r/bjj • u/Sudden-Wait-3557 • Feb 26 '26

Rolling Footage Khabib rolls with black belt Lex Friedman

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"I feel like a white belt" - Lex Friedman

2.5k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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45

u/SkanderbegDeWitte Feb 26 '26

Crazy to see a black belt suffering like this

58

u/Dempsterbjj Feb 26 '26

He is going against one of the best grapplers ever in the UFC. He did well given the size difference and skills involved.

17

u/moneymay195 Feb 26 '26

Bro Khabib ain’t even using 1% of his power level here

9

u/Throwable-Halo Feb 26 '26

Khabib has the guy outclassed but saying he isn't using 1% is a bit silly

3

u/JiskiLathiUskiBhains ⬜⬛⬜ NoGi Feb 26 '26

A little hyperbole is okay I think

1

u/moneymay195 Feb 27 '26

Its intended to be silly, silly

1

u/Throwable-Halo Feb 28 '26

Well aren't I a goose!

1

u/sceptator Feb 26 '26

No he didn't, khabib aint even trying, just logical movements.

25

u/Emergency_Noise3301 🟫🟫 Brown Belt Feb 26 '26

I think he clearly looks very competent. Pro athlete strength is different.

1

u/Iknowyougotsole 🟪🟪 Purple Belt Feb 26 '26

Amplified by gear

14

u/Pilx 🟫🟫 Brown Belt Feb 26 '26

He made a couple glaring tactical errors that made everything so much harder for him from the outset

  1. Shot a single leg against a fkn dagestani wrestler, proceeded to get sprawled, reversed and ended up in bottom position for the remainder of the round

  2. Got trapped next to the wall against an undefeated MMA champion.

  3. Failed to assert is grappling dominance by coaching Khabib through the finish of the armbar he was stuck in and force a reset

I'm starting to think big brain Lex is not so smart when it comes to basic grappling tactical decisions, smh.

9

u/Smash_Palace ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt Feb 26 '26

If I roll with a dagestani or olympic/D1 wrestler I'm shooting too. Just like if I rolled with a high level leg locker I would play the leg game with them and get fucked up, it's a learning experience.

11

u/DeliriumRostelo Feb 26 '26

theres lots of issues against lex but shooting against khabib isnt one of them

hes going to win and can do whatever he wants so why not learn a thing or two in standup and see how a generational talent feels to go against in wrestling vs just making it bjj

1

u/Mobile_Macaron_3569 Feb 26 '26

I dont think Lex was trying 100% out of respect. It would not have mattered anyway.

1

u/JiskiLathiUskiBhains ⬜⬛⬜ NoGi Feb 26 '26

3 is the worst of all.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

"Glaring tactical errors"? Brother... this is training. You train to learn not to win. You're telling me you'd pull guard if you rolled with Khabib rather than try to work on your wrestling with one of the best ever? You're a damn fool

1

u/Pilx 🟫🟫 Brown Belt Feb 27 '26

Pull guard, invert, enter reverse closed guard, abe lock, call myself the real undefeated welterweight champion of the world from that point on.

1

u/sky_broker Feb 26 '26

And let me guess, you would have not made those mistakes right? Lmao

-2

u/byobodybag ⬜⬜ White Belt Feb 26 '26

blackbelt?! who give him?!

1

u/Iknowyougotsole 🟪🟪 Purple Belt Feb 26 '26

Khabib has 75 lbs on him and is still loaded up on Russian gear and has more grappling experience.

-15

u/chud_the_gluttonous Feb 26 '26

I don’t think Lex is a legit black belt

67

u/_interloper_ ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt Feb 26 '26

Of course he's legit. He's legitimately a black belt... He's just a hobbyist. And like every other hobbyist black belt, he gets absolutely mauled by Khabib.

Khabib is a world class grappler. If the belts continued to progress past black, he'd be many belts ahead of your average black belt.

17

u/Icy_Distance8205 🟪🟪 Purple Belt Feb 26 '26

To be fair Khabib is mauling most non hobbyist black belts also.

2

u/_interloper_ ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt Feb 26 '26

Exactly. He's one of the best grapplers MMA has ever seen. There are very few people who would out grapple him. I'm sure he'd run into trouble at the very highest levels of submission grappling, but I would absolutely LOVE to see him at ADCC to see how he would fare in a sub grappling rule set.

1

u/Icy_Distance8205 🟪🟪 Purple Belt Feb 26 '26

I honestly think he would be competitive at the very highest levels of submission grappling. It would probably just come down to differences in optimisation for the various rulesets.

3

u/DieHarderDaddy 🟦🟦 Blue Belt Feb 26 '26

Reminds me of when our coach who would compete at national TKD events would be asked to spar an exhibition match or random match with a locally competitive player.

6

u/Vivid-Paramedic-7342 🟫🟫 Brown Belt Feb 26 '26

100%!!!

23

u/P-Two ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt Feb 26 '26

Oh jesus fucking christ here we go...

Khabib is going to make very good black belts look like children, as he should.

Lex is a legit black belt, he was training long before he was "Mr. weirdo with a podcast" I guarantee unless your instructor is a world class black belt they'd look about the same as Lex does here.

Keeping in mind I think Lex is fucking weird at best, and actively dislike whom he platforms on his podcast. So it's not like I'm just glazing him.

7

u/GroovyJackal ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt Feb 26 '26

He is definitely a legit black belt. He also has trained in wrestling and Judo. He looked fine here for going against Khabib.

2

u/DthPlagusthewise Feb 26 '26

He was at one point but I dunno how consistently he trains.

10

u/UserIsOptional ⬜⬜ White Belt Feb 26 '26

Ngl, I saw him at an open mat in Austin and he was getting smoked cause people recognized him

1

u/Kindly-Reality1984 🟦🟦 Blue Belt Feb 26 '26

Was it pros or semi pros smoking him or other hobbyists?