Is Joe Rogan A Good Taekwondo Black Belt?

Joe Rogan is possibly the most famous podcaster in the world, ex-host of Fear Factor USA, stand up comedian and a color commentator for the UFC. Not only this but he also holds black belts in BJJ and Taekwondo. What’s interesting about Rogan is that most don’t understand or realize just how well developed he truly is when it comes to martial arts. Before becoming famous, his life was literally dedicated to combat sports.

Since finding fame and growing older, his participation in martial arts has understandably diminished. Still, after years of training TKD religiously, it’s not surprising that he’s very good at it. Unlike many celebrity martial artists, it’s fair to say that Rogan is the real deal and earned his credentials the hard way.

Taekwondo Progression

Rogan began training taekwondo at around 15 years old and was an active competitor in his late teenage years. When he entered his early 20’s he suffered from headaches as a result of repeated blows to the head which made him quit. He also details that he began sparring kickboxers and realised taekwondo was an incomplete martial art that lacked in boxing ability.

Whilst it is disputed whether Rogan ever became a national champion for taekwondo, it is widely accepted he was at the very least a state champion of Massachusetts for several years. As well as this he also taught the art to others in his spare time as a part time job.

In addition to this, there is footage of Rogan on the internet competing in full contact taekwondo, finishing his opponents with a variety of spinning kicks. So there is absolutely no doubt he was a competitive black belt in his former years. He also regularly speaks about his younger yers of competition taekwondo on his podcast and is clearly very knowledgeable on the subject.

Based on these findings – there is no doubt that Joe Rogan was at the very least a competitive taekwondo black belt in his early 20’s.

What about his BJJ Black Belt?

Rogan holds a BJJ black belt under professor Eddie Bravo. Whilst Bravo is certainly not the most decorated competitor of all time, he is very well respected as both a coach and athlete in jiu-jitsu. Bravo is the founder of 10th planet jiu-jitsu which has hundreds of academies worldwide. He also has a very solid competition team under his management, with athletes such as Geo Martinez & Grace Gundrum being elite level grapplers.

Therefore there is no doubt that Joe Rogan holds a legitimate black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu either.