Kron Gracie, the son of the legendary Rickson Gracie, turned in a disappointing performance at UFC 310 on Saturday. Gracie wasn’t just knocked out in the third round by Bryce Mitchell; he lost in a manner that many—including UFC Hall-of-Famer Chael Sonnen—found embarrassing.
Gracie was repeatedly booed by fans at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas during the fight as he consistently pulled guard whenever he and Mitchell engaged in a grappling exchange. Mitchell, an expert Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner, effectively countered the strategy.
The last time Gracie tried the tactic, Mitchell slammed the 36-year-old to the mat to gain separation and followed up with a pair of elbows that knocked the Brazilian unconscious.
Sonnen didn’t just criticize Gracie’s passive fighting style, pointing out that attempting to win consistently from the bottom in MMA is a losing approach. He also took a broader swipe at Gracie’s overall approach to MMA, saying he fought like a “pothead.”
“I don’t know Kron,” Sonnen said in a video on his YouTube channel. “I’m just a fan. I’m a fan of his old man, his uncles, and his cousins. I’m going to say something that’s very out of pocket because I don’t know him: he fought like a pothead.”
This label wasn’t one Sonnen threw out lightly. He backed it up with what one might call educated speculation.
“There’s a culture in jiu-jitsu about smoking dope and doing jiu-jitsu,” Sonnen continued. “But you’re not going to win the tough ones if you’re a pothead. The potheads won—I get it. They won. Great job politically, great job with medicine—I understand. But my dad was onto something too when he told me it makes you lazy. My dad was onto something when he said it makes you peaceful, and it makes you calm. It’s the very thing that the potheads used to get the legislation passed. Is there anything about being peaceful or calm that sounds like it would be helpful in a fistfight? I don’t know him, and I don’t want to label him in these ways, but I’m quite sure I’m right. He fought like a guy who smokes marijuana, and they fight a certain way. They live their life, ‘bro,’ in a certain way, ‘bro’ calm and relaxed in a violent and aggressive business.”
Here is a look at the entire video:
We don’t know anything about Gracie’s personal habits, but I agree with Sonnen—his approach to winning fights in the UFC is outdated and not suited for success in today’s MMA.
In many ways, his strategy mirrors that of his uncle, the great Royce Gracie. However, when Royce competed in the early days of the UFC, he held a significant advantage in grappling and was able to succeed as a one-dimensional fighter.
Those days are long gone, and that approach is now a recipe for a beating in modern MMA, as Gracie discovered on Saturday. Given his age and the brutality of the loss at UFC 310, it wouldn’t be surprising if Saturday’s fight marked the end of his MMA career. UFC President Dana White told three guys to retire on Saturday. Perhaps he left someone off the list.
