Jake Watson

Jake Watson is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under André Maracaba, who is widely regarded as one of the top grapplers of his generation, referenced by FloGrappling.com in their ‘Prospect of the Year’ Award Nominees list (2017) for his purple-brown belt runs on the international BJJ circuit that year. Watson is also an accomplished martial artist in other areas of combat sports, where he holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, a USMTA National Muay Thai title and an Arizona State Golden Gloves title in boxing.

Jake Watson Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Jake Michael Watson

Nickname: N/A

Lineage: C. Gracie > Helio Gracie > Royler Gracie > Regis Lebre > André Maracaba > Jake Watson

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place IBJJF Phoenix Open (2019**)
• 1st Place IBJJF Long Beach Open (2019)
• 1st Place IBJJF Austin Summer Open (2019**)
• 1st Place IBJJF Austin Summer Open NoGi (2019**)
• 2nd Place IBJJF Pan Championship NoGi (2019)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship Juvenile (2013)
• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship NoGi Juvenile (2014**)
• 1st Place IBJJF American Nationals (2016 purple, 2017 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF American Nationals NoGi (2015 / 2016 purple, 2017 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF BJJ Los Angeles Pro (2019 brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship NoGi (2018 brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2018 brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF American Nationals NoGi (2015* purple)
• 2nd Place IBJJF American Nationals (2016 purple)
• 3rd Place IBJJF World Championship (2017 purple)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2017** purple)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Pan Championship Juvenile (2015 blue)
• 3rd Place IBJJF American Nationals (2017* brown)
• 3rd Place UAEJJF Grand Slam, LA (2017 brown)

* Absolute
** Weight and Absolute

Favorite Position/Technique: Open Guard, Attacking The Back

Weight Division: Meio Pesado (88,30 kg / 195.0 lbs)

Team/Association: Maracaba BJJ

Jake Watson Biography

Jake Watson was born on December 6, 1997, in Bellflower, California, United States of America. As a child, Watson spent time in Colorado before settling in Arizona, at the age of 6 (2004).

Watson’s interest for martial arts grew at a young age, and by the time he was 8 years old, he was already training Tae Kwon Do with Eric Mendoza at the M3 Martial Arts Academy. This same academy also provided jiu-jitsu under Mr. Mendoza as part of their curriculum, and it was there that Jake started grappling.

Although his weekly sports routine included jiu-jitsu, Jake’s idea behind grappling training was that of a means to an end, the end goal: a career in mixed martial arts (MMA). As such, he put more effort into striking, early on in his competitive career, and started competing regularly in this area of combat, becoming a 2x TBA National Champion and USMTA National Champion (Muay Thai), along with the Arizona State Junior Golden Gloves title in Boxing (2012). While gaining experience in western and Thai boxing, Watson also started dipping his toes into MMA winning the Junior National title in Pankration.

During his teenage years, Watson became known as a promising martial artist from Arizona’s Lion’s Den Academy. His relationship with the team started after meeting and befriending the team’s leader, Clayton Carpenter, at a local tournament (Desert Quest). After this first interaction, Carpenter started to train at the gym’s affiliate in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Once at the Lion’s Den, Jake worked on his jiu-jitsu under the guidance of Carlos Farias, for a short period, and André Maracaba. It was coach Maracaba who convinced Watson to dedicate more time to BJJ, after a period when the youngster was feeling burned out from spreading himself thin training a range of disciplines. After this talk, Jake dropped his activities in all the other martial arts and allocated all his resources to BJJ.

By the time he finished high-school Jake had made up his mind on becoming a full-time jiu-jitsu athlete, a goal he achieved with the help of his parents. Under the instruction of André Maracaba, Jake Watson quickly became one of the biggest names on the American grappling circuit, conquering numerous titles which, ultimately led to Jake’s black belt promotion, on June 22, 2019.

2014 IBJJF World No-Gi Championship

The 2014 IBJJF World No-Gi Championship was Jake’s first tournament after making the decision of leaving his MMA career on the backburner to focus solely on grappling. Watson competed in the Juvenile blue belt division taking double gold at the event. the peculiarity of this successful run was that, although Jake was the only representative of his team that weekend, his win placed the Academy on the #1 team ranking of the event. Likely the first time a team won an important tournament such as the World Championship with only one athlete.

Jake Watson vs Vinicius Garcia