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 :)
ok, you guys got an answer... happy now?
wow....
interesting.
Wow...
I don't hate or even dislike Brandon, but pretending to be a brown belt when you know that you aren't is a dishonest thing to do and shows disrespect to those that have earned one through legitimate means, and worse yet, to the art of jiujitsu itself.
Ricksons is displeased
If Ari is good enough to get a purple from you then Brandon should easily be Brown quality IMO
Wow man, that is shady on Brandon's part. Thanks for clearing that up Eddie, its much obliged.
"If Ari is good enough to get a purple from you then Brandon should easily be Brown quality IMO "
I would agree with that- or he should at least be a purple too.
damn it eddie when is the website launching!?
unrelated to making fun of BQuick but its good of Eddie to tackle this head on apply directly to the forehead.
unrelated to making fun of BQuick but its good of Eddie to tackle this head on apply directly to the forehead.
unrelated to making fun of BQuick but its good of Eddie to tackle this head on apply directly to the forehead.
unrelated to making fun of BQuick but its good of Eddie to tackle this head on apply directly to the forehead.
Thanks for responding Eddie - that's solid that you investigated and got to the bottom of that. It also shows integrity for the system you are trying to build - respect.
Having said that, the issue that I think is lame is that if Brandon KNEW that his former BJJ instructor was a FAKE - why would he keep claiming Brown belt? When he aligned with 10th Planet why not just come out and say I really dont know what my rank should be since my last guy was a fake and have Eddie grade / rank him???
I've seen plenty of guys leave fakes before, switch and come out to be graded by someone legit. Then if Eddie said- yep he's Brown and gave him his Brown formally it wouldn't be questioned...
So wait, this means that Ari Bolden outranks Brandon Quick now? Man o man does that suck.
Darcebrabo - So wait, this means that Ari Bolden outranks Brandon Quick now? Man o man does that suck.
oooo man am I dying here... lol....
And the house of cards comes down.
Respectable of Eddie Bravo IMO.