John Danaher has been enjoying his new found global celeb status. The latest for the celebrated coach is training with WWE’s legend Shane McMahon.
McMahon was potted in the blue basement alongside the bjj coach and what came as a surprise was the speed with which McMahon picked up on complex bjj. According to Danaher:
Having fun training Shane McMahon of the WWE @wwe@shanemcmahonwwe – he is an outstanding athlete and shocked us with the speed with which he picked up complex moves! I have always loved reading about the old time link between Pro Wrestling and submission grappling. Many of the old time pro wrestlers were excellent grapplers who could do choreographed shows and real matches with equal efficacy. There was a much smaller gap between choreographed matches and real matches in those days. Mr McMahon is exploring that area now – learning the submissions we use and doing a fine job picking up strangleholds and joint locks! These big men move incredibly well for their size and are masters of stunt work, high amplitude falls and slams and showmanship – I am confident they could learn to slap on submission holds with style in a short time too!
McMahon previously trained alongside Renzo Gracie prepping for Wrestlemania.
Spent the morning @WATNYC with @AjarnPhilNurse and the evening with Rolles and @RenzoGracieBJJ. #WrestleManiaSeason pic.twitter.com/sMN6O1wpXu
— Shane McMahon (@shanemcmahon) March 19, 2016
“In reality Shane trained with us for over eight years,” said Gracie. “He’s been training with us for a long time and then they moved for a few years and this period he had to be away for a few years and then he came back. And he is in the best shape of his life. I couldn’t believe the shape that he is in. He’s been training a lot of muay thai with Phil Nurse, who is the coach for Georges St. Pierre and a lot of other good guys and he is in really good shape for this match for the show that they are putting on in the Dallas arena.”
“The thing is he loves jiu-jitsu,” Gracie said. “He’s been training for a while. He’s been training before even thinking about doing a match like that because he was out for a while, he was a little chubby and all he did was come every day at six o’ clock in the morning to the gym and roll. Train for like an hour, hour and a half. And now he is cut, extremely good shape and he is even enjoying more jiu-jitsu now, doing guards, doing shoulder locks, omniplatas, triangles, everything. Jiu-jitsu is addicting. Once you begin rolling with your friends and you start learning what you are doing, you don’t want to stop.”
For more beautifully brutal kimura variations and set ups, you will want to take advantage of the knowledge of one of the most sought after MMA and grappling coaches on the planet, Neil Melanson. He has distilled his years of leading MMA champions into The Filthy Kimura Series and it can be yours by heading over to BJJ Fanatics!
