On October 1, 1913, Helio Gracie was born in Brazil.  As a teenager, he and his older brother Carlos were introduced to traditional Kano Judo by Mitsuyo Maeda, a Japanese immigrant to Brazil.  Not having the physical attributes to perform some of the techniques, Helio, over a period of several years, modified the art to rely on leverage, positioning, and timing rather than strength and aggression.

In 1925 Carlos and Helio Gracie founded the original Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.  Over the next 50 years, the brothers and their sons taught and spread the art, fighting all challengers to prove the effectiveness of their style.

During the last 10 years of his life, Helio wore a royal navy blue belt instead of the currently accepted red.

When Hélio Gracie was asked why he was wearing a royal navy blue belt, he explained that in the original Gracie Academy there were no belt level differentiations based on fighting skills. Belt colors were awarded only to distinguish instructors from students. In order to separate themselves from Judo instructors, who were teaching what they considered to be a limited sport for competition rather than a complete martial art, they didn’t utilize the black belt. At that time, Gracie Academy Instructors wore a light blue belt and head professors wore the royal navy blue. Only those who completed the professor’s course under the Grandmaster himself could wear the royal navy blue belt.

With the creation of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation in 1967, the belt system of Judo was adopted. In addition, a framework for sport Jiu-Jitsu, including a point system and weight divisions, which had never been accepted by Grandmasters Carlos and Helio before then, was established. As Judo was attracting a large following in Brazil under this sportive system, Grandmaster Helio agreed to adopt this structure under the assumption that recreational Jiu-Jitsu tournaments would not have a negative effect on his complete system of self defense.

In the early 1990’s, Grandmaster Helio realized that the mutation of his art was a direct result of the point-based, sport Jiu-Jitsu competitions, and that red belts were being awarded without his consent by individuals who weren’t red belts and black belts were being awarded to practioners who had a less than complete understanding of his self defense system. For these reasons, he decided to return to his original royal navy blue belt to separate himself from the federation and from sport Jiu-Jitsu. Grandmaster Hélio felt very comfortable wearing a belt that indicates the first level of learning, and it was his favorite color.

Jared began his dedication to the martial arts in April of 1995. Since 1996, he has traveled and studied extensively with the Gracies. In 1996, Jessup attended a Royce Gracie seminar and was blown away with what he learned. In 1997, he spent a week with Helio, Roroin and Royce Gracie in the Poconos mountains of Pennsylvania. In 1998 & 1999 he spent a month out of each year living and training in California at the Gracie Academy. While there he attended all possible classes and made the most he could out of the gratifying experience.

Throughout the years Jessup has had the honor of training with grand master Helio Gracie on numerous occasions as well as receiving his honorary private instruction. Jessup was blessed with having Royce Gracie as a professor and friend since 1996, a rare privilege and honor. He has also had the benefit of training with many of the greats such as Rickson, Reylson, Rorion, Royler, Ryron, Rener, Ralek, and Rodrigo Gracie; Pedro Sauer; Pedro Valente senior, Pedro and Gui Valente; Carlos “Caique” Elias; Carlson Gracie Jr.; Carlos Machado; Matt Hughes; Mike Pyle; Greg Thompson (H2H); Dan Inosanto and many more. On October 10, 2022, Jared Jessup was awarded the rank of 3rd Degree Black Belt Professor by Royce Gracie. In February 2024, after careful consideration, Jared made the difficult decision to depart from the Royce Gracie Network to establish his own network. With 28 years of mentorship under Royce Gracie, Jared is no longer a representative of Royce. He remains committed to continuous learning and seeks new opportunities for growth. His classes emphasize street self-defense while also incorporating elements of sport and mixed martial arts (MMA).

Jiu-jitsu is far more than knowledge of techniques. It is a process, a focusing of all of our faculties with the purpose of bringing them harmoniously together. It’s in finding this balanced state that mastery of the art is achieved. By finding the principles of human movement and learning to cooperate with them, the struggle of a fresh Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, given time, consistency and dedication, will blossom into the art of a seasoned disciple of Jiu-Jitsu.

For this reason, a practitioner may study thousands of techniques and only scratch the surface of Jiu-Jitsu. Rather than training in numerous varieties of complex techniques, my class goal is to discover the underlying principles which govern all Jiu-Jitsu techniques and theories. This is accomplished by unpacking techniques in a manner which gives the practitioner the fundamental building blocks of the art. The idea is to first understand simple things deeply. When these essential principals are properly understood, it becomes relatively easy to pick up any technique and even create your own.

This necessary understanding of the principles is what allows the Jiu-Jitsu to creatively flow out of the practitioner. A flower cannot be forced to unfold, but when placed in fertile ground will blossom of its own accord. Likewise, rather than force a technique to fit into a ridged frame work of steps, we cultivate it to achieve the essence from which each technique is derived. This by nature produces a well rounded practitioner that is rooted with a practical and solid foundation. As the principles of the art unfold there is often a shift in how the practitioner perceives and relates to life situations. Through teaching Jared strives to equip his students with an understanding that when applied properly produces sound Jiu-Jitsu, and on a deeper level sound living. All lasting growth must come from a good base and solid foundation.

Martial Arts, Fitness, and teaching have always been important to Head Instructor, School Owner, and WI-MAFC Founder Mr. Charles Dean. He graduated from La Follette High School and earned a full football and track scholarship in 1989. He attended St. Cloud State University where he graduated in 1994 with a degree in Recreation with an emphasis in Corporate Fitness. During his third year at St. Cloud State, he enrolled at the St. Cloud Tang Soo Do martial arts school as a means of increasing his flexibility for football and track and was hooked immediately. He studied Tang Soo Do for nearly 8 years, attaining his 2nd Degree Black Belt and winning 3 Grand Championships during his time with the Moo Duk Kwan Federation.

Everything came together very nicely for him as he earned two-time All American Honors in football as a running back and received professional tryouts with the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, and the Green Bay Packers. Mr Dean decided to go back to school where he attended Madison Area Technical College and earned his degree as an EMT Basic, and then back for a second year to earn his EMT Intravenous Tech degree.

After graduation, Instructor Dean moved back to Madison, WI to be closer to family and friends. He began studying Hwa Rang Do in October 2000 at the Madison East location under Master David Kijek. While he studied in HRD, he attained the rank of 3rd Degree Black Belt, became a 6-time undefeated sparring champion, and won the 2011 world heavy-weight grappling and weapon fighting championships. He also became the owner of two schools on Madison's West (2006) and North (2015) sides. In 2016, Mr. Dean left Hwa Rang Do to pursue a life-long dream and became the Founder of Wisconsin Martial Arts & Fitness Center.

In April 2021 Mr Dean concluded his educational journey by becoming a certified personal trainer through the International Sports Science Association. Mr Dean currently teaches individual and group fitness classes.

Being able to train his 4 sons (CJ, Isaiah, Alex, and Roman), and developed business relationships with Madison Schools Community and Recreation(MSCR), UW Leadership in Adapted Fitness, and The Madison Mallards just to name a few, Mr. Dean has truly found what makes him happy, which is serving the community and teaching kids and adults.