The grandson of legendary Gracie Jiu Jitsu pioneer Helio Gracie, son of the founding father of the Ultimate Fighting Championships - Rorion Gracie, and the nephew of UFC Hall of Fame legend Royce Gracie, it goes without saying that Ralek Gracie possesses a historic family background and tremendous bloodlines. A Gracie black belt under Helio Gracie, Ralek has been studying jiu jitsu since the age of five and brings with him a top notch ground game that includes very strong technical BJJ skills, topped off with slick submission abilities. Ralek is extremely composed on the ground and works very calmly with a tight, methodical approach to his grappling. He's finished the first two opponents of his pro career with beautiful armbars (see below), and has looked very good in the process.

While he's looked great on the ground, maybe the most interesting aspect about Ralek's career thus far has been that through his first two fights he has fought in the mindset of a pure old school, Gracie fighter (think Royce Gracie in the early days of the UFC). In its purest form, Gracie Jiu Jitsu was developed as a form of self defense, not for sport. It is the Gracie's assertion that their style of BJJ is best suited for MMA because that style inherently takes into account striking and what works in a fight - in other words factors more easily attributed to MMA whereas a lot of the moves and techniques that have evolved for "sport" BJJ have been created and invented to work well in pure grappling competition, but aren't practical in an actual fight. It is with this same mentality that Ralek Gracie has fought, fighting not only for his self but for the "Gracie" name. He standup is similar to Rickson or Royce Gracie, as he keeps his head upright, uses his lead leg to measure the distance and looks to take the fight to the mat whenever he has a chance. Ralek hasn't exhibited great head movement and has been tagged standing in each of his first two fights, and as it stands now would have significant difficulties in dealing with any strong striker with good takedown defense. His fighting style has been very interesting and it will be very intriguing to see how effective it will be moving forward. There's no doubting he holds fascinating potential moving forward.