Sincere apology to the forum

[RJ Encizo]

About my belt debacle. I am now "that guy". I sincerely apologize for seeming like a fraud. I assure you that I am not. I am just an obsessed maniac who has spent thousands of hours on the mats and have no real way of ranking myself. Call me out anyway you would like, I deserve it. I will simply use my knowledge of the art to convince you that I am not scum. Please invite me to train with you and likewise, all are invited to train with me. I love the art and will continue doing anything I can to share it. Please look past this blip, but feel free to call me a douche bag at any time.

[Jeremiah Macy]

Douche bag.

...Had to

[Apperz]

Hey man,

I haven't even read the other post comments (could sense the negativity building), but just so you know why this is potentially a problem:

I've followed your posts very closely since I signed up here. Your fitness posts and your technique posts. As I white belt I presumed you had a black belt under Eddie or at very least someone of lineage. To me this means 'listen to me, I know my shit and this has been confirmed'.

When you posted things up I trust them without question because you are listed as a black belt.

Conversely, when a white or blue belt post a video up I still watch it, but my thought process is different. I feel that the video is an idea by a lower level belt without the certified experience. That is far from saying I ignore the video, but I watch it and I look for errors or missing points that a lack of experience or knowledge may potentially cause.

That said, I've enjoyed a lot of the stuff you have put up and think you have some good ideas. I imagine the belt thing will take some time for people to forget / forgive, but don't let it scare you off.

[Chris Garry]

Fair play to you mate. I personally don't think it should be held against you. On the one hand you have guys who have competed for 10 years and are very high level grapplers clearly well past white belt level, then on the other hand you have guys who have committed to their instructor and been loyal and put in the work to attain whichever belt they are at.

So whilst the level of the belt will always be a grey area and viewed differently by different people the acquiring of the belt is something you can only get with dedication. Grappling ability is one thing but commitment and understanding of the system is also important and something you must achieve.

I look forward to reading more of your threads. Thank you.

[Aiseop]

repost from the other thread: I was wondering why I had never heard of an American Top Team affiliate in Franklin. Quite frankly, I don't remember one being there even 3 months ago... We here at ATT CT have Ricardo Liborio come for seminars all the time (as well as other ATT coaches and fighters) and I can tell you quite honestly that Liborio would lose his mind if he sees you in ATT gear, as if you are representing them. The rank thing is cardinal sin #1. The lying affiliation thing is #2. Honestly, I'm not a snitch but you need to correct any misperception anytime soon, brother, including lineage, with your history of training and number of years, real rank, real affiliation, any form of competitive record, and how long you've posed/been an instructor. Best to you and I hope this gets cleared up. I've been really looking hard for a 10th Planet nearby and was gonna reach out to you, but this is disheartening.

[BrandonWoolsey]

Will the real B Quick please stand up! LOL

[Sean Gamble]

Meh... at least the guy came clean and apologized. It didn't seem like he was intentionally misleading anyone, more so just a confusion of how to label himself. If he had of claimed to be a black belt, got asked about it and made up some shady back story still claiming to be a black belt I think it would be different. As soon as someone asked him he said he was self taught. Still it was a mistake to label yourself a black belt, if you had never been ranked. Especially on a forum like 10th Planet where most people would be no-gi players, who would probably be more understanding about you being unranked yet experieced. For what its worth I liked the stuff you posted and you seem like a nice guy, who genuinely feels remorseful. Just my unimportant 2 cents.

Do you have any competition footage or results? Do any of your students compete? Have you trained with any high level guys? Have you trained with anyone on the forum? It might be helpful for people to see, or if you wanna show your experience level. If you have footage of yourself tapping black belts in comp, I doubt people are going to care that you're officially a white belt.

[RJ Encizo]

repost from the other thread: I was wondering why I had never heard of an American Top Team affiliate in Franklin. Quite frankly, I don't remember one being there even 3 months ago... We here at ATT CT have Ricardo Liborio come for seminars all the time (as well as other ATT coaches and fighters) and I can tell you quite honestly that Liborio would lose his mind if he sees you in ATT gear, as if you are representing them. The rank thing is cardinal sin #1. The lying affiliation thing is #2. Honestly, I'm not a snitch but you need to correct any misperception anytime soon, brother, including lineage, with your history of training and number of years, real rank, real affiliation, any form of competitive record, and how long you've posed/been an instructor. Best to you and I hope this gets cleared up. I've been really looking hard for a 10th Planet nearby and was gonna reach out to you, but this is disheartening.

I began training a bit over three years ago and since the second week, I have spent a minimum of 20 hours per week on the mats. Over 3900 hours at this point. I roll a minimum of 16 hours per week and teach 13 classes per week. I am self taught, because when I first started at American Top Team Franklin square, I was working from 230 am to 4pm. Because of my schedule, I never could take classes, so I learned through experience and youtube. I only rolled. But I rolled A LOT. So much, that I am still dealing with wear and tear injuries. By 9 months, I had golds in (locals, gq, Naga, good fights, pictures if needed) and began competing at purple or higher. I also began coaching then. In February 2012, I received a brown belt from David Martucci, but since I only do nogi, and have never worn a gi, I don't acknowledge it, and asked to not receive any more. I didn't want a gym rank. And joked about the white belt. It's a joke amongst me and a few other guys I know, that have never trained gi. We call ourselves white belts, and joke about competing as white belts. Pictures of that if you need it as well. I am not sure of Davids lineage, but I know he is a level 3 instructor under both pat militich and Ricardo laborious, and 6 years ago trained with and employed Sambo Steve. But Dave is more of a muay Thai specialist and the gym was more of an mma grappling school for fighting until I started teaching a more technical nogi. The gym Absolutely was an Att location. The relationship soured with him and Att a few months ago though (for unknown reasons) and I actually, bought the gym from him in July. I spoke with Bob delluca and was told that I couldn't do both 10p and Att, and static nice the relationship soured with the previous owner, i unaffiliated with the intent of becoming 10p, which I still would like to do, but will need to fix. I'll be headed to Rochester asap to go represent myself in person, rather than an Internet forum. I'm sure after which, my reputation will be more than fixed, since you can't fake it on the mats. As far as me coaching, go back and watch some of my videos on this forum. They are from like April of last year, filed in class, from when we were 1000 percent, an att location. Any other doubts, I invite you to roll with me. I love when higher belts from traditional bjj schools that train gi come to visit. The best way to clear this, is for me to go to Rochester and keep posting techniques.

[BrandonWoolsey]

I wouldn't post anymore technique vids until after your Rochester trip and things are cleared up. 10P rule unless given prior approval you must be a brown belt or up to post tech vids.

[Tony Toffolo]

Douche bag.

...Had to

c'mon man, that's a bit rough