Legendary BJJ coach Joe Moreira has just been awarded his 9th degree red belt after dedicating decades of his life to the sport. Martial arts have been a key part of Moreira’s life almost since the very beginning, as he began learning Judo at the age of 6 in 1967 before eventually finding BJJ just 3 years later. He started training at the iconic Gracie Academy before eventually moving to train under Reylson Gracie, Helio Gracie’s nephew, instead. He trained there for well over a decade before being promoted to black belt in BJJ by Francisco Mansure in 1984, and he received his Judo black belt as well just 2 years later.
Moreira then went on a trip to Japan to train and compete in Judo, even earning a silver medal in the Judo World Cup at the time. He returned to Brazil to teach after that and became famous on the competitive circuit for organizing a number of the biggest tournaments at the time, including the very first Copa Atlantico Sul. That event went on to host a number of the most famous competitors of all time like Renzo Gracie, and was one of the top competitions around at a time before the IBJJF World Championship ever even began.
He then moved to America and his career as a coach developed even further, as he went on to promote several members of ‘The Dirty Dozen’; the first 12 non-Brazilian BJJ black belts. Although Moreira was putting in a lot of time as a coach back then, he didn’t slow down as a competitor and even embarked upon a professional MMA career with a pair of UFC fights. Moreira has retired from competition by now of course, but he still continues to teach the sport and has a strong relationship with many other BJJ legends who trained under him at one point in time.
He recently even awarded his long-time student Roy Harris with the his coral belt, making Harris only the third non-Brazilian in history to receive the honor. This was the last historic moment in a long list of them throughout the BJJ career of Joe Moreira, and his latest promotion to 9th degree red belt is well-deserved. This puts him in an incredibly small group of coaches and competitors who have ever managed to reach that level and after almost 6 decades of training in grappling, he has spent more time on the mats than the vast majority of people ever will.
Joe Moreira announced the news that he had been promoted to 9th degree BJJ red belt in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
