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Gracie MMA Fighters- The Greatest Dynasty in MMA

Carlos Gracie

Carlos Gracie is considered to be the patriarch of that family and the founder of the well-known Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy. Carlos earned one of the highest achievements in the grappling world, which is being a 10th-degree red belt.

He perfected his technique so much that he challenged anyone willing to test their combat skills against him. Reportedly, Carlos never lost, and he became famous throughout Brazil. What’s interesting is that he had 21 children, and 13 of them became black belts in jiu-jitsu.

Helio Gracie

Helio was Carlos Gracie’s brother and one of the founders of Gracie jiu-jitsu. As a kid, Helio was physically weak, and his lack of strength prevented him from successfully performing the grappling skills that he had memorized while watching his brother Carlos’s jiu-jitsu classes.

Helio had to alter the techniques he knew because of his lack of physical prowess, and that’s basically how Gracie jiu-jitsu was born. Like his brother, Helio was also a 10th-degree red belt.

Helio competed in mixed martial arts (MMA), and over the years, he amassed 10 wins and 3 losses. Although he was successful in MMA, his proudest achievement was when he was in his son Royce’s corner when he won the first UFC event ever, the UFC 1.

Renzo Gracie

Another Gracie MMA fighter is Renzo Gracie. He’s a 6th-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and a multiple-time champion of Brazil.

Renzo might not have the best win-to-loss ratio (13-8), but he beat notable MMA fighters like Oleg Taktarov, Frank Shamrock, and Pat Miletich. Over the course of his career in MMA, he participated in fighting promotions such as the UFC, PRIDE FC, One Championship, and Rings.

In addition to his career, Renzo trained many legendary names in the MMA world, including Georges St-Pierre, Chris Weidman, and Frankie Edgar. After retiring from fighting, he opened a jiu-jitsu school in Manhattan, New York.

Image taken from YouTube.

Royce Gracie

The next member of this famous family is Royce Gracie. He’s a 7th-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and well-known in the MMA community as a sensational fighter. Moreover, he earned the reputation of fighting against physically larger opponents and his ability to win fights even when it seemed like he could be on the verge of defeat.

He participated in the first five UFC events in the mid-90s. Out of those 5 events, he won 3 and submitted 3 opponents in each of those 3 events. Throughout his accomplished career, Royce Gracie beat numerous fighters like Dan Severn, Kazushi Sakuraba, and Ken Shamrock.

Image taken from YouTube.

Rickson Gracie

Rickson Gracie, the son of Helio Gracie, is another notable member of this jiu-jitsu dynasty. He’s a multiple world champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu as well as an 8th-degree coral belt. Rickson has also won a world title in samba, and a Brazilian Freestyle wrestling title as well.

Rickson has fought in the fighting promotions Vale Tudo Japan, IE, and Pride FC too. Despite the fact that he only had 11 fights, it’s quite impressive that he didn’t lose a single fight and finished all of his fights, either by knockout or a sensational submission.

Kron Gracie

Kron Gracie is the youngest member of the Gracie family, in this post, being born in 1988. He had big shoes to fill since he’s Rickson’s son and the grandson of Helio Gracie, too. It’s safe to say that Gracie didn’t disappoint his family members. He’s a multiple champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and an accomplished MMA fighter.

When it comes to his career in mixed martial arts, so far, Kron has 5 wins and 2 losses. Of all of those 5 wins, Kron finished all via submission. He has fought in famous MMA promotions such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Rizin.

Image taken from YouTube.

Top 5 MMA Submission Artists Of All Time

#5 – Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

MMA Fights Won By Submission: 21

Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira takes the No. 5 spot on the list of the greatest submission specialists in Mixed Martial Arts history. He was one of the most feared grapplers in MMA, and he fought in numerous MMA organizations, such as Extreme Fighting, PRIDE, UFC, and Rings. Nogueira was known for his world-class Brazilian jiujitsu skills, excellent boxing skills as well as a solid takedown game.

