Kron Gracie finally re-enters the octagon after almost 600 days, and his father continues to support him — even from afar.
The legendary Rickson Gracie—who recently turned 66 and is currently battling Parkinson’s disease—said in an interview with MMA Fighting he hasn’t been a part of his son’s training camp in a long time, even before the diagnosis, and felt like his son wanted to be distant to maybe detach himself from the role he’s carried his entire life.
“I’m rooting for him to do a great fight,” Rickson said. “Even though I’m currently not connected to him the way I wanted, the last time we spoke I felt that he needed space. He needed to be Kron Gracie. He didn’t want to be ‘the son of Rickson Gracie’ anymore. And I accept that as growth in his life, a need to prove himself and be happy on his path. I’m giving him that respect, that space. I continue to root for him, wishing him well, but now as an eye witness, no longer present. I see that we’re aligned, but he’s on his path and I’m rooting for his victory.”
Kron Gracie faces Bryce Mitchell at this weekend’s UFC 310 in Las Vegas looking to rebound from back-to-back defeats to Cub Swanson and Charles Jourdain. He hasn’t won a bout since choking out Alex Caceres in his octagon debut in 2019.
The first member of the Gracie clan to be victorious inside the octagon since Royce Gracie in 1994, Kron reacted to his father’s comments in an interview with MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck.
“Yeah, I don’t, I think that’s a little bit of a lie,” Kron said, “But I love my dad and he’s a big foundation of my life and everything that I’ve become. So, you know, I wish him the best and I wish him in good health.”
The 36-year-old jiu-jitsu icon, a former world champion on the mats who holds a MMA record of 5-2, said “it’s been a minute” since he last heard from his father, “but I love him. I miss him.”
In Rickson’s new book titled “Comfort in Darkness”, the vale tudo icon said he “became more of an observer than a coach” after Kron decided to train with Nick Diaz and Nate Diaz. Even though he thinks there’s no man tougher than his son in MMA, he disagreed with the Diaz’s combat philosophy.
“I’m no longer an eye witness of the facts,” Rickson said. “Even though I’m rooting for him, I don’t know what he’s going to do, I don’t know if he’s going to fight with his heart and emotion, or be strategic, death without blood, a clean cut. I’ve always preferred spending the least amount of energy for the maximum result, but some people prefer more effort to prove themselves, to show this warrior side. I’ll just watch more than anything now [now].”
For Rickson, the Diaz brothers mindset to endure punishment before responding isn’t ideal.
“I think it should be more on the technical side,” Gracie said. “It was always like that for me because there were no weight divisions. I can’t risk exchanging power and being emotional against a bigger man. I had to be completely strategic and cold and rational. Sometimes, facing someone your size, you can be like, let’s be warriors and exchange hands and be violent. You engage and battle. Knowing they have your size and strength, sometimes you use a different direction than the one you should go.”
