“There’s a running joke in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community that I’m the world’s toughest French historian,” said French History Professor Michael Vann.

While attending a French history conference last year, the joke became reality. Last year at a banquet held after a conference, professor Vann was sitting with his fellow French historians and the topic of what sports they participated in came up. When it was Vann’s turn to share, his fellow historians were very surprised by his answer.

“I told them and there was a long silence,” Vann said. “Yeah, people say I’m perhaps the world’s toughest French historian — they agreed.”

At first glance, Vann appears to be your stereotypical college professor. He wears nice suits, has a calm demeanor and is well educated. What will surprise you is that professor Vann has been doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for 10 years and is also versed in kick boxing and Muay Thai kick boxing.

Vann started his martial arts journey while he was in southern France doing research for his PhD. Vann, who also surfs, found himself 10 hours away from the ocean, so he was unable to surf as often as he would like. He quickly realized that he was in need of a new hobby.

“I wasn’t getting to surf regularly and it hadn’t started snowing yet so I couldn’t snowboard. I had to find the next crazy thing to do,” Vann said. “So I went to a local kick boxing gym and learned international rule and Thai kick boxing and got hooked on that.”

When he returned to the United States, Vann continued his Muay Thai training at a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in Santa Cruz while finishing graduate school at the University of California, Santa Cruz. After two years of training, his Muay Thai trainer went off to graduate school and once again Vann found himself in need of a new activity. Since he was already training at a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school, he changed to the martial art and has been hooked ever since.

“It looked extremely practical, useful and like a lot of fun,” Vann said. “I very quickly discovered that I wasn’t in as much pain as I was when I was kick boxing.”

For Vann, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was more than just a sport. It was a way for him to stay in shape and relieve some stress from graduate school and work.

“It’s an incredible stress relief – my teaching load, my research, the professional organizations I’m involved with? all these things I’m doing – it’s just very stressful,” said Vann. “At the end of the day when I can go and have this physical release, it calms me down tremendously.”

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has created good habits and discipline for Vann. It has helped him watch his weight, work on his cardio and led him to yoga, which he says relaxes him physically and mentally. Vann has also noticed similarities between yoga and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

“Sometimes I joke – I say Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is just violent yoga,” Vann said.

Yoga has helped in Vann’s flexibility. Competitors underestimate him because they are not used to seeing a big man as flexible as he is.

“I was very surprised how someone of his stature moves the way he does,” said Shavez Kaleem, a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Sac State graduate student.

Through Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Vann has been able to make friends around the world. During a business trip in southeast Asia last year, Vann was able to make new friends by going to local Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu clubs. Vann said he was welcomed with open arms. In Jakarta, a city in Indonesia, one of the men at the club volunteered to drive him around the city and show him the sights.

“It’s like you have a family anywhere around the world,” Vann said.

Professor Vann said he has learned a lot through his 10 years of training. He has learned to respect and trust other people as well as self-control. He also learned to be humble – a lesson he learned in France.

“Being 6’3″ and learning kick boxing in France with guys who are normally about 5’4″ taught me an incredible amount of humility,” said Vann. “My physical size is simply not enough; technique and knowledge go so much further, and can overcome physical size and strength. That was a very humbling experience.”

With all of his training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, kick boxing and Muay Thai, it’s not hard to see why in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community professor Vann is considered the toughest French historian in the world.

Felipe Molina can be reached at [email protected]