John Simon, the first home-grown Machado BJJ Black Belt under John Will, started training in martial arts in 1985, and started with John Will in 1991. As well as his J.B.Will Shootfighting Black Belt John also holds a Black Belt in Tae-Kwon-Do.
John, along with fellow Will/Machado Black Belt Belt, Sean Kirkwood, co-founded the first BJJ/Shootfighting School in NSW.
John has had great success in competition, becoming the NSW State BJJ champion in various weight divisions in 1994, 1995, 1997, and he has also fought in amateur Mixed Martial Arts events.
John has run successful BJJ Academies in Maitland and Sydney and has trained people to state and pan-pacific BJJ championships. He is also well known as the promoter of the Sydney Grappling Challenge, which ran for 3 years before he moved to Melbourne.
