Jay Russell - Albany,NY - Questions about his BJJ Black Belt and BJJ lineage.

**Dojostormz** · Posted On: 9/22/2010 2:14pm

Originally Posted by NewYorkJiuJitsu

Dojostormz,
You have just admitted your guilt by accusing my of saying something I never said. When in my response did I ever say I spoke to Ken Kronenberg? The answer is never. You like to fabricate things and it is very clear. Tai Kai existed long before it was taken over by team Balance and that school is no longer in existence. You need to do better research because you have no idea what you are talking about. Why dont you search the internet and find countless pictures and videos with Jordan Damon and a black belt around his waste. These are from years ago. Your personal vendetta has to be put to an end. Saying that I am a liar is going to get you nowhere because unlike you i researched all of this. Obviously out of everyone on this forum it would be most important for me to find out Jay Russel was a fraud since he teaches at my school. I have researched this day and night and have found no validity in anything you have said.

I'd like to apologize, I misread your initial post and thought (from memory) that you had said you had spoken to the head of Tai Kai. I have no ill will toward NYJJ and I should have reread your post before I wrote that. Again, I'm sorry.

However, I'd like to point out the following. As I understand it, Mr. Kronenberg is the owner of Tai Kai. It certainly says so on the website. http://www.syracusejiu-jitsu.com/

Perhaps Tai Kai wasn't always a Team Balance school (I'm not sure about this) but as I understand it, Tai Kai has always been owned by Mr. Kronenberg. Mr. Kronenberg says that Jay has not trained at Tai Kai in over ten years, but Jay claims he got his BB 9 years ago from Tai Kai. Who would know better than the owner? Mr. Kronenberg says that he is SURE that neither he nor Jordan Damon promoted Mr. Russell.

So I ask you this Mr Anthony: In all honesty, is it possible that the gentleman you spoke to on the phone, who verified that he had given Jay his BB, before you hired him, may have not been the real Jordan Damon? Or did you meet with him in person?

And can you verify that you spoke to Mr. Damon since this information came to light?

Again I apologize for misquoting you, and I also apologize if you if I came off as attacking you. I initially felt that you were blindly defending Mr. Russell.

And again, if it turns out that Mr. Russell's lineage is legitimate I will gladly apologize to him.

**Dojostormz** · Posted On: 9/22/2010 2:22pm

I'm quoting Mr. Kronenberg's email here, which is available elsewhere in the thread

All I can say is that Jordan just got promoted to Black Belt last week so it would be impossible for him to promote anyone to black belt.

I think it's important to consider this: Mr. Kronenberg, from Tai Kai, where Mr. Damon supposedly got his "original/non team balance" BB is saying that he JUST got his BB. Not that he just got his "new team balance BB".

Also, I believe (as is true with many associations) that just because you have a Team Balance BB does not mean you may promote. You have to be a BB for an extended time before you may promote. So certainly if Mr. Damon wanted to LEGITIMATELY promote someone he would have to have someone else do it.

I think there are several possibilities here.

Perhaps Mr. Russell is lying.

Perhaps Mr. Damon is lying.

Perhaps Mr. Damon's old belt was illegitimate and he took it off.

Perhaps one or both were completely and naively unaware of how this process works.

All of these outcomes end up with Mr. Russell's BB being illegitimate, whether he knew better or not.

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 9/22/2010 2:29pm

Quit interpreting the information. You are doing exactly what we are telling the others not to do. Leave the conjecture and derails alone. Just post information and if you have nothing to add lurk.

**Dojostormz** · Posted On: 9/22/2010 2:37pm

Fair enough. Here's info.

Mr. Damon wearing a BB while teaching BJJ in 2009.

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/a...WS03/309249987

Interesting. Following up on this with more research.

**Dojostormz** · Posted On: 9/22/2010 2:38pm

Note the Team Balance sign in the background. This is getting weird.

**Dojostormz** · Posted On: 9/22/2010 2:44pm

In this rather old (late 90's early 2000's maybe) HL video, you can see Mr. Damon grappling in the Gi in BJJ competition wearing what APPEARS to be a BB (hard to tell with the video quality).

It's at the 1:20 mark.

YouTube - Jordan Damon Highlight

**Rock Ape** · Posted On: 9/22/2010 2:47pm

Originally Posted by Dojostormz

Fair enough. Here's info.

Mr. Damon wearing a BB while teaching BJJ in 2009.

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/a...WS03/309249987

Interesting. Following up on this with more research.

To be a little blunt with you, you are starting to annoy me.

What does posting a picture of the guy wearing a Black Belt prove in a situation where the man in question believes HE IS IN FACT A BLACK BELT ?

It proves nothing other than he wears the belt he claims to hold.

So is your focus shifting from Russell to Damon now ?

**Counsel.Gov** · Posted On: 9/22/2010 2:51pm

I submit, for the sake of subtance-not mere conjecture-that everyone see the following link and pay close attention to the DATE on the left:

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f12/pl...kbelt-1196002/

It seems "someone" at NYJJ was alarmed about this very "issue" back on April 23, 2010.

Oh to live in the information age.....

**Dojostormz** · Posted On: 9/22/2010 2:52pm

Originally Posted by Simio de las Rocas

To be a little blunt with you, you are starting to annoy me.

What does posting a picture of the guy wearing a Black Belt prove in a situation where the man in question believes HE IS IN FACT A BLACK BELT ?

It proves nothing other than he wears the belt he claims to hold.

So is your focus shifting from Russell to Damon now ?

Dude.... thats JORDAN DAMON wearing a BB, not Jay Russell. Remember how he was just supposed to have gotten it last week? That picture and article are from 2009.

I am actually doing Mr. Russell's work for him right now.

**Dojostormz** · Posted On: 9/22/2010 2:55pm

To clarify: It's Jordan Damon, teaching BJJ at a team balance affiliate in 2009 even though Team Balance says he just got his BB last week.

I'm not trying to damn Mr. Russell, I just want to know the truth. I therefore started doing some research on Mr. Damon.