These days there are literally hundreds of thousands of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belts. Even in smaller, more obscure countries, you’re likely to find the odd black belt which shows just how far it has spread. In some ways, the growth of BJJ has similarities with the karate boom of the 1980s. However, that is a topic for another time.
Basically, the point is that BJJ is now global and growing rapidly. So, BJJ black belts aren’t particularly rare these days and there are all sorts of skill levels and ranks within the belt. Interestingly though, this wasn’t always the case. In fact, in the 90s, there were very few black belts who weren’t from the native country of Brazil. In this article, we shall name the original BJJ dirty dozen and take a look down memory lane. For those wondering, the term ‘Dirty dozen’ was attributed to the first 12 non-Brazilian black belts – all of whom were promoted in the USA.
1992 – Craig Kukuk (black belt under Royler Gracie)
Ken Gabrielson (black belt under Reylson Gracie)
David Kama (black belt under Rickson Gracie)
Bob Bass (black belt under Rigan Machado)
John Lewis (black belt under Andre Pederneiras)
Chris Haueter (black belt under Rigan Machado)
David Meyer (black belt under Rigan Machado)
Rick Williams (black belt under Rigan Machado)
Rick minter (black belt under Rigan Machado)
Chris Saunders (black belt under Rickson Gracie)
Roy Harris (black belt under Joe Moreira)
John Will (black belt under Rigan Machado and Jean Jacques Machado)
Rick Lucero (black belt under Joe Moreira)
As seen, Craig Kukuk was the first ever American black belt which was awarded to him in 1992. The other members got their black belts throughout the early to mid 90s, with a few of the latter getting theirs in the late 90s. This shows that even though BJJ isn’t particularly ‘old’ in the big scheme of things, it still wasn’t that long ago when it was more primitive.
Another observation is the lineage. The bulk of these promotions were done by the Rigan Machado, Rickson Gracie, Joe Moreira, and a couple of others. So, what are the dirty dozen up to now? For the most part, they are still training BJJ in some capacity.
For instance, Roy Harris teaches BJJ to law enforcement, whilst Chris Haueter literally teaches out of his own garage and has trained with Conor McGregor amongst others. Elsewhere, some of the others have seemingly quit BJJ altogether, which also isn’t too surprising considering that many of these are now in their 50s and have moved on to other stages of life.
Even if some have retired from BJJ, it’s fair to say that they’ve certainly left their mark on the martial art, especially as far as North America is concerned. In short, as you can imagine, from these 12 BJJ pioneers, countless other black belts will have spawned and spread their styles across the continent.
Put another way, it’s pretty crazy to think that some of these were taught out of a small ‘Gracie garage’ that then went on to own their own gyms with affiliates nationwide. At the same time, it’s also important to respect the aforementioned Brazilians who helped teach BJJ in North America in the first place.
If you’re interested in learning more about BJJ back in the day then also check out our interviews with the likes of Ken Gabrielson, John Lewis, and Roy Harris who all have great stories of the earlier days when training BJJ in the USA.
