10th planet drama?!?

[J Grooms]

Garbage

[Karim Graham]

[Ari Bolden]

Ari Bolden, I know that guy.

Eddie is in charge. He makes whatever decision he wants to make. Its his organization and system. If we don't like it, we are not held to anything. We have the choice to leave. He also has the choice to kick people out he doesn't want or that don't jive with his vision. That is no different than any other Jiu Jitsu organization out there. It has happened to them all. I won't speak about Brandon because I have nothing to do with it. I can speak about me.

I was given the rank of purple in 2007. This was based on my knowledge of the system (which is pretty darn good thank you) and my ability to teach it. I will admit that I have GROWN into my purple over the last 4 years. I wish I was a world class competitor. I wish I could tap everyone I ever roll with. I can't. I don't. And you know what-I am OKAY with that.

My goal (not yours, Eddie's or anyone else's) is to get my guys better. If some of them want to compete and I can coach them to wins, then I am super happy. My school has some very good competitors too. And, if I have guys who don't want to compete but just want to do jits for the love of it-FANFRICKENTASTIC. I don't push.

Yes, its old news. No, I never bought a belt off Eddie. And if people have a problem with my choice or Eddie's, I could care less. Its my journey, not yours (theirs). I decided to start BJJ as white belt. Now I am a purple in that as well under Keith Owen. I can do both and neither Keith nor Eddie have a problem with it. They are both fantastically open minded teachers.

My two cents.

Thank you to Eddie Bravo and all the 10th Planet players I have met. It's family and its been fun.

[Isaiah Mendoza]

hm this must be why 10th planet instructors are so intense now about where people like "Frank the man" had gotten their belts at. god I miss frank the man's 10 page long posts... actually no, no I don't.

[Jeff V]

I bet frank still lurks here.

[Taylor Culbertson]

Did you guys know Eddie is a tranny?

[Justin W.]

Ari Bolden, I know that guy.

Eddie is in charge. He makes whatever decision he wants to make. Its his organization and system. If we don't like it, we are not held to anything. We have the choice to leave. He also has the choice to kick people out he doesn't want or that don't jive with his vision. That is no different than any other Jiu Jitsu organization out there. It has happened to them all. I won't speak about Brandon because I have nothing to do with it. I can speak about me.

I was given the rank of purple in 2007. This was based on my knowledge of the system (which is pretty darn good thank you) and my ability to teach it. I will admit that I have GROWN into my purple over the last 4 years. I wish I was a world class competitor. I wish I could tap everyone I ever roll with. I can't. I don't. And you know what-I am OKAY with that.

My goal (not yours, Eddie's or anyone else's) is to get my guys better. If some of them want to compete and I can coach them to wins, then I am super happy. My school has some very good competitors too. And, if I have guys who don't want to compete but just want to do jits for the love of it-FANFRICKENTASTIC. I don't push.

Yes, its old news. No, I never bought a belt off Eddie. And if people have a problem with my choice or Eddie's, I could care less. Its my journey, not yours (theirs). I decided to start BJJ as white belt. Now I am a purple in that as well under Keith Owen. I can do both and neither Keith nor Eddie have a problem with it. They are both fantastically open minded teachers.

My two cents.

Thank you to Eddie Bravo and all the 10th Planet players I have met. It's family and its been fun.

I'm not trying to put you on the spot or anything, but I recall Eddie posting that you said you were a Black Belt in Traditional JJ and a Purple Belt in BJJ and THAT'S why eddie said you were a 10PJJ purple belt and that Eddie didn't question it because as you've stated, you're excellent knowledge of the system. Now I'm not saying you can't or couldn't back it up but we don't get belts on what we think we should be. If this is true then I think you should come clean about this already and be done with it. We all make mistakes, you're a real Purple Belt now, and you've proven your coaching/teaching skills. If I am completely wrong about this, then I apologize in advance and please someone correct me.

[Eddie Bravo]

If someone joins my school as bjj blue belt, he is a tpjj blue belt, and there has been many of those. If someone joins my school as a bjj purple belt, he is automatically a tpjj purple belt, and there have been many of those too, and the same goes for brown belts. But if someone joins my school as a bjj black belt, then they are a tpjj brown belt. You gotta earn that tpjj black belt, no one gets that automatically

The second I found out Brandon lied about his bjj brown belt I kicked him out of the association. I knew him from back in the day at Jean Jacques when I was a purple so it didn't seem that crazy to me for him to be a brown belt since I was a black belt for 4 years at the time. Not only did he lie to me about being a brown belt, no one even gave him his purple, he is actually a blue belt. I messed up bad by not doing a background check on him, that was extremely my bad. I had no experience in building a jiu jitsu association. That'll never happen again, especially with this forum and all my dogs on here

Ari entered the association as a black belt in JJJ but I wasn't gonna automatically make him a tpjj brown belt because JJJ is alot different than bjj, so he entered the association as a blue belt. Once I saw how well he knew the system I gave him his purple.

Sometimes I give purple belts to people who don't know the system that well but smash blues to oblivion and do well in competition. Those purple belts are based on ferocity. Sometimes I give purples to those who may not crush all blues and don't compete but they show up to most of my classes. Those purple belts are based on loyalty. And sometimes I give purples to those who aren't fierce competitors but have the system down like a 10th Planet encyclopedia. Those purple belts are based on knowledge. Ari is not setting the world on fire on the competition circuit but he has always known the 10th Planet system very well and is a great teacher, just look what he has done with Red

[Joey Guzman]

Thank jesus the voice of reason came down and spoke. can we sticky just Master Eddies post so this craptastic thread doesnt keep popping up every couple months ?

[Justin W.]

Thank you for clearing that up Eddie. Again, I wasn't trying to stir up trouble or anything but since the thread was already made, I was just curious.