Marc Baquerizo, the 5th American BJJ black belt

The first 12 non-Brazilian black belts are known, collectively, as the dirty dozen. They have amazing stories from the early days of jiu-jitsu in America, but in many cases, too little is known about them. Marc Baquerizo is the first American student of the legendary jiujitsu practitioner and UFC fighter Joe Moreira. Marc was the fifth American to get a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but his BJJ Heroes biography simply says: "Not much is known of Baquerizo." When we found out he'd been living in Raleigh for four years, we knew we needed to fix that. Here's Marc Baquerizo in his own words, explaining how he chose to train with Joe Moreira, even though Joe spoke no English and Marc spoke no Brazilian Portuguese; talking about the Gracie Challenges, and his experience with those; and telling stories about a brawl with Tank Abbott, about meeting Kimo Leopoldo, and how tough Marco Ruas and Allen Goes are. You'll also hear his strongest memory of the day he got his black belt. The answer might surprise you.