Bacon started Judo at age 8, eventually mastering the art and become the National Judo Men's Champion several times in different divisions, as well as participating in other Continental and International competitions. His top place was 8th in the 1991 World Judo Championships. He also represented Australia in Judo at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, where he finished 17th out of 33 participants in the middleweight division. Bacon won, on points, his first match of the games against Wagner Castrophil and then was eliminated by Hirotaka Okada, being pinned in under a minute.