Jake Johnston started his Jiu Jitsu training under the teachings of Pedro Sauer in August of 1993. He was promoted to blue belt in 8 months, and began teaching children and adult classes in the Pedro Sauer Academy. He also began taking private lessons from Pedro twice a week, and his increase in technical knowledge was immediately noticed by the other students, not only during training, but also in his teaching ability. He continued his dedication of training 4-6 hours per day, 6 days a week, and two private lessons per week for 5 years.
In 1998 Jake moved back to Southern Utah and started teaching private lessons and small group classes. Becoming the first person to teach Gracie Jiu Jitsu in the St. George area. In 1999 he was awarded his purple belt from Professor Pedro Sauer in Salt Lake City. He continued training and teaching in the St. George area until 2003. Jake then made the decision to finish his training with Professor Sauer and moved back to Northern Utah in July of 2003. Picking up where he had left off. He was awarded his brown belt in 2004 and then finally the prestigious black belt in August 2006. He has been learning and teaching Gracie Jiu Jitsu for nearly 16 years. With St. George being Jake’s home base for almost his entire life, he made the decision to share his extensive knowledge with the people of Southern Utah.
Jake is one of the few people to be a direct student of Professor Sauer earning all his belts beginning with white all the way up to black under his instruction.
Jake plans periodically furthers his knowledge of Jiu Jitsu by traveling to Southern California and training at the Rickson Gracie Jiu Jitsu Center, as well as training with other Gracie schools around the nation.
