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#3 Kron Gracie makes good on his debut

Kron Gracie looked fantastic in his UFC debut

There was quite a lot of pressure on Kron Gracie coming into last night’s fight – his UFC debut, against Alex Caceres. The eldest son of the legendary Rickson Gracie, not only was Kron bringing in a stellar reputation from the grappling circuit, but he was also looking to become the first member of the Gracie family to pick up a UFC win since Royce in 1994.

Since then, members of MMA’s First Family had looked pretty farcical inside the Octagon. Royce had been crushed by Matt Hughes upon his return in 2006, Renzo had arrived far past his prime and also been beaten by Hughes, Roger lost to Tim Kennedy in a dull 2013 fight and was then released, and the less said about Rolles’ terrible performance in 2010 against Joey Beltran, the better.

But Kron changed all of that last night. After some feeler strikes, he quickly closed distance on Caceres, clinched with him and used a beautiful trip to get him to the ground and take his back. Seconds later, Kron had a rear naked choke sunk in, and Caceres was tapping out.

It was the prototypical Gracie victory – right out of Royce’s early 90’s playbook – and really, the big debut couldn’t have gone any better for Kron. How far he can go in a packed Featherweight division is anyone’s guess, but he’s clearly a very talented fighter.

And to see a Gracie finally succeed in the UFC – in 2019 nonetheless – was awesome.