Budo Jake

Posted by Fanatics Authors on January 24, 2019

Jacon McKee, commonly known as ‘Budo Jake’ is a 3rd degree aikido black belt. He got his nickname due to his involvement in the Budo Videos company. Budo Jake was later awarded his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt from Carlos Gracie Junior of the Gracie Barra Academy. Jake is the founder of Budo Videos, which is one of martial arts’ largest retailers and producers. Budo Jake is also a well respected host of a number of Jiu Jitsu related programs such as IBJJF TV, Rolled Up, and This Week In BJJ. Jake has been involved in several live grappling broadcasts which were produced by his company. The company’s productions have made a huge contribution to presenting the image of competitive jiu jitu in a professional manner and overall broadening the audience of the sport.

Achievements

American National Champion (2013 Senior 1, black belt)
Las Vegas Summer Open 2nd Place (2013 Senior 1, black belt)

Instruction

THE REVERSE KIMURA DVD BY BUDO JAKE

https://bjjfanatics.com/products/the-reverse-kimura-dvd-by-budo-jake

BUY NOW

EFFECTIVE WRISTLOCKS FOR BJJ VOL 1 DVD BY BUDO JAKE

https://bjjfanatics.com/products/effective-wristlocks-for-bjj-vol-1-dvd-by-budo-jake

BUY NOW

Budo Jake Biography

Budo Jake McKee was born in St. Charles, Missouri on July 9th, 1974. Jake began practicing martial arts at the young age of 12. He initially began with karate and then later kempo, neither of which he pursued for very long. Later in life Jake found aikido which would give him the reason and the motivation to better improve himself. This motivation led him to Japan where he lived from 1999 to 2002. It was during that time spent in Japan that Jake established relationships with several produced of Japanese Martial Arts content. These contacts would serve as the foundation for the beginning of Budo Videos.

After Jake returned to the United States in 2003, he founded Budo Videos. Now a black belt in aikido, Jake teamed up with his long time friend Budo Dave Contreras with the sole intention of creating original martial arts content for fans world wide. Many martial arts were shrouded in mystery at the time as the internet was still in its infancy. Websites like Facebook and YouTube did not exist yet, and there was no streaming media. Budo Videos fulfilled the demand of providing instructional videos and a variety of other martial arts footage.

Jake was fully aware of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from various events such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). However, he was much more involved in traditional Asian martial arts because of their emphasis on honor, mental discipline, and other vurtues that he believed were not prevalent in the sparring based style of Brazilian martial arts. Budo Jake’s wife got him into jiu jitsu in 2005 right when Gracie Barra had moved its head quarters to the United States. It was here at Jake took his first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes. He instructors were legends such as André Fernandes, Marco “Piu Piu” Joca, Marcio Feitosa and Carlos Gracie Jr.

Although Budo Jake had some reservations about the sport, jiu jitsu appeared to him as something he could do with his wife, as his career took up a lot of his time. He discovered that the further he dove into the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world, the more similarities he saw to traditional Asian martial arts. It did not take long for Jake to become hooked and continue training more and more frequently. Marcio Feitosa became one of Jake’s main coaches. Feitosa would be the one to award Jake all his belts, with the exception of his black belt which was awarded by Carlos Gracie in 2013.

Because Jake was so involved with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu he also began selling grappling material through Budo Videos. At first he sold video tapes of Renzo, Cesar, and Rorion Gracie. Budo Videos would later become one of the largest producers and sellers of Jiu Jitsu content in the world. This would ultimately lead to live broadcasting events for the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) starting in 2009. The ‘2009 No Gi World Championship’ was the first ever live streamed IBJJF event, and it was a full on success. Budo Videos continues to live stream for all of the IBJJF and ADCC’s biggest events. It goes without saying that this has helped to grow the sport tremendously.