ADCC veteran Josh Saunders faces mounting scrutiny over his social media activities. What began as questions about philosophical content has evolved into something far more concerning for the grappling world.
Recent revelations show that Saunders, who competes under the Instagram handle “hpucoaching,” has been actively engaging with content from accounts promoting troubling ideologies. Screenshots circulating throughout the community reveal his interactions with a German occultist group called “thuleism,” which features imagery and messaging that practitioners have identified as having clear connections to historical extremist movements.
The posts in question showcase black-and-white aesthetic photographs overlaid with slogans like “RADICAL. PRINCIPLED. ABSOLUTE.” and references to being “faithful descendants” of historical German movements. The discovery has sent shockwaves through the BJJ community, with many expressing disbelief 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 community member, capturing the sentiment of practitioners who initially dismissed the posts as harmless conspiracy theories before recognizing their darker implications.
The controversy has taken on additional dimensions as surfaced archived posts allegedly show Saunders responding to questions about his ideological preferences through visual cues rather than direct statements. When asked to name his favorite historical figure, he instead showed the German controversial WWII salute.
This approach suggests a calculated awareness of social media policies while attempting to signal his views to like-minded individuals. The method has not gone unnoticed by the grappling community, which has been archiving and sharing these posts as evidence of concerning behavior.
The timing proves particularly awkward 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 reveal a troubling progression from seemingly benign alternative theories to engagement with extremist content. 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 among community members. The account, which Saunders both followed and engaged with, promotes content that practitioners identified as having clear WWII Germany symbolism and messaging.
The Australian grappling community now faces difficult questions about how to handle athletes who promote concerning 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.”
There’s also a decent change Saunders is using this for publicity.
