Mark Zuckerberg praised by coach after winning BJJ tournament
Facebook co-founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently competed in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) tournament and walked away with two medals. At BJJ Tour Silicon Valley, the tech mogul won gold in the No-gi Master 1 White Belt Featherweight Division and silver in the Gi Master 2 White Belt Featherweight Division.
Zuckerberg has become a member of the martial arts community over the last several years. On the Joe Rogan Experience, Zuckerberg explained how he started practicing BJJ during the pandemic. Zuckerberg’s involvement in the sport only grew from there as he attended UFC Vegas 61, posted MMA sparring sessions online and did a Metaverse promotion alongside UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski.
For around a year, Zuckerberg has been practicing BJJ under Dave Camarillo, who’s highly respected in the world of BJJ. This originally came because of his BJJ black belt under Ralph Gracie, but later in his career he became a massive influence as he created “Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu”. In the world of MMA, Camarillo was once the head BJJ coach for American Kickboxing Academy, one of the best gyms in the world, and mentored elite fighters like Cain Velasquez, Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick and more.
After Zuckerberg’s tournament performance, Camarillo praised his work ethic and commitment to the sport.
“He’s amazing,” Camarillo said of Zuckerberg. “He is an extremely hard worker, as everybody knows. But a lot of people have a business and they’re successful and they have that side of their life, and rarely do they dip into the physical side, especially with something like jiu-jitsu and MMA, and have the same amount of success or even go past Day 1 or Month 1. He’s not that kind of guy. I think he has a good balance between what he does with his business and what he does in the physical realm. And he excels. He’s one of the best students I’ve ever had.”
Quote via ESPN
To credit Zuckerberg, not many people are willing to practice a physical sport like BJJ as a hobby. That only becomes increasingly less likely when someone has the status of Zuckerberg.
“I think this is a mindset that he had before I ever started working with him because most people are put in that situation and they’re dominated and it’s difficult to handle because it’s something new,” Camarillo said. “When you do something recreational — whatever it is, tennis and or basketball or surfing — there’s no major drawback to losing. Even though you can still be competitive in jiu-jitsu, you could get choked. You could have your limbs bent backwards and you can be held down, which sometimes is worse than submissions — being held down and not able to get out and having that natural tendency to feel claustrophobic kick in. He’s handled it so well.”
Quote via ESPN
It is time to add Zuckerberg to the long list of unsuspecting BJJ practitioners. As much as the sport is highly physical, it can bring in a cast of unsuspecting killers. For example, Mikey Musumeci is a self-proclaimed nerd and is one of the best submission grapplers alive. Zuckerberg will never reach the level of Musumeci on the mat, but he is living proof of BJJ’s influence.
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