Rorion Gracie created the UFC way back in 1993 in order to introduce the general public to jiu-jitsu. Royce Gracie wins over bigger opponents did just that and quickly turned the no holds barred competition into a sensation. The lack of rules and time limits ultimately became an issue and Rorion decided to sell his share to Bob Meyrowitz after UFC 4 when Royce Gracie vs Dan Severn ran so long the fans couldn’t watch the ending live causing one of the biggest gaffes in pay-per-view.
Rorion seems to harbor no ill will toward the sale but took the time to provide a cheeky metaphor for the MMA empire:
“The feeling I have is that I had a son, and they adopted it, sent him to study at Harvard, and now my son controls Wall Street,” Gracie added. “It’s great to have an idea, and see it come to fruition.”
Rorion Gracie is no stranger to savvy business decisions but not all of them were entirely successful. He famously tried to trademark the family name which was followed by a lawsuit with Carley Gracie. Rorion ultimately won his lawsuit and was awarded $108,000 in damages (along with $620,000 in attorney’s fees) from Carley for infringement of the triangle logo trademark. Both sides appealed, but Rorion’s appeal was dismissed. After Carley filed for bankruptcy protection so he would not have to pay the attorney’s fees and damages. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Carley’s favor, affirmed his victory over the Gracie name and ordered the District Court Judge to cancel Rorion’s federal trademark registration. You can read more about that here.
Rorion elaborated on his UFC metaphor:
“They did the right thing. They sold it and will continue making money. Their intention was to make money, and they did it. They enjoyed the ride for a long time, and made the decision to sell it. We have to respect their decision. If I were them, I may have done same thing.”
“They took my revolutionary concept for the UFC from a relatively small company, invested a lot of money, created this huge marketing wave around it, and are now collecting the benefits of a $4 billion sale.”
Rorion Gracie also commented on selling his shares:
“After the issues with UFC 4, my associates decided to implement time limit, rules, and weight classes, to plan the event for the TV. I understood that. Yet, I always saw the UFC as a real fight being televised, and they saw it as a TV show about fighting. I wasn’t interested in being part of the show if they modified the original concept of comparing styles, it became a comparison of athletes. The winner was no longer necessarily the better style, but often by judges outside. It was no longer the vision I had, so I do not regret walking way.”
Do you think he still feels no regret for walking away?
