Ron Tripp is the only man with an official victory over Rickson Gracie, yet for years he had no idea the man he threw in a sambo semifinal was considered by many to be among the greatest grapplers alive. Speaking on the MMA History Podcast, Tripp recounted the 1993 US Sambo Championships held in his hometown of Norman, Oklahoma, a tournament he helped organize.
Tripp, a world-class judoka and multiple-time world sambo medalist, says his coach Pat Burris simply pointed him toward his next opponent.
“Hey, you got one of these guys next, one of those Gracie guys,” he recalled Burris saying.
Tripp went out and waited to see what Gracie would do with grips.
“To the best of my memory, we just kind of moved around and I was waiting to see what he’s going to do as far as grips. He just kind of reached out kind of soft and I just locked it in really tight,” Tripp said.
He then executed a right-side uchimata, the throw so forceful he thought he had missed entirely.
“He flew over and fell down. I thought I missed him. That’s how hard the throw was.”
Officials called a full point. Match over.
Tripp recalled, “He looked up at me kind of strange and I just kind of went yeah. And that was it. Nothing was said. Didn’t contest it.”
It was only afterward that people began explaining to Tripp that the man he had beaten carried a considerable reputation.
On the question of Gracie’s claimed two-time Pan American sambo championship, Tripp cast serious doubt based on his own years of competition. He competed in the US nationals from 1987 through 1993 and says he never once saw Gracie.
“I competed in the nationals 87 through 93. Never saw him,” he said.
While Tripp allowed that Gracie could have won Pan American titles earlier, perhaps in 1982 or 1983, podcast host Mike Davis noted that Gracie had “never won a regional jiu-jitsu tournament, never won a state title jiu-jitsu, never won a national jiu-jitsu tournament.”
His co-host Joey Venti followed up, saying, “The only tournaments he ever won were the Vale Tudo in Japan, and the Sambo ones he claims.”
A rematch offer came years later, worth over $100,000. Tripp took it seriously enough. He was sitting at around 235 lbs (106.6 kg) and was given two weeks to prove he could make 205 lbs (93kg). He made the weight, stepping on the scale at 204.7 lbs (92.8 kg).
The representative “lost his mind,” apparently having expected Tripp to fail. Then the terms shifted.
“The money was so much to compete and so much to win, and now Rickson wants all of it, win or lose,” Tripp said.
He refused. His counter was direct: “Why don’t we do three and you can pay the same for all of them? Then tell me which one you want me to lose, but the first one’s for real.”
Further negotiations produced nothing. Someone later proposed a match inside a soccer stadium in Brazil, with a share of pay-per-view revenue attached. Tripp had no interest in the arrangement.
“You tell me how many d3ad presidents on green paper are going to be floating in a boat towards my house, and then we’ll talk about it,” he said.
The rematch never happened. The original result stands.
