WWE wrestling superstar and actor David Bautista has been promoted to brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by Cesar Gracie.
Bautista began his BJJ journey back in 2010 training under Cesar Gracie. The WWE wrestler then transferred from WWE to MMA in 2011 and was soon promoted to blue belt.
A few years later in 2014, Bautista was promoted to faixa roxa, however, due to his demanding acting career, he had to hold back on his BJJ training until 2021 – training sparingly.
During this time frame, Bautista was starring in: the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Blade Runner, Final Score, Knives Out, Bushwick, The Suicide Squad, Avengers: End Game, Thor: Love and Thunder, Fantasy Island and more.
The WWE wrestler also made brief returns to the WWE organization in 2014 and from 2018 to 2019.
The WWE superstar decided, last fall, after his almost seven-year break from jiu-jitsu that he would commit to the sport once again. He was later promoted to brown belt by his friends, fellow black belts, Matheus Andre, Josh Raff, Jason Manly and coach Jason Cesar just a few days ago.
Batista took to Instagram to celebrate the promotion:
“Very proud to be posting this. I started training BJJ with @cesargraciebjj @graciefighterph in 2010 and even though I got my ass handed to me by everyone at the academy, I immediately fell in love. It’s a puzzle I’ll never solve and if you know me, you know I get obsessed with things I can’t figure out. It’s been a challenging process with my work schedule, in fact, I barely trained from 2014 when I got my purple belt to 2021. Last fall I dedicated myself to progressing and this week it finally happened.
“I was presented my brown belt by my brothers and teammates Black Belt @matheusandre1 and Black Belt @joshraff_ with the blessing of Cesar and teammate Black Belt @jasonmanly . Jason, you’re a warrior and a gentleman and I’m grateful AF to know you and call you a friend. Thank you for traveling across the globe and giving up time with your babies to train my old ass. 
️🙏🏼.
“Josh and Matheus you guys have been there for me since DAY ONE, you’ve seen me at my highest and my lowest and never left my side. You can’t put a price on that type of loyalty and I’m proud to call you family. I love the shit out of you guys! ️ I gotta thank my homies Brown Belt and World Champ @the305mvp and Brown Belt @andrew.wags for traveling in to keep me honest and help me get those reps in.
“Love and appreciate you both. Last but definitely not least I want to thank Black Belt and owner of Gracie Tampa South @mattarroyomma for going out of his way to get me on the mat and always making time for me. Love and respect you brother, you’re the real deal. Good days and bad days, there’s only truth on the mat. You’re exposed one way or another. If you know what I mean then you know what I fucking mean. Respect to everyone willing to put it all out there. Let’s finish what we started. Ossss.. 👊🏽”
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