Josh Hinger is one of the most experienced American grapplers there is and the ADCC veteran has just been promoted to third degree BJJ black belt by ATOS founder Andre Galvao. Hinger has been a black belt in the sport for a little over nine years and has competed on all of the biggest stages available during that time. The 40 year-old has won a number of different IBJJF tournaments and competed at several different superfight events but the most successful period of his career came between 2016 and 2019. Hinger won three consecutive IBJJF no gi World Championships and then capped that four-year period off by winning and ADCC trials and earning a bronze medal at ADCC 2019.
Over the course of almost a decade competing as a black belt, Hinger has registered a number of impressive wins. Some of the names on his record are among the best in the sport and it includes world champions like Matheus Diniz, Keenan Cornelius, and Mahamed Aly. Hinger has been an experienced competitor long before that as well, having been a wrestler in his youth and a professional MMA fighter while he was still a coloured belt. Hinger hasn’t showed any signs of slowing down lately either, and actually had a fantastic performance at ADCC 2022 just last year.
Hinger surprised the crowd when he defeated his teammate Tye Ruotolo in the opening round before losing to the eventual silver medallist Lucas ‘Hulk’ Barbosa in the quarter-final. That wasn’t his final competition of the year either, as he also took on the up-and-coming Judoka Owen Livesey at Polaris 21 and only lost by split decision in a close match. It’s unclear yet whether Hinger will continue competing in 2023, but he’s certainly more than capable of hanging with the top competitors in his weightclass if he chooses to do so.
The news that Josh Hinger was promoted to third degree BJJ black belt by Andre Galvao was announced in a post to Hinger’s official Instagram account:
