What martial arts does Lex Fridman know?

Lex Fridman is a Russian computer scientist who was raised in the USA. Known for wearing a black and white suit and standing at 5’6” in height, he doesn’t exactly look like a skilled martial artist. However, he is. This is the beauty of learning martial arts, as you can look unassuming yet still know how to fight.

With regards to Fridman, his love of combat sports is just another example of his multi-talented personality. It would be easy to pigeonhole him as a nerdy scientist but the reality is he is very diverse and has a lot going on in his life. In this article, we shall analyze his martial arts background.

Lex Fridman is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

In 2018, Fridman was awarded his black belt in BJJ and has trained the martial art for over 10 years. When he got his black belt, he did a speech and said, “I got my jiu jitsu black belt yesterday. I’ve learned more about life from martial arts than from any other endeavor I’ve undertaken. The biggest lesson is that I’m not special, far from it, and that to get better at anything, you have to work hard.”

For anyone who has trained martial arts, it’s a pretty relatable quote and shows how training can humble us all. Based on his belt, it’s fair to say that BJJ is Fridman’s best skill. Unlike certain celebrity martial artists, Fridman is the real deal and has actually competed quite a lot too, sometimes winning gold at competitions such as Grapplers Quest.

There is a bit of footage online showing Fridman competing, so he definitely lived a true martial arts lifestyle for a while and pressure-tested his techniques in a sports setting. He has also been seen training with the likes of Gordon Ryan who is considered the best ever in no-gi. Basically, Fridman is as legit as anyone when it comes to BJJ.

Lex Fridman has wrestled growing up

Although Fridman doesn’t really wrestle anymore, he certainly used to. Overall, this shouldn’t come as a surprise considering he is Russian and grew up in the USA. These two countries may have their differences, but both love wrestling.

In one tweet, Fridman once said, “I competed in combat sports my whole life. Wrestling, Judo, Jiu Jitsu.” but other than this – we don’t have much to go on in terms of how much he wrestled. It’s fair to assume that the bulk of his wrestling took place in his younger years which makes sense as it’s a common hobby for those in the US education system.

It also makes sense that Fridman has wrestled and does BJJ. Often, many of the takedowns in BJJ derive from wrestling, especially in no-gi. It also gives practitioners a good base, sense of gravity, and athleticism which is useful for other martial arts. As a busy adult though, wrestling can be very tough on the body compared to BJJ.

Lex Fridman trains Judo

Completing his history of grappling disciplines, Lex Fridman also trains Judo. He has trained Judo sporadically over the years and like wrestling, Judo is also often used in BJJ. When standing in the gi, the bulk of BJJ takedowns are taken from Judo which is because BJJ was originally inspired by the Japanese martial art.

In a 2021 podcast with Olympic medalist Travis Stevens, Fridman confessed that he had started training Judo and was learning it at the time. This is a sensible decision for Fridman, considering that he’s already a black belt in BJJ. Sometimes, you’ll want to throw people instead of pulling guard. When considering his background in BJJ, wrestling, and Judo – it’s sensible to say that Fridman is a very accomplished, well-rounded grappler.

Lex Fridman doesn’t train any striking martial arts

Whilst Lex Fridman is certainly a very skilled grappler, he is lacking in the striking department. In all honesty, as a hobbyist martial artist – there’s no need for him to learn how to punch or kick though as most civilians will never use these skills anyway and against most members of the public, his grappling skills would be enough to suffice.

What’s more, at 5’6” in height, it’s safe to assume that Fridman is best off as a grappler. This is because his reach is naturally smaller than most and it’s ideal that he should take advantage of his naturally stocky build.

So, although adding striking to his game would definitely improve Lex Fridman’s role as a martial artist, we also have to be realistic too. For a guy in his 30s with a demanding job and busy lifestyle, there’s not much of a demand to train striking either.

Conclusion

Based on the above, we can definitely conclude that Lex Fridman is a legitimate martial artist whose main passion lies in grappling – and specifically BJJ. Although BJJ is now more popular than ever, it’s important to remember that Lex started training when it was less popular.

What’s more interesting is that despite his hectic schedule, he still finds the time to train, and even as he approaches his 40s, Lex Fridman continues to train. With this in mind, there’s every chance that he will continue to be a life-long martial artist at this rate.