MMA Junkie is reporting today that renowned jiu-jitsu competitor and 2-0 MMA fighter, Roger Gracie, will make his Strikeforce debut at the promotion’s upcoming May 15th event in St. Louis. The report states that according to “sources close to the event”, a bout between Gracie and Kevin Randleman is in the works, with Thierry Rameau Sokoudjou in the running as a second candidate.
Now if you don’t pay attention to the jiu-jitsu world you might be saying ‘so effin what’ right now, but for BJJ enthusiasts, this is big news. Roger has won enough jiu-jitsu titles to fill the mother of all trophy cases, and not with local ‘Sunnyside Lane Not Open Invitational’ medals either, we’re talking multiple ADCC World Submission Wrestling and BJJ World Championships. In MMA, Roger has gone 2-0 to date, tapping out the veterans Ron Waterman and Yuki Kondo, with the last win over Kondo coming in May, 2008.
Of course, some people might be recalling the recent ‘WTF was that?’ UFC debut of Rolles Gracie, another heralded jiu-jitsu dude that got beat down by Joey Beltran in February, after his lungs said ‘eff this, we’re done’ shortly into the second round. Although there were varying opinions as to what happened with Rolles (who was promptly cut by the UFC), not only is Roger not the same dude, clearly, but it should also be noted that his jits career has been a step above his fellow Gracie.