Greg Jackson (MMA trainer)

Greg Jackson

Greg Jackson in 2010
Est.	1992
Founded by	Greg Jackson
Primary trainers	Greg Jackson Mike Winkeljohn Chris Luttrell Chad LeMoine Brandon Gibson Mike Valle
Training facilities	Albuquerque, New Mexico
Website	Official website

Greg Jackson (born 1974) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) trainer who co-owns Jackson's Martial Arts & Fitness Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico,^[1][2] widely considered the top MMA training camp in the world.^[3][4][5][6] Jackson has trained many successful fighters, including former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm, former UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans, current interim UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, and a roster of other UFC contenders and World Extreme Cagefighting champions.

History

Jackson was born in Washington D.C. to Kris and Jim Jackson, who were Quakers originally from the Midwest. Jackson and his family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico when he was three years old. Jackson came from a family of wrestlers (his father, brother, and uncle were all champions in the sport) and he also grew up in a rough neighborhood. Because he needed to learn how to defend himself, Jackson began learning martial arts. While the young Jackson was occasionally passive in fighting, he would also be an aggressor in brawls and was suspended from school on more than one occasion. In 1992, after graduating from Rio Grande High School Jackson founded his own martial art, Gaidojutsu, which combines rudimentary techniques from wrestling and kickboxing with basic judo locks. He then developed his art by adding techniques from other styles such as wrestling, grappling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and kickboxing. His school officially turned into an MMA school in 2000.^[7] In 2007 Jackson teamed up with striking coach Mike Winkeljohn, and since then the gym has been known by the name Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA^[8]

Other notable fighters include former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones; former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm; Donald Cerrone; Keith Jardine; former WEC Welterweight Champion and former UFC Interim Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit; former King of Pancrase and former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nate Marquardt; former Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Shane Carwin; former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski;^[9] former Strikeforce Lightweight Champion and World MMA Fight of the Year Award Winner Clay Guida; and TUF 14 winners John Dodson^[10] and Diego Brandao.^[11]

Awards

Greg Jackson has won three World MMA Awards. He won "Best Coach" and "Best Gym" in 2009, and "Coach of the Year" in 2010.^[12]

Notable fighters trained at Jackson’s MMA

(# denotes current team member, bold denotes current and past ufc champions)

Adlan Amagov (UFC) Ali Bagautinov (UFC)# - Former UFC Flyweight Title Challenger, Current UFC Flyweight Title Contender Alistair Overeem (UFC)# - Current UFC Heavyweight Title Contender, Former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, 2010 K-1 Grand Prix Champion B.J. Penn (UFC)#-Former UFC Lightweight Champion and UFC Welterweight Champion Vitaly Minakov (Bellator MMA) - Current Bellator Heavyweight Champion, 4-Time World Sambo Champion +100 kg Cub Swanson (UFC)# - Current UFC Featherweight Title Contender Tom Watson (UFC) Jon Jones (UFC)# - Interiem UFC Light Heavyweight champion, former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Rashad Evans (UFC) - Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Current UFC Light Heavyweight Title Contender, TUF 2 Heavyweight Winner Diego Brandao (UFC) - TUF 14 Featherweight Winner Anton Kuivanen Andrei Arlovski (UFC)# - Former UFC 2-Time Heavyweight Champion, Current UFC Heavyweight Title Contender Sarah Kaufman (UFC)# - Current UFC Women's Bantamweight Title Contender, Former Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion Michelle Waterson (UFC)# - Current UFC Women's Strawweight Title Contender, Former Invicta Atomweight Champion Keith Jardine (UFC) - Former Strikeforce Middleweight Title Challenger Igor Araujo (UFC)# Gina Carano (Indefinite Hiatus) Nate Marquardt (UFC) - Former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion, Former UFC Middleweight Title Challenger, Former Pancrase Middleweight Champion Clay Guida (UFC)# - Current UFC Featherweight Title Contender, Former Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Jason Guida (Bellator MMA) Karo Parisyan (WSOF) - Former WEC Welterweight Champion

