John Will
John Will is an Australian jiu-jitsu coral belt and the founder of Will-Machado BJJ.
Biography
Sources for this profile
BJJ Australasia, 'John Will', undated organisation biography.(opens in a new tab)
His own organisation's biography says that in the seventies and early eighties he trained extensively throughout Indonesia, Thailand, India and Japan, and that he was a multi-style black belt at a time when that was unusual.
Where in the source: JOHN WILL; opening paragraph: 'In the seventies and early eighties he trained extensively throughout Indonesia, Thailand, India and Japan.' Followed by 'He was a multi-style Black Belt'.
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In the 1980s he founded Blitz, which the organisation describes as Australia's leading martial arts magazine.
Where in the source: JOHN WILL; second paragraph: 'In the 80’s he founded Blitz, Australia’s Leading Martial Arts Magazine'.
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In the late 1980s he shifted focus to the United States and began training with kickboxer Benny Urquidez, Gene LeBell and the Machado brothers.
Where in the source: JOHN WILL; second paragraph: 'In the late 80’s he switched focus to the USA' and 'Benny ‘the Jet’ Urquidez, Gene LeBell and the Machado brothers'.
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After several training trips to Brazil and repeated trips to Los Angeles, he introduced Brazilian jiu-jitsu to Australia, and was the first Australian awarded a black belt in the art.
Where in the source: JOHN WILL; “After several training trips to Brazil and numerous more to LA, he introduced the art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to Australian shores.” Next sentence: “The 1st Australian to be awarded his Black Belt in that art”.
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The organisation says he conducts more than 80 seminars a year, in Australia and abroad.
Where in the source: JOHN WILL; fourth paragraph: 'He conducts more than 80 seminars a year both here and overseas'.
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The organisation says he is contracted by military and law-enforcement groups to train defensive-tactics instructors, and that he teaches regularly at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra, at police academies across Australia and New Zealand, and at Quantico.
Where in the source: JOHN WILL; fourth paragraph: 'contracted by various military and law enforcement groups'; 'Defensive Tactics Instructor staff'; 'Australian Defence Forces Academy in Canberra'; 'police academies throughout Australia and New Zealand'; 'even at Quantico'.
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The organisation says he has won a Martial Arts Instructor of the Year award three times.
Where in the source: JOHN WILL; paragraph beginning 'As three time winner of the prestigious ‘Martial Arts – Instructor of the Year’ award'.
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He has written an autobiographical series called Rogue Black Belt, sold through the organisation's own site.
Where in the source: JOHN WILL; final line: 'John's autobiographical series' and 'Rogue Black Belt'.
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BJJ Australasia, 'About Us: Charter for Will-Machado BJJ (BJJ Australasia), Membership Regulations: 2014'.(opens in a new tab)
The Will-Machado BJJ (BJJ Australasia) charter names Mr John Will as the organisation's founder and director.
Where in the source: ABOUT US; 'CHARTER FOR WILL-MACHADO BJJ (BJJ AUSTRALASIA) Membership Regulations: 2014'; Membership Fees: 'the founder and director of the organization – Mr John Will'.
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The charter defines the organisation as the schools in the Australasian region that trace their Brazilian jiu-jitsu lineage directly to the Machado brothers.
Where in the source: ABOUT US; Mission Statement: 'located in the Australasian region' and 'trace their Brazilian Jiu Jitsu lineage directly to the Machado brothers, originally of Brazil'.
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John Will is identified as founder and director of Will-Machado BJJ (BJJ Australasia).
Where in the source: ABOUT US; 'CHARTER FOR WILL-MACHADO BJJ (BJJ AUSTRALASIA) Membership Regulations: 2014'; Membership Fees: 'the founder and director of the organization – Mr John Will'.
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BJJ Australasia, 'Dirty Dozen Curriculum - John Will', 28 August 2025.(opens in a new tab)
In August 2025 the organisation announced two training manuals by him, Dirty Dozen BJJ Vol. 1: Essential Tactics and Dirty Dozen BJJ Vol. 2: Level Up Your Game, reworked from professional manuals previously sold to martial arts schools.
Where in the source: DIRTY DOZEN CURRICULUM - JOHN WILL; 'Posted on 28 August, 2025 by Geoff Grant'; the two bullets 'Dirty Dozen BJJ Vol. 1: Essential Tactics' and 'Dirty Dozen BJJ Vol. 2: Level Up Your Game'; next paragraph begins 'Originally produced as professional manuals sold to martial arts schools'.
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BJJ Australasia, 'John Will - BJJ Coral Belt', 17 September 2025.(opens in a new tab)
BJJ Australasia's September 2025 announcement identifies the coral-belt recipient as John Will.
