The much-anticipated rematch between Eddie Bravo and Royler Gracie took place this past weekend at Metamoris 3, where both jiu-jitsu phenoms fought to a draw. After the bout, "hysterical" UFC hall of famer Royce Gracie got into an altercation with Bravo, who explains his side of the story.
Back at Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) grappling tournament in 2003, Eddie Bravo did the impossible.
He was able to pull off a shocking upset win over Royler Gracie, the unbeaten son of the legendary Helio Gracie, locking in a triangle choke and falling to his knees shortly after in disbelief.
Fast forward to over 10 years later, the anticipated rematch was set for Metamoris 3 (results), which took place this past weekend (March 29, 2014) in Los Angeles. It wasn't as decisive this time around, as both grappling experts fought to an enthralling, 20-minute draw.
After the bout, UFC hall of famer Royce Gracie approached the 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu developer and told him that he appreciated Bravo's kind words after the second fight, but was upset with the amount of trash talk directed at the Gracie family.
That led to a shouting match.
Both men needed to be separated, and the fantasy match up already has the world of mixed martial arts (MMA) talking. Earlier today, Bravo stopped by the MMA Hour and spoke about the altercation, with many pundits siding with him on the fact that he "won" the fight.
"I thought I won. The headline on The Underground 20 minutes later was ‘Bravo dominates Gracie at Metamoris.' He actually thought it was a legit draw at the press conference. I was sitting there at the press conference saying, maybe I'm delusional. Then I got back on The Undergound, and it was 90 percent, Eddie Bravo won, and Eddie Bravo dominated.'"
Bravo explains what happened once he got backstage:
"After that match, after I got onstage, I was giving it up to the Gracies like I always have. I've always been super respectful of the Gracies. As a matter of fact, in my first book which came out in 2005, in the beginning, I write about them and give them the ultimate respect. I wanted to squash all these misconceptions that I'm against jiu-jitsu, and I'm a jiu-jitsu traitor, and all this shit. It's incredible how things get twisted. ‘Oh he disrespected me and I dropped the gi.' I dropped the gi for jiu-jitsu, to make jiu-jitsu look better in the UFC. The UFC got me into jiu-jitsu; jiu-jitsu didn't get me into the UFC.
I'm throwing up after the event, we went 20 hard minutes, I'm so emotional; my mom is there, I'm crying, it was just crazy. After it was all done, I felt like I had to throw up. I'm throwing up on the side of a tent... I hear this voice behind me, ‘It's good that you said these things about my family.' I'm like who is this? I turn around, wipe throw up off my mouth and it's Royce Gracie, and he goes, ‘It's good that you're saying what you say because you used to talk shit about my family.' And then I get up and I'm like ‘Dude, I never talked shit on your family, who is telling you these lies?' And I go in my book, like I told him, my book in 2005, I thank you, and I'm pointing, I have my finger like, ‘I thank you. I thank Royler. I thank your father,' and he thought that was disrespectful, because I was like pointing at him, he goes ‘Don't point your finger at me! Don't disrespect me!' And he gets in my face like he wants to fight me, and Jean Jacques Machado, he separates us. Man, Royce Gracie wants to kick my ass? How cool is that!"
Bravo is soaking it all in after a fun weekend and although he kept it very respectful on the Royce subject, he does take a little shot at the former UFC welterweight.
"He said I was throwing up because his brother dominated me, that's why I was throwing up. How hysterical is that?!"
Despite the interest from almost everyone who knows about this confrontation, Bravo shoots down any possibility of fighting Royce at any other Metamoris event. In fact, he feels there's a bit of resentment on organizer Ralek Gracie's part.
"No, you know what, I don't think Metamoris would ever want me back to tell the truth. That show got more praise than any other grappling event ever. I haven't heard from Ralek Gracie at all. He hasn't called me or texted me or thanked me. I haven't heard from Ralek at all. I think he might be mad at me. Isn't that kind of weird? He's mad at me for something. I blew his show up. I blew it out of the water....I don't think Metamoris will ever have me back."
As for a mixed martial arts (MMA) contest, there's no way Bravo fights the former UFC welterweight in the Octagon or anywhere else.
"He wants to do an MMA match with me, he doesn't want to do jiu-jitsu, he only wants to do MMA. I'm like, 'I don't even do MMA! What are you talking about?' Either way, it's hilarious that Royce fucking Gracie wants to beat me up."
Bravo also announced plans for his own show, The Eddie Bravo Invitational, a 16-man tournament, taking place on June 1st at the Florentine Gardens. It is a submission only event, targeted towards Latin American audiences.
For more on his Metamoris bout click here and here.