Dana White reacts to Kron Gracie’s UFC 288 performance: ‘It was like coming out of a time capsule in 1995’

Kron Gracie did not have a good night at UFC 288, and his days may be numbered in the promotion after a lackluster outing in his fight with Charles Jourdain.

After nearly four years away, Gracie returned on Saturday night. But it didn’t appear he learned much during his hiatus, because the highly touted Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt looked inept when standing on the feet with Jourdain during the three-round fight. When it came to his offense, Gracie pulled guard several times in an attempt to draw Jourdain into grappling exchanges, but even those were fleeting moments of success.

Gracie ultimately dropped a unanimous decision to Jourdain, his second straight loss after falling to Cub Swanson in his last UFC appearance back in 2019.

After the event, UFC President Dana White reacted to Gracie’s performance, indicating it looked like Gracie was trying to mimic his uncle Royce Gracie, who dominated early UFC cards by only using his Brazilian jiu-jitsu – and not much else.

“I like Kron a lot, and he’s a good kid,” White said at the UFC 288 post-fight press conference. “He came in very limited tonight. Very limited.

“It was like coming out of a time capsule in 1995. Tough way to try to win a fight these days.”

Despite repeated attempts to drag the fight into his world on the ground, Gracie struggled to even advance his position after grabbing onto Jourdain and falling to the canvas.

Jourdain was smart enough defensively to avoid any submission attempts, and he was able to scramble free to return to his feet each time Gracie desperately tried to drag him to the mat.

While he avoided getting knocked out on the feet, Gracie struggled to do much of anything in the striking exchanges with Jourdain, who likely avoided getting too aggressive just so he could stop any potential takedown attempts.

All told, Gracie absorbed a lot of punishment on the feet over three rounds and he just had no answers when the fleeting moments spent on the ground didn’t produce any positive results.

“The kid’s got a ton of heart,” White said about Gracie. “He’s got a good chin, I like him and I don’t want to s*** on his performance but that was a rough game plan.”

It remains to be seen if Gracie will get another opportunity in the UFC after his loss to Jourdain on Saturday. Overall, Gracie now sports a 5-2 record in MMA with a win his octagon debut followed by two straight losses including his fight with Jourdain at UFC 288.