Roger hung up his MMA gloves at the age of 36 (Photo: Reproduction/Facebook RogerGracie)
Three months after retiring from jiu-jitsu, Roger gracie announced that he is also retiring from MMA. At 36 years old, the carioca revealed that the decision came because the sport no longer motivated him enough to dedicate himself 100% to training, in addition to no longer aiming for great achievements, only the financial issue.
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“I decided to stop because I think MMA was no longer motivating me enough to continue dedicating myself 100% as an athlete. I enjoyed it, it was a great pleasure to do these 10 fights, but I have no more ambitions. There aren't many more things to achieve that would change my career. I stopped at a high level. I have more to lose than to gain if I continue fighting MMA. If I had the same passion I have for jiu-jitsu, I would continue, but I was only fighting for the money”, declared Gracie, in an interview with the 'MMA Fighting' website.
Considered one of the biggest names in the history of jiu-jitsu, Roger had a short career in MMA, but with important achievements. In ten professional fights, he had eight wins and two losses, one of them in the UFC, in 2013, when he lost on points to Tim Kennedy. The highlight of his career, according to the athlete himself, was winning the ONE Championship light heavyweight belt in May 2016, when he submitted Michal Pasternak, in his last performance in the sport.
“The most special moment of my MMA career was winning the (One Championship) belt. Being champion of a category is a really cool feeling. I'm super happy with my career. There were 10 fights, I faced several big names and had excellent duels. Fighting MMA was a really cool experience. It was a special feeling to follow the Gracie family path. I saw my cousins and uncles fighting MMA since I was a kid and I knew that the path of a Gracie was to fight jiu-jitsu and MMA”, he concluded.
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