Top 55 Royce Gracie Quotes

Sometimes you watch a tournament with a point system, and it’s not the best fighter that wins. It’s the guy who scores more points and then he runs away and hides.

I am a product of my father’s work.

I never drank, never party, Carnival, none of that.

I’ve never had a fight in the street.

That’s why I like Demian Maia and Fabricio Werdum. Demian will take you down and do his game. Werdum learned the stand-up to know what’s coming, but he never stopped using his jiu-jitsu. He will clinch, take you down and submit you.

I fight because I want to not because I have to.

Yes, I do Jiu Jitsu for a living.

The armlock is an armlock, a choke is a choke. How you set it up – is different. Everybody have their personal style.

Kids wake up in the morning and say, ‘I want to be a UFC fighter one day,’ just like they do in baseball.

There is no age as long as the body feels good.

When you like something, it’s not work, it’s a pleasure.

Martial arts in general were not made for a tournament, for points system. Martial arts were made to defend yourself in the street fight situation, not to score points.

Werdum is good, is a smart fighter. He knows how to set up a beautiful strategy.

You’re a warrior or you’re not.

When Scott Coker first mentioned to me that Ken Shamrock wanted to fight I said, ‘Thank you.’ I played a little hard to get, but for sure I knew we had to do the third fight with Ken; there was no doubt. He still insisted on fighting me. I guess the guy cannot sleep for 22 years.

You have tons of talents everywhere you go, so you can’t be stuck to only one promotion.

I have fought all my life, that is easy for me.

I don’t drink, I don’t smoke.

I only sign one fight at a time.

Tim Kennedy is one of the toughest guys in my opinion.

You know the 80s music is something that no one wants to admit liking, but once then start playing everyone is into it.

I like guys who can use strategy, not just tough guys.

The main thing is strategy. It’s not just come in and duke it out and fight.

My second fight at UFC 1, I fought Ken Shamrock. In the fight I choked him. As soon as he tapped, I let go. He tried to continue, but the ref got kind of stuck like, ‘should I let it go or stop the fight.’ That’s when I looked at the ref and I said, let it go, we’re going to continue.

If Gerard Gordeau would have won the first UFC, everybody would be learning savate.

You have to know your opponent and take him out of his game.

It’s always a pleasure to watch a Gracie winning. We were born fighting.

I made peace with retirement, but when you’re a fighter, you’re always a fighter.

In any professional level competition, soccer players, you’ve got to know when to stop.

The jiu-jitsu my father created was for the smaller guy to beat the bigger guy.

I never stopped training, I never stopped working out.

A lot of fighters complain, ‘Man he’s five pounds heavier than me.’ Really? It doesn’t matter, man.

I never put a ‘last one’ tag on my fights because you never know.

GSP knows how to use a lot of strategy.

In a street fight there is no time-limit, no weight division, you don’t choose your opponent.

I’m a vale-tudo fighter.

My father didn’t make us fighters, he made us teachers.

You tell me what’s impossible and I’ll prove you wrong.

I wouldn’t change the past for nothing.

Gracie jiu-jitsu proved to be the best.

Wouldn’t you love to see Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield go one more time? It’s not like just one of them has aged. They’ve both aged. They’re both icons.

I do jiu-jitsu my whole life, so why would I try to stand and bang with Mike Tyson? I’m going to learn boxing in six months because my opponent is good in boxing? That makes no sense.

I’m a fighter. We come from the beginning, no gloves, no rules, no time limits.

Gracie is not a family, it’s a factory of fighters.

Face life’s challenges with confidence, dare to pursue your dreams and live to the fullest just as my father did.

I love to travel and I love to teach, so I combined the two.

My grandfather was doing business with a Japanese man. In exchange of good relationship the man taught my uncles the art of jiu jitsu. My father couldn’t do it because he was very weak, he couldn’t do one press-up, so he just sat back and watched, and memorised. What he did was add leverage into the moves.

Do this rubber guard stuff and I’ll punch you in the nose.

GSP is at the top of my list in knowing how to use strategy, how to bring an opponent out of his game, how to beat a guy without taking a beating. And he’s good in standup and good at grappling.

I like guys who know how to implement a strategy. The ones who make a fight look easy. But there’s no easy fight, even if you win in 30 seconds, that only means you were able to execute your strategy correctly and induced your opponent to make a mistake. Those are the champions. That’s why they are the champions.

I live a very healthy lifestyle.

The UFC was my home and will always be my home. I helped creating and building that home.

We fight to prove that our art, Gracie jiu-jitsu, is the best.

If you trained jiu-jitsu his whole life, why would you trade punches on fight night against a striker?

I follow a very strict diet.