Mixed martial arts has undoubtedly helped the growth of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It was, after all, Royce Gracie’s dominance over fighters much larger than him that helped show the world that Gracie jiu-jitsu — the art his legendary father, Helio Gracie, helped create — was a force to be reckoned with.
But some people believe that MMA has had some negative effects on BJJ.
One of these people is BJJ black belt Bruninho Barbosa. Professor Barbosa was on an episode of the Fight Zone, and he believes that mixed martial arts is causing some people to get their black belts too early:
“But nowadays, unfortunately, because of MMA, some people, they are getting black belts a bit early, you know, so, too soon, which is not good,” Barbosa said. “If you go to Brazil, you see people, like, four years as a blue belt, four years at purple, four years at brown, and they still training normal.”
Check out Professor Bruninho Barbosa’s entire interview below:
