Kron Gracie believes the door could still be open for a UFC return, but he has some work to do.
After getting stopped by Bryce Mitchell at UFC 310 this past December, the UFC elected not to re-sign Gracie after going 1-3 in the promotion, and dropping his final three octagon appearances. The fight with Mitchell was an anticipated contest, but it wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing bout up until Mitchell slammed Gracie to the canvas in Round 3, before landing some elbows that knocked Gracie unconscious.
Now, as Gracie prepares for his MMA return in the main event of Victory Fighting League’s Dec. 12 event in New York, the 37-year-old recounts his fight with Mitchell in Las Vegas.
“I mean, I was fighting a top guy, obviously,” Gracie told MMA Fighting. “He was in the top 15, and I knew it was going to be a tough fight, but I was very confident and I was doing well, and I had a lot of confidence in my guard and pulling guard, and I just made a mistake and I paid for it. So I feel like that’s just kind of the name of the game. Sometimes you zig and you should have zagged, and then you get cracked and so that’s what happened.
“[From an] actual technical point of view, there were some technical mistakes I made and that’s why I paid the price. But this is the fight business, and I know the the game is dangerous, and that’s what it is. So it’s nothing new to me, or nothing I’m shocked about, it didn’t really change anything in my mind. I was actually trying to get back into that fighting as soon as possible. It just kind of took a long time for me to get another fight, so I didn’t try to take this year off. … I was trying to get back in fighting, trying to get motivated to get on another card and continue. I felt like that [fight with Brcye] was kind of like my momentum to get back into it, and things didn’t happen the way it should have, and it took a little longer and now, now we’re finally getting it done. So it’s not like I tried to take this year off.“
Gracie’s parting of ways with the UFC didn’t officially get confirmed until June, so he had to wait and see what was going to happen with his career for over six months following his loss to Mitchell.
After facing a slew of tough competition throughout his four-fight run — including fights with Mitchell, Alex Caceres, Cub Swanson and Charles Jourdain — Gracie was a bit surprised the UFC moved on from him. Although it wasn’t ideal, Gracie understood the UFC’s decision and learned a valuable lesson from his time in the company.
“At the time, I was fighting a top-15 guy, and I think like anything that was gonna happen, I would think I was going to get another fight [in the UFC],” Gracie explained. “Just generally [if] you’re fighting a top guy, if you win or lose, you should be able to stay in the game. But I think the way that I fought, the way I pulled guard, and the way that it happened, a lot of fans were disappointed and I lost a lot of stock in that transition. So, I think that’s kind of like as a fan and as a business, the UFC is a business, it makes sense for them to be like, ‘Well, you lost a lot of fans, like go get your fans back, go get some wins and see what happens.‘
“But, I can understand. It’s a business. If pulling guard is going to be that much of a detriment to the ability to keep fighting, and the ability to make money, then f*ck it, I won’t pull guard ever again. And I already made that decision that I’m done with pulling guard. I always do really well from pulling guard, and it was something that I had in my back pocket, but I feel like now, not only for myself, I have to try to get on top. I have to try to be effective in different positions, and I kind of didn’t really have that mindset because I was so successful from the bottom, generally.”
Gracie now faces Tom Picciano for the inaugural VFL featherweight title at The Road to Redemption at Terminal 5 in New York City. Picciano, a seven-fight CFFC vet, has won his past two bouts, including a first-round submission win in his VFL debut in August.
As far as the likelihood of a UFC return, Gracie believes the door could be open if he can show that level the UFC expected from him.
“I had a couple of different managers kind of speaking for me and everything, so I don’t really know what was said,” Gracie said. “But If I was the UFC, that’s what I would be thinking. If I was the UFC I’d be thinking, ‘Hey, go get some fights and see what happens.‘ We never know what happens after a fight or after two. Things could go up, things could go down, things could go to the left or right, other things can happen.
“I don’t know. I’m not really thinking too much past this fight. I’m trying to get this fight. I’m trying to show my fans that I’m, I’m a really good fighter and I can do some really good performances, and I can create a lot of momentum. I think this fight is more about just showing that I don’t need to pull guard and I could, I could beat somebody’s ass. That’s the plan.”
I’m not throwing hate against Kron but an elite Gracie getting knocked out from the guard has to be pretty humiliating. Most MMA competitors with average guard training can avoid that unless they are already severely rocked.
Everyone knows BJJ and the guard. Kron is going to have to change his game.
Nahhhhhhhhhhh
It sounds like he thinks he got cut because he’s pulling guard.
It’s a painful truth.
Another painful truth is that Kron’s too old to be doing this. Kron needed to change his game long ago. Now he just needs to retire.
Kron’s Jiu-Jitsu skills were probably maxed out by age 20. He spent the last 17 years trying to make his Jiu-Jitsu better. If he wanted to be a great MMA fighter, he should have devoted all of those 17 years to things other than Jiu-Jitsu.
Love him or hate him, Royce figured this out after his loss to Sakuraba. He managed to steam roll Sakuraba and Shamrock with his Muay Thai skills. Something no one would have predicted. And yes, I know Royce experimented with steroids too. Again, he went from trying to prove that Jiu-Jitsu was enough, to realizing that more Jiu-Jitsu wasn’t going to be the answer when everyone else knew Jiu-Jitsu too.
Agreed he’s 37, this is a young man’s game and Kron is no Hendo.
It was one of the weirdest, most bizarre fights in the modern UFC era. It isn’t because you pulled guard. It’s because you looked like a bad regional fighter in a professional organization while doing it.
The prototypes for a “BJJ guy” in the UFC are still Bustamante, BJ and Werdum
But in 2025 what is a BJJ guy? Every single fighter trains BJJ now and many are BJJ black belts. The Gracie name is really all that separates Kron from everyone else.
You’ve had 30 years to learn how to strike after you earned your grappling bb. Fuck off Kron
I have a theory that Kron had some sort of mental breakdown. He didn’t want to be in there, he also started to have a self destructive attitude off the mat towards the end of his BJJ competition career too. Almost like he wanted to derail himself.
His style of BJJ was very well suited to transition to MMA. Good clinch based takedowns and didn’t lose dominant positions. Very good sweep and get to his feet guard.
I’ve watched him compete since he was a little kid and he always had a never quit attitude and toughness that was unique. He quit that day. Really out of character
I’ve seen videos of Kron on a heavy bag and pads and it is horrendous to watch. Dude makes Ryan Hall look like Sugar Ray Leonard.
Lmao oh come on
Makes Ryan Hall look like Rhonda?
Bryce Mitchell KO’ing him that night was beyond satisfying
He should start slamming dope like rockson
…errr I mean driving motorcycles erratically.
Making fun of deads kids isnt funny