The grappling community is in upheaval following revelations that ADCC veteran Josh Saunders has been promoting content from a German occultist group with apparent troubling affiliations on his social media accounts.
Screenshots circulating on Reddit show Saunders, who uses Instagram under the handle “hpucoaching,” sharing and engaging with posts from an account called “thuleism” that features overtly troubling imagery and messaging. The controversial posts include black-and-white aesthetic photos overlaid with slogans like “RADICAL. PRINCIPLED. ABSOLUTE.” and references to being “faithful descendants” of historical German movements.
The discovery has sparked intense backlash from the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community, with practitioners expressing surprise at the blatant nature of the content.
“I went from ‘I don’t see anything wrong with philosophical musings’ to ‘What the f**k,'”
wrote one user, capturing the sentiment of many who initially dismissed the posts as harmless conspiracy theories before recognizing their darker implications.
The controversy comes at a particularly awkward time for Saunders, who is already facing exclusion from Craig Jones‘ upcoming invitational tournament. Jones recently explained his decision to exclude the ADCC veteran from automatic selection for the Australian CJI 2 team, citing previous tensions between the two grapplers.
“Not all Aussies are ungrateful pieces of s**t. Just the one that when another Australian raises $1 million to give to a team, he got bullied, so he won’t participate in the event,”
Jones stated, referencing what he sees as Saunders‘ opportunistic behavior in using Jones’ merchandise to promote his own products while later attempting to distance himself.
The social media posts in question show a troubling progression from seemingly benign alternative theories to engagement with troubling ideology. In one post, Saunders wrote about how
“everything you know or you think you know about the world is a lie,”
promoting the idea that conventional education, politics, and history are designed to keep people “listless and drifting without meaning or purpose.”
However, it was his interaction with the thuleism account that raised the most serious concerns. The account, which Saunders both followed and engaged with, promotes content that community members identified as having clear WWII Germany symbolism and messaging.
The revelation has prompted calls for sponsors to distance themselves from Saunders, with one community member asking,
“Who are his sponsors? Would like to avoid supporting this guy in the future.”
Some observers noted that this pattern isn’t entirely surprising given previous concerning behavior.
“He also likes to suplex hobbyists at local tournaments so this tracks,”
one commenter observed, suggesting a history of questionable conduct.
The Australian grappling community now faces difficult questions about how to handle athletes who promote ideologies while representing the sport. As one commenter put it,
“The bar for pro BJJ dudes to act right is real f**king low and they still f**k it up.”
