Royce Gracie: Early Life, Controversy & Net Worth

Royce Gracie is a former professional Brazilian mixed martial artist. Further, he is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and one of the most influential people in MMA history.

Likewise, he is a member of the Gracie family, who is solely responsible for creating the self-defense martial arts system of Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu.

Hence, due to this, Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is also knowns as Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Furthermore, he is the primary reason for the popularity of BJJ in modern MMA.

Through his MMA bouts, he showcased the efficacy of BJJ, transforming the sports from punches and kicks to grappling and ground fighting.

Moreover, his success story began after fighting professionally in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Additionally, he won UFC 1, UFC 2, and UFC 4.

Therefore, with these victories, he became the World Light Heavyweight Jiu-Jitsu Champion.

Being outmatched by his opponent in size and height, he still managed to secure a victory. In fact, he is the only MMA fighter to win 4 bouts in a single tournament at UFC 2.

Thus, with his impact, he was the inaugural Hall of Famer in 2003. Similarly, in 2008, Inside MMA named him the third-greatest mixed martial artist of all time.

Quick Facts

Royce Gracie: Early Life, Family, and Education

Royce was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Hélio and Isabel Gracie.

Further, he has three brothers, two sisters, and three half-brothers from his father.

Further, his father and elder brother Carlos are the founders of modern Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

As a result, the Gracie family is the most influential in martial arts history.

Hence, due to his family being so closely involved in martial arts, he started training early. Initially, he started training just for fun along with his father through games.

However, he later began his formal class and started competing in tournaments. He claims that his father never pushed his children to learn martial art until they wanted to do so.

Thus, after showing a keen interest, he started training under his father.

Furthermore, at age 16, he earned his blue belt, and within 2 years, he was promoted to black belts.

Moreover, after graduating from high school, he moved to the United States to live with his brother, Rorion.

The duo started providing private lessons in their garage, which sometimes stretched to a ten-hour span.

This inspired them to open an academy named Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy two years later.

Royce Gracie: Age, Height, and Weight

The MMA fighter was born on 12 December 1966.

Hence, he is 57 Years Old. Being a former athlete, he is very disciplined about his health and diet.

As a result, Royce hits the gym quite frequently and has a very toned physique.

Furthermore, Gracie is 6 feet tall and weighs 176 lb, i.e., 80 kg.

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Royce Gracie: MMA Career

UFC 1, First Carrer Draw, and Challenge Letter

The Gracie family had a tradition of issuing a fighting invitation. Further, this tradition has become very popular amongst followers of the Gracie family.

Hence, analyzing the trend, Royce’s elder brother Rorion came up with the idea of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As a result, he co-created UFC with a promoter named Art Davie.

Initially, Davie wanted UFC to have an inter-discipline contest to find the best form of martial art. However, Rorion wanted to assert the dominance of BJJ.

Similarly, Rickson, the best fighter from the Gracie family, was set to represent UFC 1.

However, Hélio decides to send Royce, stating that even a weaker BJJ practitioner can defeat stronger fighters from other disciplines.

Career Losses and Retirement

After his draw, he left UFC and didn’t pursue fights for some time.

Finally, however, news broke out he was going to sign with Pride MMA after two years of leaving UFC.

Controversy

Failed Drug Test

Following the rematch with Sakuraba, he tested positive for Nandrolone, an anabolic steroid. The California State Athletic Commission declared this after 12 days of the match.

Further, CSAC claimed that the normal person could produce about 2 ng/ml of Nandrolone. Similarly, an athlete which intense training might have up to 6 ng/ml of Nandrolone.

However, Gracie had a 50 ng/ml level, which was so high that it couldn’t be submitted to the laboratory’s calibrator.

As a result, CSAC fined him $2,500 alongside a year suspension from MMA. Furthermore, due to the lack of rules during this time, the victory against Sakuraba was not overturned.

Moreover, after two years, he declined the allegation in an online interview. He explicitly mentioned his weight was only increased by 2 pounds for the fight with Sakuraba.

However, experts disputed his comments as they mentioned he had gained 13 pounds in a year.

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An altercation with Nephews and Eddie Bravo

After years of being associated with the Gracie family, he had a traditional thought process. Hence, when his nephew started the concept of teaching jiujitsu online, he criticized the idea.

