UFC veteran Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza is not just an IBJJF and ADCC world champion but the grappling superstar is also a legitimate Judo black belt as well. He made a trip down to Edson Carvalho’s BJJ and Judo Academy back in 2010 to conduct a seminar for his students and ended up taking on the entire gym in a Randori session. Plenty of footage exists of elite competitive Judoka taking on BJJ students and demonstrating the huge difference in standing grappling ability between the two arts, but it’s not often that a BJJ competitor can put on the same kind of show.
Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza is no normal BJJ competitor though of course, he’s one of the best to ever set foot on the mats and he was actually known for his fantastic Judo skills too. Over the course of his career he won several IBJJF world championships in the coloured belt divisions before being promoted to black belt in 2004 and quickly winning three world titles at that level. He also competed at the 2005 ADCC world championships and won a gold medal in the 88kg division before he was called up to compete in the promotion’s main event superfight in 2009, where he beat Robert Drysdale to claim the superfight title.
At the same time he was building up his MMA career and eventually managed to win the StrikeForce Middleweight world championship before he transitioned over to the UFC. He spent almost eight years fighting in the world’s premier MMA organization and managed to defeat several stars like Chris Weidman, Vitor Belfort, Gegard Mousasi, and many more. He has since retired from professional MMA competition and has now decided to make his dream come true by opening his own gym and training the next generation of BJJ stars in the process.
The footage of Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza taking a trip to Edson Carvalho’s BJJ and Judo Academy and taking on the entire gym in a Randori session was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Jiu Jitsu World:
