This week saw the legendary martial artist Dan Inosanto promoted to 5th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Perhaps what’s most impressive about this is that he did this at the ripe old age of 87 which is pretty incredible when you think about it. In other words, when many people are that age, they’re typically living a sedentary lifestyle, whereas Dan clearly has other ideas!
This belt promotion was awarded to him by Jean Jacques Machado and it means that Inosanto has been a black belt in BJJ for at least 17 years now. This is because the first three tabs are given once every three years, while after the first three, they’re given once every four years instead. Sadly for Inosanto however, he’s got a long way to go to catch up to his mentor Jean Jacques. This is because Jean Jacques is actually a coral belt which is the rare belt ranking that is above that of a black belt.
Outside of BJJ, Inosanto is best known for his contributions to martial arts whereby he famously taught Bruce Lee about the art of stickfighting. Specifically, Inosanto is known as an expert in fields such as kali and escrima. He was doing this many decades ago as well, so he is often considered as a pioneer in his discipline. After the passing of Bruce Lee, Inosanto also taught his son Brandon Lee.
