American Actor and WWE Star, Dave Bautista, Promoted to BJJ Brown Belt

Brazilian jiu-jitsu is the most trending martial art these days. This isn’t new that Hollywood actors are learning jiu-jitsu, even some of them are competing in BJJ competitions. Tom Hardy is one of the leading names when it comes to competing in Gi and No-Gi BJJ competitions. The American actor, Dave Bautista isn’t a new addition to BJJ.

David Michael Bautista Jr. also known as Batista, was priorly known for his spectacular WWE career which he started in 1999. Later in 2002, Batista made his WWE debut and became one of the rising stars of the championship. Today Batista is known for his role as “Drax the Destroyer” in the “Guardians of the Galaxy Trilogy”. He has also played big roles in the Marvel movies.

Batista made his professional MMA debut in 2012 and started training in BJJ even before that MMA debut, in 2010. Since 2010, Batista has been training on and off the mats because of his hectic schedule. In 2014, Batista was awarded the purple belt. It was a huge success for the Hollywood star. But right after becoming a purple belt, Batista hardly trained in BJJ as he had to divert focus on his acting career. It was mainly because of his role in the first part of “Guardians of the Galaxy”. In 2021, Batista made a comeback on the mats and actively trained in BJJ at Cesar BJJ. If it weren’t for Batista’s busy schedule, he would have acquired the brown belt rank a long time ago.

He trains at Cesar Gracie BJJ. And was promoted to brown belt by Matheus Andre and Josh Raff under Cesar Gracie.

Batista took to his Instagram and announced the good news by thanking his instructors. Batista’s goal is to become a Cesar Gracie black belt where he could make his instructors and fellow practitioners proud. Batista’s aim is to fight in MMA competitions and rule the MMA world as once he was the only name in WWE.

Photo Credit: @davebautista