Tag: Royce Gracie

John McCarthy names his MMA Mount Rushmore, which includes Ronda Rousey

John McCarthy went for an old-school theme when naming his MMA Mount Rushmore but included the biggest star in women’s MMA history.

John McCarthy went for an old-school theme when naming his MMA Mount Rushmore.

McCarthy, a former official who now works as a fight analyst and commentator for Bellator, focused on pioneers of the sport when creating his list.

He started out with [autotag]Royce Gracie[/autotag], whom both UFC president Dana White and UFC Hall of Famer Bas Rutten included in their lists. He credits Gracie for introducing grappling into the world of MMA as well as his ability to submit opponents time and time again.

“I agree totally with Dana in his one of Royce Gracie,” McCarthy told MMA Junkie. “You can’t have a Mount Rushmore without the guy that made people go, ‘Whoa, who is that guy? What is he doing?’ Because back then, I was maybe one of 120 students of Gracie jiu-jitsu and everyone back then, it was all about kicking and punching, standup fighting – that was it. If you were a grappler, you were an idiot. So what Royce did in winning the first couple of UFCs is he changed the martial arts world.”

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Also on his list is former UFC bantamweight queen [autotag]Ronda Rousey[/autotag]. While McCarthy acknowledged that current UFC featherweight and bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes is one of the greatest female fighters of all time, he thinks few have had the impact that Rousey has had in changing the perception of women’s MMA.

“If I was going to put a female fighter, I have to put the female fighter that changed the sport,” McCarthy said. “Who was it that all of a sudden made it to where people were interested in women’s fighting? You can put Gina Carano. Gina was absolutely responsible for people starting to tune into female fighting and if you take it one step further, who made it cool to be a female fighter? Who made it mainstream for women? Who made it to where everyone wanted to put their eyes on it? It’s Ronda Rousey.

“You cannot like her, you cannot like the way she ended her career or whatever – it doesn’t matter. She changed the sport of MMA for women fighters, so that’s what I look at.”

The third fighter McCarthy included is former UFC light heavyweight and two-time heavyweight champion Randy Couture, whom McCarthy praised for his fight IQ.

“He changed the sport as far as he was the first guy to bring in game planning,” McCarthy said. “He was the one to bring in the entire package. The cardio like Frank Shamrock did and the game planning and everything, but the difference between Frank and Randy is that Randy went and won the heavyweight championship. He won the light heavyweight championship and he won those multiple times.

“It was his progression in the sport and again, a person that started to bring the attention of mainstream onto our sport.”

Finally, McCarthy included one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, Fedor Emelianenko. Emelianenko went on an incredible 27-fight unbeaten run, which included capturing the PRIDE heavyweight title.

“Based upon the fact that he was so good for so long, so unbeaten for so long and in a different promotion in PRIDE, he created a system of fighting,” McCarthy said. “Mark Coleman is the guy we give credit to as the godfather of ground and pound. Fedor was the one that perfected it. He was the one that learned how to hit not only just shots, but heavy shots that damaged the opponent and made them have to quit.”

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Dana White’s MMA Mount Rushmore includes Jon Jones and three interesting choices

UFC president Dana White had to really give it some thought before revealing the four fighters on his Mount Rushmore.

We can debate this question question forever: Who is the MMA Mountrushmore? In other words, the four greatest fighters of all time.

The answer, of course, is subjective and likely depends on how you define “greatest.” Is your criteria heavy on wins and losses? Is it about championships or records? How does longevity factor in? Do you put a lot of weight on how a fighter impacted the sport in a general sense?

When it comes to answering this loaded question, perhaps nobody is more qualified than Dana White, who’s worked with, knows personally and has watched up close the best of the best during his nearly 20 years as UFC president.

White had to really give it some thought when he was asked for his MMA Mount Rushmore on “The Schmozone Podcast.”

“If you’re talking about a Mount Rushmore where the heads are carved in stone forever, you have to go Royce Gracie. No-brainer, have to do that,” White said. “Amanda Nunes. Has to be Amanda Nunes, greatest female fighter ever.”

