Renzo Gracie

In September 2019, Renzo made homophobic and misogynistic remarks against French President Macron and his wife during a diplomatic spat related to the wildfire crisis in Brasil.

On June 7, 2018, ONE Championship's president Chatri Sityodtong announced that Renzo Gracie had been enticed from retirement and was scheduled to face Yuki Kondo at One Championship Reign of Kings on July 27, marking Gracie's first fight since his loss to Matt Hughes in 2010. He won the fight via rear-naked choke submission in the second round.

His first victory in Pride was at the very next event, Pride 2, against judoka and catch wrestler Sanae Kikuta. The match was fought under special rules by Gracie's demand, which included an unlimited number of ten-minute rounds. However, this had the effect to lengthen the match to almost an hour, as both fighters remained largely inactive in the clinch and Renzo's guard. Only in the sixth round Renzo managed to lock a guillotine choke and submit Kikuta. In 2014, Gracie claimed to have been drugged by PRIDE promoters before the fight to explain his performance.

On November 22, 2014, Renzo fought Kazushi Sakuraba in a grappling match in Metamoris V. The fight ended in a draw.

In May 2014, Renzo was arrested at 1OAK in New York City after being charged with gang assault after sending a night club bouncer to the hospital. Renzo maintained that he took down the bouncer and mounted him, but did not punch him. Renzo's cousin, Igor Gracie was arrested as well in the incident.

Returning from a three year hiatus, Gracie signed a six-fight contract with the UFC in December 2009 and faced former UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes on April 10, 2010, at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Although Gracie fared reasonably well against the American, he began to take more and more leg kicks, and by the end of the second round, the fight began to look more and more to Hughes's favor. The third round saw Hughes score with a series of uppercuts and hooks that hurt Gracie. Hughes finished Gracie with a series of punches. Gracie lost to Hughes by TKO at 4:40 of round 3, becoming the second Gracie to fall victim to Matt Hughes, the other was his famous cousin Royce Gracie at UFC 60.

A world famous Jiu-Jitsu coach, Gracie has helped train a number of professional fighters such as: Georges St-Pierre, Frankie Edgar, Chris Weidman, Matt Serra, Ricardo Almeida, Roy Nelson, Rodrigo Gracie and Paul Creighton. His brothers Ralph Gracie and the late Ryan Gracie were also famous fighters. Renzo Gracie: Legacy, a 2008 documentary film follows Renzo's influence on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed martial arts over a ten-year period, showing the origins of the sport from its bare knuckle days to the explosion of the sport in both Japan and America.

On November 14, 2008, there was limited release on DVD of a documentary, titled "Renzo Gracie: Legacy", which followed Gracie over 10 years of his life. The DVD was only released on Amazon.com and www.renzogracielegacy.com. Its tag line is "A 10 year history of mixed martial arts through the eyes of Renzo Gracie, one of its most charismatic pioneers."

On February 10, 2007 Gracie won a match by disqualification against former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Frank Shamrock for upstart MMA promotion EliteXC on its debut night Saturday February 10, 2007, on Showtime. Gracie was able to take Frank down and keep the fight on the ground, until Shamrock was disqualified by referee Herb Dean for landing illegal knee strikes to the back of Gracie's head. Shamrock had already been given one warning earlier in the match for illegal strikes to the back of Gracie's head. After the match, Gracie had to be helped out of the ring and back to his dressing room by his team allegedly due to receiving a concussion from the strikes.

Gracie debuted for International Fight League in September 2006, submitting Pat Miletich in three minutes with a guillotine choke. He would then rematch Carlos Newton in December. The match was noted to resemble oddly their first encounter, as they struggled for position in the first round with Gracie threatening a submission and Newton ending it in side mount. The situation reversed at the second, as Gracie flipped Newton over to side mount, only for Newton to menace him with an ankle lock. At the third and final round, Newton worked to keep the fight standing and made Gracie bleed with some glaring strikes, but the fight ended without a result, and after a deliberation, the judges gave it to Gracie. This outcome was immediately met with controversy, with Gracie himself declaring he felt Newton was the winner.

