Rickson Gracie's vale-tudo career started with an incredible win against the renowned giant King Zulu. But it was only a win because Rickson was forbidden from surrendering between rounds by his dad and cornerman, Helio Gracie.
We asked Rickson whether he had since worked similar miracles in other fighters' corners, and he in turn gave us some insight into his longtime partnership with his son Kron. Enjoy the second part of his answer below, and check out part 1 here.
"And that's been working very flawlessly for a long time, and Kron becomes very much capable to do exactly what I say and get the results from the perception of being precise on the move... So he starts to become exactly what I say, and become a champion himself, to the point that he was so knowledgeable about the process, when I was about to say, he was already doing.
"So, when sometimes I was saying 'Kron, mantém a guarda [maintain the guard],' if he was fighting with a Brazilian guy, he would talk to me: 'Talk in English, Dad!' Or sometimes I was about to say something for him to do, he's already doing before.
"So, in other words, he started to capitalize on my mentality, my strategy, to the point he was almost doing as I would do. So, being a coach has to do with the harmony between your trainee's possibilities and your vision to anticipate the moves. And hopefully that works in every fight. But sometimes it doesn't happen this way. But I feel like it's very interesting the fact, at one point, I was just going there to watch Kron fight, and I knew everything I was about to say was already late, because he was already ahead of me in terms of doing something else. It's a very interesting aspect of being a good coach: the better coach you are, the less you have to do."
Comments
Brilliant, thank you