Gabriel Gonzaga is a UFC veteran and 6th degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who was a top competitor in that sport before he made the move to MMA. Gonzaga won an IBJJF World Championship and left with a silver medal at ADCC 2005, reaching a level that very few grapplers ever do. Those skills served him well throughout his MMA career, and he finished almost all of his fights by either submission or knockout. Gonzaga eventually left the sport in 2018 with a 17-12 professional record and a lengthy UFC stint, but he apparently doesn’t think the promotion allows fighters to use the full extent of their Jiu-Jitsu in the cage.
Gonzaga recently shared in an interview that he thinks the rules in MMA actually prevent Jiu-Jitsu from being used fully:
“People don’t understand. The UFC has a bunch of rules to prevent Jiu-Jitsu. Jiu-Jitsu is not welcome in the UFC. But you see submissions, yes, so part of the Jiu-Jitsu is nice to bring in.”
He then went into a bit more detail, explaining that the referee intervention has a huge impact on the ability to grapple:
“If you’re taking too long grappling with each other, break up and stand up. If you take too long on the cage holding the guy to put him down, break up to the centre.“
Gabriel Gonzaga isn’t wrong either, UFC referees forcing fighters to stand up does limit the time they have to actually do Jiu-Jitsu. He also said something that MMA fans might find to be a little more controversial:
“So a bunch of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the real Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, is not allowed because it’s too efficient. The efficiency is so high that it cannot be allowed because you’re gonna kill each other. You’re gonna break someone and the guy gonna be crippled for life. So that’s why it’s not allowed.”
The full interview with Gabriel Gonzaga where he says that he believes that the UFC tries to prevent Jiu-Jitsu from working was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of the MMA History podcast:
