1994 Royce Gracie vs. 2010 Brock Lesnar: Who Would Win?

In the first few UFCs, Royce Gracie was famous for submitting huge opponents by using Brazilian jiu-jitsu, whereas Brock Lesnar is a nearly unstoppable force with great wrestling skills in current competition.

Although neither of these men will ever meet in the Octagon, one wonders who would win if both men were somehow able to fight in their primes. Would a 27-year-old Gracie be able to handle a 32-year-old Lesnar?

In considering such a match, one fight immediately comes to mind: Royce Gracie vs. Dan Severn at UFC 4.

Similar to Lesnar, Severn had a good wrestling background before fighting Gracie. But Gracie defeated Severn via triangle choke after 15 straight minutes of Severn in Gracie's guard.

Regardless of losing the match, Severn gave Gracie a tough fight. Similarly, Lesnar has successfully given the same Severn-style smothering to all his opponents, but where Gracie succeeded against Severn, even jiu-jitsu experts like Frank Mir have failed against Lesnar. Why?

Is Lesnar that much better a wrestler than Severn? Is he simply too big, strong, and powerful for modern competition?

Has Lesnar adapted to jiu-jitsu whereas Severn never had a chance to before facing Gracie?

Or have jiu-jitsu experts like Mir made the mistake of trying to stand with Lesnar before trying to go to the ground with him?

As far as wrestling experience , Severn was decorated. He was a two-time national wrestling champion, held 13 National AAU wrestling championship titles between 1982 and 1994, he was a two-time state wrestling champ in high school, and he was added to the Arizona State University hall of fame based on his collegiate success .

By comparison, Lesnar is a more accomplished wrestler. He was the Division I NCAA champion in 2000, two-time North Dakota State University's Bison Tournament champ, NJCAA All-American, and he competed in the Junior College National Championship.       

As far as size goes, the two are similar, but again, Lesnar holds the slight advantage.

When Severn fought Gracie, he was 6'2" and 265 lbs.

Lesnar is 6'3", and though he weighs in at 265 lbs., he's been reported to actually fight closer to 280 lbs.

Raw athleticism should be taken into account as well.

Whereas Severn often won matches early in his MMA career by a considerable size advantage over his opponents who mainly knew only one style of fighting, Lesnar has competed against highly skilled heavyweights, though none of them have matched his size and he has only had a few fights.

The gap between Lesnar and Severn is one of physical size and accomplishment. Thus Severn should not be seen as a scale equivalent to Lesnar, and only in some ways can judging Gracie's match against Severn accurately predict a realistic outcome if a prime Gracie fought Lesnar.

The fact that modern-day opponents have a lot more interdisciplinary skill makes the prediction of a hypothetical match between a prime Gracie and Lesnar a difficult one to call.

Lesnar has faced opponents with stand-up skill, as well as clinch and ground expertise. But other than key matches against the likes of Severn and Frank Shamrock (as well as a few others), Gracie mainly fought against strikers who had no idea what jiu-jitsu was.

On paper, it seems that with Gracie's experience level in one combat style versus Lesnar's athletic talent and wrestling credentials that Gracie would be at a disadvantage.

However, we have to consider that Gracie was familiar with fighting monstrous opponents and succeeding. Not only did he succeed against Severn, but also 6'8", 486 lbs. Akebono .                                                                                           

Then again, if you notice the way Severn and Akebono fought Gracie, they hardly threw any strikes.

Gracie expertly nullified Severn's inconsistent strike attempts by using his Gi, but the big guy still never really tried to aggressively ground and pound. Akebono simply laid on top of Gracie until Gracie submitted him with an omoplata, which was quite an ineffective offense.

However, one factor that must be taken into consideration is that Gracie would often fight such huge, powerful fighters after having already fought multiple times in the same night. In fact, exhaustion from fighting Kimo Leopoldo kept him from fighting for the championship in UFC 3 .

Lesnar has only ever competed in one match per night, even though those matches have been against relatively skilled opponents.

Lesnar's experience level would also be a major factor if he fought Gracie. He has only had five fights, one of which he lost against Mir by a very basic, last-resort takedown-to-kneebar transition that any jiu-jitsu novice could have avoided if in Lesnar's position.

This shows a lack of jiu-jitsu skill and defense on the part of Lesnar.

One thing to consider, though, is that Mir was very lucky to land that submission. Before being submitted, Lesnar had all but demolished Mir.

Mir's jiu-jitsu is comparable to Gracie's and he is considerably bigger than Gracie ever was, and for this reason it's safe to say that jiu-jitsu alone would probably not be enough to man-handle Lesnar.

Conclusion

If a 27-year-old Gracie fought a 32-year-old Lesnar in the Octagon, it would come down to a matter of rules. In the early days of the UFC, Gracie included a lot of kidney kicks in his guard, and I'm pretty sure I saw a headbutt or two along the way.

Two other major factors to consider in the 1994 Octagon: cage use and no rounds.

Gracie often used the cage to gain a leverage advantage and he had great endurance. Who knows how long Lesnar could go in a match demanding similar cardio output that Gracie made Severn endure.

But something to consider in a relative comparison, Lesnar could just as easily headbutt, and he would probably be fighting Gracie in a Gi.

On the whole, though, Gracie would probably have a slight advantage in the old Octagon due to experience, lack of restrictions, and possibly nullifying Lesnar's strikes with his Gi like he did against Severn.

With current rules, Lesnar would probably win.

There would be no Gis allowed, and Gracie would probably have a leverage disadvantage because of it. In the modern-day UFC, Lesnar would probably hold the advantage.

This isn't to say that the men are equal in terms of ability. Lesnar has athletic ability that allows him to move like a lightweight in many ways, while Gracie was always a technician with a size disadvantage.

It's safe to say that in fighting Lesnar, Gracie would be fighting a type of opponent he has never faced, and consequently there is too large a degree of uncertainty to know for sure who would win in either scenario.

Nevertheless, I think it's safe to say that in the Octagon, it would be a matter of rules. In 1994, Gracie would have probably won; with today's rules, Lesnar would probably win.

Then again, who knows?