Kron Gracie has just opened up about the loss he suffered at UFC 288 for the very first time, addressing a performance that many fans were left disappointed with. Naturally he’s always had quite high expectations put upon him as a result of being the son of Rickson Gracie, but he seemed more than capable of living up to them during his professional grappling career. He won an ADCC world championship very early in his time as a grappler and was seen as one of the most top competitors in the sport thanks to his impressive performances on the mats.
When he transitioned to MMA, grappling fans had high hopes for his career in that sport too. While he racked up 4 quick submissions wins in RIZIN FF and continued that form in his UFC debut, he did suffer his first professional loss to Cub Swanson back in 2019. Kron has been completely absent from the sport since then, so there was a lot of interest around him when he announced that he was making his return to professional MMA. Things didn’t go to plan at all though, as Kron Gracie suffered a very convincing unanimous decision loss at UFC 288 that saw him pulling guard multiple times without success.
This gameplan was met with criticism from fans, as was Kron himself. Fans weren’t alone either, as even Dana White thought that his performance was less than impressive:
“I like Kron (Gracie) a lot. He’s a good kid. He came out looking very limited tonight. It was coming out of a time capsule in 1995. It’s a tough way to try to win a fight these days. The kid’s got a ton of heart. He’s a got a good chin. I don’t want to sh*t on his performance but it was rough game plan.”
Kron Gracie made the first public statement on his loss at UFC 288 in a recent story posted to his official Instagram account, and it seems as though he has a change in mind for the future:
