This weekend saw Alexander Volkanovski was promoted to black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Undeniably, the Australian MMA fighter is on a great run at the moment and is the current UFC Featherweight Champion.
He received his black belt under Joe Lopez at Freestyle MMA. Interestingly, in true Australian humor, this gym claims to teach Mexican Ground Karate – which is a nod to Craig Jones. You may have noticed over the past few months that Jones was part of Volkanovski’s Ultimate Fighter team where he taught BJJ.
Since making his pro debut back in 2012, Volkanovski has had an impressive career, losing just once and remains unbeaten in the UFC, with a current 10-fight win streak. Although he mostly wins by punches and decision victories, Volkanovski has three submission wins during his time.
Whilst fighting in Australia, he managed to secure guillotine, rear naked triangle victories. However, it’s in his last fight against Brian Ortega where he truly showed he was a BJJ black belt. During this fight, Ortega (who is known for his great grappling skills) managed to sink in an incredibly deep guillotine, followed by an incredibly deep triangle choke on Volkanovski.
Many men would have tapped here, but not Volkanovski. Both times, he managed to survive and find a way out, which ultimately led to him winning his fight and keeping his title. With this said, make no doubt about it – Volkanovski is certainly worthy of his BJJ black belt.
