# John Will

> Black Belt

## Overview

**Name:** John Will

**Belt Rank:** Black Belt

**Date of Birth:** April 16, 1957 (age 69)


## Bio

The first Australian to earn a BJJ black belt, John Will received his from Rigan and Jean Jacques Machado in 1998 after a circuitous martial arts journey that began with Tae Kwon Do at fifteen and led him to become the first non-Indonesian to win the World Silat Championship in 1982. As founder and editor of *Blitz* magazine in the late 1980s, he used the platform to travel and train with Gene LeBell, Rickson Gracie, and the Machado Brothers, eventually traveling to Brazil to deepen his grappling. A pioneer of BJJ in Oceania, his lineage traces through the Machado branch of the Gracie family tree.
## Lineage

- Carlos Gracie (Red Belt)
- Hélio Gracie (Red Belt)
- Carlos Gracie Junior (Coral Belt)
- Rigan Machado (Coral Belt)

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**Last Updated:** September 24, 2026

**Data Source:** bjj.space (https://bjj.space/people/john-will)