of the sumo was packed and Gracie tried to subdue him with the rarely seen Omoplata.
It took all its power and spinning a lot, but Gracie forced the tap after just over two minutes.
Royce Gracie recalls Akebono Taro Fight
In March 2024, Gracie discussed his legendary MMA career on the popular podcast of Rampage Jackson.
The 20-Fight veteran remembered that he had been written off prior to his fight with Tarō-but after the fight, the same people rejected his victory by pointing out the size of the Sumo as negative when they considered it a plus.
Gracie said: “6ft 8in, 490 pounds. Before the fight everyone said, 'Man, are you crazy? How are you going to bring the man down? The man is huge '.
“Before the fight everyone said:” Oh my God, that guy is huge. He is paid to not go to the ground. How are you going to bring him down? You can't hit him. We've seen you hit, you can't do him beat '.
“After the fight,” You naturally defeated him, he is big and slow. ” Walk to a 6ft 8in, 490 pounds [man]Save him to the face and you see how slowly it moves. He will run through you like a train. “
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