During the Phone conference Nick seemed to questioned the quality of GSP's black belt in BJJ. I may have gotten this wrong as there was a lot of confusing throughout that interview. That being said, if he did, is there any validity to it??
Well I think he got his BB from John Danaher who gives out no-gi belts, which some instructors don't think is legit.
Honestly, the whole thing is ridiculous. He might not stand a chance if he competed in the black belt gi division of the mundials, but for MMA purposes, GSP's BJJ is as high level as it gets.
Dude, a guy slipping out of a couple of sub attempts doesn't mean that much in the scheme of things.
GSP made BJ Penn's guard look like a joke. That indicates a pretty ridiculously high level of BJJ for MMA.
Spending all the time he does with Danaher...He's a BB for sure...He is essentially the best guard passer and top control bjjer in the sport iMO
Tomato Can - Dude, a guy slipping out of a couple of sub attempts doesn't mean that much in the scheme of things.
GSP made BJ Penn's guard look like a joke. That indicates a pretty ridiculously high level of BJJ for MMA.
Made his guard look like a joke? Tiring him out against the fence and then taking him down and holding him until he gasses and then passing his guard a couple times is making it look like a joke?
Weird, I thought making it look like a joke would mean he takes him down right away and passes it immidiatly, not doing it while hes only to have BJ regain his guard immidiatly..
immediately*
cheesesteak - Spending all the time he does with Danaher...He's a BB for sure...He is essentially the best guard passer and top control bjjer in the sport iMO
Good observation about the top control.
I don't think GSP is a legitimate BJJ black belt. We have never seen him pass guards and actually maintain posistion, he just stays in guard and throws elbows and punches to avoid a standup. Plus, if GSP was a legitimate black belt, he would have finished the armbar on DAN HARDY, a brawler with no ground game..
We have never seen him do anything off his back, and the fact he still uses can openers as a way to pass guards (UFC 154) shows it. If Carlos was alittle more explosive on his back, GSP's arm would be gone.
Not trashing GSP at all, I am a Canadian and I believe he is rightfully the GOAT canadian athlete. But to call him a blackbelt, which is putting him at the same level as Werdum, Vinny, Braulio, Xande, Rodger, Marcelo is just wrong. I always doubt the legitimacy of MANY fighters bb's when they go to the ground and don't do anything..
GSP isn't 100% well rounded in BJJ but what he does he does well including positional control and defense. He's a great example of extracting what you need out of BJJ to fight MMA.
<blockquote>Tomato Can - Well I think he got his BB from John Danaher who gives out no-gi belts, which some instructors don't think is legit.<br /><br />Honestly, the whole thing is ridiculous. He might not stand a chance if he competed in the black belt gi division of the mundials, but for MMA purposes, GSP's BJJ is as high level as it gets.</blockquote><br /> He's a BB under Gracie Barra IIRC.
PorkSwordInMyGapingHole -Tomato Can - Well I think he got his BB from John Danaher who gives out no-gi belts, which some instructors don't think is legit.
Honestly, the whole thing is ridiculous. He might not stand a chance if he competed in the black belt gi division of the mundials, but for MMA purposes, GSP's BJJ is as high level as it gets.As high as it gets? So Dan Hardy is just the end all be all when it comes to armbar defense?
To be fair, there's more to bjj than just submissions. 
Zaph -PorkSwordInMyGapingHole -Tomato Can - Well I think he got his BB from John Danaher who gives out no-gi belts, which some instructors don't think is legit.
Honestly, the whole thing is ridiculous. He might not stand a chance if he competed in the black belt gi division of the mundials, but for MMA purposes, GSP's BJJ is as high level as it gets.As high as it gets? So Dan Hardy is just the end all be all when it comes to armbar defense?
