Rickson is the best of the gracie fighters....its a fact
Well, that may be true. He certainly was head and tails above the rest of his family and the champs that came from Brasil in Jiu-Jitsu. I saw it first hand and nobody came close to him on the mat. Although I started at Rorion's academy in Torrance I only stayed there for around six months and left to train with Rickson when he left the Torrance school to start his own school in West LA. Rorion was difficult to work with and wanted to control everything. Jiu-Jitsu wasn't big at all in those days and though Rickson was famous in Brasil he was a nobody here so in addition to the group classes I got to take one hour private lessons with him once a week for $50.00/hr. It usually lasted a lot longer because I would show up early to watch his private lessons with Eric Paulson who I recently found out is Brock Lesnar's Jiu-Jitsu teacher. He would use me to be Eric's dummy to help with his instruction. I stayed with Rickson for several years until he got so busy that he didn't teach as much anymore and left the duties to Limao (Luis Heredia) who was a purple/brown at the time which is why I went to the Machado's where all the brothers were there: Carlos, Rigan, Jean-Jacques, Roger and John. Along with these Black Belts there also was a steady stream of Black Belts coming in and out from Brasil. Rickson was the only Black Belt at his school.
I never will understand why Rickson didn't fight Sakuraba when it matter. When Saku was one by one handing Gracie their asses. If for no other reason then to defend his family honor as his father, Helio, would have done and as all the Gracie's before him had done. If he fought Saku and won, and I believe he would have, then his legacy would have been sealed. Just by that one fight. But he didn't and he is, rightly so, forever questioned. He never really tested himself and that will always remain an eternal mystery to me. I don't believe he was afraid of losing. He was utterly fearless when it came to fighting. There was one time when a fighter from Japan showed up at our school with a camera crew and some of his students and challenge Rickson to fight right there and then. This guy was a professional fighter and felt Rickson ducked him when he was competing in Japan. This guy had obviously been training and preparing for this big show down. Rickson was not there at the time because he had just arrived home from Japan the night before. But Limao called him and, jet lag and all, having no preparation to fight this guy, he drove right down to the school. When he arrived we shut the doors of that old warehouse adjacent to an auto shop and they went at it. Rickson beat the living shit out of the Jap. He like to end tournament/professional/competition fights with submissions because he did not want to hurt his opponent (so he said) but this was a street fight. When Rickson got the mount he just pounded that guy into a bloody mess. His posse tired to stop it but we would not allow it. "You came here. You interrupted our class. You issued the challenge. It goes to the end."
The Japanese came back some time later dressed in traditional grab and presented a scroll of apology. I've always love the Japanese warrior spirit and sense of honor. Well, at least the traditional ones.
Having known, trained and spent time with Rickson I had no doubt that he would fight Saku. When people at the time would ask me if Rickson would ever step up and defend the family honor I would tell them it was destiny. I truly believe that.
I was wrong. Rickson legacy, if you can even call it that, will forever be tainted. He did not live up to the Gracie code of fighting anybody, anytime, anywhere. Not like that fearless, kind and gentle warrior that is his cousin, Renzo Gracie. Renzo may have not been the best MMA fighter in the world, or even the best Gracie, but more than any other of his generation of Gracies, he exemplified the warrior spirit more than any other.
