Through the years there have been some staggeringly fast promotions in bjj. For a while it was quite a trend to see MMA fighters promoted to certain Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ranking in spite of never having practiced in the gi.

16 Jiu-Jitsu Practitioners That Were Promoted Straight to Black Belt

Flores has been a longtime friend and coach of former UFC’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.

He has a lifetime of Judo and has excellent Judo and Wrestling credentials:

Judo Honors
3x USA National Champion – 2x “Best Technique Award”
2x Fall Classic Champion
4x USA Open Championships Finalist (2x Champion)
5x Canadian “Rendezvous” Open Finalist (2x Champion)
2007 USA World Team Member Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (9th place)
2007 Pan American Games, 7th place Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
2007 German Super World Cup Team Member Hamburg, Germany
2007 Warsaw World Cup Semi-finalist, 5th place Warsaw, Poland
2007 Puerto Rican Open Champion San Juan, Puerto Rico
2007 British Open Championships, 3rd place London, England
2007 Finnish Open Championships, 2nd place Vantaa, Finland
2005 USA World Team Member Cairo, Egypt
2005 Italian World Cup, 5th Place Rome, Italy
2005 Estonian World Cup Semi-finalist, 5th Place Tallinn, Estonia
2005 Romanian World Cup, 5th Place Bucharest, Romania
2004 Korean World Cup Team Member Jeju, Korea
2004 Olympic Team Alternate San Jose, CA
2004 French Super World Cup Team Member Paris, France
2004 Pan American Championships, Bronze Medal Isle de Margarita, Venezuela
2003 Warsaw World Cup Team Member Warsaw, Poland
2002 Bulgarian World Cup, 7th Place Sofia, Bulgaria
2001 Ontario International Open, Champion Montreal, Canada
1998 Junior World Team Member Cali, Colombia
1997 Junior Pan American, Silver Medal Cali, Colombia

Wrestling Honors
1998-2000 University of Nebraska Varsity Letterman
2000 Keystone Classic, 3rd Place Lehigh, PA
1999 Big 12 Championships, 4th Place Ames, Iowa
1996-1998 Temecula Valley High School individual Results at State Meet (6th, 1st, 3rd)
1998 High School All-American (4th place @NHSCA)
1997 Delaware Mid-Atlantic “Beast of the East” Champion 125 lbs.
1998 Amateur Wrestling News 3rd Team All-American 130 lbs.

#tbt Paris ~2005 || ??????#judo #judoka #judolife #throwbackthursday #ufc #mma

A post shared by Justin Flores (@jflo1979) on Feb 16, 2017 at 8:05am PST

Listen to Flores’ account of earning his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu rank below:

Within FIVE Classes Flores earned his purple belt under Fabio Santos (who cornered Royce Gracie at UFC1):

1st time in an authentic Jiu-Jitsu gi today for open mat @studio540 ☝️|| Thanks @fujisportsus for the sweet threads ? Pretty sweet design too ? #BJJ #jiujitsu #design #creative #graphicdesign #art

A post shared by Justin Flores (@jflo1979) on Feb 13, 2016 at 1:26pm PST

The whole thing took 4,5 to 5 months.

Top 10 Fastest Black Belt Promotions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu History