Renzo Gracie triumphantly returned to the world of mma this summer. The Gracie family legend scored an impresive rnc victory.
The two names that are likely for a legends fight are Wallid Ismail and Sakuraba.
In the past Renzo has admitted that having his arm broken by Sakuraba was the most painful experience in his life:
“I thought I would do that in that situation. I would never tap. But you can never be 100 percent sure until that moment arrives and you feel that pain. That was the most pain I ever felt in my life, but I was happy I went through that, even though it hurt a lot. I was smiling the whole time. It was the moment I found out my mind was stronger than my body.”
“If you lock me today in a cage, where there’s no light coming in, and feed me only enough to survive, if you open the cage door 10 years from now, you’ll find me smiling at you. In my head, I accomplished much more than I ever dreamed I would accomplish. I’ve already lived a full life and I’m only halfway there. In my head, I still have another half of my life to live. But I feel like I’ve already lived three normal lifetimes. I was not only a champion in sports, but the friendships I’ve been able to build, the love I’ve received, the love I’ve had to give, and there are moments that will stay with my the rest of my life. I’ll have the best memories anyone ever had.”
and as far as Ismail goes there’s plenty of history between the two:
Back when they were brown belts, Wallid had a famous duel with Ralph Gracie at the Copa Rio Sport Center, with Ismail winning a referee decision. In 1993, Wallid scored another victory over a Gracie when he defeated Renzo Gracie.
What you might not know is that Wallid Ismail and Renzo Gracie engaged in a social media war recently.
Brazilian website Combate produced a documentary about the 10-year anniversary of Ryan Gracie’s death, and members of the Gracie family were upset with comments made by Ismail, Hugo Duarte and Eugenio Tadeu.
Ismail was known to have had a huge beef with Ryan Gracie.
It started in December 1999, when Ismail and Gracie challenged each other and had a shouting exchange in a beach in Rio de Janeiro. In October 2000, Ryan tried to attack Wallid from behind in a party, after which Wallid turned around a choked Gracie unconscious with a guillotine choke. Ryan agreed to fight Wallid at mixed martial arts match at World Extreme Cagefighting in January 2000; however, Ryan dropped out of the event, and instead proposed fighting in April 2001, but he had to drop again after being arrested for stabbing a man in a bar fight. Source wiki.
“They don’t know what respect is, so they will learn the tough way,” Renzo Gracie told MMA Fighting about why he decided to call Ismail out. “I want to beat him up. I’ll go after him and catch him in any corner. Just like that. And I’m being gentle.”
Ismail promptly responded:
“If he’s a man and not a coward, he will fight me the way men fight, in a ring,” Ismail told MMA Fighting. “Cowards call their friends and fight in groups. Renzo’s side (of the family) always did that. If he wants to fight, he says he’s coming, so come and fight.
”It will be just the same as last time, I’ll beat him up for the world to watch. But get the facts straight: I will be giving him a rematch. He’s the loser here.”
“Someone will call him to negotiate,” Ismail said. “He has to be a man. There’s no time for cowards who fight in streets and try to intimidate people. Let’s book this. No bulls**t. I’ll give him a rematch, but on my terms.”
To which Renzo responded:
“He can’t pay me to fight in that sh***y promotion without stealing money from a city budget or money from the government,” Gracie said. “I’m under contract with ONE Championship. I just want to beat Wallid and Hugo (Duarte), wherever they want. And there’s also Eugenio, that a******. But I don’t want his small promotion, he doesn’t pay no one. They said what they wanted (in the documentary), now I want to beat them. Just like that. In a room, in a gym, wherever. Tell him to be ready.”
However when Ariel Helwani asked Renzo about this match up Renzo confirmed Ismail was a no show and would not reply to his message.
