Jean-Jacques Machado

 Mike, Canadian jiu jitsu student from ACMA in Ontario, sent me these interviews for your enjoyment. As he put it, "I think that the Machados are an interesting branch in the BJJ tree... Professor Jean Jacques is a super nice guy with amazing and interesting stories to tell and share...We had dinner with him the night before this interview was taken. He told us some interesting stories of visiting the Gracie farm in the mountains of Brazil and training with all his cousins at a small age... very cool stuff.  . . .   I think it is important for people to see the masters who stuck with jiu jitsu purely for the love of it- long before it was popular or considered "hip."  To showcase what I am talking about, one candid comment Jean Jacques Machado shared during the dinner was he has a law degree... rather than practice law and earn a decent living... He (and his brothers) chose to travel to American public schools to put on free seminars introducing people to jiu jitsu.... Talk about love and belief in your art."

Jits Magazine's David Abbou talks with BJJ legend Jean Jacques Machado about a few of his philosophies and updates of late. In part one, JJ talks about how he runs his seminars, what students should learn from a seminar and how it felt for him to finally receive his coral belt from another BJJ legend.



In part two, JJ talks about his career, his opinion on the BJJ scene in Canada and the importance of keeping sport and combat jiu-jitsu separated.



Here, Jean Jacques Machado shows one of his favorite sweeps when someone is about to pass your guard and you reverse with a slick sweep to crucifix.



Thanks Mike for sharing!