Two Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts will collide in the co main event at UFC 91: “Couture vs. Lesnar” on November 15 — something we could not say before this weekend.
Joe Stevenson earned his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt from worldclass grappler Robert Drysdale this past Saturday, providing “Daddy” with a little lift heading into his important clash with Kenny Florian at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to MMADHOUSE.com.
The ceremony, which was apparently 13 years in the making, took place at Stevenson’s Cobra Kai gym Victorville, California.
Here’s a snip from Drysdale:
“Joe learns really quickly so training him makes it easy for me. Joe has a really good top game. He also has a really solid guillotine. And that fact that Joe learns quick when we train makes him good. Some guys take forever to learn new stuff and they can’t get it together…. Joe’s skill level is without a doubt better than 95 percent of the black belts.”
That’s quite a compliment from one of the most decorated, accomplished and cutting-edge grapplers alive today. Drysdale is not only the head Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor at X-Treme Couture, he is also the 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Open Weight winner.
And that’s just scratching the surface … we don’t have enough time or space to go into all his career accomplishments.
Long story short, it says a lot about the ground skills of Stevenson. He has finished nearly half his 29 professional wins via submission, possessing a dangerous guillotine choke that his most recent opponents simply can’t avoid and/or escape — three of his last four wins have come courtesy of the hold).
He’ll look to make it four out of his last five against Florian this Saturday night.
UPDATE: Check out videos from the ceremony after the jump.
17 Comments »
There’s no doubt in my mind that Joe can take Ken down. If Ken can avoid the choke , and it hits the ground, I see much of the same as we saw when BJ/Joe hit the ground! Lots of elbows and lots of blood coming from Joe’s head! I don’t see Joe winning this fight, but it is possible!
I got Kenny Florian stoppage in the 2nd!
I think Joe wins this fight via decision. Kenny wont be able to do anything but land a few elbows from the bottom and split JOe’s forehead open. Forehead cuts bleed a lot but dont do much damage and rarely cause the fight to be stopped.
Kenny is a tough kid as well, so I dont think JOe will be able to finish him, but I see Joe winning a decision!
i will go with john on this one, i think joe takes it they are pretty evenly matched and i don’t see a easy fight for either.
I bet Kennny doesn’t let it go to the ground and uses his Muay Thai to take Joe Daddy apart.
Joe by guillotine!
I think you’re underestimating Florian’s ground game
Just for grins
http://www.fightlinker.com/pics/bjjoe.jpg
bj tooled with him in any position. joe daddy doesn’t have top wrestling nor top jiu jitsu and he is too short to be a good striker..
“and he is too short to be a good striker”
That’s not true. Mark Hunt is a short HW and is an excellent striker.
for HW fedor is kinda short now and is considered a deadly striker, cro cop is shorter then fedor, taller strikers are actually at a disadvantage a lot of the time if you listen to the commentators during some fights they say it 5 or 6 times..
i dont see the black belt really changing joe on the ground though it just boosts his confidence a little bit,
either way the winner would lose to bj even sherk would throw both guys around
Its not called “having a reach advantage” for nothing. It is clear that in the standup game, the person with the longer arms has a small advantage in distance. It doesn’t mean the longer fighter has the better standup, it just means he has a reach advantage, he can stand at a certain distance from a fighter and he can punch the opponent, but the opponent can’t punch him because he can’t reach. THAT is a clear advantage.
In regards to this announcing that you seem to pay such close attention to…. The only time the announcers say that a reach advantage / a long reach is disadvantageous is when they are in an opponents guard. Having shorter arms makes it easier to strike from the top when your opponent is trying to close the distance by keeping your body close to his.
shamo, have you followed any of joe’s career at all? if you had you would know that your comments are BS. at least become somewhat educated on a fighter before critiqueing them.
why do you ask and respond all by yourself?? lol.
I have watched all of his post TUF fights..
I hope Joe takes out Kenny.
being a black belt in bjj does not make you perfect at BJJ. Recently a handful of ufc fighters recieved black belts prior to big fights. Any advantage that recieving your bbelt gives you is mainly mental. Btw, becoming a bbelt in 4 years as jon fitch did, regardless of his wrestling backround, should barely ever happen. Of course there are exceptions like bj, but IMO it seems like it is happening too often under much more lenient conditions. Im not necessarily talking about Joe but everyone should be skeptical of someone getting a black belt in less than 7-10yrs.
If you read this article it clearly says 13 years in the making
Joe Daddy by GUILLOTINE