AUSTIN, TX — Kevin Darrow, 34, a purple belt at Triangle Submission Fighting, confirmed Wednesday that he has been wearing the same rashguard since last Monday’s session, and that his decision to flip it inside out on Tuesday constitutes, in his view, “basically the same as washing it.”
Darrow, who trains five days a week and owns seven rashguards, explained that the specific garment in question — a black-and-gray compression top from a brand that no longer exists — is his “best one” and that the others “don’t move the same way.”
“It’s fine,” said Darrow. “I rinse it. I hang it up. It dries. That’s essentially what a washing machine does.”
Teammates describe a situation that is, in their assessment, notably not fine.
“I rolled with him Tuesday,” said training partner Ana Vargas, 27. “I thought the smell was the mats. Then I realized it was him specifically. Then I checked and the mats are actually fine. The mats smell great. It’s Kevin.”
Darrow acknowledged that the rashguard had “maybe picked up some smell” over the course of the week but noted that everyone smells at jiu-jitsu and that this is “kind of the whole thing.”
When asked if he planned to wash it before Thursday’s class, Darrow said he had considered it but that the rashguard was “still technically damp from Wednesday” and that putting damp gear in the wash was “wasteful.”
Head coach Brendan Cho declined to comment, noting only that the gym has a hygiene policy posted on the wall and that “some people choose to interpret it more loosely than others.”
The rashguard has been identified in four separate Instagram training reels this week. In each one, it appears to be getting worse.
The Porra is a satire publication. Wash your gear. Please. For the love of everything.