A video is now circulating on social media that seems to show BJJ legend, Renzo Gracie, in a street fight at an NYC Subway train station just a few blocks away from the Renzo Gracie Academy in Manhattan.
In the video, a man who is alleged to be Renzo Gracie seems to trip or is taken down and lands on his side hard, but then quickly uses a body lock to pass and mount his opponent with head and arm control. A woman attempts to break up the fight, but is stopped by a man wearing a Renzo Gracie t-shirt before the video cuts out.
The video was posted to Reddit by the user u/fxwhiteo, along with a screenshot of Renzo confirming the fight in a What’s App group chat by posting a post-fight photo of himself and the messages “good fight†“in the subway†“now†in portuguese.
The Reddit user also posted an audio recording of Renzo’s explanation of the fight. The recording is mostly in Portuguese with a few English words. Renzo claims that the man insulted Renzo and his friends with racist taunts for speaking Portuguese.
Audio recording of Renzo explaining what happened (mostly in Portuguese, with some English words):
The Reddit user also claims that Renzo knew he was on video, and decided not to use strikes.
Not only does Renzo hold a ticket to the ADCC’s Hall of Fame and an illustrious, pioneering MMA career, but he’s also no stranger to street fights, having stopped two NYC muggers in 2012 and breaking a bouncer’s arm in 2014.
Unfortunately, the news comes just weeks after Leandro Lo was murdered in Brazil when an off-duty Police Officer shot him in the head following a physical altercation where the BJJ champion allegedly controlled and humiliated the man while they were attending a concert.
This story is still developing.
