On May 8th, legendary Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Master and MMA Fighter, Renzo Gracie, visited the Pacific NW to give a seminar inside the Fife High Wrestling Room near Tacoma. About 100 BJJ practitioners from around the area were in attendance for this rare opportunity to learn from one of the world's best. NW Fightscene was also there & had a chance to speak with Renzo before the seminar...

NW Fightscene: Lets talk first about your fight with Matt Hughes at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi.  What are your thoughts about it now looking back? 
Renzo Gracie: I think I should have get a little bit more time. Six months wasn't enough to drop forty pounds and to be in shape for the fight. I had to train in a way I couldn't hurt myself. I had to be injury free which I was able to do it, but at the same time that sacrificed my training. I couldn't train as hard as I should for the fact that my body wasn't tight enough to be able to. Looking back now it was a crazy endeavor, you know. But I almost pulled it out. I was short thirty seconds.

NWFS: You mentioned maybe fighting at the end of the year. Any idea of who your opponent might be?
Gracie: No. This is always up to the UFC. They pick the opponents and I'm just going to keep training hard to be in shape and be able to do it.

NWFS: Your student Ricardo Almeida is going to be fighting Hughes at UFC 117..
Gracie: Yes, that will be an unbelievable fight. Almeida's really in very good shape. He's been training for over two years hard. Him and Frankie [Edgar]. Frankie could show how effective his boxing and takedowns were against BJ [Penn], by snatching his belt from him. We're putting together a very strong team. My goal is to have the dominant team in the UFC.

NWFS: One of your students is the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and early this year  the Abu Dhabi government-owned Flash Entertainment purchased a 10 percent interest in the UFC. How instrumental were you in brokering that deal?
Gracie: I actually helped it a lot but it wasn't me. It was their lawyer who actually did the whole thing. But I helped it in the sense that I helped keep the jiu-jitsu alive there... Right now they have jiu-jitsu in every middle school, and their goal is to have it in high school too. They have 100 Brazilians who actually live in Abu Dhabi teaching Jiu-jitsu and their goal is to reach 1000 instructors there. So its really growing. They have the competitions there now. They're really developing and improving the art there. And this is a dream we had back in Brazil and we are actually able to do it in a different culture which is Abu Dhabi.

NWFS: With the influence of MMA, a lot of people are just doing Jiu-jitsu training with No-Gi. Give us your thoughts about training No-Gi without training in the Gi.
Gracie: I do believe that No-Gi is a variation of Gi. And you need to train both if you want to be good in the art. I do believe the Gi demands more from you. And if you're a really good Gi guy, you're going to end up being a good No-Gi guy. This is why we dominate completely the Abu Dhabi competition. From 5 weight divisions, including the women six, we win five. We may lose one to a foreigner. And this shows the efficiency of the sport as grapplers. I really think that both are necessary, and both complement each other and they make you a better fighter. My goal was always to be a better fighter and I do believe its a necessity to even do the standup part. You need to do that, you need to add that. My main school in Manhattan now I have Muay Thai classes. So I need to introduce all my students to the complete art. It can't be just a piece. So my goal is always to evolve, and I do believe one complements the other and they are very important.

NWFS: How often do you give seminars?
Gracie: I normally don't do it. I was very lucky to be very successful in my school. I have 1100 students in one of my schools. And its really growing like crazy. I just added 7000 more square feet to my school which I believe will bring around 500 or 600 more students to the place. So instead of donating my time towards seminars, I've  been donating my time towards improving my training places. And I've been very successful doing that. Rodrigo is a very good friend so he asked me to do this and I said 'OK buddy, as soon as I finish my fight I'm coming over'. And its a pleasure because I always wanted to come to Seattle and its a beautiful city. And I was lucky to come together with the sun. And it was a double treat and I'm having a great time. I wish I could stay here a little longer.

Renzo with Gracie Barra Seattle's Rodrigo Lopes

NWFS: It sounds like you are very busy working with the UFC. What are some of your duties with them?
Gracie: Mostly its to go and introduce the fighters. We go sign autographs or go work in meetings that they have with the sponsors. Things of that nature. It's what I did before for free. Now they are paying me, I can not even believe it. (laughs)

NWFS: You've done a couple books as well as a documentary that was just excellent. Do you have any projects that you're working on now?
Gracie: Yeah, we plan to work in a couple more books. And I'm really looking forward to starting to develop a new way of teaching through the internet in an efficient way. We have 37 affiliate schools and I do want to set up in a way that it doesn't matter where you go or any affiliate school, you're going to be having the same class on that same given day. My goal is to put everybody on the same pace and to push everybody forward to improve.

NWFS would like to thank Renzo for his time in granting us this interview, and Rodrigo Lopes for setting it up. To learn more about Renzo Gracie, his academies in New York, & Team Renzo Gracie, visit renzogracie.com.  Rodrigo Lopes' Seattle Gracie Barra has two main locations, one in Seattle and one in Redmond, with two affiliate locations in Everett and Buckley. Visit bjjseattle.com for more info.