It’s not often a fighter debuts against a tough, skilled veteran of over 50 contests and more or less dominates. It’s even less common he follows this up with a decisive win over a man who was once considered amongst the elite pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. And when you throw in the fact our subject is part of the most famous family in the business maybe people really should sit up and take notice.

After such an impressive start to his MMA career where does Crosley Gracie go next? And where does he stand in relation to his family, a clan of pioneers still searching for ways to further cement their legacy?

Crosley began studying BJJ under Reylson Gracie in 1988. Now obviously Reylson is some kind of relative but to be honest working out the Byzantine links between these people just bores me rigid. It’s a bit like that part of the Bible where Joshua begets Abraham and Abraham begets David and David begets Steve or Chad or Keyshawn or whoever. The only difference is that every single begotten person in this clan knows how to pull guard and tap people out. Anyway, after 11 years of study alongside the likes of Ricardo Arona and Paulo Filho, Crosley moved to the US to train with the American branch of his seemingly ever-extending tribe of Gi-clad badasses and extend his skill set to take in more boxing and wrestling. Hooking up with Ralph Gracie in California, Crosley has spent half a decade learning from, training with and teaching alongside the fearsome looking Pit Bull.

On August 31st 2003 he made his professional MMA debut on Pancrase’s stacked 10th Anniversary show in front of 10,500 Japanese fans. It would have been a daunting prospect for any fighter, particularly as he was facing the reigning Welterweight King of Pancrase, Kiuma Kunioku, in a non-title fight. Working exclusively for Pancrase since his 1996 debut, the Osaka native had already fought an impressive 51 times (29-15-7), racking up wins over, among others, Guy Mezger, Frank Shamrock, Masakatsu Funaki, Yuki Kondo, Genki Sudo, Daijyu Takase and Nathan Marqhardt. It was quite an opponent for a debuting 24 year old who must surely have already been feeling the inherent pressure of representing the first family of Mixed Martial Arts. Given the disparity in experience and the central theme of the event (Pancrase v The World) it’s pretty clear the promotion were bringing in a Gracie expecting to showcase one of their own beating up on somebody with the magical last name.

Well, unfortunately for them Crosley didn’t play along. The self appointed “Most Handsome Gracie” (though in that family taking such a title is surely petty theft) was confident and relaxed, displaying the expected slickness on the mat along with surprisingly polished stand-up skills. Gracie took the opening round with some crisp kickboxing, powerful takedowns and precision mat work. The second saw him dominate, landing sweet combinations and hurting Kunioku before taking control on the ground and handing out further punishment. Aware he was clearly behind, Kunioku made more of a fight of the final session, landing some heavy looking punches and low kicks. Still, Gracie never looked in serious trouble as he displayed a good chin and some tidy defensive skills.

So, one very impressive debut and Crosley’s career was off with a bang as an instant candidate for the somewhat dubious honor of spearheading the next generation of the not-quite-so-feared-as-they-used-to-be Gracie family. Well, not exactly. Nothing much seemed to happen for a while and he went back to Dublin, California, teaching at Ralph’s academy. It took over a year for Crosley to return to the ring. This time for an October 14th date with Hayato Sakurai at Pride: Bushido 5. Once again the set-up was similar, a major show (even DSE’s most minor shows would be major shows for just about any other MMA promotion in the world), and a match-up with a vastly more experienced, but smaller Japanese opponent. It seems that even in an era where the Gracie name has been devalued and demystified those six letters can still help ensure a young fighter doesn’t actually have to work his way up through the smaller, grassroots promotions before getting their shot at the big time. Not many people go straight from training into one of the major leagues these days. Unless they have a shiny Olympic medal round their neck, can shift a hell of a lot of merchandise or are some kind of gargantuan Sumo has-been, but that’s another story. Anyway, back to Sakurai.

