UFC Champion Alexander Volkanovski Awarded Black Belt in BJJ

Current UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski has already proven to be a world class MMA grappler, dominating numerous opponents with his excellent takedowns, stifling top control, and excellent guard passing. Volkanovski now has the BJJ rank to match that skill, as he has been awarded his black belt in BJJ.

Volkanovski received the black belt from Joe Lopez of Freestyle MMA.

Undefeated in the UFC, Volkanovski captured the featherweight title in December 2019 when he defeated Max Holloway. Volkanovski then successfully defended that title in an immediate rematch with Holloway seven months later.

Although he possesses excellent grappling, just three of Volkanovski’s 23 career victories have come by way of submission. Some of that grappling skill was on display in Volkanovski’s last fight, a successful title defense against Brian Ortega in which Volkanovski survived a pair of seemingly deep choke attempts. Recently, Volkanovski has bolstered his grappling training by enlisting the help of ADCC silver medalist and elite competitor Craig Jones.

Congratulations to Volkanovski on the well-deserved promotion.

Ben Coate

Ben has been involved with grappling, whether through wrestling or Brazilian jiu-jitsu, essentially his entire life. After wrestling throughout his childhood, Ben found Brazilian jiu-jitsu as a young adult and quickly fell in love. He has been training for over ten years and currently holds the rank of brown belt, and remains involved in both the MMA and BJJ scene. Ben has been writing about combat sports since 2017. He has interviewed and profiled some of MMA's biggest stars, including multiple UFC champions.

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