Judo blackbelts in MMA

[Iron Skin]

Blagoy Ivanov competed in the 2008 european championship

 

[Hotora86]

Blagoy Ivanov competed in the 2008 european championship

Thanks! He's a Sambo guy primarily but does hold a Judo bb.

 

[Bob Sapp]

I was just about to say Khabib. Lol.

 

[Emanuele]

Ah, I think you should add in your list: Christophe Leininger (when he fought Mezger he was introduced as 4th dan, but now I don't know his degree); Andrei Arlovski (I don't know his degree) and Vitaly Minakov (Russian champion and bronze medal in European championship) and Jerome le Banner (1st dan).

 

[Hotora86]

Ah, I think you should add in your list: Christophe Leininger (when he fought Mezger he was introduced as 4th dan, but now I don't know his degree); Andrei Arlovski (I don't know his degree) and Vitaly Minakov (Russian champion and bronze medal in European championship) and Jerome le Banner (1st dan).

I don't think Arlovski is a bb.
Thanks for the others, will add shortly.

 

[Ravelife]

Cool as shit. I would love to see a breakdown of known fighters TMA backgrounds.

 

[Hotora86]

Cool as shit. I would love to see a breakdown of known fighters TMA backgrounds.

Thanks man. I mostly focus on Karate fighters so created this sheet below - maybe you'll like it as well:
View media item 32385

 

[Azzy]

My mum is a 3rd dan if that helps.

Never fought in MMA though.

 

[RightToBareKnuckles]

always fun to see judo throws in MMA.

Karo was on the list right?

 

[beastman]

Ronda has such great technique

 

[Kono dio da!]

You're right, thanks! Added.
Here's Moose training some kids Judo:

He looks so unimpressed.

 

[mjfan23]

Pawel Nastula could have made a serious dent in Pride HW division if he trained with one of the top Dutch striking teams early

 

[eiyuu]

Well if you want to go way back, there's these guys:

Christophe Leininger - fought Ken Shamrock at UFC 3, Guy Mezger at UFC 13
Ben Spijkers - fought Renzo Gracie at WCC 1

And I don't see Karo Parysian mentioned in this thread.

 

[Ravelife]

Thanks man. I mostly focus on Karate fighters so created this sheet below - maybe you'll like it as well:
View media item 32385

Very cool!

 

[ralek4grammy]

To come back to your intended discussion about the usefullness of Judo:
Imo Judo is a great Martial Arts which has (like a lot of Gi based Arts) the problem of only partially transitioning to MMA. That doenst mean its bad or anything, e.g. Bjj does just fine (but also seems more willing to give up the GI atleast in the US).
That being said i believe a lot of fighters could benefit from Judo training. It definetly has its applications in the clinch and gives a grappling oriented fighter more options to work with.
Is it a must-have like wrestling or kickboxing? No. But imo it could work pretty well as a secondary base to the "standard" MMA skillset.
On the other hand achieving a black belt takes a lot of dedication that a mixed martial artist might not be willing to put in, if he hadnt started Judo as a child.

Also Judo seems to have its own problems like banning single and double legs (sorry i dont know te correct Judo term) from olympic level.

There are some situations in the clinch that beg for a judo takedown, yet it's never coming. This was a funny source of light frustratuon for me every now and then .

 

[Hotora86]

He looks so unimpressed.

Moose always looks unimpressed.

 

[Kono dio da!]

Moose always looks unimpressed.

This is when he savaged babalu isn't it?

 

[Hotora86]

This is when he savaged babalu isn't it?

Yep.

Spoiler

 

[emptypen]

Denis Lavrentyev

Prospects to Watch in 2021: World-class judoka Denis Lavrentyev ready for UFC call-up – MMA-Prospects.com

 

[Deleted member 449757]

The look on Remcos face after the elbows is like "Oh, he's dead. I guess i should stop."