Is 2010 the Year of Roger Gracie?

In the last two years, MMA fans have had the pleasure of watching a generation of jiu jitsu fighters enter their MMA prime. Demian Maia tallied four submission wins and became a legitimate Top 10 Middleweight, Andre Galvao won his first three MMA fights via Armbar and made his DREAM debut and Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza went 4-1-1 and has become a serious threat at 185 lbs.

But MMA fans have been been left waiting for the Strikeforce debut of Roger Gracie, who signed with the San Jose-based promotion company in May of 2009 but has missed his USA debut several times.

One thing that all sport jiu jitsu players will tell you is that not all Black Belts are equal. It is an amazing achievement to get a black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, but some are a cut above. You have your great Black Belts (Kenny Florian), your world champions (BJ Penn), your multiple-world champions (Jacare Souza) and then you have Roger Gracie.

Gracie has competed at the CBJJ World Championships since 2000 and has never finished below second place. He won a Blue Belt World Championship, a Purple Belt World Championship, a Brown Belt World Championship, eight Black Belt World Champions and three ADCC World Submission Wrestling Championships.

Gracie's manner of winning is just as impressive as his amount of wins; in his most recent world championship Roger won all his matches with the exact same choke from mount. Roger is undoubtedly the best jiu jitsu fighter alive right now, and the real scary part is he also has some MMA experience.

Gracie has two easy submission victories to his name in MMA and has been looking to move up to stiffer competition in Strikeforce. While Gracie's ground game is unquestionable, his striking ability has yet to be seen. In a Gracie family tradition, his standup is awful, but his ground ability is so outstanding he is a dangerous opponent for anyone.

If Gracie is able to get into the white cage of Strikeforce this year he is almost certain to enter into their elites at heavyweight. His experience and technique on the ground would overwhelm relative newcomers Brett Rogers and Bobbly Lashley; likewise I think Fabricio Werdum, a jiu jitsu world champ himself, would be outmatched on the mat by Gracie. Of course his suspect striking could be his downfall against any of these fighters, but it would be very un-Gracie like for him to even think of keeping a fight standing for any period of time.

The pure size and strength combined with the skills of Antonio Sivla and Allistair Overeem, and the pure experience factor of Fedor, would make them favorites against young Gracie. But I don't think it would shock anyone if he was able to make all three of them tap if he was able to secure a takedown.

While the time and place of when Gracie has his first Strikeforce match is unsure, one thing is certain; with his jiu jitsu skills he is capable of a run through MMA worthy of his last name.