Atama BJJ >> Won Choi - bjj black belt in judo novice division

A year or so ago I met and began to train with a guy who became someone that I honestly considered one of my better friends, somebody that I honestly cared about. And it hurts when you lose a friend like that, it hurts more than I wish to describe.

Anyway, this friend started training with Machado Jiu-Jitsu as a blue belt. And he was an asset to the class. I enjoyed training him and training with him.

This friend is Orem Utah’s Mickey Wonchoi of Wonchoi TKD. Mickey is an incredible Tae Kwon Do stylist and a very astute business man. His school in Orem is successful and his students seem happy; however, in what Mickey himself described as an act that was “all about money”, my friend traveled to Brazil to train with world Champion Eduardo Telles and when he came home he was wearing a black belt that he claimed Telles had awarded him after he paid Telles $500.

I congratulated Mickey, before I heard the $500 part of the story, even though I was confused by the possibility of anyone giving him a black belt at his stage of development as a Jiu-Jitsu stylist. Machado Jiu-Jitsu Utah did not, and does not, recognize his black belt but that doesn’t mean that somebody else couldn’t and if Mickey had decided to leave our organization then that is his choice. But Mickey didn’t want to leave our organization; he just wanted the black belt.

I was suspicious of his claims after first hearing his $500 black belt story . . . especially where it involved Telles who is, in my opinion, above that sort of thing and, considering that Telles comes from a well to do family, the idea that Telles sold a black belt for $500 is just silly.

Whether the idea was silly or not, I kept my opinions to myself. I always try to verify my suspicions before I make them public and this situation, involving someone I considered a friend, required that I pay extra special attention to what I said and when I said it. This is why I refrained from taking any official action until I had a chance to talk to Telles at the recent Aggro Submission Grappling Championships (http://www.americangrapplinggames.com).

Telles was straight forward. He barely remembered Mickey and actually recalled a friend of Mickey’s from Korea, who traveled to Brazil with him, before remembering Mickey. He told us that Mickey trained with him for a week.

When we reported that Mickey was claiming to have received a black belt from Telles, Telles responded with a look of shock in his eyes that made him look like he had just French kissed the back side of a skunk before he asked “how can anyone get a black belt in a week? No. No. No.”

This was heard by three Machado Jiu-Jitsu representatives who had also been told the story of Mickey’s promotion by Mr. Wonchoi.

I apologize to anyone who feels like I have taken too much time to bring this forward, approximately four months; however, I felt that the delay was necessary so that I could give someone I called friend the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps my feelings kept me from responding as quickly as I should have but I felt caution was very important in this case.

So, to polish off this rather ugly story, let me close this by saying that Machado Jiu-Jitsu Utah regrets the choices that Mickey Wonchoi has made. We do not recognize his black belt. Mickey Wonchoi does not represent Machado Jiu-Jitsu.

If Mr. Wonchoi makes any claims that he is a representative of Machado Jiu-Jitsu then those claims are false. If Mr. Wonchoi claims to be a Machado Jiu-Jitsu black belt then those claims are false. If Mr. Wonchoi claims to be a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt then it is not from Eduardo Telles, according to Telles himself. If Mr. Wonchoi claims to be a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, at all, then please request that instructor's name and contact information because as of today the information provided has not been what you might call the most reliable.

A letter focusing on the details of this post have been sent to Mr. Wonchoi.

eviladam -  the fonts on that website are broken or something.  i can't make heads or tails of anything.