WWE, Marvel, now BJJ: Dave Bautista emotionally reflects on earning brown belt

Former WWE to Marvel, Dave Bautista's resume is already padded with impressive accomplishments.

Yesterday, Bautista posted about reaching another milestone by earning a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The 'Drax the Destroyer' actor was awarded the belt by his teammates and black belt practitioners, Matheus Andre, Josh Raff, and Jason Manly.

The highest-ranking color belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, one must undergo five years of dedicated training and remain a purple belt for 18 months at least to earn a brown belt.

While announcing the exciting news, Dave Bautista took to Instagram and reflected on his journey.

He expressed gratefulness to Cesar Gracie's jiu-jitsu gym, where he had started his journey in 2010. The former WWE world heavyweight champion admitted that he could not train as much since 2014, which is also the year Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.1 came out.

It seems like Dave Bautista could finally turn his attention back to BJJ once his commitments to Marvel Studios were done with the third installment of the GoTG franchise coming out this past March.

"Very proud to be posting this. I started training BJJ with @cesargraciebjj @graciefighterph in 2010 and even though I got my a** handed to me by everyone at the academy, I immediately fell in love. It’s a puzzle I’ll never solve and if you know me, you know I get obsessed with things I can’t figure out. It’s been a challenging process with my work schedule, in fact I barely trained from 2014 when I got my purple belt to 2021. Last fall I dedicated myself to progressing and this week it finally happened."

Bautista also thanked his brown belt friends Montel Vontavious Porter, better known as 'MVP', Brent Wags, and the Gracie Tampa South gym for being supportive of him.

See Dave Bautista's Instagram post here:

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Cesar Gracie adds Dave Bautista to its list of alumni alongside training multiple MMA stars

Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu gym was established by Cesar Gracie after returning from his services at the Marines. He trained full-time in jiu-jitsu and was awarded a black belt by Robson Gracie. Cesar Gracie then moved to California and opened the academy.

The academy has the distinction of training some of the top MMA stars such as Jake Shields and the Diaz brothers.

Jake Shields was awarded a black belt in jiu-jitsu by Cesar Gracie in February 2008, and Nick Diaz was awarded the same in May 2007, followed by his younger brother Nate Diaz in 2012.

Dave Bautista becomes the latest addition to the famed academy to be awarded a brown belt.