Anyone have some info on John Danaher?

My instructor received his BB from John, and another BB who used to teach at our school, also trained under him extensively and got his BB from him.

I have also heard the stories of how amazing he is-- would love to meet him.
 
I've rolled with him.

Keep in mind I've rolled with Rafael Mendes, Cobrinha, Cyborg, Cavaca, Marcelo Garcia, Pimenta, Rodolfo Vieira etc., etc...and I remain to this day impressed with him and consider him one of the top grapplers I've rolled with (don't ask me to do a numerical list cause it won't happen).

First I'd like to point out how much of a gentleman he was about it. Kirik (owner of the UG) took me on a New England training trek two summers ago if I'd blog about it for the UG. He knows John and took me to Renzo's, telling me to make sure I mention I'm Kirik's friend and to ask kindly if I could roll. I did this and he said, "I really can't, I've got a private lesson right now I'm already a little late for...wait, where are you from?" "Arkansas." "How long are you here?" "Just today." And he changed his mind and took the time to roll with me, little unknown purple belt.

He isn't physically dominating at all. He's one of the smoothest people I've ever rolled with. He didn't force a single thing he just moved six steps ahead of me. I was fascinated and frustrated. He had put so much time and thinking into it that it seemed like he was one of those cutting horses and I was the calf...every flinch of my muscle, any glance, and he knew where I was heading and would beat me to it. Amazing.

Now, of course, I'm a girl and I was a purple belt. But I watched his lesson--that was with a black belt--and he did the same thing. This isn't a nobody black belt, it's someone with a name, and he appeared to be just playing. Very, very, very impressed. He's a VERY intelligent grappler.
 
Dead Roman said:
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.
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The top pick of GSP's team on The Ultimate Fighter is absolutely stuck as Danaher is calmly relaxing.
8x77g.00.gif


I love what he says about Marcelo Garcia:

" Anger just makes people inefficient. Their breathing gets shallow, they're too muscularly tense---they gas faster. Part f what I admire in a fighter like Marcelo Garcia is his ability to control his anger and stay focused. He often get abused physically. He's a smaller guy in the open weight competitions, but you never see him distracted. He's like a laser, focusing on finishing. He has one physical, cold game in mind and nothing distracts him. The abuse is irrelevant."

I love this passage. I try to fight this way, and I really admire other fighters who do also. It's really cool to see people like Garcia, Hall, Glover, Cobrinha, Mendes, and Roger Gracie; who all have animated and fun personalities off the mat, but on the mat it's like they turn blank and it's just going for the finish. Everything else gets closed off. Seriously, look at those dudes when they fight, most of them even have their mouths closed and are nose-breathing.

Anyways, I really wanna do a private with Danaher the next time I visit family in NYC.
 
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Hillary said:
I've rolled with him.

Keep in mind I've rolled with Rafael Mendes, Cobrinha, Cyborg, Cavaca, Marcelo Garcia, Pimenta, Rodolfo Vieira etc., etc...and I remain to this day impressed with him and consider him one of the top grapplers I've rolled with (don't ask me to do a numerical list cause it won't happen).

First I'd like to point out how much of a gentleman he was about it. Kirik (owner of the UG) took me on a New England training trek two summers ago if I'd blog about it for the UG. He knows John and took me to Renzo's, telling me to make sure I mention I'm Kirik's friend and to ask kindly if I could roll. I did this and he said, "I really can't, I've got a private lesson right now I'm already a little late for...wait, where are you from?" "Arkansas." "How long are you here?" "Just today." And he changed his mind and took the time to roll with me, little unknown purple belt.

He isn't physically dominating at all. He's one of the smoothest people I've ever rolled with. He didn't force a single thing he just moved six steps ahead of me. I was fascinated and frustrated. He had put so much time and thinking into it that it seemed like he was one of those cutting horses and I was the calf...every flinch of my muscle, any glance, and he knew where I was heading and would beat me to it. Amazing.

Now, of course, I'm a girl and I was a purple belt. But I watched his lesson--that was with a black belt--and he did the same thing. This isn't a nobody black belt, it's someone with a name, and he appeared to be just playing. Very, very, very impressed. He's a VERY intelligent grappler.
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Hill, in your opinion how important can this intelligence be? Obviously I know you have to be smart and thinking, but can you really get to a point where you can think 6 steps ahead like that? So you're saying he was always ahead of where you needed to be? I'm running into a place in my game where whoever gets ahead wins. I'm mostly rolling with people around purple for example. If I get passed, I usually don't get my guard back or escape. It's the same when I pass. It's kind of like, if I get ahead I stay ahead, and if I get behind I stay behind.

Did you ever have this experience coming up?
 
Hillary said:
First I'd like to point out how much of a gentleman he was about it. Kirik (owner of the UG) took me on a New England training trek two summers ago if I'd blog about it for the UG. He knows John and took me to Renzo's, telling me to make sure I mention I'm Kirik's friend and to ask kindly if I could roll. I did this and he said, "I really can't, I've got a private lesson right now I'm already a little late for...wait, where are you from?" "Arkansas." "How long are you here?" "Just today." And he changed his mind and took the time to roll with me, little unknown purple belt.
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I remember that day :icon_chee Several of us had a good chuckle afterwards because prior to that we could count on zero hands the number of times we had seen John grant a roll to someone who solicited him outside of a private. Not that he dodges people so much as he is very in-demand and consequently a bit selective in who he rolls with during the twelve hours he trains most days. It's one of those "he'll approach YOU, not the other way round" scenarios and frankly, most of us are too chicken-shit to test those boundaries. I recall remarking that "that Hillary girl has the right amount of moxy to do very well in this sport." And look at you now :icon_chee
 
Also, I don't even know if Danaher has ever had any rank in Judo but Dave Camarillo recently said that Danaher is a better Judo teacher than himself. That's wuite a compliment coming from Dave.