“Minotauro” won 21 fights via submission. His signature submission techniques were armbars and triangles, but he also won fights via other techniques like the guillotine choke, anaconda choke, and crucifix.

Throughout his career, he beat many elite MMA fighters, including Mark Coleman, Semmy Schilt, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Dan Henderson, Randy Couture, and many others. Nogueira was the PRIDE FC Heavyweight and Interim UFC Heavyweight champion. In 2016, Nogueira was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

#4 – Shinya Aoki

MMA Fights Won By Submission: 31

Next up, we have the legendary Japanese submission specialist Shinya Aoki. He entered the fighting scene in 2003 and is widely regarded as one of the finest submission specialists who’ve ever fought in the octagon. He’s a black belt in Brazilian jiujitsu and judo. Although Aoki didn’t compete in the UFC, he fought in other major fighting promotions like DREAM, ONE, Strikeforce, etc.

Aoki was so dangerous as a fighter because of his ability to pull submissions from any position imaginable. During his career, he won via submission techniques such as twister, neck crank, triangle, brabo choke, and many others. Out of his 48 wins, Aoki won 31 times via submission. He won fights against formidable fighters like Eddie Alvarez, Antonio Mckee, Kazushi Sakuraba, Vitor Ribeiro, etc.

Aoki was the DREAM Lightweight champion and a two-time ONE champion of the lightweight division.

#3 – Demian Maia

MMA Fights Won By Submission: 14

Demian Maia was one of the best in the MMA world in terms of ground game and submissions. He fought for two decades and, throughout his career, amassed 14 submissions. He ranks third on the all-time list of most wins via submission (11) in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). In addition to the UFC, he fought in SC1, GFC, and Tormenta en el Ring.

Demian Maia is a Brazilian jiujitsu third-degree black belt, and on numerous occasions, he showed his high-level jiujitsu skills.

Out of 28 wins, 14 of them were via submission. Maia submitted his opponents using various techniques such as the rear-naked choke, neck crank, triangle choke, guillotine choke, and so on. He won against phenomenal MMA fighters like Chael Sonnen, Carlos Condit, Jorge Masvidal, Ben Askren, etc.

#2 – Royce Gracie

MMA Fights Won By Submission: 11

The second MMA fighter on the list of the top 5 submission artists in history is Royce Gracie, a member of the famous jiujitsu family who introduced jiujitsu into the MMA world. Gracie was known for beating much bigger opponents than him and winning fights even when it seemed like he would lose.

Royce fought in the 1990s in the first five events that the UFC held. Out of those five events, Royce won three. Moreover, to win the tournament, you have to beat three opponents. So, in those three events that Gracie won, he submitted all nine fighters! A truly astonishing feat.

He submitted his opponents via lapel choke, smother choke, armbar, rear-naked choke, etc. Royce beat MMA legends like Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, and Kazushi Sakuraba.

#1 – Charles Oliveira

MMA Fights Won By Submission: 21

One of the greatest submission artists to ever step into the octagon is the legendary Brazilian—Charles “do Bronx” Oliveira. He’s a truly lethal grappler and one of the best at finishing fights via submission. Despite being a great grappler, he also took his kickboxing to another level in the last couple of years.

Oliveira is the UFC’s number-one fighter when it comes to winning by submission (16). That record will surely be hard to break.

Over the course of his career, Oliveira had many ups and downs. From August 2015 up until December 2017, Oliveira lost 4 out of 6 fights, and he was pretty close to exiting the UFC. However, after those six fights, Oliveira bounced back. He won 11 fights in a row and became the UFC Lightweight champion, beating the likes of Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje.

Oliveira has been in the UFC since 2010, and his impressive resume will surely earn him a spot in the prestigious UFC Hall of Fame.

