Jean Jacques Machado has shared a moving story about the role Chuck Norris played in the early days of the Machado brothers’ Jiu-Jitsu journey in the United States.
Speaking with deep appreciation, Machado described how the action star’s passion for martial arts and personal generosity went far beyond that of a casual student:
And we have one amazing human being and student, which happens to be Chuck Norris on the early days…
When I say human being, he likes so much Jiu-Jitsu and he likes so much to hang out with us.
According to Machado, the relationship quickly became more than just teacher and student:
I don’t know with other famous people how that works, but in, he was a very important person in, in my family, my brother’s life, because not knowing much us, we became so much, like, so close friends.
Machado also revealed a coincidence that carried deep meaning for his family:
Do you really know his real name? His real name is Carlos. The same name of my father, the same name of my uncle…
Wow, the three most important Carlos in our life, Carlos Machado our dad, Carlos Gracie our uncle, Carlos Norris, Chuck Norris.
More than friendship, Norris provided direct support by opening a school for the brothers, giving them a platform to grow Jiu-Jitsu in America:
And we felt that this is not a coincidence and he helped us so much in the beginning and he even opened a school for us.
It was incredible.
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