In a strange turn of events, footage recently emerged of a UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in space. Here, he was wearing a blue gi and his purple belt, as he practiced solo drills in isolation.
Now, usually if someone trains a few drills alone it’s not much of a big deal. However, as you can imagine – body movements are very different when done in space. For instance, he was able to perform a forward roll in mid-air which would literally be impossible on earth due to gravity. Not only this but his movements were generally slower which also makes sense considering space slows everything down.
Although this video didn’t take itself too seriously, it still shows the different implications of training BJJ in space. Sadly, there was no partner to train with which would have shown BJJ in a very different light. Here, scrambles would probably be far slower and a bigger emphasis on technique would have been needed.
Realistically though, the chances are that BJJ will never be trained in space, or at least not in an environment with zero gravity. Nonetheless, if ever earth is in a battle with aliens then perhaps Sultan Al Neyadi is the man to call who could potentially use his skills to fend off attackers!
