Are there any famous grapplers that started at the age of 18?

Besides BJ Penn I think? It's amazing how truly gifted Penn is at jiu jitsu, seeing how many of the great JJ grapplers of the day started at like age 2 or 5?

 

Funny you ask, since fellow Cesar Gracie protege David Terrell started around 18 IIRC.

 

joey scarola and matt serra both started around that age

 

I thought Serra started when he was 16?

 

Dave Terrell did start at 18. Most guys in their late 20's or early 30's who are fighters started at around 18.

Dave was a wrestler first. His dad was a grappler as well. He probably wrestled at an early age.

 

frabicio werdum

 

while starting at an early age may give an advantage dont ever underestimate the power of hard work...its all about the time u put in and how much u want it

 

Eddie Bravo startedin his 20's

 

I'm not sure how good of a wrestler eddie bravo was in high school, but I think the point of the author of this thread was that BJ Penn started basically from scratch.

 

Jacare started at 17, but had a year's Judo behind him. Shinya started at...Fuck, college age? He had collegiate judo behind him though too.

 

Most likely that Aoki did Judo in school, most schools in Japan have Judo in their sports curriculum.

 

i was going to say i wish we had judo too, but instead we have wrestling. but japan has wrestling as well.

+1 for more combat sports in middle / high school

 

Contrary to what a lot believe, Nog only started BJJ at 18 I think. He was boxing a few years before he started BJJ.

 

that's what i love about bjj. you don't necessarily have to have had started training since you were a kid to become good at it. you just have to be smart, a fast learner, and willing to work hard.

 

Yup, he was a top five collegiate Judoka.

I believe he started out in Judo. Like a lot of people thinking about it. He did also box though.

 

BJ Penn wrestled in high school, didn't he?

 

didnt Damian Maia start in his 20's

 

BMA_MAT started at around that age and was a legend after three months!

 

john danaher started in his 20's

 

there's plenty of them.

Cobrinha started fairly late IIRC