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**MMARules** · 08-22-2005, 01:30 PM

Royce Gracie. King of Excuses??

Originally posted by Mako

Q: How about Wallid?

R: Why should I? He's not worth anything.

He sure looked like he was worth SOMETHING as he was carried off victoriously on the shoulders of Carloao, while you were asleep, face down on the mat.

Q: Will you be changing your approach when you fight Sak again?

R: He's the one that need to change his approach next time. As I said, I dominated the fight. He couldn't make anything happen until my injury occurred.

He won, you didn't. Scoreboard Sak.

Q: Are you saying that you would fight the same way as you did last time?

R: Why not? I was superior. I've been absent for over 5 years. Sakuraba has faced many opponents and nobody gave him any trouble like I did. Again, I was superior thru out the whole fight until I broke my foot. If it was a regular rule with time limit, the fight would've stopped at Sakuraba getting punched in the face.

Q: I thought Goes and Mezger gave pretty tough fight to Sakuraba?

R: Those guys are great at fighting with time limit.

Read these 2 quotes together. Goes and Mezger are good w/time limits, but in the first response he said he would have WON w/time limits, and he LOST w/o.

Q: Any respect on Sakuraba as a fighter?

R: He's a tough fighter I admit that. He trains Jiu Jitsu everyday.

Back to the "you can only beat JJ w/JJ. Then again, if he never trained w/Helio, Rorion, and Royce, how can he know the TRUE JJ?"

Q: People want Sakuraba to fight Rickson next, do you think Rickson should fight him?

R: People want my family to get destroyed, that's what they want. Everybody has forgotten the fact that we are the ones that brought NHB today. We built this thing. GJJ has been undefeated for 75 years and now everyboday trains jiu jitsu and they want my family to be destroyed.

I'm w/Royce on this one. So what, he lost. His family DID build this thing. Total respect to the Gracie clan for giving us this MMA.

R: Sakuraba applied same lock to Renzo that he used on me. I was in no trouble at all, that lock doesn't make anything happen. Renzo was in no trouble either but he made a bad mistake by moving to the wrong way and broke his arm. It was Renzo that broke his arm.

Man, for once could he give some respect, and admit that someone else did something well? Sak got a surprise submission and ended the fight. I love Renzo, but good grief, could you admit that someone did something well?

Guys, this is classic. It's a psychological phenomenon called COGNITIVE DISSONANCE. Which basically is this; if you are faced with a reality that opposes your previously held beliefs, you have 2 choices:

1. Hold on to the previously held beliefs in spite of all evidence to the contrary.
2. Adjust your beliefs to fit the changing reality.

Most of the time, we do the second. However, if we hold the belief strongly enough, or long enough to where it becomes a part of who we are, then the changing of this belief would cause us to question who we see ourselves to be. In this case, many people choose 1. This is true psychopathology. (For example, a kid loves his Dad. His dad is awesome. The dad then developes a drinking problem and begins to abuse his kids. Many kids believe it is THEIR fault, because they can't accept the reality that opposes their previous belief that dad is a good man, and loves them.)

Example. GJJ has been undefeated for over 75 years. Royce has never lost (NHB), Rickson, etc.
BANG! Royce loses.
Hmm, here are my choices.

1. Maybe the art needs to evolve. Maybe I faced a superior opponent. Maybe GJJ is a good art, but not infallible.

2. GJJ is unbeatable, I only lost because my opponent knows it too! He got lucky! (anything that would not make him choose the first choice.)

Let's be objective here. I like Royce, i've met him. He's a really nice guy, and an amazing fighter. His family is awesome, they gave us what we have today. BUT, do his comments really match up w/reality, or are they maybe a result of COGNITIVE DISSONANCE? I'm somewhat neutral on the whole thing, I don't care either way. It's hard to find middle ground on this subject, but you've got to admit. This is textbook.

Just my thoughts.

Royce Gracie is without a doubt one of the most superior MMA fighters in the world, however, I also acknowledge that he conveys irrational and unsportsmanship-like excuses for his defeats by various opponents. For example, 'Oh, I was dominating the fight with Sakuraba until I broke my toe'. Who's fault is that Royce?? Also, 'Renzo broke his own arm when he was wedged in the kimura cos he moved in the wrong direction'. Ahaha. It appears that he is the undisputed king of excuses, correct? Perhaps. According to my theory, the reason for Royce's continual excuses for his defeats is for the protection of his family's legacy. In fact, he was raised by Gracie JJ his entire life, his dad Helio is his mentor, his idol, thus Gracie JJ is virtually a religion to him. It is comparable to telling a Muslim that their religion is the mistaken religion. Subconciously, Royce is protecting his father's image and the art that he developed. Therefore, he is likely to generate excuses regardless of the situation, I do not blame him considering the attributes that shaped his contemporary attitudes. Just my opinion. What do you guys reckon? Valid?!

**BoarSpear** · 08-22-2005, 02:43 PM