Dave Meyer has just joined an incredibly small list of non-Brazilians to be promoted to coral belt in BJJ, receiving the rank from legendary coach Rigan Machado. Meyer is one of those rare individuals who can truly call himself a lifelong martial artist, and not just for the time he’s dedicated to BJJ. Meyer was one of the earliest adopters of the sport outside of Brazil, becoming a member of the BJJ ‘Dirty Dozen’. The coral belt is only awarded to those who’ve spent decades honing their BJJ skills on the mat, but Meyer’s martial arts career started long before the sport even made it’s way to the US.
Meyer originally started training in Japanese Jiu-Jitsu in 1968 when he was just 6 years old, learning under popular LA instructor Jack Seki. He later received his first black belt in the aport when he was a teenager and even became the head instructor for Jiu-Jitsu at UCLA when he was 21. He competed in both Jiu-Jitsu tournaments and the earliest BJJ tournaments in the US, finding success and gaining notoriety as a competitor throughout the 80s and 90s. He even won a bronze medal at one of the earliest editions of the IBJJF World Championship in 1998, standing on the podium next to the beat competitors of his generation like Murilo Bustamante and Mario Sperry.
He’s continued competing as time has gone on as well, and Meyer is one of the most prolific black belt masters competitors there is. He’s won multiple IBJJF majors at that level and medalled at many more, including in both gi and no gi. Throughout it all Meyer has maintained a very close relationship with his primary BJJ coach, Rigan Machado, and the man who gave him his first introduction to the sport, John Will. Meyer first stepped on the mats for a BJJ class when Machado was away from his academy, and it was then-purple belt Will who took the class.
Dave Meyer announced the news that he had been promoted to coral belt in BJJ by Rigan Machado in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
