Derek Moneyberg Earns Black Belt in 3.5 Years
News broke earlier this week that multi-millionaire Dale Buczkowski(Derek Moneyberg) was awarded his black belt. For 3.5 years, Moneyberg paid some of the best grapplers for private lessons, which included Jake Shields, Mikey Musumeci, Glover Teixeira, and Lyoto Machida.
After allegedly putting in 3,000 hours, Moneyberg was awarded his black belt and made a post with three of the previously mentioned champions.
Vinny Magalhães Criticizes the Promotion
After hearing this news, one of the biggest critics of the Moneyberg black belt promotion was former BJJ world champion and MMA fighter Vinny Magalhães.
Vinny did not hold back on his opinion of this promotion.
“They’ve got four killers training day in and day out, probably rolls like a dying turtle, and everyone knows—even the instructors—that he’s not about that life. But hey, loyalty is loyalty… especially when it’s to someone’s Zelle account.
If a savage DJ trained like a maniac every day for 3.5 years but didn’t pay a dime… would he be a black belt? Nope. At this point, some of these belts don’t mean ‘technical mastery’ or ‘warrior spirit’—they mean ‘Promoting Machine.”- Vinny Magalhães.
Jake Shields & Mikey Musumeci Defend the Promotion
Jake Shields, the man who promoted Derek Moneyberg, was obviously quick to defend his student.
“Congratulations to @derekmoneyberg for getting his black belt from me in under 4 years. For some reason, hundreds of people who have never trained with Derek or won a world title are upset at how fast he received his black belt.”– Jake Shields
Mikey Musumeci also came out to defend Buczkowski.
“Derek is a genius!! Super super intelligent and has the ability to grasp and learn things that would take regular people years.”- Mikey Musumeci.
Is Moneyberg a Fake Black Belt?
When word hit the internet that Derek Moneyberg earned his black belt in 3.5 years, we had two specific thoughts about this news.
- Who is Derek Moneyberg?
- Is he a legitimate black belt, or did he buy it?
At first, we were going to give Derek the benefit of the doubt since it is possible to earn a black belt in 3.5 years. If he was dedicated and trained under the best grapplers on the planet, he might likely be a legitimate black belt.
However, after seeing the video below, we’re not too sure. We don’t know if these recorded training sessions were early on in his journey, but he definitely doesn’t show black belt-level abilities.
Sloppy technique and clearly not in the physical shape of somebody who has been training every day for 3.5 years would look.
The Mats Don’t Lie
NBA great Rasheed Wallace once said, “the ball don’t lie.” This is also the case for martial arts abilities.
Derek Moneyberg wouldn’t be the first rich guy to buy a black belt in martial arts history, and if he did, he won’t be the last.
However, if he isn’t a legitimate black belt, then we would see it, because the mats don’t lie. You can buy a rank, but you cannot buy the skill.
Bobby is martial artist for almost 20 years with a BJJ black belt under Professor Sergio Miranda. He is also a karate black and former combat sports athlete, who loves all things grappling.