In a recent AMA on Reddit’s r/bjj community, Mike Kroeger, bassist for the hugely popular rock band Nickelback, revealed that he is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu purple belt under Rigan Machado. The longtime martial artist shared several fun facts and stories about his unconventional jiu-jitsu journey:
Kroeger’s BJJ journey began after his first disastrous CrossFit class on Maui, when his coach invited him to try out a jiu-jitsu class right after.
Despite being humbled by CrossFit, he figured “it couldn’t get worse” and attended his first BJJ class at the Carlson Gracie School that day.
He doesn’t do live sparring when on tour to avoid potential injuries that could derail Nickelback’s shows. However, he travels with mats and will do technique training and drilling with crew members.
Kroeger mostly trains incognito, wearing an unmarked white gi. He often drops into random schools without revealing his rock star identity, simply being “another purple belt.”
He has fractured both thumbs from BJJ over his 20-year grappling career and had to record an album and go on tour with the injuries.
At Montreal’s Tristar Gym, Kroeger declined to roll with someone after they insisted, saying he’d accept if they wrote him a $5 million check first to cover potential show cancelations.
While his bandmates think he’s “a lunatic” for doing BJJ, Kroeger has choked out a rising celebrity pupil of Rigan’s who is now a purple belt.
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Kroeger’s current favorite song is “Invincible” by Tool and he enjoys English trip-hop group Massive Attack.
His dream match? Refereeing while legendary drummer Danny Carey from Tool “just kills everyone” if Nickelback and Tool’s full bands grappled.
The purple belt reveals he sometimes wristlocks overeager white belts rather than ankle picking them.
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Nowadays, Kroeger is working on improving his open guard and butterfly guard games.
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So while Nickelback may be infamous for getting hated on, no one can deny Mike Kroeger’s dedication to the jiu-jitsu lifestyle as a longtime grappler and representative of BJJ’s spirit on the road.
