BJJ powerhouses, Royce Gracie and Eddie Bravo don’t see eye to eye.
Chael Sonnen recently sat down on his Youtube channel to explain their ongoing feud.
“[Royce] said, ‘People think I have a problem with Eddie [Bravo] because he came to Jiu-Jitsu and created a rubber guard, or because he renamed moves, or because he did so well in business,’” said Sonnen as he paraphrased a conversation he had with Royce Gracie.
“He said, ‘It’s none of those things’. He said, ‘I didn’t like some of the images that Eddie was portraying towards the community of Jiu-Jitsu and was spilling over to me.’”
Sonnen and Gracie credited Bravo for his ability to effectively market the sport and his success launching 10th planet Jiu-Jitsu. That didn’t stop the BJJ royalty taking issue with Bravo typecasting the sport:
“Royce said ‘Man, good for him. I’ve got no problem [with that]. He loves Jiu-Jitsu, I love Jiu-Jitsu, but I don’t love some of the stereotypes that he-on accident or on purpose- was perpetuating.’
“‘Eddie doesn’t like the gi, I do, Eddie made a comment that he cleans his mat with a gi, that bothered me.’”
According to Royce Gracie, he was looking for Eddie Bravo for five years before he got the opportunity to confront him backstage. After a grappling match between Royler Gracie and Eddie Bravo at Metamoris, the younger Gracie approached his foe.
Gracie went to say his piece to Bravo but Eddie’s mentor, Jean Jacques Machado stepped in and grabbed Royce Gracie to calm him down.
“He [Royce] said ‘Jean don’t you touch me, you go grab him, you keep him away from me. I won’t get any closer. All I came here to do was to tell him my piece and that’s it. If he wants to do something else, I’m open to it, but that’s not what I’m here to do.’”
Sonnen believes the animosity is out of character for Gracie who usually steers clear of feuds. Both the Jiu-Jitsu veterans have great respect for what each has done for the sport, but Gracie reminded Sonnen that the Gracie family don’t forget a feud. Watch Chael Sonnen tell the full story below: