Faber’s BJJ coach ‘pissed off’ at fast US belt promotions
“I think it’s a shame you promote a guy to black belt and he doesn’t even know the rules,” said Urijah Faber’s BJJ coach. “I’m pissed off with that.”
Urijah Faber was awarded a brown belt in 2011 and earned three submission victories in four fights last year, but even if he submits black belt Renan Barao at UFC 169, Team Alpha Male BJJ instructor Fabio Prado still won’t award him his black belt.
“No, no way,” Prado told MMAFighting.com. “We need to adjust some details with the gi. He needs to train with the gi, and he hasn’t doing that much lately because he fought a lot last year. But when he returns to train with the gi he’ll receive the black belt, he knows that.”
Prado, who has been teaching in the US for eight years, has yet to award a black belt. He take particular issue with Checkmat co-founder Leandro Vieira, who awarded then white belt Daniel Cormier a brown belt.
“Some Checkmat guys are giving belts too quickly,” he said. “If you ask those guys, Cormier won’t know how to score a jiu-jitsu fight.”
“I think it’s a shame you promote a guy to black belt and he doesn’t even know the rules. I’m pissed off with that. I don’t know if the coaches just want to be seen. Here in the U.S., there are a lot of guys promoting students via internet. I can’t understand it.”
“(Joseph) Benavidez is a white belt in jiu-jitsu, and he has defeated five black belts in jiu-jitsu: Wagnney Fabiano, Rani Yahya, Jeff Curran, Miguel Torres and Jussier Formiga. But if you ask him what’s a lapel choke, he won’t know.”
“To receive the black belt, you need to know the positions, the origin of the fight, how to do the proper grip at the lapel, hip escaping. There’s no reason to promote Faber to black belt if he can’t teach you a loop choke. That’s the reality of jiu-jitsu.”
