Photo credit: Will Fox
UFC welterweight and BJJ brown belt Carlos Condit has taken his first Gi Jiu-Jitsu ever last week, at Gracie Barra New Mexico under professor Roberto Tussa.
He joins other Jackson-Wink fighters that sharpen their ground game by wearing the Gi: Jon Jones and Holly Holm.
Condit is #4 in official UFC welterweight rankings. 28 of Condit’s 30 wins have come by way of knockout or submission. He has never been knocked out or stopped due to strikes; Condit’s only TKO loss was by leg kicks and injury.
Condit is a Black belt in Gaidojutsu (the mms system of Greg Jackson), and according to his wikipedia page, is a Brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which is quite surprising since he says that he has never trained in the gi before.
He stated on his Facebook page that he is starting over again as a white belt in BJJ:
I’ve been training Jiujutsu for more than half my life, and I have never rolled in a gi. When I started, all of my training was geared toward Vale Tudo, NHB, Cage fighting… The term MMA wasn’t even used at the time. So we didn’t train in the gi. I know there’s a bunch of opinions out there for and against training in a gi for MMA. But for a number of reasons, I decided to get outside of my comfort zone, start as a white belt and get friendly with the gi. I got manhandled my first day, and probably will continue to get my ass kicked, but that’s ok, that’s how you grow. We cannot be afraid to fail. When setting goals, reach farther than you can actually grasp. And if you fall, grit your teeth, re focus your intention and try again. I’ll keep you guys posted on my progress
His teammate, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones has been training since early 2013 at Gracie Barra New Mexico under professor Roberto ‘Tussa’ Alencar. Like any former beginner, Jones wore the Jiu-Jitsu white belt.
In a past tweet by Jon Jones, he said:
“I’m excited to stop neglecting my weakness.” Truly, humility and the will to evolve and improve are the qualities of a world class fighter.
