Rickson Gracie Reveals Parkinson’s Disease Diagnosis

Pride Fighting Championships pioneer Rickson Gracie has revealed that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

Considered to be one of the more revered names in the vaunted Gracie family, Brazilian jiu-jitsu coral belt Rickson Gracie revealed during Kyra Gracie’s podcast on Wednesday that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease two years ago. Now 63 years of age, the son of Helio Gracie said the disease, a chronic degenerative disorder, affected his motor system, causing tremors in his hands and decreasing his ability to move. Despite this, Rickson made it clear that the diagnosis “wasn't traumatic.”

“Two years ago, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s,” Rickson explained. “So, a lot of things that I would like to do physically, I’m decreasing. For me, [the diagnosis] was nothing dramatic. I’m ready for anything in my life. I accept my mistakes and my victories. I accept my life well, so I’m happy today. But this neurological disability opened my eyes to my age and my reality, which hasn’t changed much since then, but I have a certain tremor in my hand, a certain movement disability, which I didn’t have before. It’s something that doesn’t bother me too much, because my motivation to wake up tomorrow and work continues, so I see it as a gift from God to see what I’m going to do. If I give you a lot of money and you do bad things, it doesn’t do you any good, but if I give you a lot of money and you do good things, I’m proud.”

Rickson continued, “God has now given me a situation that I have to turn for good. And the most important reaction I have today in my life is to express my gratitude for jiu-jitsu, to continue working for jiu-jitsu to empower people and transform the way it is practiced so that it is more accessible to the people who need it most. So, I see that I’m swimming with armfuls in a perfect blue ocean waiting for the next day without much worry.”

The main representative of the Gracie family since the death of Rolls Gracie in a hang-gliding accident in 1982, Rickson has served as an icon of jiu-jitsu for decades now. For the generation that is used to defining the importance of fighters based on the level of their opponents at Sherdog Fight Finder, it is difficult to recognize the importance of a fighter who only has 11 official fights in vale tudo and MMA, but Rickson played a fundamental role in the growth and development of jiu-jitsu and vale tudo in Brazil. Of note, Rickson was one of the first to publicly accept challenges on the streets of Rio de Janeiro to represent his family, with multiple historical episodes like the two fights with Hugo Duarte, the battle of wills with Marco Ruas and the whole luta livre team inside their Boqueirao headquarters, the answer to Hawaiian Byron Amona after breaking his friend’s surfboard and the two vale tudo matches against “King Zulu” Casemiro Nascimento Martins in 1980 and 1984.

Concerning the current MMA generation, if Royce Gracie is considered the catalyst of the popularization of the sport in America, after his 11 submissions in the UFC, in Japan the equivalent would be Rickson’s six victories in the Japan Open tournament that led the Japanese to create PRIDE, which resulted in Rickson confronting idol Nobuhiko Takada and facing him at Prides 1 and 4 – the former long thought to be a turning point in MMA. While competing in jiu-jitsu in the 1980s, Rickson submitted his opponent in all of his fights, and is still considered the sport’s greatest reference in the 1980s and 1990s.