Clarksville Fight Club - Team Wildside BS sambo and everything else

**sambosteve** · Posted On: 1/22/2012 5:32pm

Originally Posted by SSF

Ok, Eric and Mike are from my home town and I know the guys. They never took a Sambo class. Two of their students were on vacation in FL and stopped by Carlos Cummings school and trained a few times. Mike called Carlos about joining his association. Next thing I know, Mike is claiming a Sambo Brown Belt. Turns out he bought it off of another guy in our town who has a club belt. The guy told me he sold the brown belt and a few other belts to Mike's students for $50 each. He said it was the easiest money he ever made. The guy is a friend of mine and I told him what he did was BS. To which he replied "belts don't mean **** and if they are dumb enough to pay then **** them". Problem is, they are soiling the sambo name by teaching BS that they don't know. These are guys that I know personally and I know the BS around them. Sorry if I posted in the wrong section or in the wrong format. I have been a member of this site for a long time but I hardly ever come on here so I do not know the "correct" format of posting that will make Omega happy.

To be clear, he never got anywhere with Carlos, right. The belt did not come from Carlos.

Why not give up the name of the guy who sold the belt? He made his bed. You can't bitch about the guy who paid for it and not the party who sold it to him. Is the seller a sambo guy?

**SSF** · Posted On: 1/22/2012 5:37pm

No, Merriman never trained with Carlos. Carlos doesn't give out belts as you know. His students only trained with Carlos a couple of days. They aren't to blame, they were only seeking to learn something new.

John Ivey sold them the belts. Evey one who knows Ivey knows that he is a MMA fighter and thinks that all belts are a joke. Ivey has good leg locks (but he isn't a true Sambo guy) and uses them well in MMA fights. He use to teach at Wildside and he too can tell you that those guys are not Sambo guys.

**sambosteve** · Posted On: 1/22/2012 5:41pm

Originally Posted by SSF

No, Merriman never trained with Carlos. Carlos doesn't give out belts as you know. His students only trained with Carlos a couple of days. They aren't to blame, they were only seeking to learn something new.

John Ivey sold them the belts. Evey one who knows Ivey knows that he is a MMA fighter and thinks that all belts are a joke. Ivey has good leg locks (but he isn't a true Sambo guy) and uses them well in MMA fights. He use to teach at Wildside and he too can tell you that those guys are not Sambo guys.

Does'nt Ivey train at your gym too?

**SSF** · Posted On: 1/22/2012 5:44pm

He does now. He use to teach at their gym. When I found out that he sold them belts while he was there he and I had a talk. He only trains at our gym, doesn't teach.

**SSF** · Posted On: 1/22/2012 5:46pm

So you can see that it's not hearsay, I'm pretty damn familiar with whats going on here and I'm not crazy about it.

**sambosteve** · Posted On: 1/22/2012 5:51pm

Originally Posted by SSF

He does now. He use to teach at their gym. When I found out that he sold them belts while he was there he and I had a talk. He only trains at our gym, doesn't teach.

Well, sounds like a big incestuous clusterf**k to me. But, in the end, Ivey is no sambo guy so those belts are BS too. In all honesty, its low class to sell a fake belt and buy a fake belt. Neither of those guys would be welcome in my gym no matter how good they may be.

**SSF** · Posted On: 1/22/2012 5:56pm

I agree that it's low class to sell or willing buy a fake belt. It's also low class to advertise your fake belt as being real when you know how you got it and that it is a fake.

***Omega Supreme*** · Posted On: 1/22/2012 6:08pm

Originally Posted by SSF

Ok, Eric and Mike are from my home town and I know the guys. They never took a Sambo class. Two of their students were on vacation in FL and stopped by Carlos Cummings school and trained a few times. Mike called Carlos about joining his association. Next thing I know, Mike is claiming a Sambo Brown Belt. Turns out he bought it off of another guy in our town who has a club belt. The guy told me he sold the brown belt and a few other belts to Mike's students for $50 each. He said it was the easiest money he ever made. The guy is a friend of mine and I told him what he did was BS. To which he replied "belts don't mean **** and if they are dumb enough to pay then **** them". Problem is, they are soiling the sambo name by teaching BS that they don't know. These are guys that I know personally and I know the BS around them. Sorry if I posted in the wrong section or in the wrong format. I have been a member of this site for a long time but I hardly ever come on here so I do not know the "correct" format of posting that will make Omega happy.

God, I hate guys like that. On both ends. Those who buy, and those who sell.

**** the other remark let's just get this thing going.

**Bruiser** · Posted On: 1/22/2012 6:17pm

Good job TS for pointing this out.

Guys I'm a noob at this but I'm more than willing to help in anyway I can.

**sambosteve** · Posted On: 1/22/2012 6:17pm

SSF,

It is bad all around. Both guys are equally to blame. Of course he will promote the belt. Why else would be buy it in the first place?

Your initial post now appears quite disingenuous. You post about an inquiry into Merriman, a fake sambo brown belt, withheld the facts and full story appearing as if you did not know...which it turns out you knew from the beginning. Worse than that, the seller of the fraudulent belt, who is just as much to blame as Merriman, trains at your own gym. It may not be the case, but it looks like you were trying to protect Ivey from scrutiny while throwing Merriman under the bus.

Furthermore, you misrepresented our relationship regarding your article in Tapout and used your ASA membership as some kind of validation of your public accusation.

Needless to say this thread does not make me jump for joy. On many levels.

I'm done.