Credited as the first American to earn a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt from the prestigious Gracie Barra academy, Alberto Crane left the mixed martial arts stage in 2011 and now faces a battle of far deeper consequence. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis—a chronic autoimmune disease that disrupts communication between the brain and body—more than a decade ago.
Crane’s biography, “All In: Lessons On and Off the Mat,” details his journey through martial arts, along with his ongoing struggle with MS. He credits TACFIT, a system of movement that has been named the “World’s Smartest Workout,” for its assistance. Crane serves as chairman and partner of the company.
“TACFIT is for everyone,” he told Sherdog.com. “If you don’t use it, you lose it. You can make changes in yourself to your last breath; that’s neuroplasticity. TACFIT is so precise that you can regress it to make it easier or you can progress and make it harder. It depends on what you need on that day, so it’s for everybody, any age, any physical shape. And especially with MS, your immune system attacks your myelin sheath, and you get disconnected in your body. But it’s fight, flight or freeze. If you face it and just deal with it, it’s a game changer.
“When you don’t move your body, as you get older and don’t do the things you did when you were a kid, like going upside down and moving in different directions, you start to get not as sharp,” Crane added. “It’s like your GPS of the world gets cloudier, and you can’t really see what’s going on. You’re losing the fight if you lose technique, and what is technique? It’s the quality of movement over breathing. I look at it as a martial art with yourself, and I’m always glad to help whoever needs it.”
Crane finds his inspiration close to home.
“What’s motivated me and given me a lot of my drive and work ethic is my family,” he said. “I grew up watching my grandparents working, my parents, as well. This definitely gave me role models, but beyond that, I think you’re preprogrammed with that. [It was] that combined with my environment. My dad—he had his issues, and I wanted to be better than him. My dad had a lot of personal issues. He was drinking and homeless and a lot of stuff. I definitely wanted to get everything good from all my parents and grandparents but didn’t want to get some of those things that brought him down. I think it made me even more driven to forge my path in the right way.
“I’ve had some super women in my life, from my mom to my wife, for sure,” Crane continued. “My mom’s dad, my grandfather, was her hero, and she wanted me to be modeled after him. My own dad, he had a rough childhood. I don’t think a lot of them knew where I was going to end up, especially when I started doing crazy out-of-pocket things like moving to Brazil, pursuing jiu-jitsu and not going to school. They didn’t know where I was going to end up, especially with my dad’s background.
“That’s part of my drive,” he added. “I wanted to be successful and do good in whatever I chose. The strong women in my life have definitely given me the freedom and the confidence to do anything I want to do and pursue. It’s a man’s world, but it ain’t nothing without the women. Without them, I don’t know where I would be.”
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UFC return ‘wasn’t meant to be’
Crane enjoyed his share of success in the MMA world. He started his career with eight straight victories and captured titles in the King of the Cage and Ring of Fire promotions. Crane made his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut opposite Roger Huerta at UFC 74, where he succumbed to punches in the third round of their August 2007 encounter. He lost a subsequent bout to Kurt Pellegrino and parted ways with the company after those two appearances. Crane retired with a 15-5 record.
“It was too much, too fast,” he said. “I wish it could have been different and all that. I could have had a longer career, but I know I made my peace with it. And with the health stuff I found out later … they found [brain] lesions before my UFC debut. I had some things that were happening like when I was cutting weight for grappling tournaments that year. I was failing stuff, so who knows what’s good and what’s bad? I’m grateful for it all. Do I feel like I did my best? I wanted to get at least a win in the UFC, but I ended up having a 20-fight pro MMA career. I had never planned on even fighting MMA when I started jiu-jitsu. I did my best from what I had. I did my UFC debut at 31. Of course, I was wanting to do better. I was trying to get back to UFC, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
