(Video courtesy of ESPN)

There’s a long running argument that there are different levels of Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts, which is often backed by how competitors do against others of the same rank.

According to Rafael Dos Anjos, he feels that he is on another level than fellow BJJ black belt George Sotiropoulos, whom he faces Saturday at UFC 132.

“His style is dangerous; it has some techniques and positions that are dangerous, but not too much. It’s ABC jiu-jitsu,” he told ESPN, describing his own style as “traditional” jiu-jitsu. “Eddie Bravo’s style uses half guard,” dos Anjos said. “[My BJJ coach, Roberto] “Gordo” [Correa de Lima] made the half guard!”

While their submission win ratios are similar (Sotiropoulos has 8/14 to Dos Anjos’s 7/14 wins via sub) their styles are decidedly different.

A black belt under John Will since 2002, Sotiropoulos, who is also a 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu brown belt under Eddie Bravo, is a half-guard/rubberguard player who is very hard to submit as evidenced by his fight with Shinya Aoki in which he refused to tap to the Japanese submission specialist’s relentless vicious ankle-lock and knee-bar onslaught.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/JustinThoj)

Dos Anjos, who is a black belt under de Lima is more of a top player (which is a rubber guard stylist’s dream) who isn’t against calling it quits when push comes to shove. Remember he tapped to a Clay Guida headlock in his last bout because of a jaw injury and he did the same when caught in a heel hook by Andre Galvao in the Brazilian ADCC trials in 2007.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/felipepcs)

Dos Anjos hasn’t really demonstrated the control on the ground that  G-Sots did against fellow black belts Joe Stevenson and Kurt Pellegrino, so to say he’s superior may be a bit of a stretch, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see if he’s just blowing smoke up all of our asses on Saturday night.