It’s true that some UFC athletes have been promoted to the rank of a BJJ black belt level without having competed in Jiu-Jitsu…
Such as Alex Pereira.
And, well, the public’s opinion is divided – should he have been promoted to black belt?
Here are the thoughts of none other than B-Team’s Haisam Rida:
I feel like there’s a lot of black belts popping up in the UFC right now.
So, what qualifies a black belt?
For example, he believes that Gilbert Burns is a true black belt.
Here is why:
Guys like Gilbert Burns, they are legit black belts.
I’ll consider that legit black belt because they actually used to compete in the highest level due to before transitioning to MMA.
I lived in Brazil for like six months, I trained at the gym he [Burns] used to be at, and he was a killer.
So yeah, he comes from pure Jiu-Jitsu.
But what about Pereira?
I don’t really know, you know?
Like, I’ve seen Izzy take him down, and like, you know, he struggled to get up there.
So I don’t know what he does behind the scenes.I’ve never really seen him [do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu].
