William Tackett is a BJJ athlete from Austin, Texas who started training in 2009 when he was 8 years old. As Tackett puts it, his introduction into BJJ was originally through Bruce Lee who led him down the rabbit hole of martial arts, “My dad used to watch Bruce Lee movies with me and my brother so we had a natural curiosity for martial arts. And one day a Brazilian jiu jitsu gym opened up right down the road and we remembered hearing about jiu jitsu in a movie so we decided to give it a try and got hooked ever since.”
Now a brown belt under Rodrigo “Brucutu” Cabral, Tackett trains at Brazilian Fight Factory in Austin and has built his own game which he states “Closed guard and half guard are my favourite guards. My favourite pass is using the underhook or the body lock”. His favourite submission is the arm triangle. He claims Cabral has had the most influence on him, when asked about this, says “Definitely my professor, he’s completely changed my game since I’ve been training with him.”
Typically competing at 77KG, he has recently ventured into the below 84KG category and says “My best achievement was probably my second-place run at ADCC west coast trials, I beat 5 tough guys”. However, possibly his worst BJJ experience was injuring his rib – stating “My worst injury was probably when I dislocated my rib, it took over 3 months till I could even flow roll again without re-injuring it”.
When competing, Tackett considers Roberto Jimenez as his toughest opponent and claims “I’ve had many matches with him and I have yet to win a match.”
However, Tackett has not been dismayed by this and is still very young. He is ambitious and aims for big success in the future, stating “My short term goals are to win this year’s ADCC trials. My long term goals are to win next year’s ADCC and Absolute so I can face Gordon Ryan in the following ADCC in the super fight.” With this said, Tackett is not lacking in confidence but is also realistic about his bright future in the sport.
Tackett is equally as optimistic about the other young grapplers and muses “I don’t think that all the young guys will “dominate” but there are a few young guys right now that definitely have the opportunity and skills to win the biggest titles even at a young age”. He then speaks on the growth of BJJ in the USA which is an ever-growing force in martial arts, saying “For [the amount of] competitions, I believe the USA is far ahead of Brazil. We have Flograppling out here, many different pro shows, and even most of the IBJJF tournaments. But as far as popularity, or even numbers of strong competitors, I think Brazil is way ahead. There is so much untouched talent that no one gets the chance to see due to the lack of opportunity for the Brazilian athletes.”
Lastly, we asked Tackett about his run-in with Tex Johnson last year at a BJJ Fanatics super fight. Here Tex Johnson punched Tackett out of frustration which made headlines. When asked about the incident Tackett once again shows maturity beyond his years and quotes “Yes it was definitely a shock, I didn’t really understand why he hit me, but I just tried to stay focused and not let him get in my head. If I let my emotions take over I would have not performed as well as I did. And I wouldn’t have set a good example for the athletes watching.”
Tackett can be found training at Brazilian Fight Factory in Austin, Texas which can be looked at in further detail at Brazilianfightfactory.com. Alternatively, feel free to learn more about Tackett’s passing system too.
