A New Sense of Urgency for Neiman Gracie

Neiman Gracie still clings to hope.

The accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt will attempt to upset the old apple cart in the Professional Fighters League welterweight standings when he collides with Don Madge as part of the PFL 6 undercard this Friday at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Gracie needs a finish—preferably a quick one—in order to keep his dim playoff hopes alive.

“I have an obligation to win this fight in the first round [and] to score six points to be able to move on to the next phase,” he told Sherdog.com. “If I wish to continue in the tournament, I have to win this fight in the first round. It’s the first time in my career that I will fight with this urgency, so let’s see what happens, if it’s going to be good or if it’s going to be bad.”

Madge, 33, enters the cage tied for the top spot at 170 pounds. The South African returned from a two-year absence in April and made up for lost time, as he needed just 62 seconds to put away Brennan Ward with a rear-naked choke. It was the sixth first-round stoppage of Madge’s career and first since 2016.

“He’s a tough guy,” Gracie said. “I think he will try to utilize more striking, like all my opponents do. I think this is the fight: I’ll be trying to take the fight to the ground, and he’ll be trying to keep the fight standing. He’s tough, but I think I’m better than him on the ground. I’m going to try to take the fight there and submit him as quickly as possible, so I can score six points to try to go for the next phase of the tournament.”

The first step in Gracie’s blueprint for a successful 2024 campaign went awry at PFL 3, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Goiti Yamauchi in their April 19 rematch. All three cageside judges scored it the same: 29-28 for Yamauchi, who improved to 2-0 in his head-to-head series with the Rio de Janeiro native. It was a bitter pill for Gracie to swallow, but swallow it he did.

“It turned out that he was better and ended up winning the fight,” Gracie said. “He won the first round, and I thought I won the second. He ended up winning the third. I’m moving on. Let’s go to the next one. We can win this tournament. I’m thinking more about my next fight than the one that’s in the past. If I have the opportunity to face him again, I’ll be very happy.”

As Gracie approaches his late 30s, he has not yet contemplated his future beyond fighting. However, he has lost three of his past eight bouts after starting his career 9-0 and turns 36 in December.

“I think I’m still fine,” he said. “Let’s see how it goes. I’ll keep on trying as long as my body allows. When I start to have problems with my body or problems with my desire to train, I will stop, but for now, I’m well and I’m happy to do what I do. I think that’s what’s most important—being happy fighting.”