
Originally Posted by
Eric Olson
I'm going to ask a.... "stupid" question. I just started with 10PSTP six months ago and before my interest was MMA. So I really have no knowledge of the heavy hitters in sport BJJ beyond the black belts (Marcelo, Jacare, Roger, Maia, Laranja). Can someone explain why Keenan is "special" in this tournament? Why he was going to be the auto final match before Lloyd put him in the tournament. An the way Roberts is talking about him a few times its like he's got some aura of supreme bad-assery about him so... if that's the case why is he still a brown when he's steamrolling the other "top browns in the world"?
TL;DR: Why is Keenan special in the tournament? Why is he still a brown? (sand bagging?)
Keenan isn't a sand bagger, although he is definitely the best brown belt in the world. He's had his brown for less than a year, and you can only go up a belt every 12 months on IBJJF guidelines. So Keenan spent 2012 as a purple, he'll spend 2013 as a brown, and near the end of this year he will probably get his black belt, possibly before ADCC/Abu Dhabi in September.
He's special because he's just simply the baddest motherfucker out there that isn't a brown belt. He's submitted all the other top guys at brown, both in and out of the Kumite, like Sinistro, Sean Roberts, Miayo Bros...he's beat some really good black belts, and fought really close matches with others. He just did a heavyweight tournament as a medium-heavy (about 30 lbs less) and fought the giants of the sport like Rodolfo, Xande, Leo Nogueira, and while he lost all of those matches he showed he's going to be a force at black belt.
There have only been 2 Americans to win the World Championships in the gi (BJ Penn and rafael Lovato Jr.) and Keenan is likely going to be the next one. he also has a great shot to win ADCC this year in the 88k weight class, since the 2 usual favorites for that division will be in a Superfight instead of the brackets (Andre Galvao & Braulio Estima.)