More than 32 years have passed since the UFC staged its inaugural event on November 12, 1993. That historic night saw Royce Gracie win an eight-man tournament featuring martial artists from a wide range of disciplines, proving to the world that Brazilian jiu-jitsu could allow a smaller fighter to overcome much larger opponents.
Gracie wasn’t just the face of the UFC’s early years, but also the reason the event happened in the first place. The original UFC was, in many ways, a showcase for Gracie jiu-jitsu, with the undersized Brazilian being chosen by his family to fight consistently bigger, stronger opponents and helping establish BJJ as one of the most effective martial arts in combat sports.
Over the decades, the sport has evolved through multiple eras and styles. And so during a recent training session with Georges St-Pierre on the Canadian legend’s YouTube channel, Gracie took on the difficult task of naming his personal Mount Rushmore of MMA. Interestingly, Gracie left himself off the list and instead began by honoring his father, Helio Gracie.
He said, “I definitely have to put my father in there. He’s the one that my uncle Carlos is the one that first learned, but my father is the one that developed the defensive style, the whole how to defend yourself. He had leverage from the techniques, so he’s the one that developed the whole MMA, and challenged everybody, went for it. So it definitely would have been my father.”
For those unfamiliar, Helio Gracie is widely credited with developing Brazilian jiu-jitsu by refining techniques that originated from Japanese judo and jujutsu into the grappling system that would eventually shape modern mixed martial arts.
Although he never competed in the UFC and passed away in 2009 at the age of 95, his influence on the sport remains immeasurable, with BJJ becoming one of MMA’s foundational disciplines. Gracie then paid tribute to St-Pierre by including the former two-division UFC champion alongside fellow all-time greats Anderson Silva and Jon Jones to complete his four-man list.
He said, “You [St-Pierre] would be there. I would put Anderson Silva. And if I had to choose four, I would definitely put Jon Jones in there. That would be my four guys that I would choose.”
Royce Gracie names his father, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, and Jon Jones as his Mount Rushmore of MMA.
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Although Gracie omitted himself from his own Mount Rushmore, his legacy in the sport is unquestionable. An inaugural UFC Hall of Famer, Gracie won three of the first four UFC tournaments and finished his professional career with 20 fights across the UFC, PRIDE, and other promotions before retiring in 2016.
As one of the founding figures of modern MMA, few fighters have had a greater impact on the evolution of the sport, making his selections all the more significant.
Kshitiz Kumar Singh is a UFC Writer at NY Fights with over three years of experience in sports journalism and content creation. Known for his sharp storytelling and passion for combat sports, he has written in-depth features on stars like Brock Lesnar, Randy Couture, and Ilia Topuria. Before joining NY Fights, Kshitiz worked as a UFC Editor at EssentiallySports while currently serving as a WWE Editor at FirstSportz. His admiration for legends like Georges St-Pierre continues to inspire his detailed and engaging MMA coverage. Whether he’s covering the Octagon or the squared circle, Kshitiz is committed to delivering accurate, high-quality content. Outside the world of sports, he’s a dedicated cinephile, often found practicing monologues from his favorite Al Pacino films, combining his love for cinema with storytelling.
