WSOF: Rolles Gracie talks brother Igor’s fight, condemns risky maneuver

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Last Saturday, World Series of Fighting 2 took place in Atlantic City, N. J. In the fourth fight of the night, black belt Igor Gracie faced Rick Patishnock, and showed a good repertoire of Jiu-Jitsu in the first round. The fighter had good chances to finish the opponent, and remained on top most of the time.

However, when trying to get rid of an attack back, the Patishnock ended up playing forward and Gracie slammed his shoulder on the mat. Unable to return for the second round, the judges declared the TKO in favor of Patishnock.

GracieMag reporter Marcelo Dunlop spoke with Igor’s brother, Rolles Gracie, about the fight and the injury his sibling sustained. Moreover, Rolles talked about his participation in WSOF. Check out:

GracieMag: The whole family embraced WSOF, since you and your brothers Igor and Gregor have contracts with the organization. What did NBC airing it do to make the event different?

Rolles Gracie: I think WSOF came to add the sport. MMA needs more large events, so athletes who make the show can benefit and compete more. Monopoly is only good for one person or a group. We believe in the proposals by WSOF in the U.S. and One FC in Asia, the two promotions to which we are bound.

Igor is always finishing his fights. How bad was  Saturday’s result in your view?

What happened with Igor was a horrible. He was highly prepared and unfortunately was injured during the fight. Completely dominated the first round and was ready to continue doing so during the whole fight if needed. I’m taking this opportunity to question this movement of playing forward when the opponent is on his back in order to hit him with his head on the floor. I think this should be banned from the sport. Sometimes we need to see this happen to someone close to actually observe the seriousness of the business. We can not expect someone to move the neck or have a shattered vertebra to finally ban this movement MMA.

What have tests on Igor’s shoulder determined?

The X-ray showed no fracture, so we’ll do an MRI to determine the severity of the injury. Never seen Igor ask to go to the hospital before, and it was not for lack of reasons. This time the pain was too great.

How are your workouts in New York? Many UFC beast coming to help you?

I have a bout scheduled for June 14, and now I will start pulling in more help in training. New York always has a good crowd to train with.