Bruce Buffer recently took the time to appear on Logan Paul‘s podcast, Impaulsive, and talked about the time that he was choked unconscious in a sparring match with Royce Gracie. He talked about the time that he first met the legendary grappler and MMA fighter all the way back in 1991. Buffer was invited to train at the Gracie gym, and he was quickly met by someone who was just a few years away from changing history at UFC 1:
“We go to the gym, out comes this six-foot-one, six-foot skinny kid, nice kid, 20 something years old. He goes: “Hi, my name is Royce, come with me.” He pulls me in a room, closes the door, we’re alone, the rooms are padded.”
“He goes: “I understand you’re a kickboxer. Come at me, take my head off.” There’s nobody there. But, you know, the Gracie challenge, so whatever. So I’m game. I said: “You want to put on some gloves?” And he said: “No, let’s just do this.”
That’s how the sparring match between Bruce Buffer and Royce Gracie started, but according to Buffer it didn’t actually last very long at all. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise though seeing as this was back when hardly anyone had even heard of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, never mind actually had any experience in it.
“So I go… and I swear to God guys, and I’m not ashamed of this – 45 seconds later, give or take five, I’m on my back, he’s got me in a side choke, he’s choking me out, and he’s going: “Tap, tap, tap.” So I tap. And I’ll never forget it, he gets up in the guard, straightens out his gi and says: “See, isn’t it nice not to get hit in the face?”
The full interview with Bruce Buffer where he discusses the time he was choked unconscious by Royce Gracie was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of the Impaulsive podcast:
