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Black Belt Team

Up Close: Rigan Machado

Updated: Nov 29, 2023


FEATURED ON: The Combat Show
BORN: Rio de Janeiro
AGE: 56
STYLE: Brazilian jiu-jitsu
CELEBRITY STUDENTS: Keanu Reeves,
Ashton Kutcher, Vin Diesel

Tony Parrish interviews Rigan Machado


You’ve probably been in 30 movies. …

Rigan Machado: And TV shows, but now I started getting bigger jobs. The biggest job I ever got was with Nicolas Cage and Tony Jaa [in Jiu Jitsu]. I play a warrior — it was pretty cool. I also did a comedy with Russell Peters and Michael Jai White: [The Outlaw Johnny Black], a Western. Now I got an offer to do a movie in Bollywood. I play a zombie. They kill me and my wife, and I come back [for] revenge and I know martial arts. How am I going to say no to being a zombie? (laughs)

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