warehouse in which the CBS series was shot. To keep
him busy while he established his school, Norris gave
Machado regular work as a stuntman and fight coordina-
tor on Walker.
“I’ve been beat up by Chuck Norris more than anyone
alive — and killed several times, too,” Machado said, glee-
fully. “He’s one of the best friends I’ve ever had and is the
reason I came to Dallas.”
Machado continues to teach at his Texas dojo and at
events organized by the network of schools he and his
brothers built around the United States. At a recent BJJ
seminar in Las Vegas, for example, he guided more than
200 students, some of whom were complete novices, in
the intricacies of the art.
“I came up with a theme: Big or small, sweep them
all,” Machado recalled. “I tried to teach something that
everyone could follow regardless of experience. We
started with the butterfly guard and double underhooks
as our premise. The butterfly guard is good for sweep-
ing opponents, and the double underhooks allow for
a lot more control. This blends well with both gi and
no-gi grappling, so it didn’t matter if they were wearing
a gi or not.”
Machado said the butterfly guard gives the user a dis-
tinct advantage when it comes to sweeps, but it also can
be used to effect a submission or retain the guard. Like
the best teachers in any art, however, he’s quick to point
out one of the negatives associated with the position:
It can lead to occasional problems in no-gi grapplingeffectiveness. If a technique takes too long to get the
job done, it becomes prone to failure. For beginners,
having more than three steps to follow can make for
an almost insurmountable challenge. Even for black
belts, he said, the odds of succeeding with any given
technique decrease when the move involves more than
three steps.
“The more steps a technique has, the more chances
you give an opponent to mess up the situation,” he said.
“A fancy technique might be effective if you’re a world
champion who can do it, but what good is it if you can’t
pass that move on to your students because it’s too com-
plicated? [That would mean] we’re starting to limit jiu-
jitsu to people who have a lot of natural ability or those
who can train way more hours than anyone else. A cham-
pion can do some of these moves, [but] they’re beyond
the reach of the average Joe.
“I don’t believe in that. It’s not the jiu-jitsu [way]. That’s
why I try to stick to simplicity and effectiveness. If you
can limit your moves to no more than three steps, you
will have a 90-percent chance of success with them.”
Walker, Texas Ranger
The success of the Machados has been nothing short
of phenomenal since they moved to the United States.
Several years after establishing themselves in California,
Norris invited Carlos to visit Texas, where Walker, Texas
Ranger was filmed. Norris then convinced him to move
to the Lone Star State and open a jiu-jitsu school in the
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