Neiman Gracie tests skills with Dante Schiro at Bellator 290 on February 4th in a welterweight clash.
Gracie appeared on Bowks Talking Bouts and talked about nuances in his jiu-jitsu within an MMA context, his interest level in having a fight under the Rizin banner considering their co-promotions with Bellator, and more. Excerpts from our chat are below.
Neiman Gracie
Being on Fedor Emelianenko‘s retirement card and kicking off 2023 in a big way
“Oh it feels great. It’s always a pleasure to share the card with the legend Fedor and I can’t wait to do it again.”
Looking to rebound from a career first set of back-to-back losses and if the mindset is different here
“No, the mindset is the same as always. Go out there, perform, and win. So I’m really looking forward to winning this fight and I can’t wait for February 4th.”
The demonstrable growth in striking ability for the decorated sport jiu-jitsu champion during his Kings MMA tenure
“Oh it feels great you know. Since I moved here to California, I’ve been working much more on that with coach Rafael Cordeiro. So it feels great but I don’t want to forget what I’m actually really good at, you know. Because I think I’m one of the best in the world at what I do. So of course I want to take the fight down to the ground and then that’s where I really shine.”
Bellator 290
Having an opponent switch from Michael Lombardo leading into this one and the importance of being adaptable
“Just got to be there. Present and open-minded to take any advantages. Any mistakes that he does, I try to capitalize on it and bring the fight where I’m good at, you know.”
The rich history of Gracies fighting in Japan, if Neiman would want to get in on the cross-promotional efforts between Bellator and Rizin, as well as his thoughts on the Rizin ruleset
“Yes, big interest. I actually was bothering them a lot to be on that card. But they didn’t have nobody in my weight category that I could compete at. But they know that I really want to fight there in Japan also. They told me that any chance that they have, they’re going to put me in the next card out there… I can even have the chance of fighting in my gi like Royce did. Who knows?Maybe I’ll try that out.”