RealGM

oh wow this is kinda of a shocker. hopefully Joe Silva and co. build him up correctly instead of throwing him to guys like King Mo.

No debut date for the Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace was mentioned, but the outlet stated that Gracie (Pictured) could find himself training with longtime middleweight champion Anderson Silva before he enters the Octagon for the first time.

A Gracie who could potentially be a good striker??

Cool I guess.

My first thought was that they should continue to let him develop in Strikeforce, but after thinking about it for a minute, Strikeforce isn't deep enough to let him develop properly. I don't think I can name 10 LHWs in Strikeforce.

At least in the UFC there's a deep roster of guys to choose from; it will just come down to matchmaking.

spykelee wrote:

No debut date for the Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace was mentioned, but the outlet stated that Gracie (Pictured) could find himself training with longtime middleweight champion Anderson Silva before he enters the Octagon for the first time.

A Gracie who could potentially be a good striker??

Even a competent one would be something.

I've been hoping for an elite submission guy near the top of the LHW division, and Gracie probably has the best chance of being that.

CPT wrote:Cool I guess.

My first thought was that they should continue to let him develop in Strikeforce, but after thinking about it for a minute, Strikeforce isn't deep enough to let him develop properly. I don't think I can name 10 LHWs in Strikeforce.

At least in the UFC there's a deep roster of guys to choose from; it will just come down to matchmaking.

King Mo, Gegard Mousasi, Ovice St.Preux, Rafael Calvacante, Trevor Smith, Lorenz Larkin, Mike Kyle, Abongo Humphrey, Marcos Rogerio De Lima (prospect that recently lost to Kyle), Yoel Romero Palacio (prospect that recently lost to Calvacante).

I think this is a mistake. They should have brought in guys to help develop Gracie more b4 sending him to the UFC. His standup is better but he's still too stiff and that's one of the reasons he got waxed by King Mo. Right now I don't see him lasting long enough in the UFC to even develop into a Demian Maia type guy for them. That light heavyweight division they have is just too stacked.

skflives wrote:

CPT wrote:Cool I guess.

My first thought was that they should continue to let him develop in Strikeforce, but after thinking about it for a minute, Strikeforce isn't deep enough to let him develop properly. I don't think I can name 10 LHWs in Strikeforce.

At least in the UFC there's a deep roster of guys to choose from; it will just come down to matchmaking.

King Mo, Gegard Mousasi, Ovice St.Preux, Rafael Calvacante, Trevor Smith, Lorenz Larkin, Mike Kyle, Abongo Humphrey, Marcos Rogerio De Lima (prospect that recently lost to Kyle), Yoel Romero Palacio (prospect that recently lost to Calvacante).

While this proves that there are in fact 10 LHWs in Strikeforce (if you did that off the top of your head, that's impressive), it also proves the point that it's probably not the best place for him.

The top 4 guys on that list probably blow Gracie out of the water, and there are a few that have no business in the cage with him and do nothing for his development. He'd would probably get one win against an Abongo Humphrey and be back in there with OSP or Mousasi.

At least in the UFC there are guys to meet at every level of his development. But like I said, that's where it comes down to matchmaking.

Will they sign someone who hasn't fought for the ufc specifically to fight him? If not, who could he beat at 205? I can't think of anyone.

Yikes.

How in the blue hell does he think he's going to have any chance in that UFC 205 division?

I agree with everyone, he's going to get wrecked by middle-tier UFC 205 fighters.

This is indeed a strange move considering how outclassed he looked against King Mo...I guess they'll be putting him against that bottom third of LHWs.

Maybe someone like Perosh/Maldonado would be a good first fight. I wonder if Kingsbury would handle him like King Mo did. That could be a pretty telling fight. Maybe a guy who's more of a straight striker like Diabate would be a good match up.

Diabete would be a guy he would have a chance against I guess, good call. He got outclassed last time we saw him on the ground.