Photo: Jason Perec Instagram: @jaythearkitec

John Danaher is universally known 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 at Renzo Gracie’s Academy in New York where he also teaches Jiu jitsu.

He wrote a very interesting analysis on the belt system in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

He wrote on Facebook:

New challenges: Those of you who know me better know that my body has some rather severe problems that began long before jiu jitsu.
When I was in in my early teens I had a series of severe Knee tears that were diagnosed as MCL tears, but which more advanced doctors here in the US have told me we’re almost certainly ACL tears (no MRI’s in those days) This culminated in a final tear at age 17 that left me with a very unstable knee.
An operation to go in and tighten the MCL was proposed – it was a disaster – leaving me with a shortened leg that would not straighten along with with severe misalignment.
From that day forth I walked with a limp and all left knee movement was painful and dysfunctional As time wore on the knee developed chronic arthritis and arthrofibrosis. Because of the misalignment of my body I soon developed severe back pain and eventually severe hip arthritis on the same side.
In my mid forties the hip became so bad I had to get a hip replacement at age 48. This went well and I entered jiu jitsu again with a new focus – I would now focus entirely on my students, since my own days of hard sparring were over.
Then three months ago my knee appeared to collapse during a simple demonstration of a guard position, with several more cases since then, some from such innocuous actions as taking off a shoe. Yesterday my knee collapsed again and I finally went to get x Rays and MRI and examination.
The prognosis is rather grim. I apparently need a full knee replacement. This would effectively end much of what I do on the mats. Knee replacements are generally much less robust than hip replacements and curtail movement much more.
My dear students have kindly put up with my inability to demonstrate moves these last three months and the senpai (senior students) always help brilliantly when I can’t perform the demonstration, but I was always very proud throughout my coaching career to personally demonstrate and show the philosophy of my style on the mats – it appears those days may be over.
The best NYC surgeons are telling me to get the replacement- I am holding out hope for some kind recovery. This has come at a very bad time. Georges St-Pierre is planning a comeback and the squad is on the verge of breaking through to a new level of development. I am sorry to all those who wanted to do private classes or book me for seminars – my body just wasn’t capable and I did not want to disappoint anyone.
All my jiu jitsu career I have made my living through private classes and seminars – teaching on average 6 private classes a day on top of group classes. I may have to change that now as my body won’t allow me currently to even walk properly or demonstrate a move. All jiu jitsu is about adaptation of our body to the principles of the sport. All my adult life I have adapted to the limitations of my crippled left leg. When my hip gave way I adapted my lifestyle to those changes. Now I must adapt around these new problems with my old nemesis left knee. I am hoping I can recover enough in time without surgery that I can continue to do as I always have, but if not, I will find new ways to improve the performance of my students even if my body is not involved. There are cases of outstanding coaches who were not able to physically participate in workouts but who nonetheless played a valuable role in athletes development. A big thank you to all my students who have been helping through this rather frustrating time and an apology to those I could not teach. I shall endeavor first to get through this without surgery and recover – but if I find surgery is unavoidable I will get it done and find a way to adapt and improve myself as a coach – I have done it before and will do it again. Wishing you all well –
John Danaher