Joe Rogan is one of the most closely associated people in popular media to martial arts. He frequently has martial artists as guests on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. And he also has a long history of working with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He spends a lot of time surrounding himself with martial arts and artists, but does Joe Rogan have a black belt himself?
Joe Rogan is a black belt. He actually holds two black belts. As a teenager in the 1980s, Joe Rogan earned his black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Then in 2012, he earned his second black belt, this time in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
In the rest of the article, we are going to take a closer look at Joe Rogan’s history with both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Tae Kwon Do. We are also going to look at which other martial arts he has trained and not yet received his black belt in.
Is Joe Rogan a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do?
Tae Kwon Do was not the first martial art that Joe Rogan trained in, but it was the first one in which he achieved a black belt. The famous podcaster began training in Tae Kwon Do when he was 15 years old and exhibited incredible skill at the martial art almost immediately.
Joe Rogan received his black belt in Tae Kwon Do barely a year from the time he began training in it, and he continued to impress in the years that followed. In his own words, Joe Rogan was the champion in full contact Tae Kwon Do in Massachusetts for a whopping four years in a row.
Following this impressive showing, Rogan went on to compete in the US Open Tae Kwon Do Championship, which he not only became the lightweight champion in, but also defeated the middleweight and heavyweight champions, earning himself the Grand Championship.
Tae Kwon Do was a very early passion for Joe Rogan. For perspective, he achieved all of the victories listed in this section before he had even turned 20 years old.
Is Joe Rogan a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is perhaps the martial art that he is most often associated with, so it is not surprising that Joe Rogan does indeed hold a black belt in it. What many people find surprising is that Joe Rogan only got his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 2012, in spite of his long history with the martial art.
The reason that Rogan is so closely associated with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is because of his early work with the UFC, within which he held a number of roles. Although he is most famous as being a color commentator for the franchise, he has been working on-and-off with UFC since 1997.
Joe Rogan had been following the franchise from the start and began gravitating toward Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu after seeing Royce Gracie take the championship for the second time in a row in 1994, starting training two years later, in 1996. His journey has been ongoing since then, and as of 2012, Joe Rogan has achieved a black belt under both Jean Jacques Machado and frequent podcast guest Eddie Bravo.
Although both are Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, they are slightly different styles. Jean Jacques Machado is a nephew of Carlos Gracie, and so his style is more traditional. Eddie Bravo’s style is presented as a more practical alternative, with elements such as the non-use of gis.
Has Joe Rogan Trained in Any Other Martial Arts?
Joe Rogan has a long history with martial arts and has trained in multiple of them in addition to the Tae Kwon Do and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that he has black belts in.
Rogan began practicing martial arts at the age of 13, initially settling on Karate. While still in his teenage years, he moved on to Tae Kwon Do, which he found great success in for a number of years, as we learned about in an earlier section. After his stellar performance in Tae Kwon Do, Joe Rogan began Muay Thai Kickboxing.
In addition to these, Rogan also has some scattered experience in wrestling and boxing.
Although this sheer volume and variety of martial arts experiences may seem eclectic, it is precisely this combination that gives Joe Rogan such a good insight when offering color commentary at Ultimate Fighting Championships, which, as mixed martial arts tournaments, are all about combining different skills for the perfect performance.
Final Thoughts
We have learned today that Joe Rogan is a black belt in both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Tae Kwon Do. Although these are only two of the many martial arts that he has experience in, he has nonetheless mastered both of them, which is something most people could not even say for a single martial art.