What is Mexican Ground Karate (MGK)?
In short, it’s a joke about Brazilian jiu-jitsu created by professional grappler Craig Jones.
In this short article, I’ll explain the origins of Mexican Ground Karate and show you some gear.
What Is Mexican Ground Karate?
Following the split with John Danaher and Gordon Ryan, Craig Jones and his crew decided to open up their own gym.
They started B-Team Jiu-Jitsu in Austin Texas.
Craig, being the troll that he is, wanted to put something other than “jiu-jitsu” on the sign outside of his new gym.
Thus, “Mexican Ground Karate” was born.
“Americans call it American Jiu-Jitsu. Brazilians call it Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I don’t really feel comfortable calling it either because Brazilians stole it from Japan anyways. So let’s just f***ing give it to the Mexicans.” – Craig Jones
Craig is a man of his word, and you can see the phrase on the outside of the B-Team gym:
B-Team has a very different “brand” than other gyms, like Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
Gracie gyms are often more serious and traditional. They have pictures of Helio on the wall. You bow before you step on the mats. You might even call your instructor by a different name, such as sensei.
B-Team, on the other hand, is way more informal and casual. It’s obviously a bit more silly, hence the joke.
Mexican Ground Karate Gear
Tired of traditional jiu-jitsu gear and want to sport some Mexican Ground Karate rash guards or shirts?
Check out the following “MGK” gear (courtesy of MA1 Combat, a BJJ rash guard brand out of Melbourne):
MGK Rash Guards
Guaranteed to make your training partners laugh, these rash guards are perfect for channeling Australian grappling power.
MGK Shirts
Your friends and family are already confused about your weird hobby. Confuse them even more with these T-shirts!
If you want to see some more funny BJJ gear, check out my articles on funny rash guards or funny BJJ shirts.
Takeaway Thoughts
One of my favorite things about the jiu-jitsu community is that we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Mexican ground karate isn’t a real thing. It’s a joke. Or, as Craig would say, a “piss-take.” It caught on because it’s hilarious.
Life’s short. Have a laugh!
Happy rolling. 🤙
Tsavo Neal
Tsavo is the founder of BJJ Equipment, author of BJJ For Beginners, creator of the BJJ Missions app, and a brown belt instructor at InFighting. He launched BJJ Equipment to help grapplers at every belt level train smarter, make faster progress, and find the best gear for their game.
2 Comments on “Mexican Ground Karate Explained: History, Gear & More”
Hey Craig. Question on the Mexican Ground Karate rash guard. My son and I joined JJ the same day in different states with out the other knowing. As such, we have a pretty strong relation ship with JJ and each other. As my wife and the boy’s mother is Mexican the shirt would be awesome for him.
Do you take an special orders? I would like to have a “Let’s Roll” added to the back of the shirt. For me, this is a special meaning. because of 9/11. I was on a plane that day, I landed. My, boss, at the time, David Beamer lost his son on flight 93 that crashed in PA. He was the one that yelled “Let’s roll” as they charged the cockpit. So, I love you story around Mexica Ground Fighting. My coach is huge on some of your training and incorporates some of your style into our training so I think the shirt as described would b special to my son.
Hey David!
Tsavo here. I wrote this article, not Craig Jones, so I can’t help you with an order.
However, if you do want to create your own custom rash guard, I wrote an article on how to do that!
You can check it out here: https://bjjequipment.com/custom-bjj-rash-guard/
Hope that helps!
-Tsavo