For those of you who are into the UFC/MMA scene, and who watched UFC Ultimate
Fight Night Live tonight, you know that the UFC has managed to coax Royce
Gracie out of hiding.

Royce (as expected) looks a little smaller (although he was never "big" by any
standard), and his hairline is in full retreat mode (prompting him to do what
every male experiencing male pattern baldness does, he shaved his head), but
he was played up as "the greatest fighter in UFC history", and Royce himself
claimed "this is my house". To an extent, he might just be right. In the "old
days" of the UFC, prior to all of the weight classes and rounds being
established, Royce took on fighters in tournament style, not just one match, so
endurance was much more important than it is today. Also, the Gracie Jiu Jitsu
fighting style was adopted (at least in part) by 90% of the fighters that
followed Gracie in the UFC. Considering the Gracie Jiu Jitsu style was what
Royce's father wanted to put over as the greatest fighting system ever when he
created the UFC to showcase his point, I'd say he's done a pretty good job,
since a lot of current fighters have incorporated that fighting style in their
ground game, making today's fighters much more well-rounded.

Gracie was (for the most part) embarrassed when he battled Kimo Leopoldo in UFC
III, and Kimo battled Gracie at his own game (smother and exhaust your
opponent, conserving your own energy while they expend all of theirs trying to
escape), and exhausted Gracie in a fight that in the pre-time limit days lasted
far longer than most of Gracie's fights, and the punching power of Kimo battered
Gracie as well. So much so that Gracie, while defeating Kimo, was left too
exhausted to continue to the next round. Although he won the next competition,
he was pretty much done with the UFC at that point, doing some matches in PRIDE.

With the new,more structured UFC of weight and time limits, we'll have to see
how Royce's strategy will change from the Royce of old, since exhausting your
opponent and taking your time won't be a factor anymore, and a Judge's decision
might award a decision to his opponent if they get in some good strikes
(although Royce has added striking to his game in PRIDE).

===================================================================

For fans of Dynamite Kid's autobiography, we are pleased to be able to offer it
in collectible U.K. and Japanese editions. The UK edition has a different
cover (which you can see in our photos section, and some different pictures
from the US edition. Same for the Japanese edition, which actually has a
totally different feel to it than either edition, reads backwards (Japanese and
Hebrew read from right to left, rather than left to right as English and German
do). Also, the text is entirely in Japanese. Even if you don't read Japanese,
it's a great collectible for fans of "alternate editions" and similar itmes
such as misprints, etc.

Contact us for details on ordering.
--
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