What happened between Royce Gracie and Eddie Bravo at Metamoris III?
Chael Sonnen had a chance to talk with Royce Gracie about these and other topics…

Royce Gracie Beef With Eddie Bravo: What Happened?

Chael was chatting in a van with Royce Gracie, and used that opportunity to first ask him: „A number of years ago, you got into a dust-up at Metamoris with Eddie Bravo. What was that all about?” And Royce answered: „Man, it got nothing to do with what you think and what everybody else thinks.“

He said, Chael recounts, that people think he had a problem with Eddie because he created a Rubber Guard, or because he renamed moves… It had nothing to do with that; what’s more, Royce had words of praise for Eddie’s marketing and business success.
However, Royce had also said that he didn’t like some of the images that Eddie was portraying to the BJJ community. And one of those portrayals was that Eddie once said that he cleans his mats with a Gi.

That was something that bothered Royce. So, the night when Eddie competed against Royler Gracie, Royce came into the backstage and wanted to confront Eddie about it – not to make it into anything physical, but to simply have it settled.

Chael says that Royce was trying to make a point out of this story: that yes, their Gracie family might seem civilized, but they most certainly are keeping track of things.

There actually exists footage of the incident, and it belongs to Bobby Razak, the famous BJJ videographer but he refuses to release it…

Let’s backtrack to what happened before that…

At Metamoris 3 in 2014, Eddie Bravo and Royler Gracie put on a riveting 20-minute sport jiu-jitsu match that was a rematch of their famous 2003 match at ADCC.

Although the fight ended in a draw, as neither fighter submitted the other in the time-limit, Bravo controlled more of the match with his sweeps and submission attempts.

The fight took place with a live audience and was captured on video and live streamed on the internet, but what took place after the match was something unanticipated.

According to various backstage eyewitness reports, Royce Gracie confronted Bravo backstage after the bout came to an end.

From the Underground:

The Underground spoke to a person who wished to remain anonymous, but was back stage at the event. After exhausting himself for the 20-minute match, Bravo left the stage and proceeded to throw up as his adrenaline dumped. It was then that UFC Hall of Famer Royce Gracie approached Bravo and began to berate him.

Allegedly, Gracie threatened to kick Bravo’s ass because he believed that Bravo disrespected his brother Royler, his family, and his father Helio. Bravo was apparently caught off guard by the attack, and friend and trainer Jean Jacques Machado intervened to keep the situation from escalating.

 

Eddie Bravo vomiting backstage and looking at Royce on his right side

Bravo after the match gave a speech saying:

“None of this would be possible without Jigoro Kano (creator of Judo), my master Jean Jacques Machado, Carlos Gracie and Helio Gracie. I’m a Gracie. We are all Gracies.”

As soon as he said that, Royler Gracie’s expression changed. This may have been due to the fact that he mentioned Helio Gracie (Royler’s father) last.

Royler and Eddie then had a tense talk off microphone.

Eddie has just confirmed on his podcast (Eddie Bravo radio) what Royler said to him after his speech was:

“We can work together but you have to quit promoting weed to young kids” Eddie just said ok.

Eddie said in his defense that he’s never promoted smoking marijuana to kids. In fact, he said:

“I suggest people don’t try smoking until later life…Into their late 20’s.”

According to Bravo, Royce liked what Bravo said on stage, but accused Eddie of talking bad about the family in the past. When Eddie took offense at that, Royce got fired up and got in his face and jean Jacques Machado intervened before things got out of hand.

In an article with mmamania.com Bravo talked about what was said and how he thought that it was hilarious that Royce Gracie challenged him to a fight when he doesn’t even do MMA.

Here are a few Eddie Bravo quotes from the article:

• “He wants to do an MMA match with me, he doesn’t want to do jiu-jitsu, he only wants to do MMA. I’m like, ‘I don’t even do MMA! What are you talking about?’ Either way, it’s hilarious that Royce f*cking Gracie wants to beat me up.”

Eddie Bravo

Royce Gracie recently said said as transcribed by Guilherme Cruz for MMAFighting that his real reason for his getting in Eddie’s face was the fact that Bravo promoted the use of Marijuana. He also discussed how he would like to face Bravo in an MMA fight:

• “I haven’t got any offers, but I don’t compete in grappling rules,” said . “I’m a MMA fighter, man. I’m a MMA fighter, all the way.”
• “I’m pretty much done fighting. With Eddie Bravo, it’s personal. … (Does Metamoris) allow punches to the face? Do this rubber guard stuff and I’ll punch you in the nose.”
• “You’re gonna send your kids to learn from a guy that tells everybody that it’s okay to do drugs? It’s ok to drink alcohol? Sorry, man. If you wanna do it in private, do it in private. I have no problem with that. But I can never send my kid to someone that praises alcohol and drugs. Is that what you want your kids to learn? It’s okay to smoke pot? ‘Oh, pot is not a drug.’ So walk into a police station with a pound of pot and tell the cops it’s not a drug. Come on.”
• “People that don’t know and hear about it, they start to think that all the people that do jiu-jitsu smokes pot, is a drug addict. Here I am fighting for something good, and the guy is fighting for something bad, in my point of view. I can’t agree with that, what he represents. Nothing to do with his jiu-jitsu, his school. If you want to do something like that, do it in private. Keep it to yourself.”