Luke Griffith

Brown Belt
Instagram: @luke_griffithjj

My jiu jitsu journey started in South Africa in 2006 as a five year old. My dad was a purple belt at the time and started training myself and my sister at a little home gym. Over the years we went through stages of like and dislike for the sport, but once I got around the age of 15 or 16 I really started to enjoy it. So I started competing locally and doing very well in the adult divisions as there were not many people my age, I then decided to try my luck at an international event… ADCC trials.

I had no idea what to expect as this was my first competition outside of my home country and very quickly found out how difficult it would be to succeed there. And after another failed attempt 1 year later I was contemplating quitting the sport. I decided to take a visit to Austin Texas as the formerly known Danaher death squad had just relocated from Puerto Rico to Texas. My idea was get to train with John and see how different it really is if it will make a difference and maybe do a few competitions in the 4 weeks there. In an unexpected turn of events John asked me to come to the pro training at Roka, presumably because I was a larger training partner for guys like Gordon. But I was in disbelief, to hear those words from John Danaher was a dream come true.

I started training with the pros, and never looked back, my initial 4 week vacation turned into almost 4 years that I’ve been away from home now. I’ve gone from trying to win ADCC trials to winning 2 trials and 2 ADCC WORLDS appearances and an ADCC Worlds silver medal. I am extremely thankful for the opportunity’s that have been presented to me and I plan to keep pushing as much as I can in an attempt to be the best ever.