So you may not have heard, but UFC commentator Joe Rogan is actually a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He earned his black belt way back in 2012 from Jean Jacques Machado, who is the nephew of Carlos Gracie – one of the founders of BJJ. Jean Jacques has been teaching the sport in California for over 30 years and has trained tons of fighters.
Recently on a podcast, Jean Jacques was talking about Joe Rogan’s black belt. He said it’s totally legit – if anyone doubts it, they should come train with Joe. According to Jean Jacques, Joe is no joke on the mats. He said “Joe will rip your head off! He’ll twist you up and go hard. Don’t let the celebrity thing fool you.”
When Jean Jacques was giving Joe his private lessons, he’d also have Joe roll with other students. This was to really test Joe’s skills in a real fight situation. Jean Jacques confirmed that Joe held his own and proved he deserved that black belt.
Now Joe is 56 years old and has been commentating UFC fights since 2002. He’s also super famous for his podcast which is one of the top shows out there. On top of BJJ, Joe also has a black belt in Taekwondo and used to compete. He even won the US Open tournament back in the day. And Joe continues training – he gets instruction from another BJJ black belt and friend, Eddie Bravo. Eddie actually learned from Jean Jacques too, so it’s like one big Jiu-Jitsu family!
