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

**Rock Ape** · Posted On: 9/23/2010 9:08am

Originally Posted by Dojostormz

I have again emailed Mr Kronenberg, head of Tai Kai, asking if he can give more specific information on possible previous BB's or to refer Mr. Damon to me. To reiterate, he has already stated that Mr. Damon just received his BB from Tai Kai JJ/Team Balance.

It is certainly possible that Mr. Damon had a BB before. Yet, it is incredibly unlikely that it was from Tai Kai as Mr. Anthony claimed, based on what Mr. Kronenberg has said.

Thanks for that,

We then need to specifically clarify; was Mr. Damon A BLACK BELT HOLDER IN BJJ before his most recent promotion or, is his recent promotion his ONLY Black Belt grade in BJJ?

Hopefully Mr. Kronenberg will be able to confirm either way.

**kakronen** · Posted On: 9/23/2010 10:03am

Hello,

My name is Ken Kronenberg. I am the owner of Tai Kai Jiu JItsu.

1) Let me say from when I knew Jay, he was very talented on the mat. No one ever questioned his actual skills. I also got alone with Jay

2) First let me say it is impossible that anyone at Tai Kai Promoted Jay to a Brazilian Jiu JItsu Black Belt. I just got my first degree and Jordan was just awarded his black belt. In fact I did not promote Jordan, Phil Miglarese promoted Jordan to BB. In fact Phil is coming up for our belt ceremony in October 23 for the promotions also

3) Jordan has Black Belts in many styles, Kempo, a hybrid Jiu jitsu style. He never told anyone he is a BJJ black Belt. I have always heard him say he is a brown belt. That obviously was one of his other belts he was wearing in that picture. As far as Jiu JItsu was he never tried to tell ANYONE his a BJJ Black Belt. I even handed Phil the new belt to put on Jordan. That was the first time he wore that BJJ Belt.

I have not seen Jay in years and am sure he is still very talented on the mat but like is said it is IMPOSSIBLE for Jordan or anyone at Tai Kai to have promoted Jay to a Brazilian Jiu JItsu Black Belt period.

If anyone has any questions feel free to email me
at

kakronen2@yahoo.com

KEN

J

**Rock Ape** · Posted On: 9/23/2010 10:11am

Many thanks for joining us here Mr. Kronengerg, I have a couple of additional questions I'd like to put to you but I'm at work at the moment so will post them here later, I would greatly appreciate it if you could take a little time to add your further comments.

With thanks

Dave

**joecos** · Posted On: 9/23/2010 10:13am

Originally Posted by kakronen

Hello,

My name is Ken Kronenberg. I am the owner of Tai Kai Jiu JItsu.

1) Let me say from when I knew Jay, he was very talented on the mat. No one ever questioned his actual skills. I also got alone with Jay

2) First let me say it is impossible that anyone at Tai Kai Promoted Jay to a Brazilian Jiu JItsu Black Belt. I just got my first degree and Jordan was just awarded his black belt. In fact I did not promote Jordan, Phil Miglarese promoted Jordan to BB. In fact Phil is coming up for our belt ceremony in October 23 for the promotions also

3) Jordan has Black Belts in many styles, Kempo, a hybrid Jiu jitsu style. He never told anyone he is a BJJ black Belt. I have always heard him say he is a brown belt. That obviously was one of his other belts he was wearing in that picture. As far as Jiu JItsu was he never tried to tell ANYONE his a BJJ Black Belt. I even handed Phil the new belt to put on Jordan. That was the first time he wore that BJJ Belt.

I have not seen Jay in years and am sure he is still very talented on the mat but like is said it is IMPOSSIBLE for Jordan or anyone at Tai Kai to have promoted Jay to a Brazilian Jiu JItsu Black Belt period.

If anyone has any questions feel free to email me
at

kakronen2@yahoo.com

KEN

J

Ken:

I would like to point out one thing, reference this photo:

That is a BJJ BLACK BELT he is wearing, no other style uses the red patch on the end of the belt. This photo was supposedly taken in 2009.

Why was Jordan wearing a BJJ black belt in 2009?

**Dojostormz** · Posted On: 9/23/2010 10:21am

Originally Posted by joecos

Ken:

I would like to point out one thing, reference this photo:

That is a BJJ BLACK BELT he is wearing, no other style uses the red patch on the end of the belt. This photo was supposedly taken in 2009.

Why was Jordan wearing a BJJ black belt in 2009?

My guess is that this is the hybrid Jiu Jitsu style that Mr. Kronenberg spoke of.

**Rock Ape** · Posted On: 9/23/2010 10:22am

As a non BJJer, can you elaborate for me, what that red patch signifies or represents please.

Thank you

**joecos** · Posted On: 9/23/2010 10:28am

The patch, is present on all BJJ belt ranks, on lower rank belts it is black instead of red. It is used simply as a place to mount rank stripes.

**joecos** · Posted On: 9/23/2010 10:31am

Originally Posted by Dojostormz

My guess is that this is the hybrid Jiu Jitsu style that Mr. Kronenberg spoke of.

Jordan has Black Belts in many styles, Kempo, a hybrid Jiu jitsu style.

Mr Kronenberg called Kempo a hybird JJ style, which is both incorrect, and Kempo does not use this belt patch.

**Dojostormz** · Posted On: 9/23/2010 10:31am

Correct a black bar is used for lower belts, red is used for black belts just to differentiate from the black of the belt itself.

I've also heard that a red stripe just denotes an instructor, I believe Pedro Sauer's school uses that system. (Meaning that red can be seen on colors other than black).

**RachaelK** · Posted On: 9/23/2010 10:32am

What the picture of Jordan Damon shows is that he was wearing a black belt well before his recent promotion. Does this belt look new to anyone. Obviously we don't know what style he may have gotten the belt in however Jay has know Jordan for over 12 years and the only martial arts they ever trained in or ever spoke about was BJJ. Jordan Damon has the same holes in is story it seems that the complete Tai Kai Machado team mysteriously vanished as did there black belts. Just research online you will find tons of matches and tournaments with both Kronenberg and Damon fighting as Tai Kai Black Belts. Its all on the net. Now that they are Balance blackbelts they seemt to hide the fact that they were tai kai blackbelts. Why is this? Is this why they are denying Jay Russell? Who was in charge of Tai Kai Machado? it seems like they are the only one who can put an end to this. Perhaps Jay's black belt isn't legit, but is that his fault?

These two post below show different references to Ken Kronenberg and being a black belt. One of the posts is well before the other where people congratulate him for earning his black belt.

This is a post from 2004 where he was competing as a Tai Kai Black Belt

http://www.onthemat.com/articles/Bri...1_01_2003.html

http://www.nhbgear.com/forum/index.p...c,74311.0.html

Proof that Kenny Kronenbergs black belt time line doesnt make sense. This is a post on the day he got promoted to a black belt in 2007