How do we Handle Professional Jelousy?

[Chris Herzog]

I dont want to say anything really. But you guys are really harsh. I think there is a massive miscommunication somewhere. This man lives and breathes 10th planet. He was repping it by everyone and as a result the 10th planet style has a large following here in Cape Town and even South Africa. Hanno really loves the sport and 10th planet and now you guys are burning the man at the stake for promoting what he thinks is the best style of jiu jitsu in the world. I personally didnt like 10th planet untill Hanno showed it to me. Since then im on the net 24/7 to try and learn more stuff from Eddies videos, but you can only learn that much from videos. Hanno has meant no harm and has never flaunted anything to anyone. The Gracie guys here in Cape Town HATE 10th planet and is continuously telling us how bad it is, but Hanno has always stood up for the style. Hanno only wants whats good and he even appologised, but you guys are still burning him. I dont want to cause any trouble or start new arguments, but this is just my view. Live and let live guys. Its a sport and as a result of our passion for it and especially Hanno's passion for it he only tried to make it evolve in South Africa, because i dont know if you guys have been here before, but we dont really have much...

Interesting, but completely off base. The man misrepresented himself to Eddie(regarding his BJJ rank), other 10th planet instructors, his student and the Jiu Jitsu community. Its called backlash, when you fuck up and get caught you have to deal with the consequences, you don't get a free pass just because you pull the "my bad" card. I'd be more concerned with why your teacher has been misrepresenting himself to you and the rest of his students. This is not a lets feel sorry the "misunderstood guy" situation. This a clearly a man getting outed for being a liar.

[TheGut]

But he has NEVER said he has a 10th planet brown belt or that he is a official 10th planet school. He has NEVER said this to us or to anyone else.

[sapateiro]

I'm not going to get involved in mud-slinging but I firmly believe that BJJ is one of the last martial arts where the belts mean something, regardless of which flavour of BJJ it is. This is nothing personal against this individual or 10P - ANYONE that misleads their students about their BJJ rank and experience is wrong. It could be Fred Bloggs from DelaRiva or or Englebert Humperdink from Brazilian Top Team, or Gary from Gracie Jiu Jitsu... Bullshitting about your BJJ grade will degrade the belts and we'll end up like many other martial arts. As far as I'm concerned a black belt in any style of BJJ is a huge achievement and it needs to stay that way.

If anyone's around Cape Town and wants to roll, please look us up. Hopefully everyone can move on from this soon & we can get back to growing the sport together.

[Ryan_B]

It felt like an achievment to earn my blue, im sure i will be wearing for a few years but I EARNED it. No one made me go to practice, when I was tired and bruised from the day before, that was a battle I fought and won. I dont like to jump to conclusions but I cant fight the feeling that someone is trying to capitalize off the growing popularity of BJJ in general.

[TheGut]

But thats the problem. There was never any misleading, Gary...Hanno has NEVER said he is a 10p brown belt or that his school is an official 10p school. His school is groundworx and he just likes 10p style. He applied for the 2 above mentioned things and said numerous times he APPLIED for it...not that he HAS it. I think this whole topic is unnecessary and pointless. Things like this should have never been started...and if the belts by groundworx are so fake, then why dont you compete Gary against them? I really looked up to you Gracie guys before hey....i really thought you were based on honour and integrity, but i see you guys are just like the other jiu jitsu schools.

[John Roderick]

From knowing something of similar situations, and having been through numerous stupid issues in the past, as well as going by what Coach Herzog has said: this gentleman mis-represented himself to Eddie and the Jedi Council. This isn't about bashing him out of turn, there is just cause. Eddie will not post it publicly as it's between him, Hanno and the rest of the Master Jedi 10th Planet council. It's apparent that something wasn't quite right with his history and credentials, and if you use an organization's logo on your letterhead or web site without permission, that is wrong on several levels.
We've already (as an organization) gone through similar issues in recent months, and years and admittedly, there is a heightened awareness and sensitivity to such things. Yes, a rank should be earned and mean something, and it certainly shouldn't be mis represented. Let's let this thread sit.

[TheGut]

From knowing something of similar situations, and having been through numerous stupid issues in the past, as well as going by what Coach Herzog has said: this gentleman mis-represented himself to Eddie and the Jedi Council. This isn't about bashing him out of turn, there is just cause. Eddie will not post it publicly as it's between him, Hanno and the rest of the Master Jedi 10th Planet council. It's apparent that something wasn't quite right with his history and credentials, and if you use an organization's logo on your letterhead or web site without permission, that is wrong on several levels.
We've already (as an organization) gone through similar issues in recent months, and years and admittedly, there is a heightened awareness and sensitivity to such things. Yes, a rank should be earned and mean something, and it certainly shouldn't be mis represented. Let's let this thread sit.

I agree. This thread has nothing good any more...

[Chris Herzog]

But he has NEVER said he has a 10th planet brown belt or that he is a official 10th planet school. He has NEVER said this to us or to anyone else.

Interesting again. Are you aware that he told Eddie and Alder he was a BJJ Black Belt?? And Eddie asked him 3x if this was the case, and all 3 times he made it clear to Eddie he was a BJJ Black Belt. When Eddie found the truth (that Hanno was indeed NOT a BJJ Black Belt, and had no rank in BJJ at all) he sent this message to Alder in case anyone asked about him.

"Hanno Vermeulen is not affiliated with 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu. Hanno Vermeulen is not a 10th Planet Brown Belt and has never been ranked in the 10th Planet System. In 2009, Hanno Vermeulen inquired about affiliation, but was denied for specific reasons I wont make public at this time."

Every since Hanno was "denied" he kept flying the 10th Planet Flag on his website (up until yesterday), and implied his Brown Belt was "pending" (which is the rank BJJ Black Belts come into the system until they learn it) when it was indeed NOT pending, is was denied.


You can continue to defend your teacher, or you can internalize all this info and realize that he is actually a fraud who has conned, and burned you. It happens to a lot of good and intelligent people and is hard to accept, it happened to me early in my martial arts journey. You're the one who has to look in the mirror every morning and ask yourself, "am I being honest with myself", and then live with the decision.

[Marius]

All this is very sad!!
None of you actually know Hanno. If you did, you would know that he is (now was) probably the most dedicated and devoted ambassador to 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu here in South Africa. Hanno devotes most of his time every day for the last 5 years to learning and studying 10th Planet to a level where he is able to not only perform every move with ease, but also posess the ability to teach the 10th Planet methods in a way that his students can understand it and take advantage of this method during compititions. The fact that his students do phenominally well at each and every comp they enter is proof herreoff.
Hanno is very humble in his ways - his apology here on this forum should tell you this.
He explains that he did the online test,etc.... If there was any other way for him to do this - - believe me he would - - Hanno eats, sleeps and shits 10th planet every day of his life - -Unfortunately he didn't - To travel to the USA is very expensive with our currency,etc and on top of that - he also has a family that he has to support. He works very close with the community around him and just adopted a little boy whose mother didn't want him anymore and came out of her own free will to Hanno and his family to ask if they will take care of him - he didn't hesitate to do this.
It is easy to prosicute someone - especially when you're going on information that you also just heard on a thread on a forum.
If you're looking for someone to line up against a wall - turn to the person who started this thread
Despite the friendly request from Eddie himself when you sign up to use your real name and not some stupid Alias - he still use an alias !!
I happen to know who he is as he uses the same alias on another forum where it also displays his real name.
At all the comps I've been at - it's his students that try and rip us apart with insults like - "are you guys still doing that 10th planet shit?" we always have to defend ourselves against his student because we do "10th planet shit" - funny how our "10th planet shit" wins the comps !!!
Hanno and myself are opening a huge 600m2 freestyle fighters gym on 1 November 2010. This will be an asset to everyone that's involved. Everyone has so much faith in Hannos teaching abillities and the reputation of his students that they're already signing up to join our gym - this is obviously leaving a bad taste in the mouths of other schools. The fact that we will also have other Top martial arts coaches and even contenders teaching and coaching at our gym makes it even worst.
To try and gun Hanno like this is typical shoolyard bully tacticts - Grow up !! And if you feel that we're a threat to your "school" then step your own game up !! I believe that someone should be better than me to be my compitition - you should try it aswell !!
Eddie and the rest of you at 10th Planet HQ - turning on Hanno like this is shamefull - it's a case of the Owner biting the Dog and the Dog still gaurding the yard. If you ever get to meet Hanno in person and I truly wish for Hannos sake you will as you are more than just a "master" to him, you would see that Hanno is truly what 10th should stand for.
All that said - - Now you can "gun" me - it a great new topic and person to pic on !! At least I use my real name - so it will be easy !!