His last match for Pride would be in October 2003 against eclectic grappler Carlos Newton. Gracie took him down and captured his back, only for Newton to reverse positions. The two fighters exchanged multiple sweeps and submission attempts in a short time, with Renzo almost locking a kneebar, but Newton ultimately escaped and ended the round hitting ground and pound from side mount. At the second, Renzo received a slamming takedown and a hip throw, so he opted to grab a guillotine choke and pull guard, seeking the finish, yet Newton freed himself and ended the match again with punches from half guard. Newton was given the split decision win, which Gracie disputed.

In 2002, Gracie fought against Shungo Oyama in Pride 21. Oyama taunted Renzo incessantly through the match and imitated Sakuraba's offensive moves, getting some measure of success with it. Renzo became so irritated that he spat on Oyama at the end of the second round. At the third, Gracie looked to re-take the bout, but they just could exchange takedowns and strikes before the match went to the judges, with Oyama winning an unanimous decision. Gracie was unhappy with this, and stated to believe he had lost the decision only because he spat on Oyama.

On September 22, 1997, Gracie partook in Pentagon Combat, a MMA event founded by future ADCC backer Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed. Gracie was pitted against Eugenio Tadeu, a fighter whose style, luta livre, was in a huge rivalry with Brazilian jiu-jitsu at the time, which guaranteed the match was received with heat. Promoters of the event hired little security for the match, and although the luta livre supporters got fewer tickets than their jiu-jitsu homologues, they snuck into the arena earlier in the event. The first minutes of the match were uneventful, with Gracie claiming years later that Tadeu had greased up his body to difficult his grip, but he eventually managed to mount Tadeu. However, Gracie got tired, and Tadeu started to take control of the action.

In October 1995, Gracie was called to fight in World Combat Championships, a no holds barred event created by Jon Peters's son Christopher. The event hosted two separated tournaments for strikers and grapplers whose winners would meet at the finals, and Gracie was put on the latter due to his Brazilian jiu-jitsu background. His first match was against Dutch judoka Ben Spijkers, who had taunted Gracie in the press conference and pranked him on his hotel room the previous night. Spijkers scored the first takedown, but Renzo answered with another, took his back through headbutts and elbow strikes and finally choked him for the win. After the bout, Gracie intentionally stepped on Spijkers's head as he walked away as an act of revenge for the pranking, an act he later apologized for. Gracie fought next striker Phil Benedict, and although he received a hard right punch in the first seconds, he executed a takedown and defeated Benedict by ground and pound from the mount. At the finals, Gracie then faced kickboxer James Warring, winning by neck crank in similar time.

Gracie has co-written two instructional books on jiu-jitsu; "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Theory and Technique" with his cousin Royler Gracie, and "Mastering Jujitsu" with training partner John Danaher. He has also been the personal jiu-jitsu teacher of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, since 1993.

Renzo Gracie (Portuguese:  [ˈʁẽzu ˈɡɾejsi] ; born March 11, 1967) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. A member of the Gracie family of Brazil, Renzo is a 6th Degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Carlos Gracie Jr.. He is the son of Robson Gracie, grandson of Carlos Gracie, nephew of Carlos Gracie, Jr. grandnephew of Helio Gracie, and the 1st cousin once removed of Royce Gracie. In mixed martial arts, Renzo has competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Pride Fighting Championships, K-1, RINGS, and International Fight League (head-coaching the New York Pitbulls). He holds notable victories over five former UFC Champions: Frank Shamrock (UFC Light Heavyweight Champion), Carlos Newton (UFC Welterweight Champion), Pat Miletich (UFC Welterweight Champion), Maurice Smith (UFC Heavyweight Champion), and Oleg Taktarov (UFC 6 Tournament Winner)