An interesting list of BJJ facts about Joe Rogan

BjjTribesNovember 29, 2021July 20, 2022

Joe Rogan is one of the world’s most popular podcast hosts as well as being one of the UFCs earliest commentators. Another thing that people know about him is his background in martial arts. That’s right, Joe Rogan is a black belt in both Taekwondo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

This actually makes sense, considering his job is to literally commentate on fights. Over the years, Rogan has spoken on his love of BJJ and it’s no secret that it’s his favorite martial art. Read on for more BJJ facts regarding Joe Rogan.

Table of Contents

Does Joe Rogan do BJJ?

Joe Rogan started training BJJ back in 1996 under Carson Gracie. With this in mind, it’s fair to say that he has veteran status these days. Since then, he earned his black belt from his longtime friend Eddie Bravo. In short, this means that Joe Rogan has trained BJJ for nearly 30 years. However, a lot of this has been done sporadically. In other words, there have been big gaps in Rogan’s BJJ journey where he’s barely trained, especially as he’s gotten older.

Is Joe Rogan a BJJ black belt?

As mentioned, Joe Rogan is a black belt under Eddie Bravo. He was awarded this rank in 2012. In BJJ, a black belt gets a new degree (white stripe) every three years. This means that theoretically, Joe Rogan is a third degree black belt. However, he has never been seen wearing stripes on his black belt.

Speaking of which, shortly after his promotion by Eddie Bravo (which was no gi under the 10th Planet banner), he was promoted to black belt in the gi. This was done so by Jean-Jacques Machado. It turns out that Jean-Jacques awarded Eddie Bravo his black belt back in the day. For the most part though, Joe Rogan is a no gi, 10th Planet practitioner.

What BJJ gym does Joe Rogan train at?

Joe Rogan primarily trains at Eddie Bravos gym which is the 10th Planet HQ and is based in Los Angeles. This is known for his black decor and flamboyant 10th Planet rashguards. He has also trained sporadically at Jean-Jacques Machado’s gym which is based in Tarzana in California. As stated previously, most people would consider 10th Planet as Rogan’s main gym.

In an interesting twist though, Rogan did move to Texas in 2020 to relocate. This means that training at his previous gyms is now more difficult than before. However, Texas is a known hotbed for BJJ, with gyms being owned by the likes of Craig Jones and John Danaher.

Does Joe Rogan still train BJJ?

Whilst we’ve established Joe Rogan has trained BJJ for many years, some people still wonder whether he still trains these days. In brief, Joe Rogan still does train BJJ these days. However, as he’s gotten older, Rogan has trained less and less.

One reason for this could be his busy schedule, as he’s either doing his podcast or on the road touring doing stand up comedy. Another reason is due to his injured body. Rogan is now in his 50s and has been a lifelong martial artist. Of course, this will take its toll on you. Specifically, Rogan is known to have bad shoulders and has taken stem cell therapy to ease his pain.

Is Joe Rogan a professional fighter?

Joe Rogan has never been a professional fighter. During his peak, he was an amateur Taekwondo competitor who was one of the best in the USA at the time. He also dabbled in kickboxing and Muay Thai before turning to BJJ. By the time he’d reached BJJ, he was now much older with a career to look out for, so he simply couldn’t even think about turning pro.

Interestingly though, he once said how he was down to fight Wesley Snipes in an MMA fight. Obviously, this would have been a professional bout due to the draw it would have generated. Sadly, it never materialized though.

There’s also a case that Rogan could have competed in MMA during his peak which is understandable considering his skills. We’re not on about UFC levels here, but back then he probably could have fought in some lower skilled MMA promotions for a small amount of money.

How good is Joe Rogan at BJJ?

Although Joe Rogan’s peak fighting days are long behind him, he’s still in very good shape for his age and puts this down to his kettlebell workouts that keep him strong. One thing about Rogan is that he never actually competed in BJJ, although he did compete in Taekwondo for years and was very good at it. The reason that he didn’t compete in BJJ was that he started it later on in life and had different priorities.

Anyway, there’s little footage of him online, but it’s fair to assume that he’s a legit BJJ black belt. It’s also fair to say that he’s not exactly an elite BJJ black belt either, but then again most people aren’t. The video below is of the ‘Myspace challenger’ and shows Rogan mauling an untrained person with guillotines and other chokes. In short, Rogan definitely knows his stuff when it comes to BJJ.