James Boran is a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt under Joe Moreira, and a pioneering figure for this martial art in the United States, being among the first 12 grapplers outside Brazil to earn a black belt in BJJ, a group often named as the Dirty Dozen. A former American football player, Boran carried his competitive drive to jiu jitsu being highly decorated as a black belt while competing for almost 4 decades in this sport. In jiu jitsu James Boran has won important tournaments such as the World Masters Championship, the Word No-Gi Championship as well as the Pan American Championship on numerous occasions.