Donvito's Academy of martial arts

**bill_nye68** · Posted On: 12/27/2007 9:50am

in a few years i'll be moving closer to my family in Navarre Florida. I'll teach Southeastern kenpo karate jujitsu hybred art(inmy profle) i'mdown here forxmas th schools havent been open this week but i did pick up a flyer from donvito's academy of martial arts, (i'll scan it when i get home
his website is www.donvitosmartialarts.com

heres what struck me as a lil fishy

Founder and owner ron donvito
mr donvito has over 40 years of traditional martial arts training and has earned black belts in 9 arts

10th degree black belt kobushi sessen-jutsu (soke)
8th degree black belt okinawa-Te
7th degree black belt japanese jujitsu
6th degree black belt Isshin budo taijitsu
6th degree black belt shorinji kenpo
6th degree black belt kyokushin kaikan
4th degree black belt michi budo-ryu jujitsu
3rd degree black belt judo
1st degree black belt TKD

Mr donvito is the founder and inventor of the Line Combatives h has been the subject matter expert on close combat fot the USMC and an advislor to the armed forces medical examiner. he has conducted combative training throughout the world and is responsible for the training of over 1,000,000 military personal in the last 25 years

Michael donvito teachers the the bjj right next door

7th degree black belt kobushi sessen-jutsu
6th degree black belt okinawa-Te
6th degree black belt japanese jujitsu
6th degree black belt okinawa kenpo
2nd degree black belt judo
1st degree black belt Brazilian jiujitsu

Michael is the primary instructor for Brazilian jiu-jitsu. he has trained wirg Marcelo alonso, gustavo machado, roberto gordo correa, mauricio "tiguinha" mariano, frank shaMROCK, and carlos machado.

currently michael is a black belt under carlos machado & the official representative state representative for the state of florida for carlos machado

Some of there programs sound decent i'm just a lil suspect of the backgrounds

http://www.fighttimes.com/magazine/m...sp?article=645

at least all the high ranks buyt if hes legit i will deffintly seek him out

his kids program is honestly how i would approsach it if i had a desire to train kids

**Jadonblade** · Posted On: 12/27/2007 11:23am

Should be easy to check for the BJJ belt atleast. Does sound suspect however. Let us know how your investigation goes.

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 12/27/2007 12:00pm

He, first I read it 'doritos academy', then 'Don Vito's academy' as in 'Don Vito Corleone.'

The uber-list of black belts sounds suspect as well as claiming to have trained over 1mill pple. BJJ credentials are easier to clarify, however.

**bill_nye68** · Posted On: 12/27/2007 10:04pm

i drove buy a few times today, but the school wasn't open, i wish i could stop by for further investigation, hopefully someone can pick up my slack, cuase i leave in the morning

**saman** · Posted On: 12/28/2007 5:47am

I looked around a little on the sites for the orgs he from which he claims to have received instructor of the year etc. and can't find him listed. How do you adequately train to those levels in all those arts? I'll tell you - just like Choi Kwang Do does it (and probably lots of other organizations, too) You go in as a 3rd or 4th degree in something (it doesn't seem to matter what) tell them you now want to teach xyz in your school because you think they are the best and, presto whammo, you are a 6th or 7th degree in that system. Not that you really know that much, but you can lead people to believe you do. Also, I have found, liars abound in martial arts. In the TKD world, we know that, especially here in the US, many Korean first degrees land at Kennedy and immediately become 6th degree masters. And, because we have a hard time correctly spelling their names and getting their birthdays, it's nearly impossible for anyone except a legit Korean grandmaster to check out their creds with the Kukkiwon.

**RobT** · Posted On: 12/28/2007 6:22am

onthemat.com has Michael Donvito listed as a black belt.

**Middlefinger** · Posted On: 12/28/2007 7:36am

Originally Posted by RobT

onthemat.com has Michael Donvito listed as a black belt.

Wow, the name is famous enough for scepticism. Vito Corleone, Don Vito is Bam Margera's uncle but the guy is legit. It's the one time somebody qualified tries to cash in on a famous name and offers legit instruction.

**saman** · Posted On: 12/29/2007 9:09pm

Originally Posted by RobT

onthemat.com has Michael Donvito listed as a black belt.

But the question is, how do you get listed there as a bb? If it's like lots of these "Hall of Fame" listings, you do it yourself. I guess one could claim to have been deputy pope and official grandmaster for the college of cardinals. I know for a fact that you can be inducted into the "Hall of Fame" of a (un-named) very big martial arts magazine just by nominating yourself, buying enough subscriptions and regularly advertising. Believe me, they don't check out the facts of the bios.

**attakmint** · Posted On: 12/29/2007 10:56pm

Hmm... a little google-fu has Mike DonVito placing in a blue belt tournament in Texas with Carlos Machado in 2003. There's a Sherdog post mentioning him as a black in 2006, and 3 years seems a little short to go from blue to black. So... check them out, ask for his lineage, and see his black belt certificate? Not saying he's not legit, maybe he's a genius at BJJ.

It is a little odd that his website says that he's the "official Carlos Machado representative in Florida," but Carlos Machado's website doesn't list any Florida association members and the logo is different. Maybe he's just behind in payment.

And what is the deal with registering with OTM, do they have the records from IBJJF or whatever? How do they confirm?