Five Top BJJ Players Getting Famous

5. Pablo Popovitch

Hats off to the guy that beat Marcelo Garcia in the ADCC which is what he did in 2009. Pablo Popovitch, if you ever seen him fight, is an incredible grappler. Incredibly skilled, talented and powerful grappler that has been for years been overshadowed by the Marcelo Garcia phenomenon. Pablo really does deserve praise and someone to follow this year.

4. Braulio Estima - Gracie Barra is proud of its champions and Braulio Estima's performance last year has been more than impressive. Not only was he able to dominate everyone in his own division at ADCC 2009, he looked also unbeatable in the absolute taking gold thanks to his inverted triangle choke he does so well.

Braulio is a true champion and a very accomplished BJJ fighter having been BJJ champion many times before. Although for years outshined by guys like Xande and Ronaldo Jacare, Braulio is really showing his worth nowadays and will surely do well in mixed martial arts as well.

3. Demian Maia - there are few talents in BJJ who can make UFC fighters look like amatuers. This is what Demian can do literally playing with his opponents once the fight reaches the ground. Although Maia could not takedown Anderson Silva in his last fight, surely he has a great career ahead of him in the UFC once he improves his wrestling and striking.

2. Ronaldo Souza - Jacare is one of the most athletic and yet incredibly technical fighters. Having dominated the jiu jitsu and grappling scene for years, he turned to MMA with great success. Ronaldo is able to take down even the most versatile fighters with ease and once on the ground, they are helpless to resist him. His last fight against Villasenor in Strikeforce confirms this.

With his takedowns looking the better than most wrestlers and striking rapidly evolving, Ronaldo Souza will very soon be the middleweight Strikeforce champion. Good luck to him.

PS: Jake Shields I think got scared of how good Souza really is and has run off to the UFC.

1. Roger Gracie - when you look at what Roger Gracie has accomplished so far, he can't help giving credit to his achievements. He is the first fighter to win the BJJ Worlds Absolute 3 times and the only guy to submit all of his opponents in 2009 worlds by taking mount. He is also the only guy to submit all of his opponents in ADCC 2005 winning both his own weight and absolute. This guy is truly the greatest BJJ specialist ever and one of the best grappling stars in the world.

Roger is an extremely humble and hard working guy and is a great pleasure to see him compete. I just wish he fights MMA more.

I would personally also love to see him fight in Sambo just for fun, as Rigan Machado and Rickson did just to see how he would do. The rules are different but it would be interesting to see how BJJ vs Sambo does these days.