A few months back, 10x world champion Roger Gracie had announced his return to BJJ competition. He hadn’t competed in the Gi since his one time superfight with Buchecha at Metamoris in 2012. He hadn’t been active in the Gi since 2010 when he last won double gold at the worlds and left to focus on his MMA career. He returned by facing fellow BJJ legend Rodrigo Comprido as a super fight at the UFC fan expo in August.

Despite the downtime and the early takedown conseaded early in the match, he looked great against Comprido and finish with an armbar.

Roger spoke to his cousin Cesalina Gracie about his return to Jiu-Jitsu and his reasons for returning stating that it wasn’t about increasing the number of his gold medal titles (10), but for the love of Jiu-Jitsu.

Roger stated:

“My motivation to compete has nothing to do with increasing my number of world titles to have more than other fighters. That would be the wrong reason. I’ve never worried about numbers. It’s irrelevant to me if someone gets more world titles than me.

I want to come back mostly for fun. For the love that I have for Jiu-Jitsu. “

In an August interview with Dojjo, Roger talked about his return to training in the Gi:

Have you been studying new techniques or will you keep the same game?

No, I haven’t changed anything. I try to focus on my own training and I’ve been training a lot with my students. But I also get extra help from Bráulio Estima, his brother Victor and also Lagarto; we train here together every now and then. Besides that, I train with my students to get more physical fitness. I still train for the MMA, which I will probably fight during summer here in Europe, winter in Brazil. I think it will most likely be in September. I talked to the event organizers and they will confirm the event shortly.
Even though I am fighting Jiu-Jitsu, I haven’t left aside my MMA training, which also helps in my physical conditioning. I think it is not a problem to be focused on both fights at the same time.

What is your ultimate goal? Fighting in the World Championship?

I would like to. I intend to compete in a greater number of Jiu-Jitsu events. After this fight I want to go on and compete in some matched fights.
Next year, I want to fight in the world championship but before that I want to participate in other events, since I haven’t been competing for a long time. It’s been almost six years since my last Jiu-Jitsu competition. In the last five years, my only kimono fight was against Buchecha. One fight in five years is too little to be in shape to compete. I need to get back in pace, so I have to compete in Jiu-Jitsu fights before the world championship. I’m very excited about this next fight, and looking forward to fight more often.

How long do you think you will continue to fight?

It’s hard to tell exactly. Knowing when to stop is very important for an athlete. I am still young, not yet 34. I believe I can continue to fight until 36 or 37. It may be longer than that or not, but I don’t plan to go on for too long after that age. In Jiu-Jitsu, next year’s world championship will be the last I intend to compete. So I am enjoying the fact that I will return to Jiu-Jitsu, but I don’t intend to be in another world event after this next one.

What is your greatest motivation to go back to Jiu-Jitsu?

I love to the MMA challenge, but Jiu-Jitsu is an even greater pleasure. I have already competed in the ADCC and in the MMA but it is in Jiu-Jitsu that I feel true passion to fight and train for. I haven’t participated in championships for five years, but I never stopped training it every day.
I really want to feel the pleasure of competing in Jiu-Jitsu again.”

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