In a recent interview with TATAME, the beautiful 27-year-old five-time Jiu-Jitsu world champion, Kyra Gracie, had some very respectful and sports-man-like comments to make regarding the current Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion, Ronda Rousey.
Gracie—who is rumored to be soon making her own mma debut—was solidly-impressed by Rousey's, 54-second dismantling of top contender Sarah Kaufman; a match that took place August 18, in San Diego, California, and saw Rousey record her sixth professional win via bjj armbar submission.
“She has great skills pulling off that armbar. Congratulations. I guess she’s doing a great job representing women in MMA. She has a good Judo background and managed to well adapt her skills to MMA. Each fight she comes better and better on ground and stand-up skills,” Gracie commented.“She’s training Jiu-Jitsu with my cousin Cesar in San Francisco, and I can see she’s evolving”.
Aesthetically pleasing to the male eye, this member of the Gracie family, Kyra, is also a Rio de Janeiro native with a long list of grappling credentials:
4x World BJJ Champion (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010)
5x Pan American BJJ Games Champion (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007)
5x Brazilian BJJ Champion (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004)
5x New York State BJJ Champion (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002)
3x ADCC (Abu Dhabi Combat Club) Submission Wrestling World Champion (2005, 2007, 2011)
1x Asiatic BJJ Champion (2006)
Nowadays however, the 2nd degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Gracie, is currently honing her boxing skills while also 'flying under the radar' awaiting her chance to finally turn pro:
“I’m training right now. I added Boxing to my training routine, I’m training with Claudio Coelho but I always focus more in Jiu-Jitsu because that’s where I come from. The recent MMA growth makes me think about turning professional. I think about it more and more each day. I’m studying some 'contract' propositions and checking with my coaches as to when would be the best moment to do it." says Gracie.
In what seemed like a 'playful' jab at Rousey, Gracie added:
“I have pretty good armbar defense (laughs). I proved that already in Jiu-Jitsu tournaments. I’m an expert at Submission, so…”.
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