400 Undefeated Fights: Special Interview (Part 3) with Legendary Martial Artist Rickson Gracie
"Decision for Retirement"
Since your aortic optic nerve is connected to both eyes, there are times when both eyes loses focus even if only one eye is hurt. My vision had gone completely blurry and all I could do was lay there on the ground.
My brother was yelling at me from the corner, "C'mon! Stand up!"
However, I began thinking while I was in that position. As I heard the instructions from my corner, and the crowd of forty thousand roaring with excitement every time Funaki kicked me, I just said to myself.
"Crap, I can't see. I can't stand up like this!"
Q: It looked like you didn't move for quite a while.
As the crowd kept roaring, Funaki kept on kicking me. I couldn't let him know that I had taken some damage to my eye. So I intentionally didn't favor it. But I couldn't see. All I could do was wait patiently.
After some time I went back to watch the video of that fight and realized I didn't do anything for about 40 seconds.
I looked like at cat getting kicked around the place. My brother was confused. "What's wrong Rickson? Stand up!" But, I couldn't have told my brother that I was injured. I just had to wait.
I'm sure Funaki was attacking me and thinking at the same time. I'm sure he was thinking things like; "He's confused,"and "he's scared of me," or "he's in pain," and maybe even "this fight is all mine."
Funaki just kept kicking. Meanwhile, I need to buy some time so I didn't even think about changing positions. I just kept gritting my teeth and kept waiting. After about 40 seconds, I still couldn't see out of my one eye, but my aortic optic nerve had recovered and my other eye was starting to focus again.
Up Next Part 3-E:
Never give up, never doubt
Article Source:
http://diamond.jp/articles/-/9643?page=4
Translation by:
Eliot Kelly
Eliot Kelly
www.edhbjj.com
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