# Luke Griffith > ## Overview **Name:** Luke Griffith ## Bio Luke Griffith was born on December 27, 2000, in South Africa. Being the son of a jiu-jitsu practitioner and black belt, it didn’t take long until Luke started learning the sport. By the time he was 5 years old, he was already on the mats with his dad, Lloyd Griffith. Although his training started with his father, coach Bobby Karagiannidis was also an important piece of Luke’s early jiu-jitsu upbringing. He also promoted Griffith up to the purple belt rank. As the young athlete grew up he became more interested in the no-gi aspect of the game, leading to his decision to travel to the USA to train with one of the best coaches in the game, John Danaher . In November 2021, Luke took his first vacation to Austin, Texas. His idea was to train as much as possible at the Renzo Gracie Academy there, where coach John Danaher taught to a standard/hobbyist crowd, but after assessing Griffith’s talent, Danaher invited the South African to come and train with John’s professional athletes workgroup at the Roka Training Centre where he eventually earned his brown belt on June 25, 2022. NOTE REGARDING LUKE GRIFFITH’S RECORD Traditionally BJJ Heroes has only accounted for black belt records as they signify an athlete’s entry into our sport’s elite ranks. Luke, however, is a special case as he’s been competing in the pro-grappling circuit and being very successful at it since his colored belt days. This has left BJJ Heroes with a delicate predicament of defining when to start accounting for the young prodigy’s match records. Considering that no-gi jiu-jitsu has slightly different dynamics to that of the gi ruleset and athletes tend to compete at the pro level much earlier (especially if they are representing certain pro teams), we have decided to add Griffith’s matches at the upper echelon of the circuit in years before his black belt promotion. --- **Last Updated:** March 21, 2026 **Data Source:** BJJ.Space (https://bjj.space/people/luke-griffith-6bc4f82b8faf)