bjjproblems.com — every take, since 2013
Every snarky take on real BJJ news.
May 10, 2026, 07:00 PM
China Has Made Jiu-Jitsu A Mandatory School Subject, Starting From Kindergarten. There Are Grades.
China just made jiu-jitsu homework. Not an extracurricular.
May 10, 2026, 06:00 PM
Franjinha Miller: BJJ Will Never Make the Olympics Because Private Entities Control the Sport
Alliance BJJ co-founder Romero "Franjinha" Miller gave BJJ Doc the most honest answer anyone in the sport has offered on the Olympics question: "I don't think it's gonna be Olympic. It's too much private companies running the show right now." That was last Friday.
May 10, 2026, 05:36 PM
ADCC's Absolute Champion Can't Fill a Seminar in Her Own Country — Australians Think They're Already Good Enough
She submitted Beatriz Mesquita on penalties. She submitted Bia Basilio with an armlock to win her weight class.
May 10, 2026, 04:00 PM
Gilbert Burns Just Signed With UFC BJJ Less Than a Month After His Retirement Speech
Burns left his gloves in the Octagon on April 18. That's the image everyone locked onto after his fight with Mike Malott at UFC Winnipeg.
May 10, 2026, 02:54 PM
Chris Bones Built His Brand on Rickson Gracie's Name. Rickson's Son Has Notes.
Chris Bones has spent years building one of the most aggressive online presences in BJJ on a very specific foundation. He calls himself a "3rd Degree Black Belt under Master Rickson Gracie and Professor Jason Roebig." That credential — Rickson Gracie's name literally attached to
May 10, 2026, 02:43 PM
Khamzat Chimaev Just Lost His First Fight. The Narrative Was Always the Problem.
Khamzat Chimaev lost a fight last night. It's a short sentence.
May 10, 2026, 02:42 PM
Jeremy Stephens Missed Weight, Got Submitted, Hit 20 UFC Losses, and Left Without a Word
King Green submitted Jeremy Stephens in round one at UFC 328, handing Stephens his record 20th UFC loss. Stephens spent his pre-fight week demanding the UFC raise fighter bonuses — then showed up five pounds over and forfeited 30% of his purse.
May 10, 2026, 02:39 PM
Sean Strickland Is a Two-Time UFC Middleweight Champion. That Sentence Shouldn't Make Sense.
Sean Strickland is the UFC middleweight champion. You can read that twice.
May 10, 2026, 02:37 PM
Netflix's First MMA Card Features Two Fighters Who Haven't Won A Fight This Decade
The streaming platform that changed how the world watches television is about to introduce 325 million subscribers to combat sports. And the first thing they'll see is a woman who last won a fight when "Hotline Bling" was still on the charts.
May 10, 2026, 10:00 AM
SUG 30 Is 11 Days Away. Chael Still Hasn't Announced Who's Fighting.
No ruleset confirmed. Submission Underground 30 is May 17 in Florianópolis, Brazil.
May 10, 2026, 09:50 AM
Strickland Broke His Nose at UFC 328. He Won Anyway.
The nose broke somewhere in the middle rounds. You could see it in the blood, the angle of it, the way Strickland blinked and reset.
May 9, 2026, 09:00 PM
Vegas Has Rousey at -650. Netflix Is Calling It Her Comeback. One of These Framings Is Wrong.
A -650 betting line is not a comeback fight. When sportsbooks open you at -650, they're saying you have roughly an 87% chance of winning.
May 9, 2026, 08:49 PM
Tsarukyan Says Chimaev Cut 46 Pounds for UFC 328 Tonight — The 'Unstoppable' Champion May Have Wrecked Himself to Get There
Khamzat Chimaev shed 46 pounds to stand on a scale in Newark and hear "185." Arman Tsarukyan, his training partner and the UFC lightweight champion, told media before UFC 328 that Chimaev dropped 21 kilograms to make weight for tonight's middleweight title defense against Sean St
May 9, 2026, 08:49 PM
Jeremy Stephens Showed Up to UFC 328 Five Pounds Over. He's Still Fighting. Just Poorer.
Jeremy Stephens weighed 160 pounds. The UFC lightweight limit is 155.
May 9, 2026, 08:49 PM
The UFC Canceled Its Own Pre-Fight Photo Op Because Strickland's Death Threats Were Too Real
The UFC runs on a single promise: controlled danger. You watch two people try to hurt each other inside a very specific set of rules.
May 9, 2026, 08:48 PM
Bryce Mitchell Filed a Police Report About Khamzat Chimaev's Weight Cut — They Said They Would Look Into It
Bryce Mitchell called the police. The crime he was reporting: Khamzat Chimaev's weigh-in.
