8. The Career of Royce Gracie, UFC 1-5 (+UFC 60)
Royce Gracie's career can be considered an underdog story in its own right. Royce was the first fighter to showcase how well-honed technique and strategy could overcome size and brute strength. To a casual spectator the match-ups of the diminutive Royce Gracie (176lb) against behemoths like Ken Shamrock (245lbs), Dan Severn (250lbs) and Gerard Gordeau (216lbs) would seem like fights certain to finish with Gracie's body lay unconscious on the mat, spittle perhaps drooling from his gaping mouth. But no. Gracie's sheer mastery of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was able to overcome his size disadvantage allowing him to win the UFC 1, 2 and 4 tournaments, defeating every opponent via submission. It has now emerged that the Gracie family could have submitted Royce's more physically imposing brother Rickson Gracie to fight in the tournament but their plan was to demonstrate the power of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by allowing the rather less strapping Royce to compete.
Sam Heard
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Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.
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