Ralek Gracie. (Photo : Youtube/MMAFightingonSBN)
The Gracie family is considered mixed martial arts royalty and when someone from them enters the MMA cage, everybody pays attention. Now, a member of that famed family in Ralek Gracie is set to grace Bellator 170 against Hisaki Kato on Saturday at The Forum in Inglewood, California after nearly seven years away from professional MMA competition.
Gracie has not fought professionally since 2010, last appearing in the now-defunct DREAM. He never really wanted to stop fighting, according to MMA Junkie, but got injured and got busy to his family after the birth of his kids. He also was not paid in his last fight.
In his hiatus, the 31-year-old middleweight fighter trained until he was offered a fight at Bellator. But Gracie knew he was not ready physically and declined the fight. Now that he is ready to end his seven-year retirement, Gracie will face Kato who is coming back from a two-fight winning streak.
Though Gracie had a lot of time to prepare for his comeback, him being away from the sport for a long time could also translate to his downfall, as the long layoff could affect his performance negatively. Against Kato, who is fresh from his TKO win over AJ Matthews at Bellator 162 on Oct. 21, 2016, Gracie is at a disadvantage.
Kato is confident about locking horns with Gracie, who has only fought three times professionally, that he did not really study fight videos of his opponent, Sherdog reported. 'The Japanese Musketeer,' who is best known for his kickboxing, acknowledged Gracie's roots of being excellent at grappling and ground game and said that he has prepared by practicing grappling with Hatsu Hioki, a fighter known for his submission.
Gracie will be coming to their fight holding a 3-0 card and hopes to keep his record unblemished while Kato, who has a 7-2 win-loss record, aims to continue his winning streak in an attempt of getting a title shot in the expense of someone who has a famous name.
Watch the video below to know how Ralek deals with the Gracie name:
