Micheal A. Cates

Micheal Cates is the head instructor of Kuro Hata BJJ Okinawa. He retired from the US Marines after 21 years and has lived on Okinawa for more than two decades. He began training Brazilian jiu-jitsu in 2010 and in recent years has taught in both English and Japanese on the island. He earned his black belt from Professor Ricardo Guimaraes, his original instructor, while still on active duty, and in September 2021 received his first degree from him as well. His competition highlights include silver at the 2013 Abu Dhabi trials and the 2013 No-Gi Worlds at blue belt, bronze at the 2014 Las Vegas Open at purple, bronze in the Master 2 absolute at the 2018 Asian Championship at brown, silver at the 2021 Nagoya Open and bronze at the 2023 Asian Championship at black belt.