Kron Gracie returns to the octagon after a 19-month layoff this Saturday on the primary card of UFC 310 towards Bryce Mitchell, with each the opponent and card placement being a shock to lots of people.
Gracie seems to snap a two-fight shedding streak as he faces a top-15 ranked UFC featherweight at T-Cell Enviornment in Las Vegas. In his most up-to-date outing, Gracie misplaced a lopsided determination to Charles Jourdain at UFC 288 in March 2023. The 36-year-old Gracie admits his efficiency was not an awesome one, however that has led to a number of backlash with regard to his bout with Mitchell being on the primary card over fights corresponding to Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling — a bout in the identical division that would produce a title challenger in 2025.
So far as Gracie is worried, the bout placement wasn’t his name, however he has a message to followers who’re sad with the UFC’s determination.
“I believe it’s humorous as a result of the folks at all times have one thing to say,” Gracie instructed MMA Combating. “And it’s fascinating that individuals who would complain about one thing like which are most likely the people who find themselves not even paying for the pay-per-view, they’re streaming it at no cost. You’re stealing the pay-per-view they usually’re those complaining about the place the combat is. If something, [Sterling vs. Evloev is] a free combat for the followers that they get to observe sooner. I don’t see why it’s such a giant deal clearly as a result of I don’t actually care about that sort of state of affairs.
“However I believe that the position of the combat is sort of not a very powerful factor and I don’t care the place I’m at on the cardboard. The earlier, the higher actually. I get to go on with my life after that.”
In his first UFC bout, the son of PRIDE veteran Rickson Gracie submitted Alex Caceres within the first spherical of UFC on ESPN 1 in February 2019. Gracie returned eight months later towards longtime veteran Cub Swanson and misplaced a unanimous determination, earlier than returning for the Jourdain combat following an over three-year hiatus.
Now he faces Mitchell, and in Gracie’s opinion, if followers are upset about him being on the primary card, it’s a neater promote with Mitchell being the opposite half of the competition.
“Clearly the UFC is aware of what they’re doing they usually’re within the enterprise of constructing fights and matchmaking,” Gracie stated. “So nobody does it higher than them. I’m certain they didn’t do that on spitefulness. I’m certain that this can be a enterprise deal and it’s what it’s, you understand? …
“I didn’t make this determination, and Bryce is a giant title too. I’ve at all times had Bryce on my thoughts as a result of I at all times thought he was a possible opponent as a result of I knew he had a giant title, so I don’t see why he wouldn’t be on the primary card.”
Following the loss to Jourdain, Gracie launched a press release on his Instagram tales discussing why the combat went the way in which that it did, and why he didn’t throw any punches within the 15-minute affair.
“In a lifetime of preventing, it’s at all times been a combat to the loss of life,” Gracie wrote. “Perceive the state of affairs and keen to restrict myself, even that being stated I threw no punches due to unhealthy recommendation and tried to please the jiu-jitsu neighborhood two days earlier than my combat. First combat in my life I didn’t throw a punch, going again to my outdated methods.”
Gracie hoped to return to the octagon sooner, however he says “life received in the way in which,” and wouldn’t additional elaborate. However heading into his fourth octagon look, Gracie is steadfast that he’ll return to his old fashioned ways in which have discovered him success through the years in fight sports activities.
“Effectively I discovered that lesson straight away,” Gracie defined. “I discovered it as quickly because the combat was over. I’ve at all times fought, I’ve at all times been sort of my [own] head coach and made my, my choices and every part’s gone properly. In my complete life, even with jiu-jitsu, I used to be working my very own jiu-jitsu coaching and with MMA, I at all times had folks round me serving to me and supporting me, however I finally made my very own choices and this was sort of not my determination to make and I paid the value.
“I might have favored to return again and prepare and present folks a few of my abilities sooner, however that didn’t occur. So now we’re right here, over a 12 months later, I’m joyful to have the ability to come out and present my abilities to the world and see what we are able to do.”
Mitchell makes his first octagon look of 2024. In his most up-to-date bout, “Thug Nasty” was on the receiving finish of one of the vital brutal and scary knockouts in UFC historical past by an overhand proper of Josh Emmett at UFC 296 in December 2023.
Gracie didn’t view Mitchell’s knockout loss as a wake-up name, however as yet one more stark reminder and acceptance of how harmful the combat recreation may be. No matter what occurred a 12 months in the past, Gracie is prepared for a recreation opponent on Saturday.
“Yeah, I imply, that is the combat enterprise, you may be able to count on something,” Gracie stated. “I grew up with this not as a spectator, I grew up with it being a actuality. For my dad and for my grandfather and for me, and for everybody round me, it was at all times a actuality of preventing. It’s by no means a joke. Some folks assume I take it too [seriously] and when it comes round, media individuals are like, ‘Oh, why are you not joyful and joking about this?’ As a result of I do know this. I do know the severity of the combat recreation So it’s not a shock to me that that occurs and I’m sort of like actually conscious of that state of affairs. That’s why I’m not at all times so joyful about preventing.
“However Bryce is a troublesome opponent. He’s a top-15 man, he’s a grappler, so perhaps it might be a special combat than the placing guys that I’ve been preventing. So we’ll see how he approaches this combat. We don’t know if he’s going to run away, or if he’s gonna attempt to assault me, and I believe it’s only a good matchup.
“I believe on the whole, the higher the blokes get, the higher the combat’s going to get, and that might be good or unhealthy for me, however I believe that’s gonna create a greater combat. To not canine Jourdain or something, and I had a shitty efficiency, however he would simply run away. He was afraid of me. So it’s like, when somebody’s not keen to combat as a lot as I’m, it’s going to make a troublesome combat it doesn’t matter what.”
