I am sure you have been curious about what belt your favourite celebrity or MMA fighter has in BJJ. Well wonder no more. Here is a list of some of the most famous celebrities and MMA athletes and their BJJ belts.
What BJJ belt is Israel Adesanya?
What BJJ belt is Israel Adesanya? Israel Adesanya is a BJJ blue belt, who was promoted by Andre Galvao on the 20th June, 2017. Adesanya began training BJJ in 2011 at Atos New Zealand in Auckland. As primarily a striker and MMA fighter Adesanya does not spend much time training BJJ in the Gi but don’t let that blue belt fool you he has been training MMA grappling for many years.
In the video below Adesanya and Costa get into an argument about who has better grappling with Costa, a BJJ black belt mocking Adesanya’s BJJ skill by throwing a white belt at him.
What BJJ belt is Joe Rogan?
What BJJ belt is Joe Rogan? Joe Rogan is a BJJ black belt. Joe Rogan received his BJJ black belt from his good friend Eddie Bravo in 2012. Joe Rogan begun training BJJ in 1994 under Jean Jacques Machado. In the video below you can watch Joe Rogan receiving his BJJ black belt.
There isn’t much footage of Joe Rogan training BJJ and to my knowledge he never competed in any competitions due to bad knees. I did find some small clips of him rolling.
In this video a fan on MySpace doubted Joe Rogan’s BJJ skill and challenged him a fight. Rogan obliged and told him to come to his BJJ gym. The fan obliged and Rogan mauls the fan.
Here is a video of finishing an arm triangle during rolling
What BJJ belt is Keanu Reeves?
What BJJ belt is Keanu Reeves? Keanu Reeves is a BJJ white belt. Keanu Reeves begun intensive BJJ training for his role in John Wick in 2014. Reeves trained BJJ under the legendary Machado brothers. Reeves has continued his BJJ in preparation for all his John Wick roles.
In the picture below you can see Keanu Reeves wearing his BJJ white belt.
What BJJ belt is Steven Crowder?
What BJJ belt is Steven Crowder? Steven Crowder is a BJJ purple belt. Steven Crowder’s dad is a BJJ blue belt and the two often train together. Steven Crowder entered his first BJJ tournament in 2011, the NAGA World Championships and won the white belt division without having a single point scored against him. Crowder is a MMA fanatic with over 2,000 posts on popular MMA forum Sherdog.
What BJJ belt is Brock lesnar?
What BJJ belt is Brock lesnar? Brock Lesnar is a BJJ blue belt. Brock Lesnar was promoted to blue belt in 2016 by Comprido, a former black belt world champion. Brock Lesnar is an expert wrestler who won the NCAA championship in 1998. Lesnar began training BJJ in 2006 and has a UFC win over decorated BJJ black belt Frank Mir.
What BJJ belt is Sam Harris?
What BJJ belt is Sam Harris? Sam Harris a BJJ blue belt. Sam Harris begun training BJJ with Ryron and Rener Gracie after being inspired by Joe Rogan. Sam Harris had previously trained in martial arts as a young adult which he described as a mixed self defence system, similar to Krav Maga. Sam Harris has had to pause his BJJ training due to consistent neck injuries.
Here is a great monologue where Sam Harris uses the metaphor of drowning to describe BJJ.
What BJJ belt is Jocko Willink?
What BJJ belt is Jocko Willink? Jocko Willink is a BJJ black belt who received his black belt from good friend and ADCC champion Dean Lister. Jocko Willink began learning BJJ in the 90s from an old Navy captain who had taken private lessons in the Torrance Gracie garage, the early epicenter of BJJ in America. Willink’s BJJ game is heavily based on strong top pressure utilising kimuras and cranks to finish opponents.
Here is a video of Jocko Willink competing against highly decorated BJJ and MMA athlete Jeff Monson.
What BJJ belt is Khabib?
What BJJ belt is Khabib? Khabib Nurmagomedov is a BJJ white belt. Don’t let Khabib’s white belt trick you he is an extremely high level grappler who is a Judo black belt and an International Master of Sport in Combat SAMBO. Khabib has easily defeated many BJJ black belts in the UFC who have no answer to his wrestling/judo takedowns combined with his smothering top pressure. Khabib has been critical of BJJ in the past famously wearing a t-shirt that said if SAMBO was easy it would be called BJJ.
Here is some highlights of Khabib’s impressive grappling
What BJJ belt is Jon Jones?
What BJJ belt is Jon Jones? Jon Jones is a BJJ purple belt. Jon Jones was promoted to purple belt in 2019 by his instructor Roberto Alencar at Gracie Barra. Jones received his blue belt in 2017 and since then has been regularly training in the Gi with a goal of becoming a BJJ black belt. As a BJJ white belt Jones submitted Lyoto Machida (Guillotine) and Vitor Belfort (Americana) both BJJ black belts in the UFC.
What BJJ belt was Paul Walker?
What BJJ belt was Paul Walker? Paul Walker was a BJJ brown belt before he died. Walker trained at Paragon gym in was coached by Ricardo Miller at the Paragon Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy in Sanata Barbara, CA. Unlike other celebrities Walker would reguarly train in normal classes and wasn’t afraid of injuries. Walker was obsessed with BJJ. Due to his dedication Miller awarded Paul Walker his BJJ black belt post posthumously.
Miller said,”He was determined to become a black belt. Walker said ‘I will get my black belt, even if I need to get it in my coffin’. Miller said, “Now in the wake of his death, I would like to reward Paul Walker the black belt that he wanted so much during his life.”
What BJJ belt is Justin Gaethje?
What BJJ belt is Justin Gaethje? Justin Gaethje is a BJJ white belt. Justin Gaethje is a high level MMA fighter who competes in the UFC. It is common for MMA fighters to train extensively in BJJ but to remain white belts because they do not train in the Gi and only focus on grappling. Gaethje is a high level wrestler who was an All American in 2010 when he wrestled for Northern Colorado. Gaethje trains BJJ under MMA supercoach Trevor Wittman.
Justin Gaethje’s high level wrestling and MMA grappling was more than enough to dominate decorated 10th Planet BJJ black belt Tony Ferguson in their UFC bout.
BJJ is popular with celebrities and MMA fighters. It is not always easy to know what belt they possess and how their BJJ journey begun. I hope this article helped you get an insight in some of your favourite celebrities’ and MMA athletes’ BJJ journeys.
