Royce Gracie got choked out by Olympic Judo Gold medalist!

[UltimateFighter]

In case anyone didn't know, Royce Gracie, the legend was choked out in the first round of the special 'Gi match' at Pride 22- Shockwave by Yoshida, the Olympic Gold medalsit at Judo. Apparently Yoshida dominated Royce from start to finish, and choked Royce into almost unconsciousness before the ref stopped it. The Gracie camp are no trying to claim it was an early stoppage, but Royce was beaten- clean. It is only the 2nd loss of his career, and first time he has ever been submitted in MMA competition- ever.

[omegapoint]

I thought it was scheduled for Sept. 28! ****, I missed it!

[omegapoint]

I thought it was scheduled for Sept. 28! ****, I missed it!

[Merryprankster]

I thought PRIDE was declaring it a no contest, as the referee stopped the match even though Royce wasn't tapping.

But I don't know that for sure.

[Shadow Dragon]

To be brutally honest.

I think the pride organizers decided from the beginning that it should go into a re-match.

Apparently the fight was under special rules and no "referee stoppage" was allowed.

Cheers.

[dre]

He lost, live with it guys.

Now you get a tast of what any Kungfu guy enjoys at every MMA event , defeat, shamefull, ignominious.

[LEGEND]

Someone's trolling.

Ultimate Fighter...yup u didn't see the fight that's for sure. Royce got dominated positionally on the ground. The ref thought Royce went limp and stopped the fight. Both Royce and Yoshida agreed the stoppage was BAD. Rematch to be scheduled.

Dre...live with the fact that u didn't see the fight and u're post is toast.

[MiamiMantis]

Gracie got a bad call ref jumped in too early. I'm no gracie fan but I think he got screwed by accident.
I felt bad for Don Frye though I always liked him. Was kinda shocked to see him go down so fast.


Hope to see a rematch on both fights. Just my 2 cents worth
:p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p :p

[taijiquan_student]

Royce wasn't choked out. Not only did he not tap, but if you look at the replay, the other guy doesn't even have has arm under Royce's chin--he didn't have the choke. His body never went limp, and as soon as the ref stopped the fight and the other guy got off him Royce jumped up and yelled that he didn't tap.

[Merryprankster]

He lost, live with it guys.

Actually, he hasn't been top echelon for quite awhile. I have no problem with him losing :) As for the dealing with defeat bit... well, I didn't lose, what's the fuss?

[UltimateFighter]

No one is claiming Royce tapped. He was on the verge of passing out. There is no way he could have escaped. Yoshida was past Royce's guard and in a full mount. He had Royce pinned and choked. If the ref had ledt it to go on 10 seconds longer, Royce would have been carried out.

He lost clean. Only an idiot would claim that the fight was a 'no-contest' when Royce was clearly in no position to escape and being choked. The early ref stoppage is not Yoshidas fault, but it does not change the result. The appeal has been rejected by Pride. Yoshidas victory will stand, as it should.

[wiz cool c]

I didn't see the fight but some guy named Hector who is a judo guy trained with Royce before the match said he thought it was an unfair stoppage and so did his judo instructor who has been doing judo for 40 years.

[wiz cool c]

Sorry thats Hector on e-budo

[omegapoint]

But.... I just saw the fight. Royce was 1/2 mounted, but the choke homeboy was trying is almost strictly an air choke, where pressure is exerted on the front of the neck (trachea). Royce coulda' withstood that submission attempt, and maybe reversed the 1/2 mount. We'll never know now though. Anyway the tech is called Sode-guruma-jime or "sleeve wheel choke". Well a 1/2 mounted variation of it. The thing is that his arm wasn't under Royce's chin, so it became more of a pressure thing than a blood and air choke (trachea compression with carotid artery occlusion). Plus, w/o a full mount where would you get the leverage or base to finish the choke?

Me and my homey actually watched it with Ryron Gracie, and I like the Gracies, but if Royce got beat I would have to give his opponent props. It was stopped prematurely though, so I can't say, that with those rules it was a good decision.

I guess the ref figured that getting the 1/2 mount, which is usually a more dominant position than being in someones full guard, was enough to give the guy the win. Additionally, if this was a true NHB fight I think Royce woulda' waxed Mr. Olympic Gold Medalist. Doesn't that usually mean that you're pretty good at what you do?

If there is a rematch (there won't be), Royce will/would win. Just an opinion.

[Ford Prefect]

Ultimate,

I really don't care who wins NHB matches as I'm not insecure enough to identify the value of what I'm doing with somebody in a ring. That being said, Yoshida said it was a BS stoppage and said he wanted a rematch so somebody could win fairly.

[UltimateFighter]

Actually he said nothing of the sort. He said he had a tight choke and that he could have kept hold of it for as long as he liked. Read the interview on pridefc.com. Who's insecure? You most likely as you brought it up. MMA is a laboratory. It is an excellent way of testing what works and what doesn't. Everyone already knew Judo worked so I don't get your point. But maybe you should give up the art of keyboard fighting.

[chokeyouout]

Here's a couple facts.

It was not a nhb match.

The ref wasn't supposed to stop the match for any reason.

Royce did not tap.

Noone could have seen Royce's level of consciousness because his face was covered.


opinions-

Bull**** stoppage period.I'll admit Yoshida walked through Royces guard, wich is irrelevant because there was no point system.That choke was junk, and if you have ever seen Royce fight in a gi tourney you would know he won't tap to lapel chokes anyway.

Royce isn't top 100 bb in Brazil anyway.

Yoshida wouldn't have lasted 5 mins against someone like Magarida.

So much for the Gracie name to be carried by royce.

[old jong]

Royce had his prime and now it's his turn to lose.That's all!...It happens to any players in any sports. He was lucky it was'nt a NHB fight in a way.

[wiz cool c]

you can see the intire fight on mcdojo.com judge for your self

[Merryprankster]

I finally saw it.

Bull**** stoppage. Royce wasn't even in a particularly bad way. I'm not entirely certain Yoshida had full mount.

I'm sure PRIDE is salivating at the rematch :)

[old jong]

I agree that the choke was not effective and the referee was a little too fast there.
But,there were so many rules in this fight that it is hard to even call it a fight! Royce was clearly dominated by a bigger and stronger fighter,even if Yoshida is not a submission specialist.
His better days are a long way behind him and he should realise this fact.
I would like to see a rematch with the unaltered pride rules.

[Knifefighter]

As a long-time grappler , I saw this fight differently than some of our less experienced
friends here. First of all, I didn't see Royce "positionally dominated". I saw Royce go to
guard and work his leg around Yoshida's in an attempt to force a leg lock. I saw
Yoshida defending leg lock attacks for most of the match. I didn't see Yoshida pass
Royce's guard, but, rather, end up in the 1/2 guard when Royce once again tried to
force the leg attack. Finally, I saw Royce successfully defending the sleeve choke
attempt when the ref stopped the match.

Personally, I don't think Royce's strategy of forcing the leg attack was a good one, as
I believe he would have done much better by working a full open guard.

By the way, this would have Royce's third loss (although it was actually ruled a
no-contest). He lost to Walid Ismael by clock choke and lost to
Sakaraba by throwing in the towel.