Top commentator and professional grappling promoter Brandon McCaghren has just been promoted to BJJ black belt by the legendary Carlos Machado. This will no doubt come as a surprise to anyone who has followed McCaghren’s career, as he’s a long-time proponent of no gi grappling and is already a 10th Planet black belt directly under Eddie Bravo himself. He isn’t the first person to decide to learn Jiu-Jitsu in the gi after specialising in the 10th Planet system of course, and there have even been a few people who have done it the other way around like top competitor Vinny Magalhaes.
We actually spoke to Brandon McCaghren about his Jiu-Jitsu journey before and he was one of the early adopters of 10th Planet, earning his black belt from Bravo almost a decade ago now. In the time since then, McCaghren has become one of the most important figures in the professional grappling world. Not only would fans recognise him from his superb commentary work at both EBI and the Craig Jones Invitational, but he’s also created a major promotion of his own as well. McCaghren is the founder and main driving force behind the Professional Grappling Federation, a week-long season of elite grappling with $100,000 on the line.
Although McCaghren is more known for the work he does on the microphone and behind close doors, he’s also an excellent instructor who runs his own academy and has some serious talent training under him. He’s also a lifelong martial artist and already had a black belt in Tang Soo Do under Jamie Webster; and that’s it’s actually through him that McCaghren first met Carlos Machado as well. Alongside the rest of the Machado brothers, Carlos was one of the earliest generations of competitors and coaches in the US and has taught thousands of people. Now McCaghren joins the ranks of black belts under him and has added yet another skill to his toolkit.
Brandon McCaghren announced the news that he had been promoted to BJJ black belt by Carlos Machado in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
