Elite wrestler Pat Downey has just received the first stripe on his BJJ white belt from his instructor, third degree black belt Monroe Hall. Just by virtue of his knowledge of wrestling and his ability to grapple positionally, Downey is obviously a far more skilled grappler than pretty much any other one stripe white belt in the world. He’s an NCAA Division I All-American and a US Open National champion, so even before Downey ever stepped on a BJJ mat he was already capable of outworking pretty much any black belt who isn’t an active competitor.
Downey started his transition to Jiu-Jitsu all the way back in 2020 when he faced Gordon Ryan in a pair of matches in each man’s specialty. Downey won the wrestling match by tech fall incredibly quickly but he was submitted by Ryan after a gruelling submission grappling match. It was to be expected of course, as facing the greatest competitor of his generation with zero experience in the sport is an impossible challenge. Although Pat Downey jumped right into the deep end at the beginning of his BJJ career as a brand new white belt, that didn’t deter him from continuing down that path.
He put on a dominant display in his second match at Subversiv 5 before moving back to facing elite competition in his third outing. He entered a stacked tournament at Third Coast Grappling 7 where he was submitted by Pedro Marinho in the opening round. Those matches and a growing submission grappling ability opened the doors for Downey to have a professional MMA career and he was signed by Bellator in 2022. He went 1-1 during his time with Bellator and although his MMA career came to an end before the year was over, it wasn’t long before Downey returning to submission grappling again.
Downey competed in the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational and put on an excellent performance in his very first match, demonstrating that he could be a real threat in the sport. After beating Luke Rockhold by decision, Downey lost a decision to Adam Bradley and was knocked out of the tournament. He didn’t go unnoticed though and not long after the event, he actually signed a UK exclusive contract with Polaris. That means that no gi grappling fans should get to see more of Downey in the future and with the first stripe earned, it shouldn’t be long before he moves up the belt ranks as well.
Pat Downey announced the news that he had received the first stripe on his BJJ white belt in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