[Chris Herzog]

All this is very sad!!
None of you actually know Hanno. If you did, you would know that he is (now was) probably the most dedicated and devoted ambassador to 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu here in South Africa. Hanno devotes most of his time every day for the last 5 years to learning and studying 10th Planet to a level where he is able to not only perform every move with ease, but also posess the ability to teach the 10th Planet methods in a way that his students can understand it and take advantage of this method during compititions. The fact that his students do phenominally well at each and every comp they enter is proof herreoff.
Hanno is very humble in his ways - his apology here on this forum should tell you this.
He explains that he did the online test,etc.... If there was any other way for him to do this - - believe me he would - - Hanno eats, sleeps and shits 10th planet every day of his life - -Unfortunately he didn't - To travel to the USA is very expensive with our currency,etc and on top of that - he also has a family that he has to support. He works very close with the community around him and just adopted a little boy whose mother didn't want him anymore and came out of her own free will to Hanno and his family to ask if they will take care of him - he didn't hesitate to do this.
It is easy to prosicute someone - especially when you're going on information that you also just heard on a thread on a forum.
If you're looking for someone to line up against a wall - turn to the person who started this thread
Despite the friendly request from Eddie himself when you sign up to use your real name and not some stupid Alias - he still use an alias !!
I happen to know who he is as he uses the same alias on another forum where it also displays his real name.
At all the comps I've been at - it's his students that try and rip us apart with insults like - "are you guys still doing that 10th planet shit?" we always have to defend ourselves against his student because we do "10th planet shit" - funny how our "10th planet shit" wins the comps !!!
Hanno and myself are opening a huge 600m2 freestyle fighters gym on 1 November 2010. This will be an asset to everyone that's involved. Everyone has so much faith in Hannos teaching abillities and the reputation of his students that they're already signing up to join our gym - this is obviously leaving a bad taste in the mouths of other schools. The fact that we will also have other Top martial arts coaches and even contenders teaching and coaching at our gym makes it even worst.
To try and gun Hanno like this is typical shoolyard bully tacticts - Grow up !! And if you feel that we're a threat to your "school" then step your own game up !! I believe that someone should be better than me to be my compitition - you should try it aswell !!
Eddie and the rest of you at 10th Planet HQ - turning on Hanno like this is shamefull - it's a case of the Owner biting the Dog and the Dog still gaurding the yard. If you ever get to meet Hanno in person and I truly wish for Hannos sake you will as you are more than just a "master" to him, you would see that Hanno is truly what 10th should stand for.
All that said - - Now you can "gun" me - it a great new topic and person to pic on !! At least I use my real name - so it will be easy !!

Here, in case you missed my post 13 mins ago:

Interesting again. Are you aware that he told Eddie and Alder he was a BJJ Black Belt?? And Eddie asked him 3x if this was the case, and all 3 times he made it clear to Eddie he was a BJJ Black Belt. When Eddie found the truth (that Hanno was indeed NOT a BJJ Black Belt, and had no rank in BJJ at all) he sent this message to Alder in case anyone asked about him.

"Hanno Vermeulen is not affiliated with 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu. Hanno Vermeulen is not a 10th Planet Brown Belt and has never been ranked in the 10th Planet System. In 2009, Hanno Vermeulen inquired about affiliation, but was denied for specific reasons I wont make public at this time."

Every since Hanno was "denied" he kept flying the 10th Planet Flag on his website (up until yesterday), and implied his Brown Belt was "pending" (which is the rank BJJ Black Belts come into the system until they learn it) when it was indeed NOT pending, is was denied.


You can continue to defend your teacher, or you can internalize all this info and realize that he is actually a fraud who has conned, and burned you. It happens to a lot of good and intelligent people and is hard to accept, it happened to me early in my martial arts journey. You're the one who has to look in the mirror every morning and ask yourself, "am I being honest with myself", and then live with the decision.