Joe Stevenson Earns Black Belt from Drysdale

“Daddy” Joe Stevenson (29-7) earned his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu this past Saturday by highly decorated BJJ champion and 2007 ADCC Open Weight winner Robert Drysdale.

Drysdale told Fighters.com, “Joe is one of the best grapplers I have rolled with.  His skills are unquestionable.  Not only has he been training for a real long time, but he is better than 99 percent of the black belts out there.  And I’ve rolled with almost all of them!  I am happy to be part of his fighting career.”

Stevenson, who was the TUF 2 welterweight winner but has since dropped to lightweight, was awarded the belt at his Cobra Kai gym in his hometown of Victorville, CA.

Stevenson also trains occasionally at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, where Drysdale is the head BJJ instructor.

Stevenson has won three of his last four fights via guillotine choke and is gearing up for his match with Fighters.com’s seventh-ranked lightweight and fellow BJJ black belt “KenFlo” Kenny Florian (10-3) this weekend at UFC 91: Couture vs Lesnar.