Royce Gracie is a pioneer of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a UFC Hall of Famer, and is one of the most influential figures in mixed martial arts history. He also popularized Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the MMA world. In this article, however, we will take a look at his journey and Royce Gracie’s net worth in 2021.

Net Worth$5 million
Age55
SalaryRetired
SponsorsN/A
ProfessionMMA Fighter

Royce Gracie’s Net Worth in 2021 (estimate): $5 million

Royce Gracie's Net Worth, Royce Gracie

Royce Gracie’s net worth in 2021 is valued at $5 million. This is according to multiple reputable sources such as Celebrity Net Worth.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Royce comes from a prominent martial arts family from the country, the Gracie family. His father, Hélio Gracie, along with his brothers first developed Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — it was then called Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.

Royce started training in jiu-jitsu at a young age with his father as his teacher. At the age of 8 years old, he started participating in tournaments. When he was 16 years old, he had already earned a black belt.

When he turned 18 years old, Royce Gracie moved to the United States along with his brother, Rorion. The two brothers gave private jiu-jitsu lessons in their garage. And after a while, they opened their own gym called Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Torrance, California.

At the inaugural event of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Royce Gracie won the tournament after going through three tough opponents at UFC 1. His first match at the UFC 1 Tournament Quarterfinals was against Art Jimmerson. He won the match via submission with 2:18 in the clock.

In the semi-finals, Royce Gracie faced off against Ken Shamrock. He won again via submission and it took him only 57 seconds to finish the match to book his ticket to the UFC 1 Finals. He faced Gerard Gordeau in the finals and he won via submission once again to become the UFC 1 Tournament winner.

In the next tournament, UFC 2, Gracie faced Japanese fighter Minoki Ichihira — who was touted by the UFC at the time as a living legend due to him winning 60 full-contact fights. Their fight lasted for 5 minutes and 8 seconds, longer than Royce’s first three bouts in the first tournament. He then eventually won the match via submission.

Gracie then cruised past the quarterfinals and the semifinals as it took him less than 2 minutes in each fight to force his opponents to tap out. In the final round of UFC 2, he faced Patrick Smith. He then won via TKO for the first time in his professional career as he forced Smith to submit from the barrage of punches he was unleashing from the top position.

At UFC 3, Royce Gracie faced Kimo Leopoldo in the tournament quarterfinals. However, he was forced to withdraw from the next round because he was suffering from exhaustion and dehydration. This marks the first UFC event that he will not be the winner.

In the next tournament, Gracie won in the quarterfinal and semifinal stages of UFC 4. In the final round, he faced Dan Severn. The match went on for almost 16 minutes as there were no rounds or time limits at that time. Gracie finally caught Severn on a triangle choke that forced him to tap out.

Time limits were re-introduced to the sports in 1995. And in UFC 5, the rematch between Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock was scheduled to happen. Due to the time limit and due to the lack of judges, the match was declared a draw after a 30-minute fight and 6-minute overtime — the longest fight in UFC history.

After the fight, Royce Gracie left the UFC.

After 5 years since his last match in the UFC, Royce Gracie matched up against Nobuhiko Takada at Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round. The match lasted for 15 minutes and Gracie won via unanimous decision.

He next fought Japanese professional wrestler Kazushi Sakuraba in the quarterfinal round of the Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finals. For this fight, Gracie asked to change the rules to unlimited rounds and no referee stoppages.

Gracie and Sakuraba battled for an hour and a half, six 15-minute rounds, before Royce’s brother threw in the towel after he suffered a broken femur from 90 minutes of continuous battle of low kicks.

In 2002, Gracie fought Japanese gold-medalist Hidehiko Yoshida in a special “Judo vs Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu” limited rules MMA match. Both fighters exchanged multiple submission attempts before the referee stopped the fight as he thought Gracie was unconscious, giving the victory to Yoshida.

However, Gracie immediately protested, saying that he did not pass out and the referee had no authority to stop the match. The Gracies demanded the fight be turned into no contest and an immediate rematch to be scheduled while threatening that their family would cut ties with Pride FC and never fight for them again.

Pride eventually agreed to their demands and booked the rematch at Pride Shockwave 2003. Gracie dominated Yoshida in the rematch as he continued to ground and pound him while he was turtled up. However, with no judge as per Royce’s request, the match ended in a draw after two 10-minute rounds.

In 2004, Gracie had a disagreement with Pride and eventually jump shipped to the K-1 promotion. He made his debut on December 31, 2004, at K-1 PREMIUM 2004 DYNAMITE!! He faced former sumo wrestler and MMA newcomer Akebono Taro. Gracie made quick work as he forced him to submit with just 2:13 in the first round.

The following year, he faced Hideo Tokoro. Unfortunately, the fight ended in a draw as there were no winners after two 10-minute rounds.

On January 16, 2006, UFC President Dana White announced that Royce Gracie will be returning to the UFC to face UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes in a non-title match at UFC 60. In the 1st round, Hughes hyperextended Gracie’s arm after a straight armbar, but Gracie didn’t tap out. He eventually lost via TKO at the 4:39 mark of the first round.

On November 15, 2013, during the 20th Anniversary of the UFC at UFC 167, Royce Gracie announced that he has retired from mixed martial arts.

In 2015, Royce Gracie announced that he will return from retirement to face Ken Shamrock at Bellator 149 for a trilogy fight. He made quick work of Shamrock as he knocked him down and ended the contest with hammerfists to claim the victory via TKO — that would be his last MMA fight in his career.

At UFC 45 in November 2003, during the 10th year anniversary of the UFC, Royce Gracie, along with Ken Shamrock, were the first-ever inductees into the UFC Hall of Fame.

UFC commentator Joe Rogan hailed Gracie as one of the most important figures in mixed martial arts.

With how his career turned out and him coming from a famous MMA family, were you surprised about Royce Gracie’s net worth in 2021?