hi, i have never posted on here but this time i feel the need to chime in. let me start off by introducing myself. my name is jake whitfield. i am a brown belt under royce gracie and a professional mma fighter (my record:
http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/f/DA...les-Whitfield/ ). i also own triangle jiu-jitsu academy here in north carolina (
www.trianglejj.com). i know frank personally and feel like i have something to add.
first of all, let me start by saying some of the things that frank is going to say about me. first, he is going to say that i'm a punk kid. well i really have no way to argue that since it is his opinion. second, he's going to point that i have been very critical of eddie and 10th planet. this is absolutely true. i am a traditional gracie jiu-jitsu teacher and i'm proud of it. i have been highly critical of how eddie portrays his style and some of the things he teaches and i will continue to be.
i moved to goldsboro, nc in may of 2008 and my first encounter with frank was about a week before i fought tim mannon. i was working the bag at my gym and this little car pulls out. out of the car steps this large guy in an even larger tapout shirt. so i start to talk to him. he tells me that he is frank james and that he used to teach at the other mma gym in town. he tells me that he was given a purple belt by the head of nova uniao in north carolina to which i replied "oh you mean jeremy owens from evolution? yeah jeremy is a really good friend of mine." then frank changed his story and said that he wasnt actually given a belt by jeremy but that jeremy said that he was a purple belt level. next he tried to tell me that he was really good friends with charuto and i replied "oh yeah? thats cool. i trained with charuto last week." now he starts backpedaling and trying to tell me about his awesome stand up background and how he had taken one of his students down to a kickboxing gym in wilmington to be evaluated. and i said "oh you mean john maynard at champion kickboxing? yeah hes the one who gave me my black belt in kickboxing". now frank didnt know what to say so he tells me (direct quote) "well small joint manipulations are really my forte." at which point i informed him that i had to get back to training.
over the next few months, frank would pop into the gym occasionally and hang out and try to tell me more bullshit. i was always polite to him and would always ask if he wanted to roll but he would always have a reason why he couldnt. then he finally scheduled a private with me in january of 2009. he asked me some fairly ridiculous questions then we rolled. we rolled about five minutes and he tapped about six times. only one of those times was a legitimate submission. the other times was "oh man i cant breath, get off me". then he offered to help me with my stand up and i said "sure wanna spar?" so we put on some gloves. most of the stand up training was me stalking him around the mat and him running away. finally he stepped in and hit me with one jab. it landed solid but did nothing. frank however reacted like he had just killed me "oh my god man are you ok?" i just looked at him and was like "yeah it was just a jab dude keep going." finally he stopped running and i landed a few combinations and he said he didnt want to spar anymore. i remember that day very well because it was the day that grandmaster helio passed away. i got done training with frank and got a text saying that he had passed and all i could think was "what a disgrace! grandmaster helio passes and i'm hear training with this guy."
frank didnt come back into the gym for awhile after that. maybe six months later he showed up again. i was having royce at my place for a seminar and had sent out a mass text to everyone in my phone about it. so frank shows up... wearing a BLACK BELT! lol frank does the whole seminar and at the end of the seminar when royce is about to do evaluations he says "ok, everyone with more than a years experience on this side. everyone with less than a year on the other side." and frank mr black belt went over to the side with less than a years experience! haha
once again, i didnt hear anything from him for a long time. then about six months ago, one of my students posted a video on facebook on how to counter the rubber guard. frank left a rather rude reply saying that my student didnt know what he was talking about. one of my other students posted a response with two videos showing my guy using the exact countrer in competition. at which point frank said something about how it would never work against someone that really knew 10th planet jiu-jitsu. now i had enough so i replied and said that frank james is a phony. not only does he have no business being an mma coach but he certainly has no business criticizing my student who has competed many times and done very well. this set frank off and frank started attacking me and calling me names so i offered for frank to come by the gym and roll. he said he didnt want to roll, he wanted to fight. so i offered for him to come by the gym and we could put some gloves on. he told me that he didnt want to do mma because mma was for pussies that needed to hide behind the rules. he wanted to fight me in the street and he was going to pull my eyes out and stomp on my head and all this stuff. i posted one more time pointing out that at no time did i ever threaten this man. all i ever did was offer for him to come by the gym and train. i didnt respond for probably 70 more comments. when i did it was to copy and paste a message from jon helton. frank even went so far as to tell a black belt, a black belt that placed third at the pan ams, that he didnt know anything about jiu-jitsu. for the next month everywhere i went, people were asking me what was wrong with that psycho.
finally a few weeks ago i saw frank at walmart. i simply went about my business but i did keep my eyes open. frank is well known around here for sucker punching people. i have many students who are law enforcement officers and they all talked about how many times frank has been arrested. there is even a law in a local county for "habitual misdemeanor assault" that was created specifically for frank. eventually frank ended up in line behind me. as he walked up, i turned to face him so he could see that i knew he was there. our conversation went like this:
frank: hey man hows it going?
me: fine
frank: when are you fighting again?
me: march or april, its up to the promoter
frank: oh man thats cool! i'll have to make sure i'm there...long pause... i'm having a seminar at my gym
me: yeah with the guy from delaware
frank: yeah! want me to drop some fliers off at the gym
me: nope, its not my thing
frank: yeah i know but it never hurts to broaden your horizons
me: yeah but that stuff doesnt interest me. obviously eddie has proven that HE can make it work at a high level, but i dont really care for most of it.
frank: yeah theres a lot of stuff i dont like to with the names and everything
at which point, i took my bags and walked away. then i hear how hes telling people on here that i was scared and how there was almost a show at walmart. you folks dont know me, but i can promise you this: the only thing about frank that scares me is his punch from behind. frank james is a bully and bullies are no threat to anyone that will stand up to them.
eddie, like i said in the beginning, i have been vocal in my dislike for a lot of the stuff that you do and say. you are an authority with a unique amount of influence in the bjj/mma community and i dont always agree with how you use it. personally, i play rubber guard quite a bit and the twister back take has become one of my favorite ways to get to the back but the way you present the sport bothers me. i have respect for you as a jiu-jitsu practitioner. to beat royler, you have to be pretty freaking good no matter what the circumstances. but i also have to say that after reading this thread i do also have more respect for you as a person. i'm glad to see you taking steps to protect your name and your students from someone like this. i would love a chance to talk with you one on one about some of my feelings, but this is all i have to say about this matter. thanks.
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Originally Posted by Jason Eisner
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