From Hand-Drawn Brackets to Selling Out 1,000-Person Tournaments

Jorge Britto grew up training in Rio de Janeiro's Gracie dojos, competing alongside Saulo Ribeiro and Megaton Diaz (father of UFC's Mackenzie Dern) before moving to Toronto in 2008. He built Toronto BJJ, co-founded the Jiu-Jitsu For Life Team association with business partner Josh Rapport, now 40-plus affiliate gyms strong, and opened Etobicoke BJJ three years ago.Jorge talks about his 20-plus professional MMA fights, including a broken arm mid-fight that got no insurance and no follow-up call from the promoter. He also breaks down NextGen, the tournament he grew from hand-drawn brackets into a sold-out, 1,000-plus person event now celebrating its 10th anniversary, and why he still tracks every missed class and promotion himself.