'Rolly Romero is Still not a Judoka!' by a REAL Judoka, DHamaguchi

Pro fighter D Hamaguchi🥋🥊👊48 kg
US Natl Judo Chmp 45 kg

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Rolly Romero is not a judoka. I'm surprised at how much of a response that video got. Quite a few people made some very adamant comments to disagree with my statement. Some folks cited the fact that they stated Roly Romero is a brown belt in judo. The second piece of evidence they offered was that Rolly Romero has competed in judo. Now, one piece of non-evidence somebody else offered was, well, who am I to define what the word judoka means? So I will reiterate what I stated before and respond to each of those comments. First, the notion that Roly Romero is a judoka started when a viral little clip started circulating on social media. This is Rolly threw his sparring partner in boxing, sparring session. From that clip, it appeared to me that he threw him with an ogoshi, which is a major hip throw. Now, the super interesting point for me was that in the past, probably most grapplers and wrestlers would have called it a hip toss, which is super annoying to those of us who do judo because all of our movements are called throws, not trips, not tosses, because trips and tosses sound incredibly unintentional, whereas a throw takes hours and months and years of practice. Not only do you have to drill the move itself, but you are gonna get thrown with that move. So there's a lot of reciprocity in judo. It's never a one-way street. You do not get to be the one who does the throw only. You also have to take the falls. So again, let's look at the context of this statement that Roly Romero is a real judoka because he threw a boxing fighter in a boxing sparring match. So now, by the same faulty logic, if I show up to judo practice and decide I'm gonna head kick my partner and knock them out unconscious, does that make me a legit karate ka or a real striker? I mean, absolutely not. None of you guys who keep insisting that Roli is a real judoka because he threw somebody in boxing spine would ever give me credit for being a real striker because I head kick someone in judo practice. And you shouldn't give either one of us credit for doing a move that is banned in the arena in which we are practicing at that moment. Let Roli put on a judo gi, go to a judo dojo, bow in properly with everybody else, engage in a randori practice and throw his judo partner. Then maybe I would grant him that he's got some legit judo moves. But the point I'd like to make here is that it's not just because you can execute a judo move. That is not enough to make you a judo ka or judoka, depending on how you want to place the emphasis on the different syllables there. A judoka is somebody who's devoted their life to judo. Perhaps not their entire life, but certainly a portion of their life where for that period of time, judo is a force that defines their being. Now, I no longer practice judo, however, I did start doing judo when I was a child. Did it all the way through high school and college, and I competed at the elite level from high school through college and then after college. I was a US national champion. I did attempt to make the Canadian national team, but only got so far as being ranked provincially. I was ranked nationally in Canada, but never the Canadian national champion. However, I was able to become the US a US collegiate national champion, the Empire State Games, which means New York State Games Champion, New York State Champion, that's a different competition. And finally, the US, at the time it was called USJI, United States Judo Incorporated, senior national champion. Now, senior doesn't mean senior like senior citizen. At that time, they used senior to distinguish the adults from the kids who were juniors. So the US Senior National Championships is the tournament you need to win or at least place at if you have any hopes of making an Olympic or world championship team. So that's what we say is a tournament that the national governing body uses to determine competitive rankings for within the United States. So that said, I think you could figure out that I did devote a good chunk of my life to the study, the practice, the training, and the competition in the arena of judo. Now, even though I'm long removed from training and competing in judo, I would still say that I am a judoka because the principles and the philosophy and the way of being that I learned by putting myself through all this rigorous training and competition carries forth right to this present instant as I make this video. And it will continue probably until the day I drop dead. Because when you practice judo rigorously like this, it does shape how you interact with other people. It shapes how you view the world, how you view yourself within the world. It teaches you some really key principles. One is called mutual welfare and benefit. Well, what which is a translation from Jita Kyoe, which means that synergy is necessary for all of us to grow. In other words, I'm helping you get better by challenging you, and you are helping me to get better by challenging me at the same time. That's what Randori practice is supposed to be about. Randori is uh what judoka calls sparring. It's translated, randori translated means open practice. Effectively, meaning we're not telling you what moves to execute, you're just trying to execute these moves on your partner, and they're trying to do their best to execute whatever moves they want on you and defend all of your