As the two men entered the arena both had winning records, Gracie 1-0 and Sakurai, 20-5-2. And those five blemishes had been placed there by Rodrigo Gracie, Ryo Chonan, Jake Shields, Matt Hughes and Anderson Silva. In the weeks leading up to the fight there was plenty of talk about DSE using Crosley as the fall guy for Sakurai to get a Gracie added to his win column. Sakurai had dropped a decision to Rodrigo just 8 months previously and, so the theory went, his beating Crosley, the most inexperienced and one of the cheapest available Gracies would alleviate the promotional headache that loss had caused them. Ｉt’s no secret DSE are desperate to create a new Japanese superstar and rather than waiting for some Kryptonian comet to deliver the second coming of Kazushi Sakuraba they’ve gone for the option of trying to develop (or more usually outbid other promotions for) a whole stable of Japanese fighters capable of winning consistently and carrying the promotion into the future. And of course, having a Japanese fighter knock off a Gracie or two has worked beautifully for them in the past. In the last couple of years Hidehiko Yoshida, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Takanori Gomi, Ryo Chonan, Hirotaka Yokoi and Sakurai have all had, to differing degrees, the promotional push. Rehabilitating Sakurai, and potentially setting him up for a Rodrigo rematch was an important goal of the show, as the fight was placed second from top, just below Gomi’s predictable but wildly entertaining demolition of sometime fighter, sometime jailbird Charles “Crazy Horse” Bennett.

Once again, Crosley, rebellious little bugger that he is, didn’t play along. After a fairly dull first round, which Gracie looked to have taken by a narrow margin, they headed into the second, and under Bushido rules, final session. 62 seconds later Crosley Gracie had achieved something no other professional fighter has been able to do. He submitted Hayato Sakurai. And he did it with a very slick, almost nonchalant armbar. Now, let’s get things in perspective. Sakurai is clearly past his best. His recent performances have been dull and listless, particularly when compared to the kind of electrifying displays he would routinely put on around 1999 and 2000. Whether he’s simply lost his fire, or whether it’s his much talked about car crash and/or his sometimes hinted at partying lifestyle to blame is a matter of opinion, debate and uninformed online speculation but clearly this is not the Sakurai of old. Still, a 10kg weight advantage and Sakurai's recent form aside, Gracie was the first person to ever make him tap out. And while he didn’t look as spectacular as he did at times against Kunioku he still beat a highly regarded, vastly more experienced opponent.

So, two questions need answering, what now for Crosley’s career and where does he stand in the Gracie pecking order? Let’s deal with the Gracie family question first. The Gracies are a proud lot. Why else would they have expended so much energy on protecting their mystique, demanding their own special rules and even manipulating the inception of an entirely new sport (in the United States at least)? Don’t believe me? Get your hands on a copy of Clyde Gentry’s excellent “No Holds Barred: Evolution” for more details on how the UFC was conceived as a Gracie family vanity project. Now, given the advancing age of the original wave, the near mythical Rickson, the incomparable Royce, the undersized but overly skilled Royler and my own personal favorite, charismatic, buck-toothed, screw the special rules I’ll fight anybody anytime entertainer Renzo, does anyone really think they’ll just quietly disappear? Of course not. Family pride is at stake, not to mention a slew of young men raised in the family tradition who probably aren’t suitable for a nice, steady office job.

Until B.J. Penn made him look like a rank amateur in Hawaii, Rodrigo was generally acknowledged as the shooting star of the family. Unfortunately there were always a couple of problems with that analysis. For a start, he hasn’t finished an opponent in a professional fight for almost three years. Hardly something to brag about even if he can boast a very impressive submission win over Takada Dojo survivor Daijiro Matsui. After that he posted decision wins over the capable Yuki Sasaki, the slick Daijyu Takase and the faded Sakurai, before being thoroughly schooled by Penn (particularly in the final round where he looked awful). Rodrigo is a well-rounded fighter but he’s hardly set the world on fire. None of his fights have been particularly entertaining and he hasn’t exactly shown an abundance of charisma either. Certainly not enough to make himself a superstar on his own merits or take up the Gracie mantle.

So if Rodrigo is a bit of a let down whom else is there? Ralph is really too old to be considered part of the new generation but he did look very good in returning after a five year layoff to take a clear decision win over Dokonjonosuke Mishima. Of course he followed that up by walking straight onto Takanori Gomi’s knee in less than 10 seconds and, in true Gracie style, complaining long and loud after the fact.

What about Ryan? No promoter in their right mind would try and make this ill-disciplined yobbo a focal point of their organization. And he’s not exactly an elite fighter either. He looked awesome in his vicious destruction of Tokimitsu Ishizawa in August 2000 but his brutal beat down of the New Japan pro wrestler disguised the real story of that fight. Ishizawa, a nicely decorated amateur wrestler was the most reluctant of participants. At the time New Japan and Antonio Inoki were securely in the grip of their most feverish MMA obsession and pressured Ishizawa to take the fight. Predictably he took a major pasting that almost killed his pro wrestling career. Eleven months later he was back and got his revenge with an odd looking injury stoppage that salvaged his reputation. Shortly afterwards he left New Japan and hasn’t been seen anywhere near an MMA show since. Other than his series with Ishizawa, Ryan has been embarrassed by Kazushi Sakuraba in a fight where he brought his excuses with him in the shape of miles of blue tape and a demand for a truncated fight due to an arm injury. Ryan looked like some kind of neon mummy while a bored looking IQ Wrestler literally spanked him. He has three wins since then, one over the often battered Shungo Oyama, an injury assisted TKO of promising Takada Dojo fighter Kazuhiro Hamanaka and a ludicrous decision win over mulletted Pancrase charisma machine Ikuhisa “The Punk” Minowa. Crosley has already achieved more in two fights than Ryan has in six. And he’s shown more class and maturity in doing so.

Nobody really mentions Daniel Gracie much these days. This despite the fact he’s the only legitimate heavyweight this mob have ever produced. And he has a winning record over Japanese pro wrestlers. Still, a split decision over Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Takashi Sugiura, a man who simply doesn’t have the time to train properly for MMA, a submission win over then-total beginner and New Japan young gun Shinsuke Nakamura, a loss to Hidehiko Yoshida protégé Kazuhiro Nakamura and a submission win over RINGS veteran Wataru Sakata (with one of the most ham-fisted armbars ever seen in a Pride ring) don’t herald the arrival of a new superstar.

Clearly, Crosley’s only rival for new generation pre-eminence is Rodrigo. And despite Rodrigo’s greater experience, this is a close call. Crosley performed better against Sakurai and looked great in his debut. Rodrigo is more workmanlike (that’s a euphemism for dull by the way) and completely ran out of ideas against Penn. Now, losing to the cauliflower-eared baby-faced Hawaiian is certainly no disgrace but Rodrigo’s reputation is severely diminished by such a comprehensive loss. For me, Crosley is now the Gracies brightest prospect. But where does he stand in the wider MMA world?

In short, he signed a two-fight deal with DSE so we can hopefully expect to see him back at least once next year. Whether he appears at another Bushido or is moved up to the genuinely major shows is uncertain but it seems unlikely DSE, even with some of the interesting personnel decisions they’ve made over the years, will let an impressive young fighter with “that” name him slip through their fingers. It’s pretty unusual for a two fight novice to be realistically touted as “The next big thing” these days. But it’s also pretty unusual for a two fight novice to have claimed such an impressive pair of scalps. Gracie has a fantastic amount of potential but we definitely need to see more of him before making any serious predictions. A few more fights should give us a better idea of where he really stands. His first two outings have shown us a few things, his well-rounded arsenal and his calm, focused demeanor instantly spring to mind. He’ｓ also approaching his athletic prime, and assuming he stays dedicated to his fighting career we can expect some special things from him. Whatever happens in the foreseeable future, it would be a very foolish matchmaker who tries to once again cast him in the role of losing to the local star.

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Thanks go to http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp and www.pancrase.co.jp