Dana White takes aim at Kron Gracie’s performance at UFC 288: “Tough way to try to win a fight these days”

Dana White thinks Kron Gracie had an odd game plan for his UFC 288 fight against Charles Jourdain.

Gracie was fighting for the first time since October of 2019 when he suffered a decision loss to Cub Swanson. Since then, he has been on the sidelines and wasn’t talking much about what he was doing, which added some intrigue to his return fight against Jourdain.

Yet, Gracie barely threw any strikes and instead focused all of his attention on trying to get the bout to the ground. When he wasn’t able to do so, he was getting pieced up on the feet. The couple of occasions where he did get the fight to the floor, he struggled to lockup any submission attempts. In the end, he was outstruck 80-32 and didn’t get a single takedown but was able to pull guard multiple times which was odd, according to White.

“I like Kron a lot, and he’s a good kid,” White said at the UFC 288 post-fight press conference (h/t MMAFighting). “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… The kid’s got a ton of heart. 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.”

With Dana White not being a fan of Kron Gracie’s performance, it is uncertain if he will get another fight in the UFC. But, the promotion was obviously high on him enough to have him open up the pay-per-view fight card.

With the loss to Charles Jourdain at UFC 288, Gracie dropped to 5-2 and is now 1-2 in the UFC. Prior to Saturday’s loss to ‘Air’, Kron suffered a one-sided decision loss to Cub Swanson.  His debut had of course resulted in a first-round submission win over Alex Caceres. Before signing with the UFC, he fought three times in RIZIN and made his debut in Japan at Real Fighting Championship in 2014.

What did you make of Kron Gracie’s performance at UFC 288?