Kron Gracie recently reflected on his latest professional MMA setback – a unanimous decision loss to Charles Jourdain at UFC 288.

After building an undefeated record through the regional MMA circuit and RIZIN FF, Gracie made a splash with a successful UFC debut in 2019.
However, his momentum stopped when he dropped a decision to Cub Swanson in his very next fight.

That loss led Gracie to take a lengthy hiatus from the sport, stepping away from competition for nearly four years.
Fans and analysts speculated about his potential return, hoping his time away was spent evolving his game.

But when he finally returned at UFC 288, the performance didn’t meet expectations.
Now, preparing for a fight against Bryce Mitchell at UFC 310, Gracie opened up about the challenges he faced leading up to his loss to Jourdain:

I feel like it was a really bad performance.

I felt a lot of pressure from the Jiu-Jitsu community and a lot of people in my family, with everybody kind of saying: “You should just use Jiu-Jitsu, and I don’t need to box, and I don’t need to strike.”

It was the first time in my life where I kind of listened to people and tried to do something to please a bunch of people around me.

Gracie also shared how the views of certain family members influenced his fight preparation in a way that he now regrets:

I was under strict orders to not punch, so that was a bad idea.