Saturday, September 08, 2012

Kyra Gracie on Ronda Rousey

Kyra Gracie
Though she isn't a pro fighter, most women's MMA fans are familiar with Kyra Gracie. She is the only female in the renowned Gracie family to compete in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and grappling tournaments. And she has won many championships. TATAME recently spoke to Kyra about Ronda Rousey and if Kyra will turn pro. Kyra congratulated Ronda for her performance. "She is pretty sharp with an armbar". Kyra thinks Ronda represents women's MMA very well and has adapted her stellar judo background to MMA very well. Kyra points out that Ronda has improved her jiu jitsu training at Cesar Gracie's camp in Stockton, CA. She's been training a lot with Nick and Nate Diaz and renowned boxing trainer Richard Perez. The Diaz boys say they learn a lot from Ronda too. Kyra says she is still interested in turning to pro MMA at some point. She is still training in boxing with Claudio Coelho. Kyra is always non-committal about turning pro. But I always get asked about her so this is my opinion. Kyra Gracie makes enough money from BJJ training seminars worldwide that she doesn't need to turn pro unless the money is right. So unless a promoters forks over a lot of money, she won't turn pro. It's not worth it for her. Kyra could fight at 135 but her natural weight is 125. So she would be perfect for Bellator's upcoming 125lb tournament except I don't think Bjorn Rebney would pay enough to get her. When asked who would win Ronda vs Kyra, Kyra laughs and says she already has a good armbar defense. She says it would be interesting because Ronda is also a good submission artist. When asked about Cris Cyborg vs Ronda, She thinks Cris is a more complete fighter and has improved her jiu jitsu to add to her Chute Boxe style of Muay Thai. But she also said that Ronda has trained at a very high level since childhood and of course she has that Olympic medal. She thinks it would be very interesting.

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