Dave said that he has gone back and watched all the Olympic Judo matches over the past 50 or so years, and written down the top 10-15 most successful throws, and that he teaches those the most, or something like that. Like while everyone is training, he'll be playing scientist and then teaching and rolling with the best tactics and techniques. Dave will talk a lot about how amazing NZJohn is if you ask.
 
one.armed.jack said:
I remember that day :icon_chee Several of us had a good chuckle afterwards because prior to that we could count on zero hands the number of times we had seen John grant a roll to someone who solicited him outside of a private. Not that he dodges people so much as he is very in-demand and consequently a bit selective in who he rolls with during the twelve hours he trains most days. It's one of those "he'll approach YOU, not the other way round" scenarios and frankly, most of us are too chicken-shit to test those boundaries. I recall remarking that "that Hillary girl has the right amount of moxy to do very well in this sport." And look at you now :icon_chee
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WOW. That's pretty amazing.
 
one.armed.jack said:
I remember that day :icon_chee Several of us had a good chuckle afterwards because prior to that we could count on zero hands the number of times we had seen John grant a roll to someone who solicited him outside of a private. Not that he dodges people so much as he is very in-demand and consequently a bit selective in who he rolls with during the twelve hours he trains most days. It's one of those "he'll approach YOU, not the other way round" scenarios and frankly, most of us are too chicken-shit to test those boundaries. I recall remarking that "that Hillary girl has the right amount of moxy to do very well in this sport." And look at you now :icon_chee
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LOL I assure you it wasn't as it appeared. Kirik told me to make sure to roll with him, I got embarrassed after class and tried to leave the mat, and Kirik made me go back and ask. It was a mixture of looking at the floor and stuttering. Didn't want to come off cocky at all.
 
Please send my apologies (assuming you still train there) I feel really silly now.
 
Hillary said:
LOL I assure you it wasn't as it appeared. Kirik told me to make sure to roll with him, I got embarrassed after class and tried to leave the mat, and Kirik made me go back and ask. It was a mixture of looking at the floor and stuttering. Didn't want to come off cocky at all.
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I know you enough now by internet reputation to know that cockiness wouldn't have been a factor. But I respect the willingness to give it a shot and I'm glad it paid off. John can be difficult to approach sometimes, even for those of us who see him every day.
 
I've heard nothing but great things about him. I'd love to train with him some day. I'd love to hear him rap about philosophy like he does with GSP's team.
 
John is a pretty cool guy. I remember asking him a question about one of the techniques he showed during class and he did answer my question afterwards.

The guy is always in a rashguard every picture I see. Then one day I see him at WHole foods in NYC when I visited in the winter time. This was about near 11pm when I saw him and it is freezing cold outside. I was wearing layers of clothing and thermal wear with a coat and boots. The guy was eating his meal and had nothing with him except a pen and notepad. After we talked a bit, he left when the store was closing up and all he was wearing was a rashguard, grappling shorts, and a pair of athletic shoes into the cold freezing NYC winter weather. Me and my friend were like ?!?!?!
 
Does anyone have any inside information on why he has never competed?
 
I don't know whether it's gonna hatch into an Ostrich or a Pterodactyl, but that is one huge egg in the nest.
 
I posted this in another thread but figured I'd paste it here for your guys...

So he's from New Zealand, masters in philosphy I think. He's pretty smart guy. Says the word "Mate" a lot. Renzo Blackbelt. Teaches Gi classes while only wearing a gi top, never wears gi pants.

He tends not to roll during class because he's actually paying attention to everyone rolling. From time to time he will critique your roll.

One morning after class, he had everyone sit around him and he went around the room (about 40 people) and pointed out each persons weakness and what they needed to do to improve it. He didn't just point out your weakness for that day, he pointed out the biggest whole in your game. I thought this was probably one of the most impressive things I've seen an instructor do. Everyone was amazed.

He can be moody, but overall he's a good guy who cares about your progression in bjj.

And yes he's always wearing rashguards, he's ready to roll 24/7 lol. He's usually at the academy 7-7.

Here are some Danaher quotes (said with a new zealand accent)
-"Use your left hand....NO... your other left hand!"
-"what move was that?!? (insert name), who gave you your black belt?"
-"Hey mate, if you wanna roll hard, I'll rip your head off"
-"Open your opponents guard, then quickly punch him in the nuts and get to side control"
-"(insert name), that was absolutely horrible, do it again"


His quotes are probably one of the funniest things, we would sit around before class and tell eachother things that john had said to us at one point. It was always a good laugh.
 
Drew Foster said:
The top pick of GSP's team on The Ultimate Fighter is absolutely stuck as Danaher is calmly relaxing.
8x77g.00.gif
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And the sad thing is MJ was already way better than me at BJJ BEFORE he trained with Danaher. One hand tied behind his back might not even cover it now (well, except for the obvious triangle opportunities)).
 
bora y said:
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.
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Bora you're a lucky guy. I've seen him only once in my life and that was when i was only doing jiu jitsu for my first month. I had no idea who he was at all. If i had known now who he was, i would've jumped on the idea of getting a private from him. By the way, what will you study at university?
 
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