To be fair, there's more to bjj than just submissions.
true, but a fully locked armbar on someone with no ground game is still a fully locked armbar being preformed by a "BJJ black belt" regardless if thats not all BJJ is about.
cheesesteak - Spending all the time he does with Danaher...He's a BB for sure...He is essentially the best guard passer and top control bjjer in the sport iMO
It's also not automatically bjj just because you're on the ground. You can use wrestling to advance your position on the ground. Not nut hugging for one or the other it's just a grey area.
Chael has great top control and passing, he mounted Anderson. But then in the very same fight he got arm barred, so his bjj must be terrible according to the UG.
Bjj for position (penn, gsp), sing wrestling on the ground, and subs and sub defense are part of a complex ground game that isn't black and white. 
PorkSwordInMyGapingHole -When I see GSP hold Maia down and cut through his guard like nothing then I will believe you. Until then GSP has one excellent guard pass and good sub D.
THIS ^^^^^^^ GSP has a good BJJ skills for MMA, but I think even he would say he's not as good as it gets.
chew22 - GSP isn't 100% well rounded in BJJ but what he does he does well including positional control and defense. He's a great example of extracting what you need out of BJJ to fight MMA.
Another excellent observation, well said.
GSP received his BB from Bruno Fernandes of Gracie Barra
Not to believe GSP isnt BB level is silly. bb in bjj doesn't = God on the mats. Anyways I remember GSP doing his bjj in NY with Matt Serras instructor (had a purple belt on in the countdown) and had to stop training with him because he was fighting Serra.
On a side note I remember seeing Serra doing sport JJ on ESPN 2 around 96. It was late night after strikeforce kickboxing. He was a purple then
BJJ is so different from MMA it is insane.
Why does GSP need to pass the guard in MMA? He can stay there and GNP. There are a lot of BJJ BBs that don't use it in MMA or use if very different than they would if they were rolling with a gi on--that doesn't mean their BB is suspect but they, for whatever reason, choose to use a different approach to their fights.
notsobigmike -CAlfar - I don't think GSP is a legitimate BJJ black belt. We have never seen him pass guards and actually maintain posistion, he just stays in guard and throws elbows and punches to avoid a standup. Plus, if GSP was a legitimate black belt, he would have finished the armbar on DAN HARDY, a brawler with no ground game..
We have never seen him do anything off his back, and the fact he still uses can openers as a way to pass guards (UFC 154) shows it. If Carlos was alittle more explosive on his back, GSP's arm would be gone.
Not trashing GSP at all, I am a Canadian and I believe he is rightfully the GOAT canadian athlete. But to call him a blackbelt, which is putting him at the same level as Werdum, Vinny, Braulio, Xande, Rodger, Marcelo is just wrong. I always doubt the legitimacy of MANY fighters bb's when they go to the ground and don't do anything..
Dude, there are differences in Black Belts.
Not every BB is a world champion. Guys like Xande, Marcelo, Braulio - those are the elite of the elite in the BJJ community.
If that was the standard for having a black belt, there would be like 12 in the whole world, and Diaz wouldn't be one either.
LOL i know that, I just worded my sentance wrong..I meant "high level blackbelt" because GSP's nuthuggers say he has the best MMA BJJ in the world, and I was pointing out the fact that he couldn't finish Dan Hardy with a fully locked armbar.
GSP no doubt has good BJJ but if he wasn't the UFC WW champ and he was the same guy just competiting in BJJ, he probably would NOT have a blackbelt.
I feel like in MMA they give guys blackbelts like its a happy meal because its free advertising for their gyms/bjj programs..
Santino DeFranco - BJJ is so different from MMA it is insane.
Why does GSP need to pass the guard in MMA? He can stay there and GNP. There are a lot of BJJ BBs that don't use it in MMA or use if very different than they would if they were rolling with a gi on--that doesn't mean their BB is suspect but they, for whatever reason, choose to use a different approach to their fights.
I would say a considerable amount of BJJ is useless in MMA, it's like comparing boxing to MMA. Once the Gi comes off everything changes too.
If I'm not mistaken I think Rickson Gracie once made the statement that something like 85% of BJJ is useless in MMA.