POISON drummer Rikki Rockett achieved a significant milestone this week by earning a fourth-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
The 62-year-old musician, who trains under Renato Magno at Street Sports Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Santa Monica, California, shared his accomplishment on Instagram on Saturday (January 27). He posted a photo with Magno and expressed his gratitude, saying, “So this happened today… 4th degree. In just a few words… I am humbled by the journey. Congrats to my Jiu Jitsu brethren and a huge thank you to @renatomagno.streetsports! @streetsportsbjj @bjjc_streetsports @originusa.”
Rockett began his Brazilian jiu-jitsu journey in 1998 under Rigan and Jacques Machado, later supplementing his training with private lessons from Magno.
In a 2019 interview with Jiu-Jitsu Times, Rockett explained his introduction to jiu-jitsu: “Like many people, I saw Royce Gracie in the UFC and wanted to know more. This was around UFC 3. I met Jean Jacques Machado and John Machado at a rally and they invited me to their school. One of the first people I met there was Eddie Bravo. I got tapped about a dozen times by a few people and signed up the next day. I never looked back. I trained at the Tarzana school until purple belt, and when Renato Magno (who came over from Brazil with the Machado brothers) opened Street Sports BJJ, I switched over to that school.”
Discussing his training routines while on tour, Rikki noted the challenges: “I hardly get to train on the road, and it sucks. It’s risk versus livelihood. If I get hurt, a lot of people go home. Promoters don’t like ‘fill-in’ players in this band, and it affects ticket sales. When the original four don’t show up, it’s a pretty big problem. However, I have done a few seminars on the road, and I really love teaching. I can control and sort of ‘read’ who I want to roll with. If I just walk into a school to train, come free training time, every swinging dick in there wants to tap me out so they can say they did.”
