Five-time world champion Mikey Musumeci has weighed in on the controversial “Moneyberg Gate” saga that has rocked the Brazilian jiu-jitsu community, arguing that the backlash Derek Moneyberg received wasn’t really about the accelerated timeline to black belt—it was about tribal divisions within the sport itself.
Speaking on Jake Shields’ Fight Back Podcast, Shields took responsibility for awarding the rank while defending his decision. “The thing is me, I’m the one that gave him the black belt. I feel like all the attacks should come on me, not Moneyberg,” Shields stated at the outset of the conversation.
The controversy centers on Derek receiving his black belt in approximately 3.5 years. This is an extraordinarily compressed timeline in a martial art where the journey typically takes 10-15 years. However, Musumeci believes the real issue lies elsewhere: the fundamental divide between gi and no-gi practitioners.
“I think the biggest thing, like from my perspective is like, again I’m from the gi community, right? So when we think Brazilian jiu-jitsu, I instantly think of people wearing gis and things and sport jiu-jitsu,” Musumeci explained.
“I think that the label of BJJ from that community because the majority of people train gi, right? In BJJ. So I think that that’s what like infuriated everyone.”
Musumeci emphasized that Derek’s training focus was never sport jiu-jitsu or gi-based competition. Instead, Derek approached his training with self-defense and real-world application in mind, investing millions of dollars to train with elite coaches including Musumeci, Gordon Ryan, and Gilbert Burns.
“The truth of the matter is if you spend several million dollars hiring top coaches versus if you don’t, you’re going to excel at a much faster rate,” Shields noted.
The champion further explained that Derek’s skills don’t fit traditional sport jiu-jitsu metrics. “When I said he doesn’t train, this is what like is off. When I said train, I mean roll. Training means two things, right? Participating in jiu-jitsu and then train could be like spar. He doesn’t spar a lot because he’s not focused on doing competition,” Musumeci clarified.
Despite the criticism, Shields stood firm on Derek’s technical abilities. “He’s a lot harder to tap for me than most black belts I train with. That’s the truth of the matter,” he revealed.
Shields corroborated this assessment, noting that Derek released a video showing how difficult it was for multiple high-level practitioners to submit him.
Musumeci did acknowledge that Derek’s presentation style contributed to the backlash. “He has done some things to provoke it because he can, you know, come across a little bit abrasive,” Musumeci admitted.
He also conceded that if Derek were to compete against hobbyist black belts his age, “I think he would need like six months of training for cardio” to be competitive, though his technical knowledge was already sufficient.
The champion’s core argument remains that the controversy stems from semantic and cultural divisions rather than genuine concerns about skill level. “I think that if it was labeled anything else at that point from like the gi jiu-jitsu perspective, I think that’s what like infuriated people,” Musumeci said, suggesting that calling it something other than “BJJ black belt” might have avoided the firestorm.
Ultimately, Musumeci expressed regret about how the situation unfolded, particularly the toxic online discourse that followed. “I had good intentions, guys the whole time. Like I did feel that Derek like worked really hard for his rank, you know, and like he’s very passionate about learning,” he said, though he distanced himself from some of Derek’s subsequent responses to critics.