movements. Another principle from judo is called minimum effort, maximum efficiency. It doesn't mean be lazy, it just means get the most leverage out of whatever movements you make. Don't just try to grind it out, you know, brute force methods. Look for the most efficient, effective method. Now I can honestly say I feel both of those principles, mutual welfare and benefit, as well as minimum effort, maximum efficiency. Those are both guiding principles that I use all the time without really thinking about it. It's just become part of the way of how I operate in this world. So, yes, I can say that I feel that I can call myself a judoka. Can Roley say this? I'm gonna say he can't because I he hasn't put himself through the judo rigors. Yes, he's athletic enough to execute a judo throw, that doesn't make him a judoka. I'm sure there's other highly athletic folks that, you know, if you show them a judo throw and how to execute it, they could probably do it after a few tries, but that still doesn't make him a judoka. You gotta enjoy the suffering and uh put yourself through that and come out the other side. Now, let's go back and address the other couple other points. So, Rolly is a judo brown belt. Well, here's the thing. First off, in the United States, a brown belt can be awarded to somebody who has what we call a San Q, third grade, Niky, second grade, or EQ, first grade. In other belt systems in the UK and Canada, we give different color belts for those grades. So for example, Sanqu, third grade is a green belt, Niky, second grade is a blue belt, and EQ, first grade, is a brown belt. So for the grades, it goes in descending order. So the highest number is sixth grade. That's a white belt, that's a beginner. And as you get fewer and higher or fewer grades, right? The lower the number, the higher ranking you are. So that's why first grade EQ is a brown belt. That means you're one step before a black belt. And in the belt black belts, of course, there are degrees. So the first degree black belt comes right after the first grade brown belt. First degree is sho dun, second degree, knee done, etc. It goes in judo, it goes all the way up to 10th Don, but nobody gets that. And you actually don't want that because it means you're dead. I mean, most of the time if they award a tenth don, it's to somebody posthumously, or they are very close to death. So the whole point is it's not about trying to be the highest ranking in judo. So now here's the thing with Rolly saying he's a brown belt. So I don't know if he that means he's Sun Q, Nikyu or EQ. But no matter what, there doesn't have to be an official record because nobody keeps official records of those Q grades. The judo world just basically counts on legit judo instructors to have enough integrity to award and grade their students on a reasonable, equitable basis. But there's no like standardized test that each judo student has to pass in order to earn these color belt ranks. There it's again just simply left up to the individual instructor. Now, to be a legit instructor in judo, you should have at least a shodan. And that don't grade should be awarded by your national governing body. And if you are gonna be super legit about it, your national governing body for judo can then forward your documentation to the Korokan in Tokyo, Japan, and you will receive a diploma from the Korokan. Now, unlike the other color belts, in order to earn your shodan and above, there is a set of very standardized criteria that each judoka is supposed to demonstrate in an exam in front of an official grading board. It's not just willy-nilly your instructor, it's a group of much higher ranking judo instructors who have been who have applied for and been approved by the national governing body to grade. And typically, of course, you have to be higher ranking in order to grade somebody lower ranking. So, for example, because I hold because I hold the rank of Nidan, I could promote judoka up to the rank of Shodan. So if you and I have no integrity, we could work an arrangement out where I guess you could Venmo me, PayPal me, and I would generate a certificate on Canva that says you're promoted to, say, a brown belt meaning EQ, and you would have to join USA Judo, so would I, have to, I would also have to register our judo club and then file the paperwork. But my point is I'm just explaining to you that there is no stone criteria to determine whether somebody should be awarded the rank of brown belt, which is very vague, which is what Role said. There's no way to either prove nor disprove that you've been promoted to the rank of brown belt in judo. So I hope that provides some clarity as to why I said just because someone says they're a brown belt doesn't mean, first of all, that what does that mean? Are they san q, ni q, or eq? And again, just because they say that, that doesn't mean they actually earned that rank, and it doesn't mean they were held to a standard criteria. Okay, I'm not saying Roley wasn't promoted to the rank of brown belt. I just that doesn't mean he's a judoka, because that is a whole separate issue. But now let's look at a second piece of evidence that people are citing that Brown that Role is a judoka. They say, well, he competed in judo. Okay, so my question is then, what tournaments did he compete in? I'm not even insisting that Roley needed to win these tournaments. But again, you know, if he just competed at a dojo level tournament, then, you know, that that's just like serious, a serious open sparring session at your home gym. So