Bellator 198’s plethora of submissions was music to Royce Gracie’s ears on Saturday.
Chicago, IL — Royce Gracie is arguably the man who started it all. When it comes to modern MMA, well, he’s the man it can all be traced back to, in the cage anyway. Winner of UFC 1, 2, and 4, Gracie was last seen in action against old rival Ken Shamrock a couple of years back, under the Bellator MMA banner. Since then, he has served in an ambassador role for the Scott Coker led promotion — and he couldn’t resist commenting on the action at Bellator 198 in Chicago on Saturday.
The main card at the AllState Arena saw four submission finishes, three in the first round. It was an incredible effort by the submission specialists in the line-up, something Gracie was quick to point out could have gone either way. “Tomorrow, a lot of the standup fighters are going to say ‘well, the rulers favor the grapplers,'” Gracie told those in attendence, including Cageside Press. “But then next week, everybody gets knocked out, the grapplers are going to say ‘the rules favor the standup fighters.’ The rules don’t change. They’re the same. It’s a question of strategy. Tonight, you guys [grapplers] were using good strategy. So you were able to finish everybody.”
Then there was the performance of Neiman Gracie, one of the few active Gracie’s still tearing things up in the cage. Neiman improved to 8-0 with a second round arm triangle choke of Javier Torres at Bellator 198. With the win, it seems he’s inching ever closer to a title shot in the crowded 170lb division, where Rory MacDonald currently reigns.
On Neiman’s performance, Royce said that “he’s a Gracie, man. He trains for this. He gets ready, he knows the grappling game, he knows how to use the strategy, and he was able to deliver.” Deliver he did, his seventh finish in eight fights. For Royce, only time is between Neiman and an eventual title shot.
“It’s time. It’s time,” Royce said on what Neiman needed to make it to the top. “As a Gracie, we don’t want him to cut the line and go straight for the title. We want him to climb the ladder like everyone else, so there’s no excuse.”
That old school mentality served Royce Gracie well through a career spanning two decades. Time will tell if it pays off for Neiman as well, but he’s on the right track. Meanwhile, jiu-jitsu was the story at Bellator 198, back in the spotlight after what feels like ages away.
