Joseph Baena is Arnold Schwarzanegger’s fifth child and he’s always taken after his father in terms of size and physique, but now it seems as though he’s going down a slightly different path after recently taking up BJJ. Baena is in incredible physical shape and no doubt he would present a challenge for anybody on the ats, regardless of the technique disparity. Judging from the pristine nature of the white belt he was wearing in a recent post uploaded to his official Instagram account, he’s only just starting out in his BJJ journey over at Checkmat Northridge.
In the pictures, he was seen with the head instructor at the gym and 2017 IBJJF no gi World Champion Arnaldo Maidana, and one of his high-level brown belts Thomas Kocer. It remains to be seen whether Joseph Baena will stick with BJJ over a long enough time period to start progressing up the belt levels, or even if he will decide to take time away from his other business ventures to train regularly, but if he does decide to stick with the sport then Checkmat Northridge is certainly one of the best places for him to spend his time.
Given the size and strength advantage he’d hold over a lot of his training partners and opponents, it’s possible that Baena could have some good success competing in BJJ as he progresses up the ranks. While his physical strength might be on a whole other level, Hafthor Bjornsson recently showed that size does matter when he submitted an experienced black belt despite having zero experience in the sport.
