Money(berg) Talks
Big Mouth. Bigger Wallet. No Jiu Jitsu.
Meet Jiu Jitsu’s newest black belt; Derek Moneyberg.
Or, as his mother calls him; Dale Buczowski.
Derek here is such a hot prodigy in the sport, he earned his black belt in a stunningly fast 3.5 years, joining the ranks of elite practitioners such as BJ Penn and Kit Dale.
So how exactly did this amphibious looking man achieve such a highly regarded rank in so little time? Considering the average time to reach such a revered level of the sport tends to be around a decade, to do this in a third of time must have taken a huge amount of blood, sweat, tears and dedication.
In Derek’s opinion, over 3000 hours of instruction from the best in the world, zero missed sessions, training through injury and apparently keeping your socks on during training.
Or—as most of the community think—a fuck load of money.
Last week, an instagram post popped up on my feed of this sweaty leech surrounded by some of the best athletes to grace the sport of MMA and Jiu Jitsu; Jake Shields (renowned antisemite and white nationalist), Glover Teixeira, Lyoto Machida and Frank Mir.
All five men donned in Temu Versace t-shirts adorned with a chiseled depiction of Derek’s face, seemingly contradicting the curves and folds of his actual head.
I took a deeper look into this guy, who I recognised from clips of his podcast with some of the biggest names in the UFC as guests, and got my knickers in a twist. My jimmies firmly rustled.
Derek began his career in the lucrative world of Pick-Up Artistry (PUA). An industry renowned for preying on insecure young men looking for love, and brain washing them into objectifying women with tried and tested techniques designed to manipulate them into sex.
As this niche became oversaturated, Derek pivoted to wealth coaching where he now charges $3-5k for courses he doesn’t actually deliver, and refuses to refund his customers. Instead opting to call anyone asking for their money ‘poor losers’, ‘cry babies’ and challenging them to sue him if they want their money back.
Of course no one does, because they can’t afford to after paying him thousands of dollars.
He takes a similar approach to people calling him out on his recent achievement, calling them ‘low IQ’ and ‘average brained’.
His alleged business practices are covered brilliantly by Spencer Cornelia, so feel free to watch his videos on the subject for a clearer idea.
[Note: I’m not one to usually poke fun at someone's appearance, however, with the way he treats people, I believe it’s fair game in this example.]
We’ve established the bloke is a grifter. He takes advantage of vulnerable people and steals their money. But what does this have to do with Jiu Jitsu?
Well, I recently learned about something called “selective targeting through poor signalling”. A very clever, and unsettling psychological tactic used by scam artists around the world.
Scammers will intentionally use absurd claims, grammar errors and overly dramatic language to weed out the more sceptical recipients. The idea being that anyone who falls for the obvious red flags is more likely to go all the way through with the scam, spending their hard earned money. The people who spot mistakes early weed themselves out as they are unlikely to fall for the more elaborate steps of the grift. Reducing the effort on the scammers side chasing leads they won’t convert.
It’s clear that Derek’s entire brand is engineered to appeal to a very specific crowd — those feeling disillusioned, overlooked, and desperate for a way out. His use of poor signalling and performative grit plays right into the hands of a growing subset of fans in the MMA and Jiu Jitsu world, particularly those aligned with the rising tide of far-right politics.
He’s not targeting stupid people. He’s targeting people who are frustrated, vulnerable, and searching for certainty in a world that feels increasingly stacked against them. A world where they are constantly told that if they aren’t rich, they are failing.
And that’s what makes it so insidious. By wrapping his grift in patriotism, discipline, and anti-elitist rhetoric, he positions himself as an underdog truth-teller — when in reality, he’s just another snake oil salesman preying on people who deserve better.
To reiterate; this isn’t to say that people who fall for these things are dumb, far from it.
I’ve fallen victim to scams in the past, once sending a dude a couple hundred bucks for weed that didn’t exist. It’s all dependent on the current state of the victim and what they seek. In my example, I hadn’t slept in weeks, I was stressed, depressed, broke and desperate for something to help me relax.
I wouldn’t fall for the ol’ Nigerian Price classic or a romance honey-pot scam, but this particular one I fell for hook, line and sinker.
Derek’s tactic of paying huge names in the sport to appear on his podcast adds legitimacy to his claims to make you rich. If you see your favourite fighter — someone you respect and admire — on a podcast shilling for something while sat in front of a row of ultra luxury cars, you’re going to pay attention.
Now all of a sudden the giant toe has been awarded his black belt. Validated by people he’s either paid to appear alongside him, or who seem happy to trade credibility for a quick buck, including Gordon Ryan, Mikey Musumeci and even Royce Grace himself. His victims will now be sold this idea that if you buy his shit, you too can become super wealthy, and achieve high value status in half the time of others.
Derek is living a life a lot people want to live. If I just invest a couple of grand, I too could be training with the best in the world, driving a Bentley, quit my job and finally be free of Jane from HR who’s always on my case.
As you’d expect, a lot of people are calling bullshit on his prowess as a legitimate black belt. Surely after 3000 hours of training with the best in the world, the guy must know his stuff right?
Surprisingly, very little footage of him rolling exists, but the footage that does…Oh boy, you’re in for a treat.
Here’s Derek and Mikey exploring the crucifix position, ending with Mikey tapping to a devastating submission by viciously bending his arm the way it’s supposed to.
Check out Gordon and Royce teaching Derek an Omoplata. Moving with the grace and elegance of a cat with smarties tubes on its legs.
In this clip, famous Holocaust denier Jake Shields narrowly escapes Derek’s control. Who needs chest-to-back connection anyway? Unfortunately the footage ends before Derek definitely takes top position and submits the former MMA champion. Time to hit the shower, Jake.
His Jiu Jitsu is like his hairline; patchy, confused and clearly trying to tap out. He very obviously has no fucking clue what he’s doing in any position and these professionals are enabling it. I would be offended if my coach tapped to a technique performed so poorly, it does not benefit me in any way, neither is it ‘letting me work’. Its a mockery of the sport these people dedicated their lives to, and insulting to us who put in the effort to attend class each week.
So what have we learned? Not much. In fact I think I might be a bit dumber from having to watch and read about this conman so much over the past week.
Jiu Jitsu is no stranger to the rich and famous. Mark Zuckerberg, Tom Hardy and Keanu Reeves all train and at least have the stones to test themselves in competition, and do not pretend to be any better than they are.
Derek, if you want to play pretend black belt, go for it. Hell, my first coach awarded himself one. The mats don’t lie and you’ll be exposed as a fraud before long.
People are wise to your grift, and I hope, for everyone’s sake, that it comes to an end soon. No longer will you have to stage podcasts with guests who look like they’re under duress, or steal money from the most vulnerable sucked in by your bullshit.
The thing is—all of the criticism could be solved so easily.
If, Derek, you are the legit black belt you and your team claim to be, post a roll. I challenge you to walk into literally any gym and video a 5 minute, live roll with someone who has been training for the same amount of time. A mid-forties hobbiest blue belt should do the trick. Hell, come to Sydney and I’ll roll with you, I’ll even let you keep your socks on.
Saying that, I think the real disappointment here lies with the professional athletes who vouch for him. Taking a massive, steaming shite on a sport they’ve worked so hard to excel in. Submitting not to a heel hook, but to the chokehold of money.
These guys should be ashamed of themselves.
Wait, his actual name is Moneyberg?