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Throwback: When Wallid Ismail Defeated Royce Gracie


Wallid Ismail is a name that not everyone knows, but should. Wallid is a world famous black belt from the Carlson Gracie Academy in Brazil. He was known for his toughness, his aggressive style and his proficiency with the clock choke. In the early 90’s, Wallid began a feud with the one and only Gracie family. In the 1990’s he defeated Ralph Gracie was a brown belt by decision in a tournament, and would later go on to defeated Renzo Gracie as well. After his defeat of Renzo, he would throw out a challenge to two of the most well known Gracies at the time, those two being Rickson and Royce.

Wallid proclaimed that he would fight them in any style. Gi, no gi or vale tudo. He wanted to prove that he was a world class competitor that feared no one. Eventually, Royce would agree to a bout against Ismail. But he wanted special rules for the match. Gracie took the fight, a Jiu Jitsu match in the gi with special rules including that there would be no points scoring and no time limit. The only way to win the bout would be by submission.

In December 1998, the match would take place. The two locked up, with Wallid being the aggressor while Royce played defense. He put Royce on his back, and worked for a pass to get to a dominant position. After competing his pass, Gracie would try to escape and go to the turtle position. This would be a bad decision by Gracie. Wallid worked for some techniques on the turtled opponent, before locking in a clock choke. Royce would try to escape, but to avail. He did not tap, and would be rendered unconscious by the strong gi choke. This was a huge victory for the Carlson Gracie black belt.

Wallid would later go on to have a relatively good MMA career, competing in PRIDE and attaining some good victories there. But the win over Royce Gracie would be his biggest win. Royce was already a UFC star when he faced off against Wallid, and seeing the UFC’s most famous BJJ fighter get choked out, was a very big deal. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this throwback match of two Jiu Jitsu warriors in their prime.