Renato Laranja is a known name in the BJJ community, but the persona associated with it is a fictional character, played by an actor by the name of Rhasaan Orange. There is evidence of Laranja actually knowing BJJ, but is the self-proclaimed 27x World Champion actually a legit black belt?
Rhasaan Orange was born on August 25, 1975, in New York. He appeared on “Sesame Street” as a kid, and later also acted in “Days Of Our Lives” as Detective Thomas Edward ‘Tek’ Kramer. Although not too famous as an actor, Orange is widely popular in Brazilian Jiu-JItsu circles through the portrayal of his alter ego, the fictional character Renato Laranja.
Renato is meant to portray a stereotypical Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. The character uses a very heavy Brazilian accent on certain words, and uses a bunch of BJJ cliches when expressing himself. He also talks shit to everyone, claims to have 27 World Titles, and acts arrogantly in any situation. While portraying the character, Orange has managed to hackle and mock a number of high-profile Jiu-Jitsu and MMA stars like Joe Rogan, Chris Weidman, Nate Diaz, and Andre Galvao.
Rhasaan started training in martial arts early and has a black belt in Gojo-Ryu karate under his father. For everyone asking about his BJJ pedigree, the character of Renato Laranja was something Orange thought of while training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
He has been a black belt under 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu founder Edde Bravo since 2015 and has a legitimate set of skills. In fact, he used to teach seminars, and while he kept in line with the Renato Larnaja character the entire time, demonstrated some cool and efficient Jiu-Jitsu.
Renato Laranja also appeared as a commentator in EBI and HIgh Rollerz, talking about everything but what was happening on the mats and particularly singling out Vinny Magalhães during his stints.
Renato is still involved with High Rollerz and also has his own podcast “The Vale Tudo Hour.”
