Jacob ‘The Hillbilly Hammer’ Couch has just been promoted to black belt on the podium of the IBJJF No Gi World Championships after he stormed to victory in the brown belt Heavyweight division. Couch was one of the biggest favourites to take home the gold medal in his weightclass and he showed exactly why, putting in a series of great performances against his fellow top brown belt competitors over the course of the day. Because Couch has achieved everything possible at his belt level, he was greeted at the podium by head coach of Pedigo Submission Fighting, Heath Pedigo, and given his final belt promotion.
Jacob Couch might have only just been promoted to black belt but he’s hardly inexperienced when it comes to high level competition. He’s been going up against some of the best grapplers on the planet for years already and even won the ADCC Open earlier this year in the 91kg division. Most of Couch’s biggest achievements to date have come from competing on the superfight circuit, battling against tough opponents on professional shows. Most recently, he was seen challenging ADCC veteran Eoghan O’Flanagan at Grapplefest 14 for the promotion’s under 90kgs title.
That was the fourth time that Couch had competed on the Grapplefest mats, but he’s also a veteran of Who’s Number One as well. Couch earned a bronze medal when he stepped in to the WNO Championships on short notice, going 3-1 while submitting both Roberto Jimenez and Jon ‘Thor’ Blank. He also won several superfights leading up to the toughest challenge of his career when he took on Gordon Ryan in the main event, although he couldn’t stop the greatest no gi grappler on the planet. This is one of the most well-deserved belt promotions that could have come out of the IBJJF No Gi World Championships, although it certainly won’t be the only one.
Jacob ‘The Hillbilly Hammer’ Couch announced the news that he was promoted to black belt on the podium of the IBJJF No Gi World Championships in a post to his official Instagram account:
