“Feel like on top of the world” - Cole Abate on winning IBJJF black belt gold at 20 years old

20-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion 'Ice' Cole Abate of the United States is one of the best up-and-coming submission grapplers in the world and recently won his first-ever IBJJF black belt world title.

It was an amazing feat for someone barely out of being a teenager, but Abate has proven himself to be someone to watch out for in the sport of submission grappling.

Speaking to FloGrappling in a recent interview, Abate couldn't help but express his excitement over what he had achieved.

'Ice' said:

"Even this last part where they’re just calling your name up to the top of the podium, man, that makes somebody feel like on top of the world. Especially if you know me, everything I’ve gone through to get to this point, you know it’s all for a reason. All the people that saw me doing the extra work when I was a kid, being a little different from everybody else, that all paid off in the end."

Abate made his debut in the world's largest martial arts organization, ONE Championship on Dec. 6, 2024, defeating Japanese MMA legend 'Tobikan Judan' Shinya Aoki via heel hook submission.

Cole Abate says winning IBJJF world title was no easy task: "There were a lot of sacrifices that were made"

Cole Abate won't pretend that winning an IBJJF black belt world title was easy because it was anything but. And he wants to give credit to all those who helped him along the way.

Abate said:

"There were a lot of sacrifices that were made, not only from me, but from my team, my parents especially, making the change to go from Texas to California just to further my chances of reaching where I want to be in this sport. This is how I pay it back to them - I’m bringing them home a medal, and I’m gonna give my dad a big hug afterwards and let him know that he’s the winner, not me."

Stay tuned to Sportskeeda MMA for all the latest news and updates on Cole Abate's next fight.