Renzo Gracie would not have accepted a red belt if he were in Rickson Gracie’s shoes. In an article with graciemag , the former MMA fighter and six-degree black belt said:
“Rickson can and deserves to wear the belt he wants. He can. And he deserves it. But if I were in his place, I wouldn’t have accepted it.“
It is according to Renzo and Royler Gracie that in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the red belt is reserved “for those whose influence and fame takes them to the pinnacle of the art“. A red belt is rewarded in lieu of a ninth and tenth degree black belt, so if a practitioner receives a black belt when they’re 19 years old, they can only hope to receive one at the earliest at the age of 67!
Renzo may not be accepting a red belt any time soon, but at age 50 and weighing in at 80 kilograms, he will be accepting a match in MMA after his ADCC superfight. He has not reported which promotion he will be making his MMA return in, though.
