Brandon Quick - 10th Planet Jiujitsu - Fake Brown Belt

[Phrost]

Eddie Bravo himself clears up this issue, in a show of class and professionalism:

I did not give Brandon his brown belt.

I have known Brandon for many years, met him at JJ's a long time ago while he was a student of black belt David Dunn. He also trained from time to time at 10th planet over the years. Many of my students are also full time students elsewhere, so his sporadic training at my school was quite normal.

When he approached me for affiliation he told me he was a brown belt and since I knew him for many years I never verified his brown belt, I just believed him.

Since the ability to teach my system is more important to me than the color of your belt i just checked him on his 10thplanet knowledge, which was pretty damn good.

I am not looking for champions to run my affiliates, just good teachers that understand my strategies, philosophies and have complete command of the 10th Planet terminology, which Brandon had down solid, and so does Ari, who got his purple from me directly.

Now that Brandon's brown belt is in question, I called him yesterday and asked him exactly where he got it.

Now i know why he's hesitant to explain how he got it publicly.

Turns out, according to Brandon, he got his brown belt from a bjj black belt while he was in the army. A guy named Sergeant Jason Keen who years later turned out to be a fake black belt.

Srgt Keen claimed he got his black belt from a Gracie military system called G.R.A.P.P.L.E. or something like that, but it turned out he lied, so basically Brandon's brown belt is not legit.

Now the question is, what am I gonna do about this situation?

There are a few routes I can take, but I will discuss this with my top disciples before I make my final decision.

I take full responsibility for not verifying the legitimacy of his brown belt before official affiliation was complete, I will do my best to make sure this does not happen again :)

Here's an interview with the individual in question:
YouTube - Interview with Brandon Quick pt 1

[mgb]

For reference:
http://www.trinitycombatacademy.com/
http://www.10thplanetjiujitsudfw.com/

Had the links handy because Cyrijl mentioned it in my newbietown thread. (The school is an hour or so away, south of Dallas)

[1point2]

So Eddie had someone else's brown belt open a 10th planet affiliate after evaluating his skills over the course of a couple classes?

Either Brandon has sick BJJ and 10th Planet skills anyway, in which Eddie should have mercy and award him a brown directly...or Eddie has atrocious quality control over his affiliates, in which case he should kick him to the curb, accept that he made a dumb mistake, and rework his affiliate standards.

[Matt Phillips]

Bullshit is the new black

[DKJr]

Oh shit no wonder I smashed his students in competitions. Whats funny is I've been curious about training up there, maybe I should go stop by.

[Kintanon]

I'd guess based on his experience and development after receiving his fake brown belt that he's got the skills to make it legit at this point. Hopefully he will be rewarded a real brown belt based on competition record and current skill level and can put this behind him.
It looks like he's been competing in the advanced No Gi division at NAGA for a while now. Looks pretty solid.

[Mtripp]

This is why in my ACJA group I give out teaching letters, not rank....

[CoffeeFan]

Yea, from my understanding he has the skills. Probably it would be best if Eddie promoted him himself.

[Phrost]

Yea, from my understanding he has the skills. Probably it would be best if Eddie promoted him himself.

I've heard things contradicting even that, but I have no evidence either way.

[1point2]

This is why in my ACJA group I give out teaching letters, not rank....

That didn't work so well for JKD, just a warning. Instructorship became the new Black Belt.

[Phrost]

Which is why belts should be deprecated and all that people should go on is competition records.

[cyrijl]

Which is why belts should be deprecated and all that people should go on is competition records.

Then we'll lose alot of great teachers. In addition, Brandon's DVD has helped me improve my top game by leaps and bounds.

I do worry about the 10th Planet quality control.

[Phrost]

It's a valid point. Some people can teach things really well, but are limited in competitions by their physical attributes.

[DSL]

Also, do we look at purely the record, or how well they did in each fight against each opponent, and who the opponents are (ie in MMA).
In just sub-grappling though it would seem to be easier to gauge.

[cyrijl]

I think the issue is with giving out rank. Eddie is a great teacher and bjj player. Once he starts giving out rank or accepting rank that is sub par (not just him but anyone) things just start getting worse.