Islam Makhachev has been criticizing certain BJJ black belts in MMA again, and he’s set some standards that he thinks should apply for those who want to reach that level. Many elite MMA fighters have been promoted to BJJ black belt without ever competing in the sport or even really displaying much of their grappling in their MMA careers. For Makhachev, this situation isn’t acceptable and he thinks that coaches shouldn’t be promoting these fighters. It’s not actually an uncommon line of thinking and there are many people in the wider community who’ve spoken out against these kinds of promotions before.
He started out that portion of his interview with Demetrious Johnson by referencing his old rival Dustin Poirier specifically, and questioning why he wanted to strike with him during their fight:
“If you black belt, why you scared to go with him down?”
He then went on to claim that Poirier isn’t a black belt level grappler, and this isn’t the first time that he’s said something similar about him and other fighters. According to Islam Makhachev, there’s one thing in particular that would prove to him that an MMA fighter deserves to be a black belt in BJJ:
“You have to compete in Jiu-Jitsu, you have to do like a lot, you know? Now it’s like a big deal, give some fighter a black belt. No, (it doesn’t) have to working like this, you know? I think people agree with me. If you’re like UFC champion you cannot be one-day black belt. No, it’s not working well.”
Competing in Jiu-Jitsu isn’t really that much of a high bar for elite athletes fighting at a professional level in MMA. Many fighters like Demian Maia and Mackenzie Dern have reached the highest level of BJJ before their MMA careers and it’s not unheard of for those who’ve always focused on MMA to beat grapplers at their own game when they face them later in their careers. Makhachev finished by hammering home what he thinks really makes someone a black belt in BJJ:
“You have to spend like hours, hours… Like five, six years to be black belt. They have to go some competition, World Championship. Instead like do something special to be black belt, to deserve this.”
The full interview with Islam Makhachev where he discusses BJJ black belts in MMA was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Demetrious Johnson:
