One of the most popular ukes in the world, Placido Santos, has just been promoted to brown belt in BJJ by John Danaher. The two men have been training and working together for many years now, and Santos rose to prominence as the person who Danaher used to demonstrate on for his instructionals. He’s also a very skilled grappler of course and just like anyone who’s spent years training under Danaher, he’s able to hang with some of the best in the world. He’s currently 32 years old and has a life outside Jiu-Jitsu, but he still actively competes fairly often regardless.
He has entered several ADCC Trials events and even travelled to Canada to compete, winning gold medals and beating some very skilled opponents. Santos was actually awarded his latest belt promotion off the back of one particular competition performance; where he won double gold at the IBJJF Austin Winter Open as a purple belt. He’ll likely continue competing at the new belt level and against black belts in open competition now, potentially even returning at ADCC Trials too. No matter what he does, it’ll be interesting to see what’s next for the Five Stones Jiu-Jitsu head coach and New Wave Jiu-Jitsu representative.
Placido Santos announced the news that he had been promoted to BJJ brown belt in a recent post to his official Instagram account, and John Danaher also made an announcement with the following comment:
“Placido Santos, the world’s most famous uke got a well deserved brown belt after his double gold performance at The Austin Open. Placido is a fine example of balancing family life with jiu jitsu. Most of my well known professional athletes train full time with very few distractions. However, most people live their Jiu Jitsu lives under very different circumstances, seeking to train while prioritizing family and work, training when they can and doing their best to juggle their other responsibilities with their training time. I’m always greatly impressed by people who do this. Over the years I’ve had many students who reached a very impressive level while holding down very difficult jobs and raising children. Placido is a great example of this. Many of the professional athletes will tell you that some of their best and toughest training partners when getting ready for international competition are people who come in before or after working a full day at work and who will be going home to raising their family. That’s an achievement every bit as impressive as a full time athlete getting to the top of the competitive field. Well done Placido! Keep up the good work!”
