DJ Jackson, an 8-time Jiu Jitsu World Champion, has allegedly stolen over 500,000 THB (over $13,000 USD) from multiple individuals who trusted him as a friend and mentor.

Bjjee was contacted by Bjj black belt Campbell Symes, bjj instructor at Southside MMA in Phuket, Thailand and he explained what happened.

After the allegations were made, DJ Jackson contacted BJJEE to offer his side of the story and to clear his name:

BJJ World Champ DJ Jackson Responds To Allegations He Stole From His Students

One of Jackson’s alleged victims,  Mac McCready, a retired Air Force pilot, and BJJ black belt and made a statement explaining why the BJJ community had to come together and make sure that Jackson does not get any new employment until he pays off his debt:

“Hey friends, my name is Mac McCready. I’m a retired Air Force pilot. I spent 14 years in the Royal Air Force and 3 years running the RAF Top Gun school. But now, I’m retired and living in Thailand full-time.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the Mac McCready mentioned in the Southside Pass post yesterday regarding DJ Jackson. I don’t want to talk about DJ a lot; I’ve got some other things I want to talk about. But I will just say this: I really considered DJ to be a friend. He would come to my house every time there was a UFC pay-per-view. We’ve been out to dinner together. I helped him with all kinds of stuff. So for this to happen, as much as the money, it’s the fact that I really considered him to be a friend. That’s hurt me.

But like I said, I don’t want to talk about him too much. What I really want to talk about is, you know, people say every cloud has a silver lining. The last four months have been hell, to be honest with you, and I couldn’t figure out where the silver lining was coming from. But since this story has come out, I’ve been overwhelmed with support from what feels like the entire MMA community. People that I know well, people that I don’t know so well, people that I don’t know at all have contacted me with messages of support, messages of love, and for that, I’m incredibly grateful.

Some of you have even gone as far as offering me money, which I can’t tell you how grateful I am. That means so much to me. But honestly, I don’t really want to make any money out of this. I made the loan. It’s my responsibility. It’s my fault, so I accept full responsibility. You guys should hang on to your hard-earned cash. But you can do one thing for me if you don’t mind, and that is spread this story as much as you can. And the reason I say that is I’m not out to ruin the man’s life. I’m not a vindictive person. What I really want to do is stop anybody else from going through what I’ve gone through. So if you know anybody that’s considering hiring DJ or maybe considering working with him, then please at least let them know what they’re in for because it’s almost certainly going to end badly.

Okay, there’s always a couple of haters. I’ve seen one or two posts where people say, “Oh, it’s all a lie.” Guys, if you don’t believe it, I’ve got all the receipts. Just come and see me or contact me directly. I’ll show you the receipts. I’ll show you the text messages. Every word in that post was true, and I’m very happy to back it up. So anybody that has any doubts, then contact me. Everybody at Southside has been so supportive and so generous to me. I’ve had some good friends that have been generous. So even though the last four months have been hard, I’ve been surrounded by people that help me, for which I’m very grateful, and I’ll never forget the help that the people at Southside gave me. I’ll never forget the offers of support that you people have given me, and that’s something I will never ever forget. I’m very grateful for that.

And the whole purpose of this message really is not to be like “poor me.” The whole purpose of this message is to try and protect other people. What I’ve been through has been tough, no argument, but not everybody’s as lucky as me. Not everybody has the support system that I have, and I really don’t want to see anybody else suffer the way I’ve suffered. So please help me get the message out. Help me keep the other members of the MMA community safe and in a position where they can feel comfortable that the coaches that they are with have their best interest at heart.

The last thing I want to say is the guys at Southside now are amazing. And I don’t say this in terms of sour grapes or whatever, but since DJ left, I’m not going to lie, he’s a very talented athlete, amazingly talented athlete, but as a coach, he’s pretty lazy. He’ll come and teach a couple classes and he’ll show one technique, and then he’s on his phone for 15 minutes, or he’ll show a technique and then he’s talking to somebody else for 15 minutes, and that just shortchanges people. Since he left, the energy at this gym is completely different. All the coaches are young, enthusiastic, they’re real fighters, and that enthusiasm rubs off on the clients. And you can see that. Before he left, honestly, our MMA program, we had some issues, but since he’s been gone, it’s on fire. The guys are winning fights, they’re doing great, and the atmosphere in this gym is just electric. Everybody’s so enthusiastic, they’re so keen, they want to give everything they can to give the athletes the best possible chance.

So don’t take my word for it. Come and check it out for yourself, and I guarantee you’ll find that this place has changed radically and is absolutely the best place to train in Phuket. So come find out for yourself. Don’t take my word for it. Come and give it a shot and see what you think. Thanks for your time. Good luck.”

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