Being very close to his cousins; Charles, Renzo, Ralph and Ryan Gracie, jiu-jitsu was always present in Daniel's life growing up.

After a TKO loss in 2006, Daniel decided to walk away from MMA for a while to concentrate on teaching BJJ at Renzo Gracie's Academy.

[7] On April 6 at Invasion Attack 2014, the Gracies defeated Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano in another tag team match.

[8] Later in the event, Daniel entered the IWGP Intercontinental Championship picture by challenging Shinsuke Nakamura, whom he had defeated in an MMA fight in 2002.

[10] This led to Daniel's first singles match on May 25 at Back to the Yokohama Arena, where he unsuccessfully challenged Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.