After his second pro win, in front of his friends at Bellator 222 in New York City, Robson Gracie Jr. says that he prefers staying relaxed ahead of fights.
New York, NY — Coming out of Bellator 222 in New York, Robson Gracie Jr. is 2-0 as a professional mixed martial artist. Not a bad start to his MMA (and Bellator) career. Living up to the Gracie family name, both wins have come via submission. Friday night at Madison Square Garden, however, things felt a little different than his debut.
“I’m feeling amazing. The energy of the crowd was good, because it was kind of early,” Gracie told reporters including Cageside Press following the win, which came by first round arm-bar over Oscar Vera. “So the match was not [in front of a] full house. It was just my friends. It was just supporters. So I could hear everybody, I could look at everybody who screamed my name, I could see [them]. It was amazing.”
The big difference between Friday and his first fight? Being “much more comfortable,” Gracie said of the fight in comparison to his debut. “Inside the cage was the same, but outside was a little more relaxed. I have a lot of friends here, so I was chilling the whole time, laughing. In Hawaii, it was more concentrating. It was nine days concentrating, just me, one corner.”
“Sometimes, you need to forget about the fight,” he added. Later, he told Cageside Press that he greatly prefers being relaxed before a fight. “My friends here, they joke all the time. Because they are not fighters,” he explained. He likes having them around, even though “they don’t know nothing about fighting, they don’t know about concentration. Man, sometimes I get angry with them. ‘Motherf*ckers, I need to sleep. Shut up! I need to sleep a little bit, so stop the jokes.’ They say ‘okay okay.'” They stay at my house. New York apartments are kind of small, so it’s fun.”
In an upbeat mood, Gracie is hoping to get back in the cage quickly. “I’m healthy, I want to fight as soon as possible.” He floated Bellator’s next trip to Italy, in Milan, as an option, though noted he’ll have to discuss things with his coaches. Still, “my desire is to fight tomorrow.”
Watch the full post-fight press scrum with Robson Gracie Jr. at Bellator 222 above!
