Former UFC double champion Conor McGregor has just been promoted to BJJ black belt by his long-time coach and the head coach of SBG Ireland, John Kavanagh. Although McGregor has been known as a striker first and foremost throughout his MMA career, he has obviously had to train an extensive amount of BJJ over the years as well. Just like any other professional MMA fighter, McGregor has had to learn enough grappling to cope with elite BJJ black belts and wrestling veterans on the ground.
Although he’s never really used his grappling skills offensively to win fights, he has frequently relied on his takedown defense and ability to scramble in order to keep the fight standing. He’s also had to spend years training submission defense in order to make sure that he’s able to survive if and when the fight does ever hit the ground. That dedication to the sport has seen him rise to the top of the MMA world, becoming a UFC world champion in both the featherweight and lightweight divisions at the same time. He’s received plenty of praise from high-level grapplers like Gilbert Burns for his BJJ skills in the past, and now he’ll be able to count himself among black belts like him as well.
Conor McGregor announced the news that he had been promoted to BJJ black belt by John Kavanagh in a recent post to his official Instagram account. He also shared a message with his fans on another post:
“Received my black belt tonight from my coach, friend, and mentor, John Kavangh of SBG Ireland! 20 years of hard work! Thank you John for everything over the years, and to all of my team mates throughout this incredible jiu jitsu journey! Thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart! A Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, wow! Praise be to God and then Helio. I’ll be in the Gi in it tomorrow Helio, I promise, and I cannot wait!! What a buzz”
