Released by Manga Entertainment in 1999, Choke , a 98 minute documentary by filmmaker Robert Goodman follows Rickson Gracie and 2 other fighters as they prepare and fight in Tokyo's Vale Tudo 1995, an early MMA event. "Choke" has been distributed in 23 countries.

Paulo Filho, former PRIDE middleweight fighter and former 185 lb World Extreme Cagefighting champion, states that Rickson's skills at Jiu-Jitsu are unparalleled. In Gracie Magazine, Filho says "I have trained with the toughest guys formed by Carlson Gracie. They were all great and I for sure don't want to diminish anybody, but I have to say that no one ever did to me what Rickson Gracie has done during training these last days."

Rickson has raised the ire of some in the MMA community by criticizing the abilities of current top fighters, claiming that he could still beat them easily today. In a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, Rickson argued that Fedor Emelianenko is a great athlete, but possesses "so-so" technical ability, and that he (Rickson) is "100% sure" that he would defeat him. Previous comments of this sort that Rickson made about Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira prompted Wanderlei Silva to say that Rickson is "living in a fantasy world."

Hélio Gracie disputes Rickson's claim to have had over 400 fights. According to Hélio, Rickson has only competed in fights that are commonly known and reported: the two against Rei Zulu and those that took place in Japan. Hélio alleges that Rickson uses practice and amateur bouts to obtain a number over 400, and that if he counted his fights like Rickson does, he would have in excess of one million.