Where in the source: JOHN WILL - BJJ CORAL BELT; 'Posted on 17 September, 2025 by Geoff Grant'; first paragraph names 'Rigan Machado' and 'John'.
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Rigan Machado presented John Will with a coral belt on 14 September 2025, described on the association announcement as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu seventh-degree black belt.
Where in the source: JOHN WILL - BJJ CORAL BELT; 'On Sunday September 14th 2025 Rigan Machado presented John with his Coral Belt. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu 7th Degree Black Belt'.
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BJJ Australasia records John Will’s coral belt presentation in September 2025.
Where in the source: JOHN WILL - BJJ CORAL BELT; 'On Sunday September 14th 2025 Rigan Machado presented John with his Coral Belt. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu 7th Degree Black Belt'.
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BJJ Australasia, 'Ranks', undated current directory.(opens in a new tab)
BJJ Australasia's ranks page lists John Will as organisation head and a seventh-degree black belt.
Where in the source: RANKS; STATE HEADS: 'Organisation head: John Will – 7th degree Black Belt'.
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BJJ Australasia lists John Will at seventh degree.
Where in the source: RANKS; STATE HEADS: 'Organisation head: John Will – 7th degree Black Belt'.
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Rigan Machado Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Association, 'Rigan Machado Black Belts', undated.(opens in a new tab)
Rigan Machado's association lists John Will among Rigan Machado Certified Black Belts.
Where in the source: Rigan Machado Certified Black Belts; entry '5. John Will', between Erik Paulson and David Meyer. The numbering is list order, not a competition placement.
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Sonny Brown, 'John Will On Designing BJJ Lessons & Learning Jiu-Jitsu', 22 November 2021.(opens in a new tab)
A 2021 Sonny Brown interview introduces John B. Will as Australia's first Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and discusses four decades of coaching.
Where in the source: John Will On Designing BJJ Lessons & Learning Jiu-Jitsu; 'Nov 22, 2021'; opening paragraph: 'four decades of coaching' and 'Australia’s first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black-belt'.
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In his interview with Sonny Brown, Will explains that he starts lessons with a technique’s underlying purpose and basic form before adding variations.
Where in the source: Deciding what to include in the BJJ class; 'focus on the basic idea'.
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Will says his advanced students should move to improve their view, ask questions and seek clarification, taking responsibility for how they learn.
Where in the source: Encouraging students to take full responsibility for their own learning; 'they will walk, move, ask a question'.
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BJJ Australasia, 'Competition', undated; repeated in '2026 Will Machado BJJ Championships', 5 May 2026.(opens in a new tab)
His own organisation describes him as a member of the group it calls the Dirty Dozen, and as the well-spring of Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the Southern Hemisphere.
Where in the source: COMPETITION; HOW DOES THE GATHERING DIFFER FROM OTHER COMPS?: 'John Will - ‘Dirty Dozen’ member and the well-spring of BJJ in the Southern Hemisphere'.
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The organisation says that when its championship began in the 1990s, he was the only black belt in the antipodes.
Where in the source: COMPETITION; HOW DOES THE GATHERING DIFFER FROM OTHER COMPS?: 'It began back in the 90’s' and 'The only Black Belt in the ‘antipodes’ at that time was John Will'.
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Redcat Academy, 'John Will', undated; and BJJ Australasia, 'Victoria', undated club directory.(opens in a new tab)
His own academy is Redcat Academy in Geelong, his home town, and the academy says he is most often found there despite the demand for his teaching elsewhere.
Where in the source: Our Coach John Will: 'he is most often found at RedCat Academy, in his home-town of Geelong.' Also VICTORIA at https://www.bjj.com.au/pages/victoria: 'John Will's Redcat Academy'.
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John Will, 'Vajramushti - The Mallapurana', BJJ Australasia, undated first-person account.(opens in a new tab)
In his own account he obtained a rare book, the Mallapurana, in Delhi, then travelled south to Baroda to find its author and spent a week training with him - the last remaining member of the Jyesthimalla family, who he says were professional bodyguards for more than 1400 years.
Where in the source: VAJRAMUSHTI - THE MALLAPURANA; 'After obtaining a copy of the book in Delhi'; 'the last remaining member of this fighting family'; 'HE OPENED IT! The author!!!'; 'I ended up spending a week with him'; 'professional Bodyguards for more than 1400 years'.
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He describes the family art, vajramushti, as a submission-grappling art in which a carved-bone knuckleduster is used to add force to strikes, and says he trained with a cloth wrapped around his knuckles rather than the weapon.
