If you’re a history buff, you’ll know there are few things more fascinating than a family dynasty. Kennedy. Rockefeller. Ming. Manning. Genovese. Simpson. Anheuser-Busch.
You know exactly where I’m going with this. In MMA, the Gracie family carries massive mystique. More mystique than a tinted stretch Hummer full of exotic dancers for whom English and credit are not acceptable options.
Many decades after patriarchs Carlos and Helio Gracie perfected a Brazilian style of jiu-jitsu that allowed the little guy to defend himself against the big, and 18 years after Royce Gracie stepped into an eight-sided dog pen to change for good and all the look and essence of hand-to-hand combat, MMA’s first family remains the subject of vigorous debate.
How would the Gracies of old fare in today’s MMA, which owes them a mountainous debt but may have passed them by? You hear someone say that Royce would never have had success if he hadn’t worn a gi.
Then you hear someone say that brother Rickson could have been, under the right circumstances, the greatest UFC fighter of all time. A handful of Gracies still competing today provide a steady trickle of gas on the fire.
Herewith is a ranking of all the Gracies who have competed in a sanctioned MMA bout.
(Photo h/t: The Onzuka Brothers’ Gracie Family Pictorial)