How Rickson Gracie Learned to Overcome Fear

How old were you when you had your first match like that? My first professional was 19. 19. Fight King Zulu with 120 fights and four draws only. 120 victories. He was a big guy too. Yeah about 210, 220 and about yeah he was a big guy. How much do you weigh at the time? 174. Those matches are still available online. You can watch them. Yeah. It's pretty cool. I think so yeah. Is it wild looking back at 19 year old you fighting Zulu? Was maybe the biggest experience in my life because at this point I felt like I was good. I was able to fight well but I didn't have the experience. So and then one day I got home I saw my father talking with his Zulus manager in Brasilia, the capital. And the guy tried to bring to invite my somebody's of my father team to fight Zulu. And my father was saying no I don't have nobody. We don't fight Vali Tudo for so long. Nobody's training for. And I get the idea said hey dad pull me in, pull me in, pull me in. So I immediately asked him to and he looked at me and he mentioned to the Voldemort Santana said yes but I have my son here at 19 years old he want to try. And the guy said no master. Master Gracie. This is not a fight for him to try. The guy is very tough in this and that. As the guy tried to pull my father off the deal my father becomes more excited to the no but I think he gonna go handle the challenge this and that so he's become excited with the situation. So and then we set up the fight one month later I was there to fight. And we start the fight and he has a trade trade like one move he does which grab you with the hands between your legs and lift you up and throw you over the only back on the floor. And as he approached that I moved back block his his shoulders and hit him with the knee. That on his face was the best knee I could possibly give him somebody and expect him to just I expect to win the fight in right that in that moment. But he just shook he stood up lift his head shook speed a tooth and start back ready again to go. You know and then I felt like was really serious and I think was much serious than I expect. And for the next 10 minutes because was 10 minutes rounds for the end of the round we just engage and fall on the ring and come back in and back and out and a lot of a lot of commotion a lot of strength. And in the end of the round I kind of crawling to the corner and I said to my dad that I quit I know I cannot go anymore I'm tired and my dad not even listen to me said he's tired than you he's worse now we're going to kick his ass do this and that said that I'm serious man I'm dead I cannot go and then my brother holds throw me a bucket of ice and water in my head and then being the belt the bell rings and I push in again and like my dad said I could beat the guy in 3 minutes because he was already tired wasted chew so when I grabbed his back he could not escape and I put him to sleep and and then I confirm my worst enemy was in my mind was the my enemy was in my brain tell me I have to quit I have so I decide and that day never hurt my my mind tell bad things to me anymore so either I'm going to die or I don't go but if I go I cannot say oh I think I had enough I think it's time to so this was the worst enemy I could have and from that day on I decide to either go to putting everything on it or don't go at all so it was easier for me because I would start to to deal with one enemy only not two enemies my mind and my opponent it's probably the most common thing that happens to fighters is they they lose faith in themselves or they they start to look for a way out yes that's pretty much uh because you don't see the other side you see yourself and you see you tired you see with problems you start to see the negative aspects of you and you're not putting yourself like the guy has the same problems he has the same idea so you have to keep going here as everything is normal and it's hard to to people relate to that you know when you start to getting the problems you start to see yourself bigger than the other ones you know more problems and more and that's not going to be the the right way to resolve the matter it's interesting that you figured out how to handle these things on your own too because this is uh it's an area that fighters seek psychological help with now they hire psychologists and they they get hypnotized and they do all these different things to try to figure out how to stop that negative conversation in the mind how to stop those negative voices and how to not give in to that weakness that wants you to quit yes this power we all have within but some people don't even go for that and they seek for different people to help them which is good too but once you become more intuitive when you become more enlightened with your own potential you're able to resolve all the matters yourself you know because it's all about your mindset is how you think and how you believe and what you ready for and what you prepare for and how you able to to accept and surrender everything around you and that these moments that where you do want to quit whether it's in training or in competition for people who understand that and have experienced that and have overcome it life becomes easier yes i think you know martial arts when it's practiced with with a complete idea is a metaphor for life you know you become a good martial artist you become a good person you're going to become a happy person because you want to be able to to conquer your your happiness outside of the mat and to deal with your demons yes and some people never fight those demons they never so when something happens to them in life some adversity comes up they're not accustomed to handling it yes and we're seeing a lot of that now with this pandemic we're seeing a lot of people freaking out because they've never really experienced any true adversity in their life yes no it's not only for that but because they don't ever thought about how to resolve those problems you know they're just thinking the problem is there what are going to do but they don't thinking about how i can control the situation how i can be on top of this how i can you know just defend myself from those demons and and and if you don't see the perspective of how i can resolve my problems you allow yourself to to to put your problems in somebody else's hands to resolve for you and it's all about perspective it's all about focus watch the entire episode for free only on spotify