MMA legend Renzo Gracie threatens to choke French president Emmanuel Macron
- Brazilian jiu-jitsu icon rants after the French government’s criticism of his country’s reaction to the Amazon wildfires
- Now Brazil’s tourism chief, Gracie also calls French president’s wife Brigitte a ‘dragon’ and ‘ugly’
MMA legend Renzo Gracie has threatened to choke out Emmanuel Macron, and called the French president’s wife Brigitte a “dragon” in an angry outburst on social media.
Now Brazil’s tourism chief, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu icon – a member of the discipline’s founding family – hit back over criticism from the French government of his country’s reaction to the Amazon wildfires.
Macron had called the blazes an “international crisis” that needed to be on the agenda for discussion at the G7 summit.
“The only fire going on is the fire inside Brazilian hearts and our president’s heart, you clown,” Gracie said to Macron in a video on social media. “Come over here you’ll be caught by the neck, that chicken neck. You don’t fool me.”
Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro appointed Gracie (14 wins, 7 losses in MMA) to his ambassadorial position last month. But the 52-year-old’s job promoting tourism has been hit in recent weeks following global coverage of the fires that have ravaged Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.
However, Gracie – who last fought in 2018 for Asian MMA organisation One Championship, getting a second-round submission of Yuki Kondo – told Brazilian news outlet UOL the devastating wildfires were “false fires”.
“That gang of clowns only open their mouths to speak badly about our country,” he said in the interview of Macron and France, before insulting the French president’s wife.
“I’ll ask you a question, is his wife pretty or ugly? Would you do her? If you criticise our country, get ready to listen to a load of b*******, and also about your relatives,” he said.
“The fact that he is sleeping with the dragon does not make him a fire expert. She’s ugly, my brother.”
Macron had blasted Bolsonaro as “extremely disrespectful” and “not up to the job” after the Brazilian president “liked” a sexist Facebook post about the French leader’s wife.
A user on Facebook had uploaded a meme mocking Brigitte Macron’s appearance in comparison to Bolsonaro’s wife Michelle, with a caption that read: “Now you understand why Macron is persecuting Bolsonaro?”
“Don’t humiliate the guy … haha,” Bolsonaro commented on the post.
A pioneer of the use of Brazilian jiu-jitsu in MMA, sixth-degree black belt Gracie came out of retirement in July 2018 after losing to Matt Hughes at UFC 112 in 2010.
