Anyone have some info on John Danaher?

[crackbaby420**]

I haven't really heard about this guy until recently because of TUF. From what I have heard about him, I am really impressed but curious to know more about him. People speak of him like he is another Rickson and I'm really curious to see this guy roll but unfortunately I can't find a vid. Anyone know of any info on him or if they have trained under him at Renzo's?

Thanks!:icon_chee

 

[eworden78]

I haven't really heard about this guy until recently because of TUF. From what I have heard about him, I am really impressed but curious to know more about him. People speak of him like he is another Rickson and I'm really curious to see this guy roll but unfortunately I can't find a vid. Anyone know of any info on him or if they have trained under him at Renzo's?

Thanks!:icon_chee

Sherdog did an article on him a while ago. I'll try to find.

edit:
found it

Danaher a Behind-the-Scenes Sage for St. Pierre, Others

 

[boboplata***]

instructors from middle-earth are currently in demand.

 

[crackbaby420**]

^thanks

i cant believe there are no vids online of him, at least i cant find em

 

[lechien]

instructors from middle-earth are currently in demand.

Yep. John is a kiwi but he learned the art in NY while doing his PHD.

He was bouncing on part time base as he was a full time student.

BJJ was the art he learned as a result of his part time employment at the time.

 

[crackbaby420**]

has anyone here ever rolled with him or attended a seminar that could share anything?

 

[lechien]

has anyone here ever rolled with him or attended a seminar that could share anything?

Darculino mentionned on his forum that he saw John tapping out a world champion at Renzo.

He is the instructor for advanced class for Renzo Gracie.

so it is all high caliber stuff.

I am impressed by his attitude in the TUF.

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

I haven't really heard about this guy until recently because of TUF. From what I have heard about him, I am really impressed but curious to know more about him. People speak of him like he is another Rickson and I'm really curious to see this guy roll but unfortunately I can't find a vid. Anyone know of any info on him or if they have trained under him at Renzo's?

Thanks!:icon_chee

He's not another Rickson per se, because he has trained with Rickson and regards Rickson as Rickson. If that makes any sense.

He's an excellent instructor, very technical and insightful. I've taken his sub grappling class. It's filled with black and brown belts, which should tell you that even high level guys can learn a lot from him. My instructor is a first degree black belt under Renzo and continues to train with Professor John regularly.

 

[mrpopenfresh]

This guy dosen't even have a wiki page! I am so confused.

 

[YeahBee]

supposedly wore a rashguard to Matt Serras wedding

 

[crackbaby420**]

supposedly wore a rashguard to Matt Serras wedding

that's hilarious

just from what ive recently heard about him, i want to go to new york to train with him, it makes me wonder how other schools in manhattan stay in business with john as competition, no diss to marcelo and the others :icon_chee

so crazy to think that his classes are full of blacks and browns, i knw he started training at 28, when did he get his black? at what age?

 

[lechien]

Not sure about the age.

But John has not competed and therefore cannot be compared to Marcelo on competition basis.

 

[SuperSuperRambo]

just from what ive recently heard about him, i want to go to new york to train with him, it makes me wonder how other schools in manhattan stay in business with john as competition, no diss to marcelo and the others :icon_chee

Marcelo Garcia and Vitor Shaolin are multiple time world champions and teach 95% of their classes, and Alliance NYC turns out high quality sport competitors on the regular. Those are the other major schools in Manhattan, and that's how they stay in business. The appeal in Renzo's is not just John Danaher, but that they have a ton of high ranking people there for training partners, and unlike the other 3 train people for MMA. Each school is great and has its own appeal.

 

[Brian McLaughlin]

I took 4 of his Monday no-gi classes at Renzo's a month back.

John is very soft spoken and articulate. From what I saw he begins his instruction with a technique from the feet (very judo influenced). He then works into a ground positioning and submission sequence. He moves through his techniques quickly, but shows how they are all sequenced together logically. Then 5 x 5 minute rounds of rolling always starting from the feet.

The thing I really liked was how quickly I could apply John's techniques. He went over a kimura throw sequence and I hit it the same day on my first try. Same thing when he showed his near side underhook half guard pass sequence.

His techniques were all in some way different from what I've seen elsewhere (been training 11 years and been around the way). I liked that I felt like I was learning "new" things. That is very rare for me these days.

What I thought could have been different - and this is just my perspective, not an outright criticism. He moves quickly through the techniques. I wish I had more time to drill them and develop the muscle memory. He usually taught about 4 moves - there was always one technique that I didn't fell I "got".

A weird thing I found about the class structure - no one asked any questions, even thought while drilling I would hear people confused about certain details. I'm very used to calling the instructor over or raising my hand to ask a question while they are demo-ing. I saw that no one was doing so and being that I was a drop in (i.e. "new guy") I wasn't going to talk out of turn. Now the class was HUGE, must have been 40-50 guys in the room so its not like he could individually evaluate each person. John just seemed to have such incredible knowledge that having him answer my questions would have been awesome.

Hopefully I'll be able to scrape together some more cash and make it out to more of his classes. Between gas, tolls, and parking I was down $40 before I even thought about the mat fee so regretfully I had to stop going.

 

[jGANK]

Supposedly he was born in a mental institution, and he sleeps only one hour a night. He's a great man,...

 

[Kainan]

Sam Sheridan interviewed him in his second book, A Fighter's Mind. He seems like a cool guy and he really knows his bjj.

 

[Drew Foster]

supposedly wore a rashguard to Matt Serras wedding

Yep. He never takes off his rashguard. He wears it everywhere from what I hear.

No one mentioned it here, and it's not a huge deal, because Aoki and Drysdale, among others, invented the position without help. But, Danaher was the one who showed the Darce choke to Joe D'Arce who showed it to Laimon and Glover, who spread it to popularity.

 

[Jeff Goldblum]

 

[bora y]

i've met john on 2 occasions about a year and a half apart.
one time he was filling in for a blue class at renzo nyc while i was visiting. it was about 3 months after I had started bjj, so i was very green, and his techniques went over my head for the most part.

the second time was in may, so i had trained about 2 years at that point, and i understood about half his moves, and one butterfly sequence in particular really helped me.

during the rolling rounds at the may class, i was tooled by a couple of purple belts and i got beat up by some blue belts, so i decided i would take a round off to talk to him. we talked about bjj for maybe 2 minutes, then we talked about what i should study in university for maybe 10. it was a cool conversation, and he told me he was thinking about coming to ottawa to give us a seminar in the summer... unfortunately TUF kinda got in the way hahaha.

 

[Dead Roman]

Sam Sheridan interviewed him in his second book, A Fighter's Mind. He seems like a cool guy and he really knows his bjj.

Thanks for that, I had totally forgotten about that reference. I just finished reading it again, it is in the "gunslinger" chapter on page 235. The interview starts about halfway down the page and continues for 2-3 pages. Excellent stuff.