Kron Gracie had a puzzling lackluster performance against Charles Jourdain at UFC 288, earning a lopsided unanimous decision loss.
Kron Gracie had a puzzling performance in his recent fight against Charles Jourdain at UFC 288. Best known for his world-class Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the son of legendary grappler Rickson Gracie took nearly four years off between fights, yet appeared vastly underprepared for an MMA fight on his return. Gracie barely engaged in any striking exchanges, and his best offensive move was grabbing onto Jourdain and pulling guard, which failed to get any positive results.
Gracie ultimately lost a lopsided unanimous decision, with UFC president Dana White commenting that watching the fight made him feel like he was “coming out of a time capsule in 1995.” White didn’t say if he would offer Gracie another fight after a second straight loss in the promotion, and veteran analyst Alan Jouban believes there’s an extremely wide gap to fill before the 34-year-old fighter could legitimately hang with elite competition in the UFC. “He would have to evolve tremendously to keep a long career in the UFC,” Jouban said on The Fighter vs. The Writer podcast.
Jouban understands White’s criticism regarding Gracie’s performance, as he had almost the same reaction during UFC 288. He was alarmed by the featherweight’s inability to set up a takedown with strikes and his attempts to goad Jourdain to engage with him on the ground. Jouban commented, “When you see butt-scooting in the UFC, it’s not a good look. It doesn’t look like he’s evolved. You’ve got to at least be able to roll and grab a single leg. You’ve got to be able to do something or throw some better hands.”
Despite this, Jouban isn’t ready to close the book on Gracie forever and believes there’s at least one more compelling matchup out there for him. He suggests a fight against Ryan Hall would create a fun and entertaining bout focused on technical jiu-jitsu. Jouban said, “I say give him Ryan Hall. Give him one more opportunity to entertain the crowd with some kind of slick jiu-jitsu fight and go from there.”