best non blackbelts in ufc

[Dogstarman]

Brendan Schaub. He is an expert an nullifying even the best black belts in bjj.

 

[Serana]

Paulson gave JB a bjj blackbelt a while back:

http://forums.sherdog.com/forums/f61/josh-barnett-receives-bjj-black-belt-1120478/

It was an honourary black belt.

 

[Mikey Triangles]

It was an honourary black belt.

A well earned and deserved honorary black belt. Basically helped all the good bjj black belts he smashed in the gi save face. it's not the type of "honorary black belt" some others have received.

 

[Chris Beeby]

Everyone else, too, but

Chris Lytle

 

[Fandango]

Lauzon... Sick transitions

 

[Funkoar]

Melendez is still a brown belt

 

[Paul B]

I'm surprised Weidman hasn't been mentioned. Cue awesome John Danaher promotion story.

 

[Drew Foster]

Chris Weidman is up there

 

[HIMBOB]

A well earned and deserved honorary black belt. Basically helped all the good bjj black belts he smashed in the gi save face. it's not the type of "honorary black belt" some others have received.

Who else got one?

I thought it strange they gave out honorary black belts at all, that said if anyone was to get one Barnett would be near dead front of the que.

 

[Spazzmaster]

^Rashad Evans, for one, was given a BJJ black belt by Rolles Gracie. Everyone knows it's BS.

Back in 2003, Carlos Gracie Jr. gave a black belt to Wanderlei Silva that was highly questionable and everyone knew it. Wand didn't even train with Gracie Barra.

 

[Funkoar]

Maybe some guys just want to promote these guys to BB so they have them "under them" in their lineage?

That or maybe it is a respect thing and they really do deserve it, only one way to find out...

 

[Serana]

I don't think TS means honourary black belts.

No doubt Barnett deserves a black belt; the point was he never progressed through BJJ ranks, he was just that good from previous training.

 

[Uchi Mata]

It's 2013 and people are still hung on this belt shit when talking about pros ?!

I agree, and I'm a BJJ and Judo guy. If you're a UFC fighter, you're going to have legit grappling, probably black belt level no gi. Who cares about your rank? Even competitive grapplers don't really care about rank other than how it pertains to who they'll fight in competition. And once you hit black belt level, no active competitor cares if you're a 1st degree BB or a 3rd degree, because what matters is who you can beat. I mean, it's cool to get a BB and it's a big achievement for an amateur but for a pro it should basically be a byproduct of spending hours a day training grappling as part of the process of getting ready for fights. In and of itself it doesn't mean all that much. Wrestlers with no rank in anything submit highly ranked BJJ guys frequently in MMA, skills matter not rank.

 

[Uchi Mata]

Maybe some guys just want to promote these guys to BB so they have them "under them" in their lineage?

That or maybe it is a respect thing and they really do deserve it, only one way to find out...

I think the latter. And, for many BJJ instructors, having people who can hang with your best guys who have no rank is a little embarrassing for your school, so they give them a belt so that no one can say that so and so is unranked and beats up black belts. I can't imagine most MMA fighters spend the time doing gi BJJ that would be required of a normal person to earn a BB.

 

[Serana]

IMO a BJJ blackbelt is a man who trains through the ranks and earns the top spot.

An honourary blackbelt is a person so amazing at grappling already that someone feels obligated to rep them a BB.

 

[Bluesbreaker]

Korean Zombie.