Joe Rogan became interested in jiu-jitsu in 1994 after watching Royce Gracie fight at UFC 2: No Way Out, and landed the position at the organization as Sussman was friends with its co-creator and original producer, Campbell McLaren. Fast forward 20 years later he’s one of the best ambassadors of the sport and a Jean Jaques Machado/Eddie Bravo black belt.
Joe Rogan And Jocko Willink Explain How BJJ Makes “Assasin Nerds”
Willink is a black belt under Dean Lister – from September of 1990 to 2010 Willink was a Navy SEAL Platoon Commander and Seal Task Unit Commander leading hundreds of operations in combat. He earned his Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from world champion Dean Lister, competed at the national level in Submission Grappling, and has trained dozens of professional fighters. He has also coached and cornered fighters in numerous King of the Cage, Pride, and UFC events.
Still even though both of them are of big statures in terms of body mass they claim bjj is for the smaller smarter individuals – because it’s all about getting into the opponent’s head!
Jocko said: “There’s definitely something more in jiu jitsu that gets into people’s heads… I still cannot stop a youtube video with a cool move I just have to watch it because there’s so cerebral there’s something about it and I see this when I teach kids it – you’ll see the knucklehead kids the kind big they don’t really get it then you get this smart kid you can tell they’re smart and those are the kids that get really into jiu jitsu because they realize oh if I learn this I can beat that big kid and that’s where it starts but it can definitely be addictive.
Rogan added: Jiu jitsu is the only martial art that it really works like in the Bruce Lee movie where the little guy can beat the big guy…”
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