Does Justin Bieber know martial arts?

Justin Bieber is best known for his pop music and surprisingly has a lot of appreciation for martial arts. From training under the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr. to hanging out with Conor McGregor, it seems that he truly enjoys watching it…and sometimes training it too. So, here’s a list of all the martial arts that Justin Bieber has been associated with down the years.

For the record, this doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s a martial artist either. Instead, we’re merely pointing out what he’s trained. Remember, this is the guy who angered Nate Diaz by calling his fighting style ‘terrible’. Bizarrely, he also once called out Tom Cruise of all people for a fight in the cage…surprisingly it never materialized. For those interested, Justin Bieber’s history with martial arts is mentioned below.

Justin Bieber has trained boxing

Over the years, there’s been a few cases where Justin Bieber has been photographed or filmed doing boxing. He has also been seen at various boxing events at ringside. Perhaps his most famous encounter with the boxing world was when he trained alongside Floyd Mayweather Jr. Obviously, learning from such a great is a priceless experience and there’s a lot of knowledge that can be passed on.

Whether Bieber actually spars during his boxing training sessions remains to be seen. He has also been seen training boxing with a few other coaches down the years and seems to genuinely enjoy it. Overall, you could argue that boxing is his favorite martial art based on this observation. With all said and done, it’s fair to say that he is a fan of the sweet science.

Justin Bieber has trained Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Justin Bieber’s venture into BJJ is an interesting one and there’s a lot of misinformation about his BJJ training and belt. Several years back, Bieber was seen hitting an armbar in a video on a friend. It’s clear that he does know how to pull off an armbar, albeit anyone with 10 minutes of explanations and drilling could do this on an uke. This was possibly the case with Bieber, as it wasn’t done in a competitive environment and technically looked a bit sloppy if we’re to be harsh.

However, a few years back there was a spoof going around that Bieber was a purple belt in BJJ under Eddie Bravo. For those out of the loop, Bravo is the founder of 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu and is a great practitioner and teacher. Having said this, he has never met Bieber, nor has he promoted him to purple belt. This would mean that Bieber was fairly advanced as far as his training goes. Since then, numerous websites have lazily fallen for this prank and a photoshopped picture has also gone around the internet. It’s fair to say that although Bieber has practiced BJJ a handful of times, he is not a BJJ purple belt.

Justin Bieber has trained Judo

Back when he was much younger (during the long haired days), Justin Bieber was photographed training Judo, complete with a blue Judo gi. Once again, he was seen performing an armbar on a Judoka (notice the elbow is not actually in danger of snapping) so perhaps this is Bieber’s favorite move when it comes to submission grappling? Interestingly, whilst doing the armbar he was also wearing a black belt. Does this make him a black belt Judoka? No. For some reason, he still wore one, but he’s certainly not a black belt in Judo, and earning this rank usually takes at least 5 years or so.

The likelihood is that he was given this belt for training, for whatever reason. Funnily enough, wearing higher belts than your actual rank in Judo and many martial arts is actually taboo and frowned upon. Regardless, it seems that this rule didn’t apply to a young Justin Bieber as he posed for the photo.

Justin Bieber has trained Karate

It’s said that during his childhood, Justin Bieber was enrolled into Karate classes for a while as his father Jeremy Bieber is a fan of MMA and wanted to get his son into combat sports. This may be where Bieber’s enjoyment of such martial arts comes from. In fact, Jeremy Bieber was even pictured with ex-UFC and MMA fighter Dan Hardy at some point during the Tapout era.

Sadly, little is known about Bieber’s venture into Karate or how long it lasted. In fact, at some point many kids have trained Karate during their childhood due to its vast popularity and appeal. There’s every chance it was strip mall Karate too. As an adult though, it seems as though Bieber hasn’t really trained any Karate and there’s no record of it. By some bizarre twist of fate, Justin Bieber ended up doing the main song for the 2010 remake of the Karate Kid as well.

Is Justin Bieber a martial artist?

Whilst Justin Bieber has trained in various martial arts over the years, it would still be unfair to label him as a martial artist. Outside of training, it seems that he certainly doesn’t live like a typical martial artist either. Basically, it’s important to establish the difference between a genuine martial artist, and someone who casually trains every now and then.

You could say that he’s enthusiastic about combat sports and is certainly a fan. However, he doesn’t have a belt in any martial arts, nor has he trained anything for a substantial period of time. Perhaps one day when he’s older and has more time on his hands, then JB may pursue martial arts more seriously. Until then, the best description is that he dabbles in martial arts every once in a while.