Kron Gracie returns to the octagon after a 19-month layoff this Saturday on the principle card of UFC 310 towards Bryce Mitchell, with each the opponent and card placement being a shock to lots of people.
Gracie appears to be like to snap a two-fight dropping streak as he faces a top-15 ranked UFC featherweight at T-Cellular Enviornment in Las Vegas. In his most up-to-date outing, Gracie misplaced a lopsided determination to Charles Jourdain at UFC 288 in March 2023. The 36-year-old Gracie admits his efficiency was not an excellent one, however that has led to a whole lot of backlash with regard to his bout with Mitchell being on the principle card over fights resembling Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling — a bout in the identical division that might produce a title challenger in 2025.
So far as Gracie is worried, the bout placement wasn’t his name, however he has a message to followers who’re sad with the UFC’s determination.
“I feel it’s humorous as a result of the individuals all the time have one thing to say,” Gracie informed MMA Preventing. “And it’s fascinating that individuals who would complain about one thing like which are most likely the people who find themselves not even paying for the pay-per-view, they’re streaming it totally free. You’re stealing the pay-per-view and so they’re those complaining about the place the battle is. If something, [Sterling vs. Evloev is] a free battle for the followers that they get to look at sooner. I don’t see why it’s such an enormous deal clearly as a result of I don’t actually care about that type of state of affairs.
“However I feel that the position of the battle is type of not a very powerful factor and I don’t care the place I’m at on the cardboard. The earlier, the higher actually. I get to go on with my life after that.”
In his first UFC bout, the son of PRIDE veteran Rickson Gracie submitted Alex Caceres within the first spherical of UFC on ESPN 1 in February 2019. Gracie returned eight months later towards longtime veteran Cub Swanson and misplaced a unanimous determination, earlier than returning for the Jourdain battle following an over three-year hiatus.
Now he faces Mitchell, and in Gracie’s opinion, if followers are upset about him being on the principle card, it’s a neater promote with Mitchell being the opposite half of the competition.
“Clearly the UFC is aware of what they’re doing and so they’re within the enterprise of constructing fights and matchmaking,” Gracie stated. “So nobody does it higher than them. I’m certain they didn’t do that on spitefulness. I’m certain that it is a enterprise deal and it’s what it’s, ? …
“I didn’t make this determination, and Bryce is an enormous title too. I’ve all the time had Bryce on my thoughts as a result of I all the time thought he was a possible opponent as a result of I knew he had an enormous title, so I don’t see why he wouldn’t be on the principle card.”
Following the loss to Jourdain, Gracie launched a press release on his Instagram tales discussing why the battle went the way in which that it did, and why he didn’t throw any punches within the 15-minute affair.
“In a lifetime of preventing, it’s all the time been a battle to the demise,” Gracie wrote. “Perceive the state of affairs and keen to restrict myself, even that being stated I threw no punches due to dangerous recommendation and tried to please the jiu-jitsu group two days earlier than my battle. First battle in my life I didn’t throw a punch, going again to my outdated methods.”
Gracie hoped to return to the octagon sooner, however he says “life acquired in the way in which,” and wouldn’t additional elaborate. However heading into his fourth octagon look, Gracie is steadfast that he’ll return to his old-fashioned ways in which have discovered him success over time in fight sports activities.
“Nicely I realized that lesson straight away,” Gracie defined. “I realized it as quickly because the battle was over. I’ve all the time fought, I’ve all the time been type of my [own] head coach and made my, my choices and every thing’s gone properly. In my complete life, even with jiu-jitsu, I used to be working my very own jiu-jitsu coaching and with MMA, I all the time had individuals round me serving to me and supporting me, however I finally made my very own choices and this was type of not my determination to make and I paid the worth.
“I might have preferred to come back again and prepare and present individuals a few of my abilities sooner, however that didn’t occur. So now we’re right here, over a 12 months later, I’m glad to have the ability to come out and present my abilities to the world and see what we are able to do.”
Mitchell makes his first octagon look of 2024. In his most up-to-date bout, “Thug Nasty” was on the receiving finish of one of the vital brutal and scary knockouts in UFC historical past by an overhand proper of Josh Emmett at UFC 296 in December 2023.
Gracie didn’t view Mitchell’s knockout loss as a wake-up name, however as yet one more stark reminder and acceptance of how harmful the battle recreation might be. No matter what occurred a 12 months in the past, Gracie is prepared for a recreation opponent on Saturday.
“Yeah, I imply, that is the battle enterprise, you might be able to count on something,” Gracie stated. “I grew up with this not as a spectator, I grew up with it being a actuality. For my dad and for my grandfather and for me, and for everybody round me, it was all the time a actuality of preventing. It’s by no means a joke. Some individuals suppose I take it too [seriously] and when it comes round, media persons are like, ‘Oh, why are you not glad and joking about this?’ As a result of I do know this. I do know the severity of the battle recreation So it’s not a shock to me that that occurs and I’m type of like actually conscious of that state of affairs. That’s why I’m not all the time so glad about preventing.
“However Bryce is a troublesome opponent. He’s a top-15 man, he’s a grappler, so perhaps it might be a special battle than the placing guys that I’ve been preventing. So we’ll see how he approaches this battle. We don’t know if he’s going to run away, or if he’s gonna attempt to assault me, and I feel it’s only a good matchup.
“I feel generally, the higher the blokes get, the higher the battle’s going to get, and that might be good or dangerous for me, however I feel that’s gonna create a greater battle. To not canine Jourdain or something, and I had a shitty efficiency, however he would simply run away. He was afraid of me. So it’s like, when somebody’s not keen to battle as a lot as I’m, it’s going to make a tough battle it doesn’t matter what.”
