UFC alum Renzo Gracie allegedly involved in physical altercation on New York City subway platform

Former UFC and Pride FC feature, decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, Renzo Gracie, is alleged to have been involved in an altercation at a New York City subway station, with footage showing two persons grappling on the floor of a platform. 

Gracie, 55, a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – featured just once under the Dana White-led UFC banner back in April 2010 against former undisputed welterweight champion, Matt Hughes, suffering a third round knockout loss.

Last competing professionally back in July 2018 at ONE Championship: Reigns of Kings, Gracie submitted Yuki Kondo with a second round rear-naked choke in Manilla.

Boasting a 14-7-1(1) professional record, Renzo Gracie, who has also competed under the banner of Rings, Pride FC, IFL, EliteXC, and K-1 to name a few, holds notable career victories over the likes of Frank Shamrock, Carlos Newton, Pat Miletich, Maurice Smith, and Oleg Taktarov to name a few. 

A 6th degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Carlos Gracie Jr. and Rickson Gracie, Renzo Gracie has offered his tutelage to the likes of Georges St-Pierre, Frankie Edgar, Chris Weidman, John Danaher, Ricardo Almeida, and actor, Guy Richie to name a few. 

Alleged to have been involved in an altercation at a New York City subway station, footage has emerged which appears to show Gracie and another person grappling on the floor of a platform. (H/T Bloody Elbow)

While details of the alleged altercation are yet to surface, commenters across Twitter alleged that Gracie was the subject of a verbal attack after he spoke Portuguese, the native language of Brazil, according to ‘Choke Lab’ on Instagram.

“Video footage of Martial Arts legend, Renzo Gracie in an altercation on the platform of a New York City subway station,” Choke Lab posted on Instagram. “After coming back from an academy, Gracie was having a conversation with a fellow black belt and staff members when he was confronted for speaking Portuguese with his friends. Based off of information we retrieved from an audio recording on WhatsApp, Gracie stated the the aggressor was a black/dark skinned man who was yelling at him to “speak English here”. In the audio recording Gracie stated that the young man accused him of speaking bad about him in Portuguese.”

“A fight ensued. According to Gracie the man begged to be leg go from a Kata Gatame saying “I cant’ breathe, I can’t breathe”. While controlling him, Gracie made the assailant apologize and released him, saying, “you see, you’re a nice guy. Why are you doing this? Why are you so impolite?”

Renzo Gracie was previously slapped with a misdemeanour assault charge

Gracie was previously charged with a misdemeanour assault back in 2014 in the state of New York after he was involved in an altercation with a bouncer, in which the latter required hospitalization to treat a fractured arm.