BJJ in Mixed Martial Arts

As a BJJ practioner and a fighter I constantly get questions from guys who don't train about what it means to have a blackbelt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu as an MMA fighter.

Now, like most guys, I don't have a BJJ blackbelt. I train in gi grappling much more than alot of other practioners, but I am by no means a master.

First, there is the understanding that gi grappling is an art all it's own. Fighters who train in gi grappling and compete strictly in those competitions are athletes, many of them are professional just like mixed-martial arts fighters. MMA fighters usually just dabble.

Having a blackbelt in BJJ is a serious accomplishment, especially for someone going pro outside of BJJ, competing in other arenas. Most guys compete in BJJ too to keep their skills sharp, but it's still impressive to be at black belt level and fighting professionally.

Black belts have an enormous arsenal of techniques, sweeps from every position and submissions that we aren't used to seeing in MMA. With alot of BJJ practioners that's noticeable even in the middle ranks, like when Nick Diaz fought Takanori Gomi. As good as Gomi is as a fighter, he doesn't have the technical Brazilian Jiu-jitsu backround to really use techniques like gogoplatas (which is how Diaz won the fight). It's a complex submission, and Diaz's superior knowledge of technical grappling gave him a huge edge once the fight hit the mat. And Diaz is only a purple belt.

That said, BJJ isn't the be all and the end all, it is only a single style of fighting that is used in MMA alot, and there are different styles of BJJ that make it more complicated to adapting to MMA. Some power grapplers who specialize in joint locks, like Jeff Monson (a BJJ brown belt who has won world championships in the similar sport of no-gi submission grappling) transition fairly easily, but guys who utilize alot of gi chokes like Fabiano Scherner might not work so well without the gi.

BJJ isn't everything, but the black belt is a huge symbol in the sport and it commands respect, because you know that when that fight hits the ground, there is going to be some skill.