Robert Whittaker has finally come to the end of an incredibly long and arduous path through the BJJ belt system as he has just been awarded his black belt by his longtime coach, Alex Prates. It’s taken the ex-UFC Middleweight World Champion sixteen years of training Jiu-Jitsu in the gi before he’s been given his final belt promotion, and it’s surely well-deserved. Whittaker already serves as an instructor for Wrestling, BJJ and no gi BJJ for Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Smeaton Grange in New South Wales, Australia, and has done for some time under Prates.
Whittaker is most known for his pair of incredible fights opposite Yoel Romero that resulted in him winning the UFC Interim Middleweight Championship and what would’ve been his first title-defense had Romero not missed weight. Before this however, Whittaker was on a seven-fight winning streak that included two performance of the night knockouts against Derek Brunson and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. The last time Whittaker was able to put that title on the line was against Israel Adesanya, who coincidentally has also recently been promoted, but to purple belt instead.
After suffering a knockout loss in the second round, Whittaker has rallied phenomenally well by putting in solid displays against Darren Till and Jared Cannonier in Unanimous Decision victories. This has put him back in the position of top contender in the Middleweight division and it really shouldn’t be long at all before he gets the rematch he’s earned against Adesanya. When he finally does, maybe he can start a second reign as a UFC champion and seeing as he’s only 29, he has plenty of time to make this one longer than the first.
Robert Whittaker proudly announced the news of him receiving his black belt in BJJ on his official Instagram account:
Rome was not built in a day.