MANILA, Philippines – Ahead of his highly-anticipated return to the Octagon at UFC 200 on July 9, Brock Lesnar appears to be putting extra work on his ground game as he received a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
The 38-year-old native of Webster, South Dakota has been promoted by Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros, who has been a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner since the age of 16 and a black belt under Romero "Jacare" Cavalcanti.
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Medeiros awarded the blue belt at Lesnar’s private training facility in Minnesota on Friday, June 17 (Manila time).
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<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The new blue belt! <a href="https://twitter.com/BrockLesnar">@BrockLesnar</a> promoted by <a href="https://twitter.com/compridobjj">@compridobjj</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ufc">@ufc</a> <a href="https://t.co/qNcZ6ioAgs">pic.twitter.com/qNcZ6ioAgs</a></p>— Ana Hissa (@AnaHissa) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnaHissa/status/743580558660345856">June 16, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Aside from Lesnar, Medeiros also serves as the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach of former Bellator heavyweight titleholder Cole Konrad and retired mixed martial arts (MMA) competitor Pat Barry.
Lesnar (5-3), who was last seen in action when he suffered a technical knockout loss to Alistair Overeem in December 2011, is set to face Mark Hunt in the co-main event of UFC 200.
The 6-foot-3 behemoth had 7 matches over nearly 4 years in the UFC, but his MMA career was interrupted by diverticulitis, a common digestive disease which involves the formation of pouches within the bowel wall.
Lesnar knocked out Randy Couture to capture the world heavyweight championship in November 2008 and successfully defended the belt twice before losing the gold-plated strap to Cain Velasquez in October 2010.
In the other corner, Hunt (12-10-1) is coming off a first-round knockout victory over Frank Mir last March and is riding high on a two-fight winning streak.
UFC 200, which takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, is headlined by a light heavyweight championship rematch between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones. – Rappler.com