I saw a post online recently asking whether Masters World Championships are "real" World Championships. My answer is it is and it isn't. A Masters world title is a real accomplishment against the best in your age group. But it isn't the same as beating the best in the world, regardless of age or weight.

It also reminded me of one of my proudest nights. I won a tournament against real World Champions. No weight classes. No time limit.

Rorion Gracie promoted it as a World Championship. The same way he promoted the first UFC. He built it to find out who the best submission grappler in the world really was. Open weight. And the field had an ADCC World Champion in it, Jeff Monson. Here's how I look at it. If Royce Gracie is considered a World Champion for winning UFC 1, then I consider myself a World Champion in grappling for winning Rorion's Showdown.

It happened on a mat in a theater in Torrance, California. October 11, 2003. A grappling tournament called the Ultimate Submission Showdown.

If you don't know Rorion, he co-founded the UFC. In 2003 he put together an eight man, no-gi submission tournament. First prize was $5,000. Wear whatever you want. Every submission was legal. Chokes, neck cranks, heel hooks, all of it.

He sent invites to a lot of big names. And a lot of them said no. In my case Rorion called me personally and asked if I was interested. I said yes. At that point I had been running my gym in Fort Worth for about five years. I had a couple of ADCC trips behind me. And I wasn't going to pass up a shot like that.

This was a serious bracket. Jeff Monson was in it. Jeff was already an ADCC World Champion back then. He won it again in 2005, and later on he fought Tim Sylvia for the UFC heavyweight title. David Avellan came in from Miami as a Grapplers Quest and NAGA champion. He would go on to win an ADCC superfight and take bronze at ADCC down the road. Lance Campbell, a sambo guy, was there too. Along with Peter Angerer and Keigo Kunihara.

And there were two Gracies in it. Ryron and Rener, Rorion's sons and Helio's grandsons. Ryron was 21. This was billed as the first time a fourth generation Gracie competed in a pro tournament.

The crowd was the who's who of Jiu-Jitsu. Somewhere around 500 people. Helio Gracie was there. Ed O'Neill was there too. (Yes, Al Bundy himself.) Walking out in front of that room with Helio watching was very exciting. Helio is a huge deal in Jiu-Jitsu.

My first match was against Lance Campbell. I finished him with an Americana.

Then I watched Ryron beat Jeff Monson. Their match went 68 minutes. Sixty-eight minutes! Ryron won it on points, 12 to 11. That told me everything I needed to know about him. He was a Gracie, sure. But he was also tough as nails and wasn't going to quit.

So now I'm facing Rorion's son. At Rorion's event. In front of Rorion's dad. You better believe I felt that.

My game plan going in was simple. Position, position, position, submission. I never got the submission. But I outpointed Ryron very quickly, in a match with no time limit, and won 12 to 0. He never scored. Beating Helio's grandson at his son's event was amazing and sad at the same time. I have a ton of respect for Ryron. He had just gone more than an hour with an ADCC champion. And he still came out and competed hard.

Avellan made the final by beating Rener on points. Then he submitted Angerer with a kimura. The kimura was his thing. He and his brother built a whole system around it.

I beat him 15 to 1 on points to win the tournament.

That's also the match where I tore my ACL. I thought about tapping because of the pain. But I needed the money. So I didn't move much for a minute or so. Then I started working again. I never got it fixed. Every fight I had in the UFC after that, from UFC 50 through winning TUF 4 to fighting Anderson Silva, I fought without an ACL in that knee. Most people never knew. (Now you do.)

So what did winning it open up for me? Nothing. Nobody called. Rorion tried to bury the event like it never happened, to protect his family's legacy. It was about 15 years before he sold the footage and the event and let anyone see it.

And when the video finally came out, I'm barely in it. You see me competing, hardly any interviews, and I'm not on the cover. That's okay. I know what happened that night, and so did everyone in that room.

Conclusion:

You don't always get the recognition. I won the whole thing and for about 15 years almost nobody got to see it. Do it anyway.

Show up when the invite comes. A lot of guys with bigger names turned Rorion down. I didn't, and it ended up being one of the best nights of my career. You won't ever feel completely ready. Get on the mat anyway.

Respect everybody in the bracket. Ryron went 68 minutes with a World Champion. If I had gone in thinking he was just a famous last name, I would have been in trouble.

Injuries don't have to be the end of the story. I tore my ACL in a final and went on to win TUF and earn a UFC title shot. I am not telling you to skip the doctor. Get your stuff looked at! What I am telling you is one bad night doesn't decide what you are capable of. How you handle it from there does.

Points are earned in the basics. I didn't win those last two matches with anything fancy. Position, position, position. Pressure. Staying out of trouble. That's the same stuff we drill in class every week.

So is a Masters world title real? It is. Is it the same as winning an open weight tournament Rorion promoted as a World Championship, against real World Champions? It isn't.

So next time you are tired in the last round and thinking about coasting, remember somebody out there is willing to go 68 minutes. Be that guy.

See you on the mat.

Travis