Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion Mikey Musumeci‘s dramatic reversal on Derek Moneyberg‘s controversial black belt promotion has left both Moneyberg and Jake Shields feeling deeply betrayed. What began as enthusiastic public support has devolved into a painful falling-out that has exposed the pressures of social media criticism in the martial arts community.
Musumeci initially defended Moneyberg’s 3.5-year path to black belt with glowing praise, calling him a “genius” and stating that
“He literally trains more and more discipline and focuses on the small details and majority of like the top world champions.”
In private text messages to Shields, Musumeci was even more emphatic, insisting that Moneyberg could beat many black belts and urging Shields to arrange a match to silence critics according to Shields and Moneyberg.
“Please set it up. I’m literally being cancelled,”
Musumeci pleaded in one message.
However, during a recent appearance on the Simple Man Podcast, Musumeci completely reversed course. He revealed that he and Moneyberg had trained together only three times and claimed that Moneyberg
“doesn’t roll or anything.”
When asked directly about the black belt, Musumeci stated,
“I would never give someone a black belt in that amount of time. He doesn’t compete or train.”
He further clarified that while Moneyberg possesses theoretical knowledge,
“Can he apply it and do it to someone in his division like Nicky Rod? No f***ing way.”
For Moneyberg, the reversal was particularly painful given their previous relationship.
“We’re not friends,”
Moneyberg stated flatly.
“You betrayed our friendship.”
He recounted how Musumeci had privately praised his technical understanding, telling him that
“There’s guys that had a black belt for 20 years that they don’t have the technical knowledge that you do.”
The contrast between these private conversations and Musumeci’s public statements left Moneyberg questioning which version was the lie according to his own recollection.
Shields was equally disappointed, noting that he had text messages from Musumeci defending Moneyberg’s abilities.
“Typically, I wouldn’t read private texts,”
Shields said,
“But he’s privately text me defending you and then says something different, which to me is really disappointing because I looked at Mikey as a friend.”
The catalyst for Musumeci’s about-face appears to have been intense social media backlash. In his podcast appearance, Musumeci admitted he
“got beat up enough from the jiu-jitsu community”
and described feeling like he was
“bleeding”
and
“on the floor”
from the criticism. This admission only reinforced Moneyberg and Shields’ belief that Musumeci caved to public pressure rather than standing by his honest assessment.
Despite the betrayal, Moneyberg maintained a measured tone, acknowledging Musumeci’s skills while drawing a firm boundary.
“I don’t want to make a new enemy,”
he said.
“You’re a good person overall. But I can’t trust you in the future based on the things that you said to me privately and the things you said on video, and then you made just a total contradiction”
