Quotes from Royce Gracie

The art of Gracie jiu-jitsu is to learn how to defend yourself in any situation, not to score points, not for tournament style. It's for a street-fight situation.

If you trained jiu-jitsu his whole life, why would you trade punches on fight night against a striker?

I've trained boxing in the past to learn the distance, trained wrestling to understand how he would take me down, but I won't get there to fight my opponent's game.

My father had nine kids, seven boys and two girls, and my uncle had 21 kids, 11 boys and 10 girls. They had the opportunity to teach the art of Gracie Jiu Jitsu and that's how we got involved from a young age. It's in the blood.

I enjoy traveling, teaching and fighting. It's in my blood.

The greatest tribute you can to pay to my father is to continue to train and share Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, remembering to never lose sight of the fact that what you do off the matt counts more than what you do on the matt.

The jiu-jitsu my father created was for the smaller guy to beat the bigger guy.

I don't drink, I don't smoke.

I did a seminar once in Pennsylvania when there was big snow, road construction, a big flood and just one person showed up. I said, 'No problem, I'll do it.' If there's one or 100 on the mat, the juice is still there.

Face life's challenges with confidence, dare to pursue your dreams and live to the fullest just as my father did.

My second fight at UFC 1, I fought Ken Shamrock. In the fight I choked him. As soon as he tapped, I let go. He tried to continue, but the ref got kind of stuck like, 'should I let it go or stop the fight.' That's when I looked at the ref and I said, let it go, we're going to continue.

In any professional level competition, soccer players, you've got to know when to stop.

Mike Tyson is a good boxer, but he is not the best fighter. I am the best fighter.

Wouldn't you love to see Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield go one more time? It's not like just one of them has aged. They've both aged. They're both icons.

McGregor is taking Muhammad Ali's model. He can say whatever he wants but he's got to prove it. If he doesn't prove it, his career is going to be short.

I'm a fighter. We come from the beginning, no gloves, no rules, no time limits.

In a street fight situation, there's no weight division, there's no time limits.

The main thing is strategy. It's not just come in and duke it out and fight.

Fighting is about a strategy. MMA is not all about brutality.

I like guys who can use strategy, not just tough guys.

Werdum is good, is a smart fighter. He knows how to set up a beautiful strategy.

GSP knows how to use a lot of strategy.

GSP is at the top of my list in knowing how to use strategy, how to bring an opponent out of his game, how to beat a guy without taking a beating. And he's good in standup and good at grappling.

I like guys who know how to implement a strategy. The ones who make a fight look easy. But there's no easy fight, even if you win in 30 seconds, that only means you were able to execute your strategy correctly and induced your opponent to make a mistake. Those are the champions. That's why they are the champions.