John Cole

John Cole is the chief instructor at Sudbury MMA, with more than 35 years in martial arts. He began with Tiger Style Kung Fu at 11 and wrestled for the Sudbury Golden Eagles in high school, where he was voted team captain, competed at the Ontario Winter Games, took a provincial bronze medal and placed sixth at the national championships. He later trained judo and, from 1991, Okinawan karate; in 1996 he trained in Okinawa with Shigetoshi Senaha Sensei and opened his own school on returning to Canada that September. Senaha awarded him his fifth-degree black belt in 2004. He attended his first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu seminar in 2005 and was introduced to Renzo Gracie black belt Pat Cooligan that December. He received his BJJ black belt in April 2018 and became an IBJJF-certified first-degree black belt in 2021. He has also competed in MMA and holds a WAKO coaching certification.