Kron Gracie returns to the octagon after a 19-month layoff this Saturday on the principle card of UFC 310 towards Bryce Mitchell, with each the opponent and card placement being a shock to lots of people.
Gracie appears to be like to snap a two-fight dropping streak as he faces a top-15 ranked UFC featherweight at T-Cellular Area 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 incredible one, however that has led to a number of backlash with regard to his bout with Mitchell being on the principle card over fights akin to Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling — a bout in the identical division that might 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 feel it’s humorous as a result of the folks at all times have one thing to say,” Gracie advised MMA Preventing. “And it’s fascinating that individuals who would complain about one thing like which might be most likely the people who find themselves not even paying for the pay-per-view, they’re streaming it without cost. You’re stealing the pay-per-view and so they’re those complaining about the place the struggle is. If something, [Sterling vs. Evloev is] a free struggle 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 feel that the location of the struggle 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 struggle following an over three-year hiatus.
Now he faces Mitchell, and in Gracie’s opinion, if followers are upset about him being on the principle card, it’s a better promote with Mitchell being the opposite half of the competition.
“Clearly the UFC is aware of what they’re doing and so they’re within the enterprise of creating 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 recognize? …
“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 principle card.”
Following the loss to Jourdain, Gracie launched an announcement on his Instagram tales discussing why the struggle 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 struggle to the dying,” Gracie wrote. “Perceive the state of affairs and keen to restrict myself, even that being stated I threw no punches due to dangerous recommendation and tried to please the jiu-jitsu group two days earlier than my struggle. First struggle in my life I didn’t throw a punch, going again to my previous methods.”
Gracie hoped to return to the octagon sooner, however he says “life bought 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 skool ways in which have discovered him success over time in fight sports activities.
“Nicely I discovered that lesson immediately,” Gracie defined. “I discovered it as quickly because the struggle 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 all the pieces’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 in the end made my very own choices and this was sort of not my determination to make and I paid the value.
“I might have appreciated to come back 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 probably the most 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 struggle sport may be. No matter what occurred a 12 months in the past, Gracie is prepared for a sport opponent on Saturday.
“Yeah, I imply, that is the struggle enterprise, you may be able to anticipate 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 suppose I take it too [seriously] and when it comes round, media persons 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 struggle sport 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 tricky opponent. He’s a top-15 man, he’s a grappler, so possibly it may very well be a distinct struggle than the hanging guys that I’ve been preventing. So we’ll see how he approaches this struggle. We don’t know if he’s going to run away, or if he’s gonna attempt to assault me, and I feel it’s only a good matchup.
“I feel normally, the higher the fellows get, the higher the struggle’s going to get, and that may very well be good or dangerous for me, however I feel that’s gonna create a greater struggle. 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 struggle as a lot as I’m, it’s going to make a tough struggle it doesn’t matter what.”
