The lead guitarist and vocalist of Megadeth, Dave Mustaine, was recently awarded with his BJJ purple belt just a few months after his fifty-ninth birthday. The promotion came from Reggie Almeida of Gracie Barra Spring Hill, after Mustaine had spent two years as a blue belt in the sport and he announced the news on the gym’s official Instagram account. Mustaine is already a very experienced martial artist as he holds black belts in both Taekwondo and Ukidokan Karate and has done so for quite some time. In 2007, he was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador of the World by the World Taekwondo Federation.
Along with being the frontman for Megadeth, Mustaine is also one of it’s founding members and a key figure in the growth of the Thrash Metal scene, as he was also the original lead guitarist for Metallica. He has an incredible number of credits, including on three separate Metallica albums and a grand total of fifteen Megadeth albums, every single one since the band’s inception. Fans were concerned for his health in 2019 when he announced that he was suffering from Throat Cancer, although he revealed during a Megadeth concert in early 2020 that he was one hundred percent cancer free at the time.
Dave Mustaine isn’t the first celebrity to take up BJJ, and he almost certainly won’t be the last as the sport gains more and more mainstream recognition. This is something that can only be good for the sport and it’s growth, it’s encouraging to see so many famous faces putting Jiu-Jitsu into the forefront of the public consciousness.
Nice piece – good to have some positivity thanks! But pretty sure Mustaine only has a credit on 2 Metallica albums…