David Loiseau (Tachi Palace Fights) - Former UFC Middleweight Title Challenger Joey Villasenor (Shark Fights) Jason MacDonald (UFC) Julie Kedzie (Retired) Holly Holm (UFC)# - Former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Carlos Condit (UFC)# - Current UFC Title Contender and Challenger, Former UFC Interim Welterweight Champion, Former WEC Welterweight Champion Damacio Page (UFC) Joe Stevenson (RFA) - Former UFC Lightweight Title Challenger, TUF 2 Welterweight Winner Donald Cerrone (UFC)# - Current UFC Title Contender and Challenger, Former WEC Lightweight Title Challenger Yoshihiro Akiyama (UFC) Leonard Garcia (Retired) - Former WEC Featherweight Title Challenger Cody Donovan (Retired) Roger Huerta (One FC) Diego Sanchez (UFC)# - UFC Lightweight Title Challenger, TUF 1 Welterweight Winner John Dodson (UFC)# - Former UFC Flyweight Title Challenger, Current UFC Flyweight Title Contender, TUF 14 Bantamweight Winner Tim Kennedy (UFC)# - Current UFC Middleweight Title Contender, Former Strikeforce Middleweight Title Challenger Rustam Khabilov (UFC)# Roger Hollett (UFC) Georges St-Pierre (UFC) - Former UFC Welterweight Champion, 10 title defenses Khabib Allakhverdiev (Boxing) Kyle Noke (UFC)# Erik Perez (UFC)# Travis Browne (UFC) - UFC Heavyweight Title Contender Frank Mir (UFC)# - Former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Current UFC Heavyweight Title Contender, 3-Time Heavyweight Title Challenger Tara LaRosa Travis Marx (Bellator MMA) Omari Akhmedov (UFC)# Magomed Mustafaev (UFC)#

Books

In 2009, Greg released an instructional book about his fighting style called "Jackson's MMA - The Stand Up Game." In 2010, Greg released another instructional book about his ground fighting style called "Jackson's MMA - The Ground Game."

Reality television

On February 5, 2013, Jackson signed with Bellator to coach on the promotion's reality series titled Fight Master: Bellator MMA.^[13]

References

1. Rumours are that he may be training Zack "The Assassin" Stiles, 16 year old, in the future. Coaches Honored with ‘Jackson/Winkeljohn Dat’, Sherdog Retrieved October 15, 2014
2. How a powerhouse MMA gym rose out of necessity and is helping others, Yahoo Sports Retrieved October 15, 2014
3. Ranking the 10 Best Camps in MMA Right Now, Bleacher Report Retrieved October 15, 2014
4. The Top 20 MMA Gyms in America fightmagazine.com Retrieved October 15, 2014
5. Rankings Spotlight: MMA’s Top 5 Fight Gyms cagepotato.com Retrieved October 15, 2014
6. The Top 10 Gyms in MMA Today themmacorner.com Retrieved October 15, 2014
7. L. Jon Wertheim (2012-07-20). "War And Peace In Jackson's Gym - SI.com - Magazine". Sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
8. Wright, Rick (August 3, 2014) MMA: Coaching team has it all covered, Albuquerque Journal Retrieved October 15, 2014
9. Hunt, Loretta (2009-10-09). "Arlovski to Train with Jackson’s Academy". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
10. "John "The Magician" Dodson MMA Stats, Pictures, News, Videos, Biography". Sherdog.com. 1984-09-26. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
11. "Diego "DB" Brandao MMA Stats, Pictures, News, Videos, Biography". Sherdog.com. 1987-05-27. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
12. "Fighters Only World Mixed Martial Arts Awards 2010 - 2009 Winners". Onlineawards.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
13. "Bellator's 'Fight Master' reality series set for summer debut on Spike TV". MMA Junkie. Retrieved 5 February 2013.

External links

• Jacksons MMA Association - Official Website
• Jacksons MMA on the GymDb
• Jacksons Camp- FindMMAGym
• Greg Jackson Quote