He did say the Shahada in this video.

Royce Gracie is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship champion. His family founded the UFC and he was the promotion’s first champion, before there were weight classes. Gracie’s exciting Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu style of fighting looked like magic and was a revelation to Americans, and beyond. Even today, a UFC fighter must know how to defend against BJJ submissions, or it could cost him the fight.

Like Muhammad Ali, Gracie would masterfully overwhelm his opponents, albeit at a different range. But unlike Ali, Gracie did not look like a fighter. He looked perhaps unprepared, standing in a kimono before he would eventually use that perception to subdue his opponent.

Royce Gracie had a lot of style. So much so that when reports of him “embracing Islam” began circulating on X, I looked to see if Royce Gracie had indeed suddenly found religion. The first thing I noticed was that there was no announcement anywhere except on obscure Muslim social media accounts. Then I noticed that this clickbait was coming from Eddie of the “Deen Show” and Sheikh Uthman. Regular listeners to “This Week in Jihad” will recognize Sheikh Uthman as the man who faked being the victim of a stabbing.

All of this scuttlebutt is coming from a meeting between Gracie, Uthman, and Eddie. The meeting was arranged because Royce needed help to repair his reputation after he showed sympathy to Israel for the atrocities of October 7. Repeatedly, Gracie tried to talk about the wave of death threats he was receiving for even mentioning Israel. But Uthman and Eddie wanted to talk about open-air prison, and genocide, and “how would you like it if somebody took your land?.” and open air concentration camp, and so on.

Royce began clawing his knees. He just wanted to get the crazies off his back, and having pictures of himself at Mecca would seem to do the trick.

“Oh, but you have to be a Muslim to go to Mecca.  And, the way to become a Muslim is to say the special words.”

So they have him say the shahada, and they all embrace. There is a picture of them all holding their index fingers up.

Did Royce Gracie commit to Islam? He may have, but given all the evidence, it does not look as if he did. His motivation seems to be something other than a search for god. He wants the threats to end.

Is he tapping out?

If even a champion can submit to this pressure, what chance do the rest of us have of standing alone against “the Palestinians”?