I received my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu purple belt from Professor Vanderson Pires at Combat Room, New Zealand on November 28th, 2015.  Why is that a big deal? Let’s start with a general statistic – most people quit training after blue belt.  Only 25% of people who begin BJJ make it to purple belt.   I think it’s something like 8-10% make it to black belt.  I’ve been a blue belt for 7 years. When I still lived in Los Angeles, there was a period of about a year that my training was inconsistent – almost non existent.  Life demanded other priorities, so I had to give up training to save some money.  Other than that dark time, I’ve been training a lot. Never in my life had I intended to be a martial artist until one day at the gym, I ran into a very large and scary looking individual who invited me to come down to his gym.  To begin my BJJ days, I had the privilege to train 5 1/2 years in Los Angeles with a legendary Carlson Gracie black belt, my friend Rey Diogo. In 2009 I got to go to Brazil with Rey and train at the […]