Wrestlers with black belts?

[chunglii]

I wasn't sure if I should post this here for in the Worldwide. Anyway, I was wondering which fighters or grapplers have been NCAA wrestlers and hold BJJ or Judo blackbelts. It counts if they made NCAA, then later in their career earned their blackbelt. The only ones I can think of are Jeff Monson(NCAA Div. 1, BJJ black belt), and Frank Trigg(NCAA Div. 1, black belt in Judo under Patrick Burris). I suppose Josh Barnett counts, although he is a catch wrestler, and earned his BJJ black belt because of it.

Also, bonus points if anybody can tell me somebody who made NCAA wrestling because of a black belt in BJJ or Judo, or because of their grappling credentials not related to wrestling.

 

[Alaskantkdkid]

Jon Fitch has a black belt in Guerrilla Jiujitsu. Rashad Evans has one in BJJ and Gaidojutsu.

 

[1000]

Jeff Monson.

 

[StopDropRoll]

Rashad Evans.

edit: ninja edit beat me to it

 

[chunglii]

How did I forget Rashad and Fitch?!

 

[VIKINGpwr]

Jon Fitch has a black belt in Guerrilla Jiujitsu. Rashad Evans has one in BJJ and Gaidojutsu.

Wasnt Rashads belt revoked or whatever by Rolles ? cuz he didnt train in a gi, and rolles got lot of whine for it.
And gaidojutsu/guerrilla, LoL! Arent we talking real blackbelts ?

Im also intrested in hearing good wrestlers with BJJ BB.

 

[barmyone45**]

Was Barnett a NCAA division 1 wrestler?

 

[lts5025]

Wasnt Rashads belt revoked or whatever by Rolles ? cuz he didnt train in a gi, and rolles got lot of whine for it.
And gaidojutsu/guerrilla, LoL! Arent we talking real blackbelts ?

Im also intrested in hearing good wrestlers with BJJ BB.

Uh, Dave Camarillo is legit as hell. He just happens to call his style Guerilla Jiu-Jitsu.

 

[chunglii]

Uh, Dave Camarillo is legit as hell. He just happens to call his style Guerilla Jiu-Jitsu.

Guerilla jiu-jitsu is brazilian jiu-jitsu. he just calls it that to sell it or w/e. Its really the same.

 

[VIKINGpwr]

Guerilla jiu-jitsu is brazilian jiu-jitsu. he just calls it that to sell it or w/e. Its really the same.

allright then. Is Gaidojitsu also legit ?

 

[lts5025]

allright then. Is Gaidojitsu also legit ?

Not in the sense that Guerilla JJ is. Guerilla JJ is the Camarillo Bros.' mix of judo and BJJ and a black belt in Guerilla JJ would be able to hold his own with BJJ black belts of similar experience from other BJJ schools.

Gaidojitsu is basically wrestling with judo submissions. Legit as in it works, but not "as legit" because a BB in Gaidojitsu would not be comprable to a BB in BJJ. IIRC, Diego left Jackson's previously as a BB in Gaidojitsu and joined University of Jiu-Jitsu as a purple belt in BJJ.

 

[chunglii]

Not in the sense that Guerilla JJ is. Guerilla JJ is the Camarillo Bros.' mix of judo and BJJ and a black belt in Guerilla JJ would be able to hold his own with BJJ black belts of similar experience from other BJJ schools.

Gaidojitsu is basically wrestling with judo submissions. Legit as in it works, but not "as legit" because a BB in Gaidojitsu would not be comprable to a BB in BJJ. IIRC, Diego left Jackson's previously as a BB in Gaidojitsu and joined University of Jiu-Jitsu as a purple belt in BJJ.

Beat me to it. This is correct

 

[VIKINGpwr]

Not in the sense that Guerilla JJ is. Guerilla JJ is the Camarillo Bros.' mix of judo and BJJ and a black belt in Guerilla JJ would be able to hold his own with BJJ black belts of similar experience from other BJJ schools.

Gaidojitsu is basically wrestling with judo submissions. Legit as in it works, but not "as legit" because a BB in Gaidojitsu would not be comprable to a BB in BJJ. IIRC, Diego left Jackson's previously as a BB in Gaidojitsu and joined University of Jiu-Jitsu as a purple belt in BJJ.

okey okey. But id still take a BJJ BB over any other BB any day of the week!

 

[elbigsam]

My coach was a succesfull wrestler on the COB circuit in brasil, and is a bjj blackbelt. I don't think they have ncaa in brasil.

 

[xAsylum]

Even though he is only a brown belt, I thought of Urijah. Everyone can pretty much agree that he's on a black belt level in BJJ, and he wrestled at UC Davis.

Edit: Joe Stevenson as well?

 

[krutch11]

Edit: Joe Stevenson as well?

He started wrestling very young but I don't think he ever competed in NCAA.

 

[BC2000]

Correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't Gaidojutsu ocks

 

[Slick_36]

He started wrestling very young but I don't think he ever competed in NCAA.

Don't see what that changes. He still is obviously a wrestler at heart.

 

[HipBump]

There are more than you would think. Over the past couple of decades, there's really been a huge amount of crossover between bjj and wrestling, as well as wrestling and judo, and not only because of the emergence of mma. In Japan it is even more common for amateur wrestlers to be ranked in judo.

Some examples of prominent fighters:
Kurt Pellegrino (high school state finalist, bjj blackbelt under i believe Ricardo Almeida)
Jim + Dan Miller (bjj blackbelts under Jamie Cruz, Jim wrestled DI at Virginia Tech, Dan competed in high school)
Dan Severn (bjj blackbelt, decorated amateur wrestler)
Don Fry (judo blackbelt, amateur wrestler)
Travis Lutter I believe has a background in high school wrestling as well as a bjj blackbelt under the Machados.
Jake Shields is a bjj blackbelt and former D1 wrestler.
Melvin Guillard is a former wrestler who is well on his way to getting a blackbelt in judo.
Evan Dunham was a successful high school wrestler and is a bjj blackbelt.

With MMA fighters the trend seems to be those that wrestled in high school picked up bjj earlier and have therefore had more time to progress in belt level, whereas a guy who was wrestling at the D1 level in college would pick up bjj later, but will be a blackbelt eventually. There's gonna be some badass old guys in 30-40 years, no doubt.

Non-MMA fighters:
Rener, Ryron, and I believe Ralek Gracie (Rorion's children) all wrestled in high school I believe, and are blackbelts under Rorion.
Ken Primola is a former DI wrestler with a blackbelt in bjj who has some great instructional insight into both arts.
There's a guy named Brandon Ruiz who's an international greco-roman competitor that has a Machado black belt.

Not as familiar with Judoka/Wrestler hybrids. I'd imagine it'd be more common in Eastern European countries and Japan, considering the strong judo and wrestling traditions. Though I do not believe he ever wrestled collegiately, Rhadi Ferguson's judo game is very wrestling-influenced, and he's stated that the double leg is his favorite attack. He also holds a bjj blackbelt, and is a blackbelt in traditional jujitsu. Quite the martial arts pedigree!

 

[Legend Killer]

Ben Askren even though he isn't a blackbelt yet, he is a brown belt I believe.

EDIT:

Also, Renato Babalu was intially a highly decorated wrestler before getting his blackbelt in BJJ.

While I am unsure of Sakuraba's official BJJ ranking, I am sure he is blackbelt level and he started out initially as a successful amateur wrestler both on the high school and University level.