William Tackett

William Tackett is an American no-gi specialist and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Rodrigo "Brucutu" Cabral of Brazilian Fight Factory in Austin, Texas. Born on May 14, 2001, in Orange County, California, he moved with his family to Austin at age four. He started jiu-jitsu around age eight at Team Rabadi after a gym opened near the family home—his father signed himself and the boys after a lifelong fascination with martial arts. Early NAGA wins with younger brother Andrew set the tone; a third brother, Caleb, later joined the mats as well.

In 2017 the brothers moved to Cabral's Fight Factory for a harder competition room. Arriving as a blue belt, William immediately piled up IBJJF No-Gi juvenile and adult blue-belt titles, then built a prodigy reputation beating established adult black belts while still a colored belt—most famously heel-hooking Fellipe Andrew at Third Coast Grappling 5 in 2020. BJJ Heroes featured him as only the third brown belt in the site's history. Cabral promoted him to black belt on March 27, 2021. His game is often described as "scramble-jitsu": wrestling-led pace, back attacks, and a high submission rate via rear-naked chokes, heel hooks, calf slicers, and toe holds.

On the ADCC circuit he became a Trials fixture—silver in 2019 and 2021 (losing the 2021 East Coast final to Kade Ruotolo), gold at the 2022 West Coast Trials at 77 kg, then gold again in 2024 at 88 kg with a toe-hold finish of Jay Rodriguez. That 2024 weekend, he and Andrew became the first brothers to win ADCC Trials side-by-side. Both then withdrew from ADCC Worlds for the Craig Jones Invitational's life-changing purse; William lost a decision to João Gabriel Rocha in the +80 kg opening round. He later signed an exclusive UFC BJJ deal, relocated to Las Vegas for Performance Institute access, and continued as a middleweight on Fight Pass / UFC BJJ cards—including quick finishes of Achilles Rocha and Kyle Chambers, a title-level loss to Ronaldo Junior, and a 2026 heel-hook win over Manuel Ribamar.