Nineteen-year-old Jacob Rodriguez, the younger brother of ADCC silver medalist Nicky Rodriguez, is now a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Rodriguez revealed the news of his promotion on social media, sharing the moment with F2W and Finishers veteran Justin Pack, who was promoted to purple belt. Rodriguez says that the promotion has come after seven months of training “every day and sometimes twice a day” at Studio 84 AJJ & MMA.
ya boy got promoted! after 7 months of training everyday and sometimes twice a day i’m now a blue belt
Rodriguez’s coach, Jay Regalbuto, shared a post of his own announcing the young men’s promotions and acknowledging their progress as athletes:
“Proud of these 2 dorks @jayrod2.0 and @justinpack 😁 neither are even 20 yet 👀 they earned these belts 🤙in their last few tournaments they both entered specific divisions to match up against specific tough competitive black belts, their goal is ADCC so the challenge is neccessary. Both proved that even giving up experience, that knowing how to win and focusing on specific strategies can make up for years of experience 🤙but the main ingredient to all of this is execution, and both these guys have shown incredible growth in a very short time because of their hard work and discipline 🤙not to mention they are 2 of the most exciting grapplers you’ll ever watch 🔥 congrats my guys, proud of yous”
Rodriguez — who, like his brother, has an impressive wrestling background in addition to what he’s learned in jiu-jitsu — competed in BJJ for the first time in November after six weeks of training, ultimately going 2-2 for the day.
