Jeremy Jackson was born on February 11, 1987, and raised in Visalia, California, where an early passion for athletics shaped his foundational years. He began playing football at the age of eight and continued through his freshman year of high school. Despite standing only 5'1" and weighing 120 lbs as a teenager — small by any athletic standard — Jackson earned a spot on his high school basketball team as a sophomore and played through his junior year, demonstrating the determination that would later define his martial arts career.

After stepping away from competitive sports to build a career in internet marketing, Jackson found himself gaining weight and drifting from the disciplined lifestyle he had known. The turning point came when he committed to Tony Horton's P90X, a 90-day fitness program through which he lost 19 pounds and rediscovered the mindset of challenge and self-improvement. That experience rekindled something deeper than fitness — it reawakened his appetite for competition.

In search of his next challenge, Jackson drove past a jiu-jitsu gym on impulse, walked in for a trial class, and fell immediately in love with the martial art. His first academy was Alberto Crane's Legacy gym in Burbank, California, where he began his formal training and earned his blue belt.

Blue Belt: Building the Foundation

Jackson's blue belt years at Legacy in Burbank laid the competitive groundwork for a career that would steadily rise through the sport's ranks. After relocating closer to San Francisco, he joined Heroes Martial Arts under the instruction of Alan "Gumby" Marques, where he earned his purple and brown belts and began attracting international attention as a competitor — all while continuing to run his online marketing business.

As of July 2016, Jackson taught classes at Heroes Martial Arts every Friday, including a featured session built around a leg drag passing sequence with multiple counters to an opponent's guard retention attempts. His teaching reflected a technical, position-first approach that complemented his competitive development under Marques.

Brown Belt to Black Belt: Joining the Caio Terra Association

As a brown belt, Jackson made a deliberate choice to seek out the highest level of training available to him. He joined Caio Terra Association (CTA) in San Jose, California, where he trained directly under Caio Terra — one of his longtime idols in the sport. The move proved pivotal. Jackson earned his black belt in July 2019 in a ceremony led by both Terra and Marques, a dual promotion that reflected the continuity of mentorship across both chapters of his academy journey. The involvement of Marques alongside Terra underscored the lasting bond between Jackson and the Heroes Martial Arts community, even as CTA became his primary home.

Blue and Purple Belt: Establishing International Presence

Jackson established himself as a competitor to watch as early as his blue belt years. In 2013, he captured the IBJJF Pan Championship — a marquee title on the global calendar — and followed it with a 2nd place finish at the IBJJF American Nationals that same year, announcing his presence at the international level.

Through purple belt, he maintained consistent podium appearances on the IBJJF circuit, earning 2nd place at the 2015 IBJJF European Open Championship and additional American Nationals placements in 2014 and 2015. The European Open result demonstrated his ability to compete at a high level against deep international fields.

Brown Belt: Cross-Platform Success

Jackson's brown belt campaign produced some of the most significant results of his pre-black belt career. He reached the final of the UAEJJF Abu Dhabi Pro in 2016 and captured the UAEJJF US National Pro title in 2018, establishing himself as a competitive force across both the IBJJF and UAEJJF platforms. That same period saw him step into the professional super fight arena at Fight to Win Pro 8, competing at a 165 lbs limit and submitting Pedro Silva by armbar.

Black Belt: Continued Podium Performances

At black belt, Jackson added further titles to his record in 2018, winning gold at both the IBJJF Twin Cities Open and the IBJJF Atlanta Summer Open, while reaching the podium with a 3rd place finish at the IBJJF Las Vegas Summer Open. His record across IBJJF, UAEJJF, and Fight to Win Pro formats reflects a competitor willing to test himself across the full range of the sport's major competitive structures.

Preparation and Weight Cut

One of the most closely documented chapters of Jackson's competitive career unfolded at Fight to Win Pro 8 in 2016, held at Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco, California. Matched against Pedro Silva in a super fight contested at a 165 lbs weight limit, Jackson devoted approximately 45 days of focused physical and mental preparation to the bout.

The weight cut presented an early test. Three days before weigh-ins, Jackson was still 8 lbs over the limit. He arrived at weigh-ins 24 hours before the event and came in safely under 165 lbs. The weigh-in itself offered a glimpse into the caliber of the event: grappling star Garry Tonon was photographed stepping on the scale as Jackson waited his turn.

Fight Night

On event night, Jackson began his warm-up 45 minutes before his scheduled match, working through dynamic stretches, lunges, and push-ups. The atmosphere surrounding his walkout carried the weight of the support system he had built. Notable figures present courtside included David Mitchell, an Aloha Male brown belt; his professor Alan "Gumby" Marques; BJJ legend and Ralph Gracie Head Instructor Kurt Osiander; and Stella Freeman of Inside BJJ.

With thousands of spectators in the arena and 45 days of preparation behind him, Jackson delivered the result his work demanded: he submitted Pedro Silva by armbar, securing the finish and the win at Fight to Win Pro 8.

Media Coverage

The entire arc of his preparation and fight night was documented in a photo essay published in Jiu-Jitsu Style Issue 35 (July 2016), with words by Nic Gregoriades and photographs by Blanca Maria Garcia — one of the more detailed personal profiles of Jackson's competitive life available in print.

Balancing Elite Training and Entrepreneurship

As of July 2016, Jackson lived with his wife Ashlee in a one-bedroom townhouse in San Jose, California, situated in the heart of Silicon Valley. The couple had been together for nearly a decade at that point, and Ashlee is credited in his Jiu-Jitsu Style profile as his number one supporter and a major catalyst for his personal growth. Despite an extensive collection of competition medals earned across years of international competition, Jackson kept them stored quietly in a small kitchen cabinet — a detail that speaks to the understated disposition beneath his competitive drive.

The balance Jackson maintained during that period was considerable. He dedicated four hours per day to training as of July 2016, taught at Heroes Martial Arts every Friday, cross-trained at Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu in Pleasanton, California — approximately 30 miles from his San Jose home — and sparred regularly with training partner Bohigian. Simultaneously, he operated a profitable internet marketing business built around predictable, near-turnkey results, managing elite athletic preparation alongside the demands of entrepreneurship.

Philosophy on Jiu-Jitsu

The Jiu-Jitsu Style profile described Jackson as having a tough exterior and a rapid style of speech that reflected a broad intellect. In that profile, he articulated a view of jiu-jitsu as a personal contradiction — his hyper-rational mind set in permanent tension with an irrational, inexorable love for the art. He acknowledged the philosophical value he found in BJJ while making clear that what kept him on the mats was not commercial incentive but deep, unresolvable passion. It is the portrait of a competitor who understood exactly why the sport made no easy sense to him — and who competed anyway.