Where in the source: VAJRAMUSHTI - THE MALLAPURANA; 'a submission-grappling based art'; 'using a carved-bone knuckleduster'; 'as a novice, I trained with a cloth'; 'woven around my right knuckles'.
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John Will, 'Knuckledusters & Luck', John Will's Blog, 8 November 2007.(opens in a new tab)
In a 2007 post on his own blog he describes the Mallapurana as one of only 500 copies, printed in the 1960s and largely in ancient Sanskrit, and says he acquired it from the state reference library in New Delhi.
Where in the source: KNUCKLEDUSTERS & LUCK; 'only 500 copies had ever been published, and those back in the 1960’s'; 'the larger part of which is written in the ancient Sanskrit language'; paragraph begins 'I had acquired in my previous visit'.
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- Conflicting accounts
He has written about this episode on several occasions by his own account, and the tellings differ in their particulars. Known differences, and the list is not asserted to be complete: whether a priest at a Vishnu temple sent him to the house or he knocked on the door himself because the temple seemed deserted; whether the man who opened it was the book's author or one of the fighters pictured in it; whether he trained with that one man, whom the organisation page twice calls the last of the family, or with several of the last practitioners; whether the man was in his late seventies or in his eighties; and whether the family's work as bodyguards runs back nearly a thousand years or more than fourteen hundred. Only the 2011 post dates the journey, to a trip to India in the 1980s.
Where in the source: KNUCKLEDUSTERS & LUCK; final paragraph: 'told us to go and ask at the house across the street'; 'a man in his late seventies'; 'the man in the photo!'. Compare the organisation’s VAJRAMUSHTI - THE MALLAPURANA and the 2011 THE LOST ART OF THE JETTI .... VAJRAMUSHTI., whose counterpart claims are carried in this dossier.
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He describes vajramushti as a grappling art in which fighters strapped a knuckleduster to the right hand and struck any part of the body, a contest ending only in unconsciousness or a spoken submission, and says it was at one time declared illegal in India.
Where in the source: KNUCKLEDUSTERS & LUCK; 'knuckledusters tied to their right hands'; 'deliver blows to any part of the adversaries body'; 'rendered unconscious or gave a verbal admission of defeat'; 'at one time was declared illegal in India'.
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John Will, 'The lost art of the Jetti .... Vajramushti.', John Will's Blog, 6 June 2011.(opens in a new tab)
In a 2011 post he places the vajramushti training on a trip to India in the 1980s, and says it happened before he took up Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Where in the source: THE LOST ART OF THE JETTI .... VAJRAMUSHTI.; June 06, 2011: "during a training trip to India in the 80's"; later 'I trained with them before taking up BJJ'.
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He describes the Jyesthimalla family, now known as the Jetti, as having worked as professional fighters and bodyguards to Indian kings and sultans, and says he trained with some of the last practitioners, wearing cloth on the right hand in place of the weapon.
Where in the source: THE LOST ART OF THE JETTI .... VAJRAMUSHTI.; opening: "The Jetti's (as the Jyesthimalla family are now known)"; 'professional fighting and bodyguard work'; 'various kings and sultans in India'; next paragraph: 'cloth woven between the fingers of our right hands'.
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John Will, 'The Art of Vajramushti', John Will's Blog, 3 February 2021.(opens in a new tab)
In February 2021 he published a re-edited edition of the Mallapurana as a free download, with photographs he took and an account of his own training in the art.
Where in the source: THE ART OF VAJRAMUSHTI; February 03, 2021: 'This is a re-published edition'; 'I have added some old pics that I took and an account of my own encounter and training'; link text 'DOWNLOAD - The Mallapurana: My Vajramushti Encounter'.
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Redcat Academy, Clubworx public academy site, About John Will, undated.(opens in a new tab)
Redcat Academy describes John Will as Australian.
Where in the source: About John Will: 'John Will is an Australian'.
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Redcat Academy says he received his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Rigan Machado and trained with Jean Jacques Machado.
Where in the source: About John Will; final paragraph: 'under Rigan Machado (and trained with Jean Jacques Machado)'.
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BJJ Heroes, “John Will”, accessed 8 October 2026.(opens in a new tab)
BJJ Heroes states that John Will was born in 1957 in Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Where in the source: John Will Biography; opening sentence: “1957 in Geelong, Victoria – Australia.”
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BJJ Heroes, “BJJ Dirty Dozen”, undated; accessed 8 October 2026.(opens in a new tab)
BJJ Heroes lists John Will as number twelve in its amended Dirty Dozen roster.
Where in the source: BJJ Dirty Dozen; entry “12 ... JOHN WILL (AMENDED)”; editor’s note: “making him the #12 of the Dirty Dozen”; next entry “11, 10 AND 9 ... DAVID MEYER”.
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