Ron Van Clief Still Training at 82
At 82 years old, “The Black Dragon” Ron van Clief is still training Jiu-Jitsu and competing. If you’re a martial arts historian, you are very familiar with van Clief.
Clief was a student of numerous styles of martial arts, from various forms of Karate, Wing Chun, Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, and Ninjutsu. Through his extensive martial arts training, Clief became an action movie star during the 1970s and 1980s.
He also found the time to win numerous world and national titles in Karate in between starting in action films. Then, at the age of 51, he faced Royce Gracie in UFC 4, which he lost by submission. Despite that loss, Ron Van Clief showed that he was a true martial artist who never stopped learning.
Over 16 years later, Clief began training Jiu-Jitsu in his later 60s with Joe Moreira. In 2015, he starting competing as a blue belt and is still competing.
Now, at 82, Van Clief is a brown belt and training under the brother of his former opponent, Relson Gracie, in Hawaii.
For almost his entire life, Ron van Clief has had an amazing martial arts journey and an inspiration to us all who want to get old and still do the training that we love. The journey continues and we never stop learning.
Bobby is martial artist for almost 20 years with a BJJ black belt under Professor Sergio Miranda. He is also a karate black and former combat sports athlete, who loves all things grappling.