Jonah Hill’s viral declaration that he’d “annihilate” anyone doubting him, credited to his white belt Jiu-Jitsu training, drew a response from Tim Welch – head coach of UFC star Sean O’Malley.
In the original clip, Hill said:
I would annihilate you, dude. I’m not kidding you. Every match ends up on the ground.
If you see me, try it, dude.
Welch, in a recent video, acknowledged the humor but assessed Hill’s actual skill level as roughly that of a two-stripe white belt, typically reflecting five to six months of training.
His bigger concern wasn’t the amount of training, though, but the type.
He pointed out that wealthy celebrities often train almost exclusively in private sessions with a black belt instructor, rather than joining regular open mats with other white belts, wrestlers, or beginners:
A lot of times when you’re an A-lister like this and you have this much money, you do privates just with your black belt instructor, which is good…
You’re still learning Jiu-Jitsu, but also you’re not going with a lot of white belts, your level. You’re not going live a lot.
You’re going with the instructor, and the instructor’s giving you a little resistance, and he’s building your confidence, and he’s letting you drill the moves perfectly.
That environment, Welch argued, can create a false sense of preparedness.
Someone who trains only in private sessions never faces the unpredictable, athletic resistance of a normal class, including opponents like a high school state champion wrestler with no Jiu-Jitsu background but strong hips and constant pressure:
You got to be careful.
People have a different amount of scrap to them.
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