May 9, 2026, 07:00 PM
Rigan Machado Got His 9th-Degree Red Belt From The Man IBJJF Demoted Him Under — At A Ceremony The IBJJF Didn't Sanction
Three weeks ago, on April 10, Rigan Machado walked into the Combat Submission Wrestling World Conference in Los Angeles and walked out a 9th-degree red belt. Rorion Gracie tied it on him.
May 9, 2026, 04:00 PM
Former Police Investigator Melqui Galvão Was Transported to São Paulo in a Police Car Trunk — The Former Cop Is Now the Cargo
He arrived at Guarulhos International Airport on the night of May 7 with what Brazilian press described as a fixed and defiant gaze. Melqui Galvão spent years with the Amazonas Civil Police, training law enforcement in defensive techniques across the country.
May 9, 2026, 01:00 PM
Kade Ruotolo's Training Wheels Are Officially Off
Three first-round submissions. That's the Kade Ruotolo MMA experience so far.
May 9, 2026, 07:00 AM
Buchecha Is 0-2-1 In the UFC. Ryan Spann Knocked Him Out In Round Two. The Kindest Outcome Is a Quiet Exit.
Ryan Spann gave himself a C+ for the night he knocked Buchecha out. Not a knock on Spann's honesty — he collected a $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus and left the cage thinking he could've done better.
May 8, 2026, 08:23 PM
RIP Macarrão — Rolls Gracie's Famous Five Are Now Four
Marcio 'Macarrão' Stambowsky died on April 2, 2026. He was one of the original handful of black belts that Rolls Gracie promoted before Rolls's hang-gliding death in 1982, the group still known as the 'Famous Five' even though the count was always a little fuzzy.
May 8, 2026, 05:27 PM
Surf Bully Tells BJJ Black Belt to 'Go Back to Your Country.' It Did Not Go the Way He Expected.
Last Saturday morning at Steamer Lane, a surfer ended up face-down on the shore, mid-apology, being held in a submission by the guy he'd just threatened to beat up. Then he said it again.
May 8, 2026, 03:05 PM
The Cardio-Kickboxing Industry Has Been Selling Self-Defense For Thirty Years. Every Open-Mat Clip Reminds Us It Doesn't Work.
The pattern is so old it has a rhythm to it. A striker with a fitness brand and a six-figure follower count gets curious about jiu-jitsu, walks into an open mat, gets tapped by somebody who has been training a fraction of the time they've been doing what their bio calls "combat s
May 8, 2026, 12:28 PM
Caio Terra Can't Brush His Teeth. His Motto Was 'Technique Conquers All.'
Caio Terra can't brush his teeth. Not in the metaphorical sense.
May 8, 2026, 09:57 AM
62-Year-Old Braves Manager Shoots a Double-Leg on a 235-Pound Outfielder. Credits Jiu-Jitsu.
You know that thing you tell yourself in the car after training? The little fantasy where you're at a barbecue, some situation pops off, and you calmly execute a textbook takedown while everyone stares in disbelief?
May 7, 2026, 08:42 PM
Khamzat Chimaev Wants to Compete for UAE at the Olympics in Wrestling — The UFC Champion Is Looking Beyond the Belt He Hasn't Defended Yet
Chimaev fights for the first time as UFC middleweight champion this Saturday. His coach announced Olympic plans on Wednesday.
May 7, 2026, 05:35 PM
BJJ World: 'Sport Has All The Stars But None Of The Story' — Promotions Failing at Narrative
Grappling has never had more talent. It's also never been this hard to explain to your non-training friends why they should care.
May 7, 2026, 02:47 PM
8,000 Athletes Just Paid IBJJF Half a Million Dollars — The Champion Gets $2,700 Back
The IBJJF Brasileiro just hit 8,000 registered athletes. Eight thousand people signed up, paid their fees, and will descend on Barueri, São Paulo from April 24 to May 3 for the single largest jiu-jitsu competition ever held.
May 7, 2026, 12:34 PM
Ethan Crelinsten Defended His Polaris Title. Then He Used Polaris's Mic to Call Out UFC BJJ.
Ethan Crelinsten submitted Shai Gerena with a rear naked choke at Polaris 36, held up his Polaris Lightweight Championship, and told the FloGrappling broadcast he wanted someone else's title. "UFC BJJ, I want that f—king belt," he said in his post-fight interview.
May 7, 2026, 09:43 AM
Rafael Lovato Jr. Was 42 and Competing in NAIA Collegiate Wrestling — Not Masters Division, Against Actual 20-Year-Olds
was 42 years old, 285 pounds, and standing on a collegiate wrestling mat in Iowa in January. Across from him: a heavyweight from Central Methodist University, born around 2003.