One of the true martial arts legends, Renzo Gracie is a Jiu Jitsu black belt from the famous Gracie family. A fantastic coach that has produced several renowned black belts, Renzo Gracie primarily excelled as a competitor in the 1990’s winning important tournaments such as the ADCC (Abu Dhabi Combat Club) and several MMA fights in Japan, Brazil and US. Renzo Gracie was also the main protagonist of a famous documentary about his life as a fighter named: Legacy.
Renzo was born on March 11, 1967, in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil. He is the grandson of Gracie Jiu Jitsu founder Carlos Gracie and son of 9th Dan BJJ black belt Robson Gracie, brother to Ralph and Ryan Gracie. Like most men in the Gracie family, Renzo started training Jiu Jitsu as an infant. He had formal instructor from many of the Gracie patriarchs, but to of his biggest influences were the legendary Rolls Gracie and Carlos Gracie Jr (the man who later awarded him his black belt).
The Renzo Gracie name is also a synonym of Vale-Tudo, the famous No Holds Barred style of fighting in Brazil that originated today’s Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Renzo’s first official fight was at the age of 25 in the Gracie Vale Tudo Challenge were he submitted his opponent Luiz Augusto Alvareda by rear naked choke.
Renzo pursued his fighting career moving to the US to compete where the sport was gaining recognition after the early UFC’s, he also opened his own academy in New York, a gym that rapidly became a reference in America and the world for high quality Jiu Jitsu. From this same academy Renzo Gracie forged fighters such as Matt Serra, John Danaher, Ricardo Cachorão, Shawn Williams, Jerry Rinaldi and many, many others.
After a successful victory over the famous Russian fighter Oleg Taktarov, Renzo was invited to defend the Gracie surname in Japan, a challenge Renzo grabbed with both hands. He went on to fight and be successful at the prestigious Pride FC.
Even though Renzo had spent most of his later years as a coach in his academy in New York, he never retired officially from competition, and in 2010 he signed a contract with the UFC at the age of 43, fighting Matt Hughes one of the most dominant UFC champions of all time on his first fight for the organization. Renzo was out classed and lost due to a TKO on the 3rd round showing many signs of ring rust due to his long inactivity period
Kazushi Sakuraba (桜庭 和志, Sakuraba Kazushi, born July 14, 1969) is a Japanese mixed martial artist, submission grappler and professional wrestler, currently signed to Rizin Fighting Federation[2][3][4] and Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is one-half of the former GHC Tag Team Champions with Takashi Sugiura. He has also competed in traditional puroresu for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and shoot-style competition for UWFi and Kingdom Pro Wrestling (KPW). He has fought in MMA competition in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Pride Fighting Championships, Hero's and Dream. He is known as the "Gracie Hunter"[5][6][7][8] or the "Gracie Killer"[9][10][11][12] due to his wins over four members of the famed Gracie family: Royler Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Ryan Gracie, and Royce Gracie. In particular, Sakuraba is famous for his initial fight with Royce, which lasted ninety minutes and ended after Royce was unable to continue due to damage received from Sakuraba. This was Gracie's first loss in mixed martial arts.
Known for his excellent skills in catch wrestling and submission wrestling, he is considered to be one of the greatest mixed martial art fighters of all time,[13] and also holds notable victories over 7 UFC champions, 3 Pancrase Champions, a DREAM champion, a King of the Cage champion and Battlecade Extreme Fighting champion; former Welterweight Champion Carlos Newton, two former Light heavyweight champions Vitor Belfort and Quinton Jackson, former Heavyweight Champion Kevin Randleman, 3-time UFC Tournament champion Royce Gracie, former Superfight champion and King of Pancrase Ken Shamrock, former King of Pancrase Masakatsu Funaki, DREAM Super Hulk Tournament Champion Ikuhisa Minowa, former King of the Cage Light Heavyweight champion Vernon White, and former Battlecade Extreme Fighting champion Marcus Silveira. He is also the first of only two Japanese champions in UFC history. Sakuraba's Pride fights routinely draw more than 20 million viewers in Japan.[14] Sakuraba is the founder of the submission wrestling promotion Quintet, where he has competed since 2018.
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