UFC title-challenger and Japanese MMA legend Caol Uno has just been promoted to black belt in Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 50. Although this belt promotion has come fairly late in life, Uno has been an elite grappler for decades at this point. Uno was one of the earlier pioneers of MMA, making his professional debut back in 1996 when the sport was still very much in it’s infancy. Like many other Japanese fighters of that era, Uno came up fighting in Shooto and actually won one of their very first amateur tournaments before starting out his professional career with them too.
Uno went around the regional MMA circuit in Japan in between Shooto matches and even won the promotion’s welterweight title before he was eventually called up to the UFC in 2001. He came in with a 12-3-2 record that included 7 submission finishes and he had even competed at a few major grappling events too; with his biggest achievement being a silver medal at under 77kg at ADCC 1999. Uno immediately faced Jens Pulver for the inaugural UFC lightweight world title and stayed with the promotion for several fights after it, including his famous draw with BJ Penn in the final of their lightweight grand prix.
Uno returned to Shooto and Japan in general in 2004, spending the next few years fighting several legends of that generation like Shinya Aoki, Joachim Hansen, and Gesias Cavalcante. Other than a brief three-fight return to the UFC, that’s where Uno has spent his career ever since. Although Uno has slowed down competitively, he’s still remained active even as recently as last year. His most recent fight was at Shooto Torao 37 in 2025 and he put on a vintage performance against Akihiko Mori to win a unanimous decision. Now Uno can add another belt to his pretty extensive collection; one that includes MMA titles, ADCC medals, and a Judo black belt too.
Naoya Uematsu announced the news that Caol Uno had been promoted to Jiu-Jitsu black belt in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
