Kron Gracie receives his black belt from Rickson.

[Hinch]

I wasn't sure which forum to put this in, so damn it I chose this one!

Fresh off Kron's middleweight and absolute division wins at both the Pan-Ams and in the Rickson Cup, where in both tournaments he subbed every opponent, adding another sixteen subs in a row to his already impressive streak, Rickson threw a swerve ball.

The swerve ball being? Well most in the grappling community expected Kron to once again win the IBJJF/CBJJ Mundials at brown belt, before Rickson would promote him. However, with the Mundials under a month away, Kron has been given the chance to fight in the middle division at black belt.

This could mean that should Marcelo return for another run, we could see one of the pound for pound greatest grapplers square off against the most anticipated black belt of all time. Even if Marcelo sticks purely to MMA, there is also the chance that Galveo will move back down from the above weight class he was so successful in at the Pan-Ams, creating the mouth watering thought of Galveo x Kron at the biggest BJJ competition of the year.

And should even that not pay off, I'd pay good money to see Leite roll against Kron.

The promotion seems odd, as after the Pan-Ams this year, Rickson stated he wanted to keep Kron at brown belt a little while longer. However when Kron swept the Rickson Cup, with no match, bar the absolute final, going above three minutes, it seems right that Kron get a crack at the big boys in the Mundials.

How will he do? Frankly, I'm not sure. He's still young, and he's got a lot of pressure on his shoulders. Not to mention his first black belt competition will be the World Championships no less. What we do know is, Kron's black belt debut will be the most anticipated black belt debut I can recall, and should he perform as he usually does, the Mundials will be very busy come Sunday.

Oh, source: I'm a source. (http://www.graciemag.com/news/144/ARTICLE/10454/2008-05-08.html)

[aubtin]

I think this is great news. He's looked so dominant at brown, I've lost count of the number of consecutive matches he's won by sub, and as you say there are some fantastic matches at black belt. It's a huge challenge but it adds loads of excitement to the Mundials in June.

[Hinch]

He has that "superstar" quality to follow his name, too. The sopn of Rickson will always be closely monitored. He can also dominate for years to come, without the monetary concerns other BJJ specialists have. A Gracie will always have money drawing power, and as the son of Rickson, he can always make a massive payday with a relatively easy opponent in Japan.

I could see him competing for a very long time, with the odd MMA superfight here and there for stupid cash.

And one thing is for sure, this Mundial will be very popular.

[Jarzi]

Garcia would be hell of a test for Kron. It'd be interesting to see how long he'd survive.

[likma]

I doubt Marcelo will participate in next Mundials though. But it will surely be interesting to see him against black belts.

[Chewbaca Joe]

I kept score for some of his absolute matches at the Pan Ams. He is pretty much tied with Marcelo as the most amazing competitor I've seen. I took video of his final match at weight if I can get it up on the youtube I'll post it in this thread.

Also, why do we not have a BJJ/grappling board here?

[Titan]

I kept score for some of his absolute matches at the Pan Ams. He is pretty much tied with Marcelo as the most amazing competitor I've seen. I took video of his final match at weight if I can get it up on the youtube I'll post it in this thread.

Also, why do we not have a BJJ/grappling board here?

Nobody's asked for it before. :-) It does make sense, though, so just let me run it by my colleague and hopefully it's up soon enough.

[Chewbaca Joe]

That would be so so so EPIC.

[Hinch]

A grappling board would indeed be awesome.

Oh and Joe, you really rank Kron that highly? His takedowns (especially from sit down and guard) are a strongpoint I believe all Gracie's bar Rickson lacked. His fundamentals are beyond solid and he has his dad's usual on mat swagger: Sweep and then armbar. Not quite BJJ_Mat's guard and armbar, but very awesome.

I rate him bvery highly, and I don;t believe Rickson would have put the black on him unless he was already tapping the black belts he rolls with...However, as you've had front line seats as it were, did he live up to his hype and results in the flesh?

Behind a now gone Jacare, he's my favourite grappler, so I'm all over this news as you can tell.

EDIT: Also, a grappling forum would give me a place to put a thread containing some of my more favourite grappling matches. You never find threads with just a mass collection of grappling matches these days.

[Chewbaca Joe]

Unfortunately I've never seen the mighty Jacare on the mat in real life. I did get a pic with him at this year's Pan Ams though:

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/5984/djacamc2.jpg

I definitely rate Kron as highly as Marcelo and the other big boys of the sport, but for different reasons. As anybody who pays attention to the sport knows Marcelo has a strong basic game but also uses plenty of techniques that are fancy, flashy and sort of obscure in a way. Kron does none of that. His game is basic basic basic. There was a recent interview with him wherein he said something like "my dad teaches me the most efficient route to the submission" and I believe it. The only guy who lasted more than a couple minutes in the absolute was Chris Moriarty who looks to be bigger than me and he still tapped in five. I was pretty shocked that that big fella in that vid on the Graciemag news page lasted as long as he did.

His takedowns are sweet. He did a drop seio nage on pretty much everybody in absolute and it worked pretty good every time. He almost got his back taken in the semis at weight with that same throw but he obviously didn't sweat it and had the guy tapping in just a couple minutes.

Kron may not just kill everybody in his first tourney at blackbelt. Those are some deeeep shark infested waters. But I think he's next to truly dominate the weight class. BTW, I think he's at about fifty consecutive submissions now.

I pray that Marcelo comes back to BJJ and we can see Gracie vs Garcia.

Here's his final match at weight from the Pan Ams:

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[Hinch]

Thanks for the vid. I agree that the first Mundials won't necessarily bear a gold medal. He has all the tools and talent to pull a Roger in that division though, and just string back to back championships for years to come.

[Hinch]

Rickson weighs in:

“There are few things in life as special as promoting your own son, I’m so happy,”

“He’s had 51 submissions since he entered the adult division,”


“See you at the Worlds.”

Mmm...Sauce. (http://www.graciemag.com/news/144/ARTICLE/10470/2008-05-09.html)