Jerry Smith

Jerry Smith was first introduced to martial arts through his father, also a life-long martial artists, primarily in the striking arts of Tae Kwon Do and Karate, and eventually earned a Nidan (2nd degree blackbelt) in Toushi-Kan Karate along with instructorships in Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Martial Arts.

While attending Junior High School in Virgina Beach, VA, he tried out for and made the wrestling team, his first experience with the grappling arts. He continued to wrestle for three years and started hearing rumblings of “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu”. Unable to find a school for BJJ, he took up Judo in the early 1990’s.

Jerry graduated high school and joined the US Air Force in 1993 which took him to Great Falls, MT where he found a Judo school. His first official exposure to BJJ occurred while on leave at the Beverly Hills Jiu-Jitsu Club in Beverly Hills, CA in 1996, where he was repeatedly humbled by a purple belt half his size! After this event, he decided to dedicate his studies to this art.

In 1997, Jerry relocated to San Antonio, TX with the US Air Force and continued studying Judo. A short time after arriving in TX, he attended a seminar with the legendary Carlos Machado in 1998 and immediately became his student. Jerry trained with Carlos Machado from 1998-2001, travelling back and forth from San Antonio to Dallas for weekly lessons and travelled all over the country attending his many seminars on the weekends. He earned his blue belt from Carlos Machado in 1999 before leaving active-duty military and moving back home to New Jersey in 2001.

Once back in NJ, he resumed his study of Judo due to not having a BJJ academy in the area. He joined the world of law enforcement and simultaneously rejoined the military as an Air Force National Guardsman. This work kept him extremely busy, but he continued to attend as many BJJ seminars as he could to stay active on the mats.

In 2014, Jerry attended a seminar taught by the legendary Rigan Machado, whom he had met through Carlos, back in 1998 in TX. He connected with many of Rigan’s affiliates, earned his purple belt in 2015 and eventually joined his association as an affiliate in 2018 after earning his brown belt.

On July 17, 2021 Jerry earned his blackbelt directly from Rigan Machado after 23 years of training. He continues to train with all five Machado Brothers as often as he can.

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