Black belt 1st degree

December 6, 2025Phoenix, AZ

Same day as the next belt

Megaton gave me my 1st and 2nd degree stripes on Saturday, December 6, 2025

Megaton was the exclusive promoter for my black belt, with Royler Gracie watching, only present as the seminar instructor.

Purple belt

December 2, 2006Scottsdale, AZ

9 years, 3 days

The Internet Archive confirms my December 2006 purple belt promotion. View the original academy website record here: https://web.archive.org/w[...];Itemid=27

White belt

February 1, 1998Boulder, CO

5 years, 10 months, 2 days

Inspired by the early UFC tapes I borrowed while working at Blockbuster part-time in college, I started training shortly after Amal Easton returned from Brazil as a purple belt. At the time, he and/or Mark Johnson were renting mat time from Tim Wolchek at Karate America (2560 28th St., Boulder). I was one of Amal’s first ten or so students, built his first website https://web.archive.org/w[...]ulder.com/ and steered him toward and helped him teach University of Colorado Rec Center classes that fed a few students to his off-campus academy. Amal soon opened his own place first called "Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Boulder" next to CompUSA (1750 30th St., Boulder). During summers, I left for CA to train with my brother at Fabio Santos in San Diego, CA with Jeff Higgs, Dean Lister, and Jerry Costa and also submission wrestling at "SLO Kickboxing" with UFC alums Chuck Lidell, Scott Adams, Gan McGee and Jason Von Flue in San Luis Obispo, CA. A few years later, a white belt who had jumped around different gyms, I took a scouting trip to Phoenix to figure out where I wanted to settle down on my jiu jitsu journey. Driving south on I-17, I noticed a “Megaton” academy sticker on blue belt Mike Graeber’s Trans Am. I looked up who Megaton was, and that chance sighting ended up shaping my move - I started focusing my housing search near his academy so I could train there. Small, chance moments can have a big impact on later life events! Mike is now the lead instructor at Gracie Humaitá Kansas City and I went from white to black with Megaton.