Kron Gracie blames 'bad advice' for lackluster UFC return - "Tried to please the jiu-jitsu community"

UFC welterweight Kron Gracie returned to the promotion at UFC 288 after an hiatus of over four years.

Gracie faced off against Canadian fighter Charles Jourdain on the main card opener. The bout was a very one-sided affair as Jourdain put on a clinical performance and did enough to win the fight via a unanimous decision.

Gracie failed to impress fans or give any sort of trouble to Jourdain throughout the three rounds. His lackluster performance involved a refusal to engage on his feet throught strikes. Gracie barely landed any punches and absorbed significantly more damage from his opponent.

He also failed to take his opponent down to the ground and put his grappling strengths to better use. Jourdain was diligent and avoided any sort of ground game that would be disadvantageous to him.

After Gracie's disappointing performance, the fighter took to Instagram to post a story and explain himself:

“In a lifetime of fighting it’s always been a fight to the death. Understand the cituation [situation] and willing to limit myself. Even that being said I threw no punches because of bad adives [advice] and tryed [tried] to please the jiujitsu comuintity [community] two day before my fight. First fight in my life I didn’t throw a punch, going back to my old ways.”

He explained that the gameplan was altered in a last-minute change just days before the fight and cited it as the reason for his second professional loss. Gracie also vowed to make improvements in his future outings and go back to his familiar style of fighting, which will hopefully include throwing more punches.

Check out a screenshot of the story Kron Gracie posted on Instagram:

Gracie's story on Instagram explaining his last loss at UFC 288. [image via Instagram @riokid]

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Kron Gracie's questionable demeanour at his UFC 288 return was noticed by Charles Jourdain and other UFC staff

Kron Gracie's return to action at UFC 288 had him noticeably distant from the usual excitement of fight week.

His unusual demeanour was noted by his opponent, Charles Jourdain, who singled out his rude behavior with UFC staff and personnel.

"Yeah, all week, people from the UFC, people from staff, people everywhere said they had bad interaction with him. He was very disrespectful. But like I said, it’s not something that I can change, that’s just the way he is but he doesn’t seem happy to be there and on Saturday he won’t be happy to be there, of course.”

Perhaps Kron Gracie's apparent disrepectful behavior acted as extra motivation for Jourdain to get a victory over him.

Check out Jourdain's comments below: