attn south african dude who wants his brown belt

[Randy Butler]

well said Don

[Brandon Palmer]

Man this shit gets old. Seems like after BQ these clowns would have learned something.

I guess, being that I have something called INTEGRITY and pride in my achievements, I don't understand why you'd fake the funk.

Don't go away mad, just go away.

[Brandon Palmer]

Oh and Brent, its good to see you on here...when I was training at HQ those few months last year, you were always super cool and very helpful. Alabama appreciates it.

[AJ Camacho]

What's frightening is that these dudes think that they can open up a gym based on some books and DVDs. Nothing wrong with pulling together a free club where you share information and collectively develop the material but charging people for incomplete information is so beyond unethical. It's just plain dangerous. These douche bags are putting the safety of their students at risk with this bullshit.

[Brent Smith]

I think people need to take warning if you're a fake YOU WILL BE EXPOSED. The longer it takes the worse the fallout will be.
If you don't have a rank don't fake it. If you have the skills of a brown belt then it shouldn't take you long to get through the ranks. Even the best of the best don't skip ranks. That's ridiculous.

[Jonathan Wylie]

I think people need to take warning if you're a fake YOU WILL BE EXPOSED. The longer it takes the worse the fallout will be.
If you don't have a rank don't fake it. If you have the skills of a brown belt then it shouldn't take you long to get through the ranks. Even the best of the best don't skip ranks. That's ridiculous.

I believe there are still some out there to be exposed.

[Matthias Sieber]

AJ, keep in mind that there are places which aren't nearly on the same level as the US (especially California).
I got a student who's trained mma for a year in south africa. The gym in which he trained had also a "undefeated champion". According to the student of mine (who trained there before he got into my gym) he tapped those guy every class and never tapped to anyone himself...

First week him training at my gym: He tapped to everyone in my gym. Even the guys with less than a month experience.

May be he over-exaggerated but there are definitively places where you are considered to be a "god of grappling" with a (legit) blue belt.

I don't know about that specific guy tho. What I wanted to express with my comment originally I forgot... I got disturbed by a phone call... Just keep in mind there are places without top-notch instructors around, but a need to train... Have a heart

[AJ Camacho]

I don't know about that specific guy tho. What I wanted to express with my comment originally I forgot... I got disturbed by a phone call... Just keep in mind there are places without top-notch instructors around, but a need to train... Have a heart

I understand the sentiment but there is a difference between just opening up a peer to peer fight club where people pay dues to keep the doors open and a guy who falsely bolsters himself as some sort of instructor capable of teaching the full curriculum of a grappling system. If you want to open a gym you need to be honest about your background and what experience you bring to the table. There are plenty of successful gyms that are owned by people with no martial arts training, but those places fill that void with skilled instructors/members in order to round out their knowledge.

What bothers me is just the straight up unethical dishonesty of dudes who slap MMA on the gym door and then knowingly misspell their JuJitsu as "JiuJitsu" knowing damn well that they have no BJJ lineage. Like the gym I train at, they are very honest about not being associated with BJJ and are proud of their Judo/Sambo lineage.

And you could just be some random Rex-Kwando homebro chillin in your garage charging $50 an hour, training people off of a blurry Yoshiaki "Kumicho" Fujiwara submission grappling video, I don't care. As long as you are honest with everybody who pays, telling them that, you're just "some dude in American Flag pants who found a Fujiwara VHS tape at a yard sale". then it's all fair play to me. Even Bas Rutten doesn't lie, he is actually proud of the fact that many of his early submissions were learned from tapes and magazines.

[Matt "Gumby" Glach]

eddie,if they refuse to stop using the name or logo,will you take them to court???

Have you guys trademarked the 10th Planet name/logo? If you haven't you definitely should. It wouldn't be hard, it's very clear that you have what's called "first use". (im in a copyright/trademark class right now lol)

[Brent Smith]

I believe there are still some out there to be exposed.

Oh for sure but sooner or later they'll get somebody that will trace the lineage and if something turns out fishy then it'll all unravel. There's always gonna be scammers unfortunately.