The best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be, or is he?

If only I was talking about Bret Hart, what a legend. Unfortunately for some, but not for all, I am talking about Roger Gracie. Yes, the person that some people consider to be greatest practitioner of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu today, maybe ever! Three time absolute champion and seven time at weight at the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World Championships and multiple time ADCC champion, Roger Gracie is the most dominant BJJ fighter in many peoples eyes. With his grace, technique and imposing submission oriented game, not many people have stood up to Roger and came away victorious. However, Roger is 30 years old, which in BJJ years is at the higher end of competitive age (he can technically compete in the Masters division (30-35). So the question is, at 30 years old, is Roger still the best? That depends who you ask?

Let's start with the opinion of yes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f7liHsm5EU click for Roger's BJJ highlight

As previously mentioned Roger is a multiple time World Champion. In fact, he has the most total first place medals at weight, at absolute and in total. He has phenomenal technique, he is known for using "the basics" to win his matches. He is most known for his mount and cross choke. Only Ricardo 'Demente' Abreu was able to survive Roger's mount. There is no aspect of BJJ that Roger is bad at. He can sweep, or submit anyone from the bottom, he passes EVERYONE'S guard and just to prove a point, he will stand with Judo blackbelts for a challenge. There has never been a more dominant champion (Ok, maybe Rickson, unfortunately he was a generation early so we'll never know) making legitimate black belts look like white belts who have never trained before. The one knock on Roger though is his lack of athleticism. He possesses all the skill and technique, but where people have been able to take advantage of him is being more athletic, sometimes getting the upper hand early, but never for long. So how about the opinion of no?

Some may be quick to think of other greats of the sport who have beaten Roger on multiple occasions, Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza or Xande Ribeiro. However, the popular opinion today is that Rodolfo Vieria (click for highlight), the new breed of BJJ athlete is the best at the moment. Simply put, Rodolfo is a BEAST! The dude is shredded, ridiculously strong and super aggressive. He is known for his takedowns and top game. His takedowns are incredibly strong and his top game is on another level. Just like Roger, Rodolfo passes EVERYONE'S guard. He passed Cobrinha's guard, a guard that has NEVER been passed in competition before, granted Rodolfo outweighs Cobrinha by quite a bit, but Cobrinha has faced big guys in the past and has never had it passed. Rodolfo puts so much pressure on the bottom guy that you know it's just a matter of time before he passes the guard. He is extremely athletic and ridiculously strong. For a heavyweight he moves like a lightweight, very fast and smooth. The only knock on Rodolfo is he is not a finisher, he typically wins by points.

So there you have it, the new breed of BJJ fighter vs. the best competition fighter ever.

VERSUS

Who do you have and how?