Gilbert Burns just tossed a tidy little grenade into the UFC grappling argument. Asked who has the best jiu-jitsu in MMA, Burns split the crown cleanly, giving Charles Oliveira the nod for cage-ready jiu-jitsu and Diego Lopes the nod for the pure mat-room version.
That is a fun answer because Burns is not some keyboard black belt throwing names at a wall. The former UFC welterweight title challenger has nine submission wins on his MMA record and enough high-level jiu-jitsu hours to know when the gi-room mythology does not always survive elbows, fence pressure, sweat, and someone trying to knock your head into row three.
Watch the exchange below:
Gilbert Burns has two names for the best jiu-jitsu in MMA:
“MMA jiu-jitsu, it’s Charles Oliveira. Pure jiu-jitsu, it’s Diego Lopes.”
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— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) August 24, 2026
Burns Splits The Grappling Crown
Burns did not treat the question like one giant bucket. He separated MMA jiu-jitsu from pure jiu-jitsu, which is where the answer gets interesting. In the cage, Oliveira is the obvious nightmare pick. The former UFC lightweight champion has built a whole career out of turning chaos into necks, arms, and panic, and Burns has backed Oliveira’s grappling before when the argument involved Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“Pure jiu-jitsu, that’s a different question,” Burns said. “Because jiu-jitsu in the UFC, I would say Charles [Oliveira] is up there. But pure jiu-jitsu, I think Diego Lopes has great pure jiu-jitsu. That’s what I heard from a lot of guys who train with him.”
That is where Lopes sneaks into the conversation like a guy already halfway to your back. Lopes is not just a featherweight with slick submissions. He spent years building his reputation through the Mexican MMA scene as a fighter and coach before his UFC rise, and the scouting report on him has always sounded like bad news for anyone who accepts a scramble without a lawyer present.
Oliveira’s case is easier for casual fans to see because it happened under UFC lights. Lopes’ case is more gym-whisper territory, the kind of respect that comes from people who have actually rolled with him and immediately regretted a life choice. Burns weighing both versions separately is the rare sane take in a debate that usually turns into highlight clips flying across the internet like bar stools.
The bigger point is that UFC grappling is not one thing. BJJ inside the UFC ecosystem now stretches from MMA title fights to separate grappling pushes, and fighters are judged by very different scorecards depending on whether punches are allowed. Oliveira has the MMA chaos crown in Burns’ eyes. Lopes gets the pure jiu-jitsu respect. Somewhere, every hard-core grappling nerd just got enough fuel for another three-hour argument.
And honestly, that is the good stuff. The sport needs more arguments that are about skill instead of contracts, rankings, or who yelled loudest at a camera. Burns gave fans a clean split, and with Oliveira still tied to the sport’s wildest submission moments and Lopes continuing to rise, this one is not going away quietly. It sits right beside the kind of viral grappling chatter that had fans locked in when Paddy Pimblett ran through 10 Marines on the mat.
