Kron Gracie opens up about his loss at UFC 288

Nine days after losing by decision to Charles Jourdain at UFC 288 on May 6, Kron Gracie broke his silence.

Three and a half years after his last fight, the multiple-time jiu-jitsu champion battled Jourdain for 15 minutes in Newark, New Jersey. The bout, according to UFC President Dana White, was "like coming out of a time capsule in 1995," and Rickson Gracie's son "came in very limited tonight."

On Monday, the 34-year-old spoke candidly about the loss, admitting that he had received "bad advice."

“In a lifetime of fighting, it’s always been a fight to the death,” Gracie wrote on an Instagram story post. “Understand the situation and willing to limit myself, even that being said I threw no punches because of bad advice and tried to please the jiu-jitsu community two days before my fight. First fight in my life I didn’t throw a punch, going back to my old ways.”

According to UFC Stats, Gracie scored 32 of 57 important strikes and deflected 80 of Jourdain's 168 significant strike attempts over the course of three rounds.

With his second straight loss, Gracie fell to 1-2 in the UFC and 5-2 overall in his MMA career. In his first five MMA matches, the ADCC gold medalist finished all five with submissions, including three consecutive rear-naked chokes over Hideo Tokoro, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Alex Caceres from 2016 to 2019.