John Danaher is known as one of the best kept secrets in Jiu-Jitsu. The New Zealand born, BJJ black belt under Renzo Gracie has been praised by the BJJ community as being a master and brain of the art. Danaher is a highly intelligent individual, who has a Master degree in philosophy, and is totally focused on the evolution and improvement of Jiu-Jitsu. He is also the submission coach of none other than former UFC Welterweight Champion George Saint Pierre.
Danaher trains and teaches Jiu jitsu at Renzo Gracie’s Academy in New York.
In this interesting interview he compares Judo and BJJ. For Danaher the lack of takedowns in Jiu-Jitsu nowadays is part of the problem why BJJ players have a hard time transitioning to MMA.
For Danaher, Jiu-Jitsu and Judo are becoming too specialised and it is important for him as an instructor to develop and form well rounded grapplers that can compete in both Judo and BJJ, that are as good Gi as No Gi.
He takes the example of his student Travis Stevens who is a Judo Olympian and received a BJJ black belt from the hands of Danaher after just 18 months training in BJJ. Travis has coppered at the highest level in Judo (Olympics) where he won a silver medal in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and has competed at Copa Podio in Brazil where he came 4th, while still a BJJ brown belt.
Very interesting viewpoints from a clearly intelligent man:
