Ralek Gracie signs with Bellator, says responding to accusations is ‘dishonorable’

Ralek Gracie has signed to compete at Bellator, and spoke about recent accusations made by his brothers about him and Metamoris.

Metamoris founder Ralek Gracie has decided to make a return to Mixed Martial Arts competition after 6 years away from the sport. As reported on ESPN, the BJJ black belt has signed with Bellator and is planning to compete as a middleweight.

No opponent has been named as of this writing, but he is targeted to be part of the Bellator event on January 21.

The 31-year-old is is 3-0 as a professional, with every single bout happening in Japan. He last competed in MMA back in 2010, winning a decision over Kazushi Sakuraba. He has two armbar wins from 2008 and 2007 as well.

The news comes just a day after his brothers Ryron and Rener Gracie distanced themselves and “terminated all business relations” from him and Metamoris, saying that Ralek is involved in “dishonest and fraudulent activity”.

“I really want to focus on this right now, but I definitely would say [Metamoris] is doing everything it can to move forward in the most honorable way possible,” Gracie told ESPN. “It’s tough, man. We went through a hard time, and I think people took for granted what we were bringing to the table — something that was revolutionary for the sport. We were really young, really green and didn’t have the business experience.”

“It’s a surreal thing, to answer questions about my brothers — and even trying to defend yourself is dishonorable in this kind of situation. We’re just doing the best we can, and I think there are some stuff behind the scenes that people don’t know about and shouldn’t know about. I really don’t like avoiding questions, but at the end of the day, I really don’t think it’s important or relevant in this circumstance. This [Bellator signing] is very exciting and I’m excited to compete.”

There have been numerous accusations hurled towards Ralek and Metamoris for a while now, and some in the MMA community have already begun commenting on his Bellator signing. One example is filmmaker Bobby Razak, who shot and directed videos for the grappling promotion:

@yay_yee @bokamotoESPN the money he makes needs to go 2 unpaid vendors ASAP

— Bobby Razak (@bobbyrazak) October 26, 2016

Gracie competed at his own promotion at Metamoris 7 last July, and was submitted by Garry Tonon.

Ralek Gracie has signed to compete at Bellator, and spoke about recent accusations made by his brothers about him and Metamoris.

Metamoris founder Ralek Gracie has decided to make a return to Mixed Martial Arts competition after 6 years away from the sport. As reported on ESPN, the BJJ black belt has signed with Bellator and is planning to compete as a middleweight.

No opponent has been named as of this writing, but he is targeted to be part of the Bellator event on January 21.

The 31-year-old is is 3-0 as a professional, with every single bout happening in Japan. He last competed in MMA back in 2010, winning a decision over Kazushi Sakuraba. He has two armbar wins from 2008 and 2007 as well.

The news comes just a day after his brothers Ryron and Rener Gracie distanced themselves and “terminated all business relations” from him and Metamoris, saying that Ralek is involved in “dishonest and fraudulent activity”.

“I really want to focus on this right now, but I definitely would say [Metamoris] is doing everything it can to move forward in the most honorable way possible,” Gracie told ESPN. “It’s tough, man. We went through a hard time, and I think people took for granted what we were bringing to the table — something that was revolutionary for the sport. We were really young, really green and didn’t have the business experience.”

“It’s a surreal thing, to answer questions about my brothers — and even trying to defend yourself is dishonorable in this kind of situation. We’re just doing the best we can, and I think there are some stuff behind the scenes that people don’t know about and shouldn’t know about. I really don’t like avoiding questions, but at the end of the day, I really don’t think it’s important or relevant in this circumstance. This [Bellator signing] is very exciting and I’m excited to compete.”

There have been numerous accusations hurled towards Ralek and Metamoris for a while now, and some in the MMA community have already begun commenting on his Bellator signing. One example is filmmaker Bobby Razak, who shot and directed videos for the grappling promotion:

Gracie competed at his own promotion at Metamoris 7 last July, and was submitted by Garry Tonon.