Who Is The Best Football Referee Ever? – Ranking The Top 5

#5 – Bjorn Kuipers

No.5 on the list of the best football referees in history is the legendary Dutchman Bjorn Kuipers. He got his FIFA badge in 2006 and was an official until 2021. Moreover, Kuipers was also a referee of the UEFA Elite Group from 2006 until 2021.

He began his career as a referee in the second-best Dutch league in 2002, and in 2005, he started refereeing soccer games in the Dutch top-tier league—Eredivisie. The rest is history.

He has officiated numerous big football games, like the 2011 UEFA Super Cup Final, the 2013 UEFA Europa League Final, and the 2014 UEFA Champions League Final. When it comes to officiating World Cup games, he was the main referee at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup Final and the fourth official in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final.

Bjorn Kuipers was known to be a fair official who didn’t make many controversial decisions during his successful career as a football referee.

Apart from being a referee, Kuipers owned a supermarket.

#4 – Kim Milton Nielsen

Kim Milton Nielsen takes the fourth spot on the list of the best football referees of all-time. Standing at 6’ 6”, this towering Danish referee was an authoritative figure not only because of his immense height but because he was unbiased and unwavering. He was listed as a FIFA referee from 1988 until 2006, when he reached the age limit 45.

During his illustrious career as an official, he was the main referee in 154 international matches and 53 UEFA Champions League games as well. Nielsen also officiated many Danish top-flight games.

He was the referee in more than a few important football games, like a couple of 1998 World Cup games, the 2002 FIFA World Cup semi-final, and the 2004 UEFA Champions League Final.

Besides his career as a referee, Nielsen was an IT manager.

#3 – Howard Webb

Without a doubt, the best and most famous soccer referee from England is Howard Webb. Many football fans consider him the greatest Premier League official ever. Webb was mainly known for having a calm demeanor and controlling heated situations in many football matches he officiated.

His successful refereeing career began in 2003 in the Premier League, where he officiated games until 2014. In 2005, he was listed as a FIFA referee, and in 2014, he retired.

Howard Webb refereed many prestigious football events in England, such as the 2005 Community Shield, the 2007 League Cup Final, and the 2009 FA Cup Final.

As for his high-profile international games, Howard Webb officiated the 2010 World Cup Final and the 2010 Champions League Final.

While being a referee, Webb issued 534 yellow cards and 68 red cards in 1694 games.

Aside from his career as an official, Howard Webb was a police officer.

#2 – Markus Merk

Markus Merk is a refereeing icon hailing from Germany. In his career, he put up some impressive records. He became the youngest referee in the Bundesliga, the no.1 league in Germany. Furthermore, he officiated the most games in that league.

Merk is known as one of the fittest referees in soccer history since he regularly ran marathons and even competed in triathlon.

He has had a tremendous career as an official since he was a referee in more than a few prestigious football matches, such as the 1997 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup Final, the Champions League Final in 2003, and the 2004 UEFA EURO Final.

Marcus has amassed many accolades during his time as a professional referee, winning the award for being the best FIFA referee and the best German referee six times.

After 20 years as an official, in 2008, Merk retired when he reached the age limit of 45.

Apart from being a referee, Merk was a dentist.

#1 – Pierluigi Collina

Undeniably, Pierluigi Collina is the best soccer referee who ever stepped onto a football pitch. The Italian’s authority on the field was never questioned, and many players never dared to swear at him or even raise their voices in his presence.

He began his refereeing career in 1991 when he started officiating Seria A games. In 1995, he was listed as a FIFA Referee. He was the referee at the 1996 Olympic Football Final for Men a year later. Collina’s track record boasts numerous prominent football matches like the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final and 2002 World Cup Final.

His accolades speak for themselves since he won the IFFHS award for the best referee in the world six times.

Collina retired in 2005, and his legacy as a referee will forever be etched in football’s history.

After his career, he became a consultant for the UEFA Referees Committee.

Featured image author: MojNews.CC BY 4.0.