Those two names came out of White’s mouth quickly. But the other two?

“The other two are tough,” White said, before ultimately rounding out his MMA Mount Rushmore.

“I would have to go with a Jon Jones,” he continued. “The guy’s never been beat, and what’s more amazing about him going undefeated – which is incredibly amazing because very few people do it in the sport – is the things that he’s done to himself outside of the octagon, and he still hasn’t been beat. …

“No. 4 on the Mount Rushmore, I guess you’d have to go with Chuck Liddell. At the point in time, he was as big a star as ever. It’s almost a coin flip between Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin, and they’re both from the same show, the first season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ Chuck became a massive star, was the highest paid guy in the company at the time and all that stuff.”

So there you have it. Dana White’s MMA Mount Rushmore consists of [autotag]Royce Gracie[/autotag], [autotag]Amanda Nunes[/autotag], [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag], and [autotag]Chuck Liddell[/autotag].

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For what it’s worth, White did go on to acknowledge that [autotag]Georges St-Pierre[/autotag] and [autotag]Anderson Silva[/autotag], in addition to their in-cage accolades, did huge things for the growth of MMA in Canada and Brazil, respectively.

Some thoughts:

  • Anyone’s Mount Rushmore that doesn’t include GSP (the GOAT) is a crime. Sorry, but that has to be said.
  • The fact that neither of White’s two biggest cash cows, [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] and [autotag]Ronda Rousey[/autotag], are included is quite shocking. Thought for sure at least one of them would make it.
  • The fact that Gracie was a “no-brainer” and the first person he named is actually quite awesome.
  • Nunes’ inclusion is surprising, but it’s definitely time to stop talking about her in terms of being the greatest female fighter of all time and just consider her among the all-time greats period.
  • So Jones is on White’s Mount Rushmore, but he’s not worth “Deontay Wilder money.” OK …

What do you think of Dana White’s MMA Mount Rushmore? Let us know in the poll below:

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Combat Rewind, May 1: An iconic passing of the torch, after 90 minutes of battle

Check out the best highlights from this day in history with MMA Junkie’s “Combat Rewind.”

There’s “Flashback Friday” and “Throwback Thursday” (and Tuesday, too, if you want). But at MMA Junkie, we figured why not expand that to every day?

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year. It’s a look back at history, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives, featuring stellar finishes and classic moments in MMA and beyond on their anniversaries.

So kick back and relive the following bits of greatness in the video above:

Fight footage courtesy of UFC Fight Pass, the UFC’s official digital subscription service, which is currently offering a seven-day free trial. UFC Fight Pass gives fans access to exclusive live UFC events and fights, exclusive live MMA and combat sports events from around the world, exclusive original and behind the scenes content and unprecedented 24-7 access to the world’s biggest fight library.

Combat rewind – May 1

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives.

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives.

Bellator hosts Royce Gracie jiu-jitsu seminar at 6 p.m. ET

One of the sport’s all-time greats wants to help alleviate some of your lockdown boredom.

MMA pioneer [autotag]Royce Gracie[/autotag], a UFC Hall of Famer who these days works with Bellator, will host an online jiu-jitsu seminar Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET (3 p.m. PT). Gracie is considered one of the best jiu-jitsu practitioners in MMA history.

The seminar will stream live on Bellator’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter social media outlets.

The 53-year-old Brazilian won three of the first four UFC tournaments, regularly beating men much larger and stronger than him thanks to the famed Gracie family jiu-jitsu. His first 11 MMA wins all came by submission.

After a retirement of nearly nine years, Gracie returned in February 2016 and stopped Ken Shamrock with a first-round TKO at Bellator 149 in Houston in a trilogy fight. He’s been inactive since then.

Check out Gracie’s seminar on Bellator’s Facebook, Instagram or Twitter pages. And in the meantime, check out Gracie in the video above when he took part in Bellator’s USO Tour in Honolulu this past December, including a seminar for troops there.

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