Further, he added, saying that it was a disgrace to the Gracie family’s norms and values. His nephews, Rener Gracie and Ryron Gracie, disapproved of his statement.

Hence, they responded by saying that their uncle doesn’t understand the concept of an online class.

However, he still disapproves of their concept and eagers fighters to follow the tradition.

Likewise, Royce has been very vocal in criticizing fellow fighter and practitioner Eddie Bravo.

The criticism started after a draw between the fighters in a grappling match at Metamoris 3. Furthermore, Royce has accused Bravo of disrespecting his family.

Similarly, he disapproves of the advice given by Bravo on lifestyle choices for learning Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu. Due to this altercation, there remains bad blood between them.

Book

He established the foundation of Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu through his spectacular performance in MMA bouts.

This made the fighting system quickly popular. Hence, many fighters began to show up at their door to learn this technique.

As a result, Royce took advantage of the demand and published a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Self-Defense Techniques book.

Further, the book was an instant hit, which made the BJJ more famous and outreached. He then went on to publish more books.

Those books are Ultimate Fighting Techniques,  Ultimate Fighting Techniques Volume 2: Fighting from the Bottom, and Superfit: Royce Gracie’s Ultimate Martial Arts Fitness and Nutrition Guide.

Marriage and Kids

Royce Gracie is unmarried as of now. However, he was previously married to a podiatrist Marianne Cuttic in 1994.

Together the couple has four beautiful children; Khonry, Khor, Kheydon, and a daughter Kharianna.

Further, Khonry is also a professional MMA fighter who trains under his father.

Currently, he is signed with Bellator MMA, where he fights in the welterweight division.

Moreover, Khor is Gay and lives with his boyfriend, Jesse Silver. Additionally, he is not shy about his sexuality and is proud to be a part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Likewise, the fighter’s third son, Kheydon, is a scientist who recently graduated from California Polytechnic State University. Kharianna is the only daughter of Royce, who is still in high school.

Besides that, the couple got divorced in 2016, citing irreconcilable differences. Furthermore, Gracie had asked for spousal support from his wife during the divorce.

He asked her to pay for his attorney services. Similarly, he had also requested a joint legal and physical custody of their kids.

Following the divorce, multiple news of Gracie and Cuttic fighting against the Internal Revenue Service has been published.

Further, they received a notice of deficiency from the IRS in April of 2015. The notice stated they had to pay $657,114 in back taxes and a $492,835 fine for civil fraud.

Royce Gracie: Net Worth and Salary

The UFC Hall of Famer has made an enormous wealth throughout his fighting career.

Gracie has accumulated a net worth of $5 million.

Similarly, most of his income was generated from multiple MMA bouts and championships. Likewise, he also has his own academy, which adds to his net worth.

Likewise, he also has a website where he sells his merch. On top of that, he earns a fair amount through his multiple endorsements and sponsorship deals.

Furthermore, he has partnered with brands like Sambazon, Pure Brazilian, Black belt body care, and many more.

Above all, he lives a very comfortable life in a great house.

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Royce Gracie: Social Media

The MMA fighter is quite active on various social media platforms. He has an Instagram handle with over 280 thousand followers.

Further, being a daredevil person, he loves to post many pictures doing multiple adventurous stuff.

Hence, he has posted pictures of him swimming with sharks, sky diving, horse riding, and many more.

Aside from that, he also promotes multiple fights by posting about them.

Likewise, he also has a verified Twitter handle with over 155.9 thousand followers. Furthermore, he mostly tweets about fighting-related news.

Talking about social media, Joe Rogan has mentioned the Gracie family on his YouTube channel, JRE Clips which has 6.44M subscribers.

FAQS

What is Royce Gracie doing now?

Recently, Royce became a reserve officer for the Pocatello Police Department. Further, he shared the news via an Instagram post.

Besides that, he trains his elder son, who currently fights in Bellator MMA.

How good was Royce Gracie Really?

He was one of the most consistent and dominant fighters whose grappling was not understood by his opponents. Thus, it made him easier to hold them in a submission.

How many times did Royce Gracie lose?

Royce Gracie has lost 2 times in the full span of his career.