The first American BJJ black belt???

Craig Kukuk lives about 5 miles from my gym in a little town called Eagle, Idaho. He has been training guys out of his garage for years, in No Gi mostly. He just gave one of the guys I know a brown belt. This year he has tried his hand at opening an MMA gym in the area. No word on how it is doing.
I heard that the fallout with Kukuk and Renzo was over Kuku's Jiu jitsu A-Z videos. renzo agreed to be in them and they sold a zillion copies back in the day. Renzo wanted or thought they should split the profits Kukuk said no, and that was the end of their relationship.
I wish that the Movie "Legancy" had show KUKUk. They really had to edit it good, because what I hear they were really tight in the beginning.
 
I have trained with Craig Kukuk for the past 5 years. He is the first American bb. He got it the secont time he lived in Brazil from Royler and Helio Gracie, not Renzo. That was in the early 90's. Roryon put out a letter in kung fu and bb magazine saying he was happy to announce Craig as the first American bb. Anyone that realy knows Craig Knows that he has some of the best bjj in the world. After he got his bb he moved to New York to open some schools. Then he made the tapes with Renzo and asked him if he wanted to move to the US and teach for him, he said yes so Craig got him a work visa. Years later they split up because of tax issues and Renzo wanted to go on his own. Matt Serra, Nick Serra, Nick's twin brother, and their dad all trained with Craig but went with Renzo after the split. Craig then moved to Boise, ID. and made the a-z tapes with a Roryon bb Lowel Anderson. He has been teaching small group classes and privates at his house but just recently he opened a school in Meridian, ID. So his kids would have a place to train. If you have any questions feel free. Boise Jiu Jitsu Meridian Jiu Jitsu Idaho Jiu Jitsu MMA Freestyle Training Center – Freestyle Training Center
 
nktkd2000 said:
I have trained with Craig Kukuk for the past 5 years. He is the first American bb. He got it the secont time he lived in Brazil from Royler and Helio Gracie, not Renzo. That was in the early 90's. Roryon put out a letter in kung fu and bb magazine saying he was happy to announce Craig as the first American bb. Anyone that realy knows Craig Knows that he has some of the best bjj in the world. After he got his bb he moved to New York to open some schools. Then he made the tapes with Renzo and asked him if he wanted to move to the US and teach for him, he said yes so Craig got him a work visa. Years later they split up because of tax issues and Renzo wanted to go on his own. Matt Serra, Nick Serra, Nick's twin brother, and their dad all trained with Craig but went with Renzo after the split. Craig then moved to Boise, ID. and made the a-z tapes with a Roryon bb Lowel Anderson. He has been teaching small group classes and privates at his house but just recently he opened a school in Meridian, ID. So his kids would have a place to train. If you have any questions feel free. Boise Jiu Jitsu Meridian Jiu Jitsu Idaho Jiu Jitsu MMA Freestyle Training Center
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nktkd2000 said:
I have trained with Craig Kukuk for the past 5 years. He is the first American bb. He got it the secont time he lived in Brazil from Royler and Helio Gracie, not Renzo. That was in the early 90's. Roryon put out a letter in kung fu and bb magazine saying he was happy to announce Craig as the first American bb. Anyone that realy knows Craig Knows that he has some of the best bjj in the world. After he got his bb he moved to New York to open some schools. Then he made the tapes with Renzo and asked him if he wanted to move to the US and teach for him, he said yes so Craig got him a work visa. Years later they split up because of tax issues and Renzo wanted to go on his own. Matt Serra, Nick Serra, Nick's twin brother, and their dad all trained with Craig but went with Renzo after the split. Craig then moved to Boise, ID. and made the a-z tapes with a Roryon bb Lowel Anderson. He has been teaching small group classes and privates at his house but just recently he opened a school in Meridian, ID. So his kids would have a place to train. If you have any questions feel free. Boise Jiu Jitsu Meridian Jiu Jitsu Idaho Jiu Jitsu MMA Freestyle Training Center
Click to expand...
 
Teedoh74 said:
Wow. Good to see he came out of hiding and now there is a recent video of him. Good luck in his new school.
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I am surprised to see that he is not "promoting" the BJJ image at his new "freestyle training center".
 
When did Chuck Norris get his black belt?
 
TheMaster said:
List of the first 12 non Brazilians

https://www.bjjee.com/articles/old-school-the-dirty-dozen-the-first-12-non-brazilian-black-belts/

I like how when this thread was created it really meant something.

Sadly I don't think BJJ belts generally mean anything like they used to these days at all.
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Why did you necro this??

I actually met Ken Gabreilson once. I live in Colorado Springs now and he has a school there. Local legend is he actually got his black belt before Kukuk. Whether that is true or not, I don't know because I obviously was not there. But I know that Ken himself claims he was the first.
 
Blayt7hh said:
Why did you necro this??

I actually met Ken Gabreilson once. I live in Colorado Springs now and he has a school there. Local legend is he actually got his black belt before Kukuk. Whether that is true or not, I don't know because I obviously was not there. But I know that Ken himself claims he was the first.
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Because like I said it paints a stark contrast to the days when having the blackbelt really was something special and a rare achievement, and how in two decades its just completely gone the other way now where a belt doesn't mean anything like it used to.
 
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