Jason Trudeau

Jason is a lifelong martial artist, and has been practicing in multiple disciplines since the age of 8. He holds a 2nd Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo, a 1st Degree Black Belt in Combat HapKiDo, and a 1st Degree Black Belt in Gracie Jiu Jitsu. He also kickboxed for 5 years and did boxing lessons for 6. He competed in MMA twice in the early 2000s and won both amateur bouts. These cage fights led Jason towards Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), as he realized he was not confident in his ground fighting skills.

Jason started BJJ at Mario Roberto Jiu Jitsu in Rochester MN in 2011, but only trained for 4 months before moving to Missouri for college. He picked up training again in November 2011 at an academy that was affiliated under 10th Planet and Caio Terra. Jason trained jiu jitsu there for a couple of years until the gym closed down. He did not want to stop training, and so reached out to Sean Bollinger. Sean moved to Missouri, and Jason was able to train with him daily for multiple years. Jason received his blue belt from Sean in 2014. They even opened and ran a gym together, under the name 10 th Planet Springfield, MO. Unfortunately, Sean had to move back to California, and Jason had to find a new instructor yet again.

At this point, Jason found Steve Haydock. Steve is one of Europe's first 12 BJJ Black Belts. He was a Black Belt under Roberto Atalla, but had trained through Blue Belt under Rickson Gracie. Steve introduced Jason to Rickson's Jiu Jitsu and Jason's life was changed forever. Jason felt that Rickson's Jiu Jitsu was the purest form of martial arts he had ever experienced. He was all in!

Jason earned a Purple Belt from Steve in 2016 prior to having to move to Arizona for work. In Arizona Jason found a gym family with Ethos Martial Arts, under the instruction of Wyatt Shepherd. Ethos is affiliated with Jay Pages and Caio Terra. Wyatt gave Jason his Brown Belt in 2019. After some time, Jason had to relocate to AZ, and ended up training directly under Jay Pages. When Jason's oldest daughter was 8 months old, Jason and his wife yearned to be closer to family, and moved to the San Diego Area. Jason and his wife tried out several academies before joining San Diego BJJ. SDBJJ was run at the time by Paulo Fernando and Adam Schmaltz. Paulo awarded Jason his Black Belt on February 19, 2022, shortly before selling the academy to Wesley Burriesci, who continues to run the academy at this time.

Soon after getting his Black Belt, Jason connected with Chris Burns and immediately requested to be exclusively Chris's student. Since then, Jason has committed to learning as much as possible about Chris and Rickson's Jiu Jitsu. Chris lives in Australia and Jason is only able to train with him a couple times a year, so Jason would also seek out other students of Rickson. Chang Hwang gave Jason his instructor bars on May 19, 2024. Jason has also trained with Scott Burr, Jack Taufer, Joe Mendoza, Vinnie Fonseca, and Michael Casey. Jason eventually earned his 1st degree from Chris on March 4, 2025 in Rickson's presence. This came after a two-and-a-half-week tour with Chris, and a test that lasted just as long. Jason was able to train with Master Rickson, him and his guys every opportunity he gets. Jason teaches multiple times a week at San Diego BJJ, focusing on sharing Master Rickson's way of jiu jitsu. He also oversees the jiu jitsu program at Unity Wellness Training Center in Springfield, MO, and travels there every 3 months. In addition, he is available for private lessons and seminars. Jason is also Chris Burns' North American tour manager, and schedules and oversees all of Chris's engagements in the U.S.

Jason's wife, Danyelle, is also a Black Belt. Jason feels that, in order to help his wife perform techniques on bigger, stronger men, he has had to look at jiu jitsu from a different perspective. He has refined his techniques and focused on technical application of these techniques, principles, and concepts.