Tom Aspinall, Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion, shared his personal rankings of top Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts competing in the UFC, offering fans insight into how elite stars evaluate each other’s ground game skills.
Alex Pereira completed the rankings at tenth place, with Aspinall explaining:
“Not seen much of his grappling, and just for that reason, I’m going to put him at ten.”
Paulo Costa ranked ninth, with Aspinall candidly sharing:
“Not seen a lot of him.”
Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker secured the eighth position, with Aspinall explaining:
“Predominantly, he’s a striker. A lot of his fights take place on feet.”
Bryce Mitchell landed at seventh place, with Aspinall acknowledging his front choke proficiency but admitting:
“I’ve not seen enough of his game to know.”
Nate Diaz, a veteran known for his slick jiu-jitsu, took the sixth position, with Aspinall describing him as:
“Very good again.”
Former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling came in fifth, with Aspinall specifically highlighting his submission skills:
“He’s got really good chokes, really, really good chokes.”
Liverpool’s own Paddy Pimblett ranked fourth, with Aspinall acknowledging his fellow Englishman’s grappling prowess by simply noting:
“He’s up there.”
Brian Ortega claimed the third spot, with Aspinall confidently stating:
“He’s in the top five, definitely.”
Justin Gaethje secured the second position in Aspinall’s rankings, with the heavyweight noting:
“He’s very good. I think you could look at someone like Charles Oliveira or whatever and say that they have better jiu-jitsu than him, but we’re going to go with two.”
Aspinall, known for his well-rounded skills including impressive submissions, ranked Charles Oliveira at the top of his list, simply exclaiming:
“Wow!”
These rankings provide a fascinating glimpse into how one of the UFC’s top heavyweights evaluates the jiu-jitsu skills of his peers across various weight classes, highlighting the respect elite fighters have for each other’s ground game abilities.
