Kron Gracie came out with a doozy of an excuse for his loss to Charles Jourdain at UFC 288. Gracie blamed the jiu-jitsu community for failing him.
The decorated submission artist and grandson of the legendary Helio Gracie showed no signs of life in his miserable performance. This was Gracie’s first fight in a long time, and he seemed absolutely unprepared when Jourdian didn’t just fall on his back to take his submission attempts.
Gracie placed the blame on “bad advice” given to him ahead of training before blaming the BJJ community.
“In a lifetime of fighting, it’s always been a fight to the death. Understand the situation and willing to limit myself. Even that being said, I threw no punches because of bad advice and tried to please the jiu-jitsu community two days before my fight. First fight in my life, I didn’t throw a punch. Going back to my old ways.”
Dana White criticizes limited Kron Gracie
No one knows how valuable the Gracie family is to the UFC more than Dana White. The UFC came about thanks to Rorian, and Royce won the inaugural UFC event in 1993. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community owes a lot to the pioneering family, but MMA has evolved heavily since the days Royce befuddled the world with his high-level BJJ.
“I like Kron a lot. He’s a good kid. He came in very limited tonight. Very limited. It was like coming out of a time capsule in 1995. Tough way to try to win a fight these days,”
Dana White on Kron Gracie’s loss at UFC 288
White said as much in his critique of Gracie’s performance post-event. The UFC President said Gracie’s efforts were not suited to today’s modern MMA, though wasn’t completely dismissive, saying, “The kid’s got a ton of heart, he’s got a good chin. I like him. I don’t want to shit on his performance, but that was a rough gameplan.”
It continues to appear that the Gracie clan is far removed from their early MMA glory days. Gracie si also pining for the old rules of MMA to be new again. It’s more likely that at 34 years old with a 1-2 record in the UFC, his competitive MMA days are numbered.
