Roger Gracie is considered by many to be the greatest BJJ competitor of all time, and he was recently asked who he would give that title to other than himself. He won ten IBJJF World Championship titles during his career and at the time of his retirement, that was the most anyone had ever won. He also had the greatest run in ADCC history back in 2005, as he won both his weight class and the absolute division with every match ending in submission. Although many have tried and some have come close, that’s an achievement that still stands alone today and will take an incredible performance to ever repeat that.
For Roger, the man he’d pick as the greatest is actually the one who managed to beat his IBJJF record:
“Look, it’s difficult… Buchecha is the biggest champion in Jiu-Jitsu history. It is indisputable the story he had, right? I think he has the advantage of weight and size, taking nothing from him.”
Although Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida has taken that record for most IBJJF world titles, Roger Gracie also took the time to mention another of his old rivals too:
“I’m a huge fan of Marcelo Garcia, I’ve fought with him twice. I think because (of) his size (and) what he conquered, for what he did… exceptional.”
Marcelo also recently said that Roger was the toughest opponent of his career, so it’s not surprising that Roger is a fan of his too. Regardless, there was still only one man that can take the title of greatest BJJ competitor of all time as far as Roger Gracie is concerned:
“We have other excellent athletes but indisputable by number of titles, for his history as a fighter… Nobody won thirteen world titles. You can’t put another one in the place that won seven, won five, you understand? Because of what he did in Jiu-Jitsu, yes he is the greatest champion of all”
The full clip of Roger Gracie picking the greatest BJJ competitor of all time was uploaded to the official Instagram account of Raphaella Amorim:
