Chris a strong purple? You must mean in the gi and not in no-gi (which is much more relevant for MMA), right?
If not, how do you explain Chris' fine showing in ADCC 2009 against Andre Galvao? http://vimeo.com/6921039
Chris goes to the same Academy as I do.
John Danaher, who is the same guy I have been training with for over 9 years is the guy that gave him his purple belt.
Belt rank does not determine how well you perform against another opponent, regardless of their rank or gi vs no-gi.
If you train under the right academy, they train you to be strong in both gi and no-gi from the start. Some academies will even do no-gi as their preferred technique (see: Tenth Planet JiuJitsu).
For instance, you pit a random black belt from an average storefront JiuJitsu academy taught by a weak instructor against a Gracie purple belt, the Gracie student will win most times in combat. It comes down to skill and what the Gracies and Alliance teams do is what separates the good from the best.
Chris was an All-American wrestler 4x. There is a natural transition wrestlers have into JiuJitsu, which makes it easier for them to grasp the major concepts and body mechanics involved. Chris went to ADCC after only 3 months of taking JiuJitsu (3 MONTHS!).
He was a blue belt just up to a year and a half ago. He came to our academy (Renzo's academy) and rolled in the open drill slot with a mix of blue and purple belts and he was submitting guys left and right. John Danaher sees him doing this, approaches Chris and asks him what belt rank he had, Chris answered with Blue and immediately John Danaher promoted him to a purple (on the spot - like 5 minutes after open drills).
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