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Who are the top five Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) competitors in all of mixed martial arts?
Welcome to the first installment of what will hopefully become a pretty common feature here at MMAmania.com.
As we know, mixed martial arts (MMA) is a constantly evolving and ever-changing sport. There are new fighters coming in and old fighters leaving on a weekly basis. I took a look at today's MMA landscape and picked my top five BJJ artists that are currently competing.
If you're into BJJ in MMA, you should consider these guys royalty.
#1 Roger Gracie
Roger Gracie is the mandatory number one in my opinion. The number one man on the list should be the fighter who you could pluck out of the Octagon and put on the mat with any other MMA fighter in the world,
regardless of weight, and get the victory. Gracie is that guy. At 205 pounds, he's a big enough guy to handle the lighter competitors, but yet his body movement and agility is like that of a 155-pounder. His last two fights have been in the Strikeforce promotion and have really highlighted Roger's BJJ ability for the international audience. He handled Kevin Randleman with a rear naked choke that was so tight it looked like Randleman's head was going to pop off. In his next bout, he was faced with his stiffest challenge yet in Trevor Prangley. He needed less than five minutes to submit Prangley with some very impressive jiu-jitsu. If you're into jiu- jitsu in MMA, you have just found your new favorite fighter.#2 Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza
The current
Strikeforce middleweight champ comes in a very close second here. Souza was a long time jiu-jitsu competitor before making the leap into the MMA cage. He had some incredible bouts with numero uno himself, Roger Gracie, while competing in jiu-jitsu. Some fighters jiu-jitsu game doesn't transition very well to MMA but Jacare's throws and fast pace seemed a perfect fit for the mixed martial arts arena. Souza used his impressive ground game to pick up notable wins against opponents like Matt Lindland and Robbie Lawler. Not that we need to defend this man, but if you haven't seen his jiu-jitsu highlight videos, you need to go check them out#3 Demian Maia
Maia is one of the most decorated BJJ competitors in the history of the sport. Like the previous two fighters, Maia was an ADCC champion.
One thing I appreciate about Maia is that he knows his strength and is not afraid to use it. He used an incredible takedown and top side triangle to defeat Chael Sonnen and also defeated Ed Herman with another incredible top side triangle. The Herman fight was a great example of using jiu-jitsu in the cage. After locking in the triangle to restrict the breathing, Maia used punches to add insult to injury and force the end of the fight to come much quicker for Herman. Maia was able to use his BJJ skills to get a title shot against middleweight champ, Anderson Silva. Unfortunately that fight did not go his way, but I am not sure that there were any winners in that fight. Maia comes in at number three for his aggressive style and ability to use his jiu-jitsu in such an effective way in the cage.#4 Robert Drysdale
Robert Drsydale is a six time world jiu-jitsu champion and was the 2007 absolute gold winner at the ADCC championships.
Drysdale recently decided to transition to MMA after spending many years teaching jiu-jitsu to some of MMA's biggest names. Drysdale holds a professional record of 2-0 with both wins coming by submission. Only time will tell how his MMA career will pan out, but his credentials in BJJ easily put him on a list like this. The folks over at TapouT made a short documentary chronicling Drysdale's history in the sport and accomplishments. If you haven't seen it, make sure to check it out. It's a great film with some very high level jiu-jitsu highlights that you can check out here.#5 Shinya Aoki
Have you had enough of the good guys? Well it's time to bring in one of MMA's baddest. None other than Shinya Aoki and his techni-colored dream pants.
With the flying submissions and "Aokiplata," it's hard to deny this guy is an incredible jiu-jitsu fighter no matter how much you hate him. Sure, he'll flip the camera off if needed. Sure, he might even break an opponent's arm for the fun of it. But when it comes down to it, the guy is pretty darn good on the ground. He has done an incredible job of capturing audiences all across the globe. Many will watch his fights in hopes of seeing him knocked out while the other half will tune in to see him turn his opponent into a pretzel. With a nickname like "Tobikan Judan," which means 10th degree in flying submissions, it's impossible to keep him off the list.
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