A resident of the city of Irvine, California, Kayron Gracie celebrating his recently turning 20 years old and the conquest of a World title in his fighting career. Carrying on his shoulders the weight of his family name and the fact he is son to the leader of Gracie Barra and president of the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF), Carlos Gracie Jr, the brown belt showed determination and submitted all his opponents before shutting out the middleweight group with a teammate.
Kayron added this conquest to his personal collection that includes five medals in Brazilian Nationals and four in Pan-Americans (one of these in the no-gi category), all of which were gold. GRACIEMAG.com had a chat with yet another young man who has what it takes to carve his name into the history of world Jiu-Jitsu.
GRACIEMAG.com: Tell us a little about your march to the gold medal in the middleweight category?
Kayron: I came into this World Championship focused, as I'd been training a lot. I won all my fights by submission. The fight I had the most trouble with was the semifinal, in which my adversary had a lot of stamina and moved around a lot. In the final I settled on a handshake with another Gracie Barra athlete, Bruno Alves.
GRACIEMAG.com: How did you two decide that you should be the one to take the title?
Kayron: He's a student of Ze Radiola and he always goes to our gym to train before championships. I'm a good friend of his teacher, Ze Radiola and he gave me the medal for friendship.
GRACIEMAG.com: What about the absolute, how did that adventure go?
Kayron: I lost in my fourth fight. I was caught in a foot lock and I didn't want to resitst much because I still had to fight at weight the next day. The one who beat me was Joao Assis, from Brasa. At the gym there are a lot of heavy guys, so I'm used to training with heavier people.
GRACIEMAG.com: Are you already thinking about fighting as a black belt next year?
Kayron: I got my brown at the beginning of the year. I think I still have to mature in my Jiu-Jitsu some before going against the top guys. I think at next year's Worlds I'll still be a brown, but we'll see.
GRACIEMAG.com: Do you feel the greater pressure involved in having your last name and the fact you are Carlos Gracie Jr's son is detrimental to you, or does it provide greater incentive?
Kayron: I take more as incentive. Being a Gracie and son of Carlos Gracie Jr makes me want to train twice as much to do well when it gets down to it. There's always a lot expected of me, but it's something that motivates me even more to train, so the bad side that is the pressure, is in fact something good.
GRACIEMAG.com: Regarding the absolute final, do you consider Xande to be the best in the world, or did he just have to right game to beat Roger?
Kayron: To me Roger's the best in the world, but over the 10 minutes Xande had a good strategy and managed to win. On top no one can handle Roger. On the bottom he has a good guard and excellent finishing, has such a good defense that I think he hasn't tapped out in a championship since blue belt, or has never tapped, I'm not sure. Standing he has good judo. To me he's the most complete fig
