Rolles Gracie looking for silver linings after WSOF 5 loss to Mehmen

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – It wasn’t a great night for the Gracie family at World Series of Fighting 5, but Rolles Gracie is trying to take the best parts out of a bad result.

Gracie (8-2) was knocked out by Derrick Mehmen (16-5) on the main card of WSOF 5, which took place at Revel Atlantic City in New Jersey and aired on NBC Sports Network.

But it was what Gracie was doing leading up to that that he’s encouraged by.

“I studied him well – he did exactly what I expected he would do,” Gracie told MMAjunkie.com after the fight. “And I was doing what I planned to do. Unfortunately, I was caught by a strike. I hit him repeatedly before that, but his punch connected well. That’s it. I’d like to face him again to prove I can beat him.”

But Gracie, who had a five-fight winning streak of submissions snapped by Mehmen, doesn’t think he’ll get that rematch with Mehmen, who like Gracie was making his WSOF debut.

But he does believe he might learn as early as this week who he might fight next.

“I guess I’m back to square one,” he said. “But I feel fine. I took a hard punch, but I’m fine. I’m ready to start training again and kick some butt.”

The Gracie family went 1-2 at WSOF 5, with only Neiman Gracie, making his MMA debut, getting a win. Neiman opened the card with a first-round arm bar win over Darren Costa. Later on the prelims, Gregor Gracie dropped a unanimous decision to Richard Patishnock.

Rolles Gracie said having three family members on the same show was an advantage during training camps for their fights. And he doesn’t believe WSOF was trying to work a gimmick by having the three of them on the same card – even though the promotion touted the Gracie-heavy lineup leading up to the card.

“It was great for us since we were able to train together,” Gracie said. “It brought our team closer. Everyone helped everyone else. Everyone got better together. We all pushed each other. It was excellent. Since Renzo’s is the largest academy in the New York-New Jersey area, I think WSOF was able to use that to their benefit to bring in more fans. 

“(But) I feel it’s not just proximity. Everyone who fought on this card deserved to be there. Everyone has a lot of talent and technical ability. It all helps.”

Now, though, even though Gracie is back to what he calls “square one” in his career, he’ll take a few silver linings out of the loss, which was his first since a second-round TKO setback three and a half years ago against Joey Beltran at UFC 109.

“The fight has not yet sunk in for me,” he said. “But since I left the arena, I’ve been repeatedly complimented on a great fight. I felt it had been a moral victory for me until the knockout. It’s all part of learning. This can happen to anyone in this line of work, in this sport. Someone has to win, someone has to lose.

“From what my trainers and the MMA fans in attendance tell me, I fought well. And I showed something that people wondered about – if I could fight standing up. Despite the knockout, I demonstrated that I was dominating that facet of the fight.”

For more on World Series of Fighting 5, check out the MMA Events section of the site.