I'm not positive, but what I think folks are referring to here is there's also been a clip on social media of Rolly supposedly competing, and it looks to me like a dojo in quotations tournament, because the referee is wearing jeans and a t-shirt. And the thing is, in sanctioned judo tournaments, whether at they are sanctioned, just like a boxing, an amateur boxing tournament has to be sanctioned in order for you to record that in your amateur record in your USA boxing book. And there are very strict rules and regulations, and the you can't just willy-nilly become a referee or an official or even a timekeeper at one of these tournaments. You have to have passed an exam and met the criteria to work at an amateur boxing tournament and at an amateur judo tournament. So the fact that the referee in this viral clip of Rolly supposedly competing is wearing jeans and a t-shirt shows me that that's not a sanctioned judo tournament. Because if it were, the ref would be wearing gray slacks, navy blue or black socks, navy blue, and a navy blue suit jacket with a white dress shirt underneath. We used to call that the penguin suit, but penguin uniform. But that's the requirement for judo. You know, in a sanctioned tournament, at least state level and above, and even really local, the referees and the judges have to wear this uniform. The scorekeepers, the timers, etc., they don't have to be dressed as such, but referees are supposed to be, they're supposed to look formal. So you can find clips of that on YouTube. If you look at any of the international tournaments, you'll see the referees wearing their little penguin uniform. So what does this tell me? Well, in that clip at least, Rolly was not competing at a high-level tournament. It looks like just kind of more like a dojo scrimmage type thing. But again, that doesn't mean he didn't compete at a higher-level judo tournament. So my question then is which tournaments were those? What and if he won a title, what were those titles that he won in judo? Because I cited my resume at the beginning of this video. There's no way uh an elite-level judo competitor will not remember which tournaments they won. And again, even if Roley didn't win those tournaments, that's fine. But which did he compete at the national level in judo? Did he compete at the state level in judo? If that's the case, then you know, maybe maybe he's edging towards a war becoming a judoka. So to reiterate, just because you hold a rank supposedly in judo doesn't make you a judoka. Just because you competed, supposedly in judo doesn't necessarily make you a judoka. So let's look at what that word means. Again, judoka, that means you take this very seriously. It's in your heart, it's part of your soul, it becomes part of who you are. Some folks say, well, it's a lifestyle. No, it is way beyond a lifestyle. It is in you, it's your being. You conduct yourself unconsciously according to judo principles because you've practiced judo so much that it's just been internalized. It's not something you do, it's something that you are. So let's break down the semantics with this. So I will always say I'm a judo ka. Now, in the United States, some folks like to use the phrase judo player. I don't think this is as common in the UK, but I remember that would really get under my skin here in the US when someone would say, I hear you're a judo player, and I'd be like, I'm not a player. Because one, I'm just not a player in anything, and number two, I don't play about anything. I take everything I do very seriously. So do not call me a judo player. You could call me a judo fighter. I mean, it's a strange word, but you could call me a judo-ist if you wanted to. But really more appropriately, I'd prefer you just call me a judoka or judo-ka. So I am not going by the definition that pops up on Wikipedia or in a Google search when you type in the word J-U-D-O-K-A. I'm talking from decades of experience and watching other true judoka and how they conduct themselves and how they conduct themselves through throughout over a long time period to base my understanding of what a judoka is. Now, somebody who's a civilian will probably, or I think someone who is a civilian accused me of going on a McDojo type rant, and I can assure you this has nothing to do with McDojo's because I was definitely not raised in a McDojo. I was raised at Takahashi Dojo in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. You're welcome to Google that and look up Masaul Takahashi, the late great Phil Takahashi, Tina Takahashi, and Ray Takahashi, if you would like a point of reference. That dojo was anything but a McDojo. It was a lit legit martial arts dojo. And when I was there, I was fortunate enough to be at that dojo when it came, when it became a real nexus for some of the best female judo athletes in Canada. And in addition to that, Ottawa is about a one and a half to two hour drive from Montreal. And Montreal has always been the de facto national training center for judo in Canada. Whether it was officially the national training center or not, everybody always flocked to the Shirokan in Montreal to study with Sensei Hiroshi Nakamura, who immigrated from Japan to Canada, I think back in the 70s. And he raised generations of Canadian judoka who went on to become, of course, members of the national team and compete in world championships and at the Olympic Games. Sensei Nakamura's prized pupil is Nicholas Gill, who is also, I think, he was national coach for the Canadian judo team and also, I think, national director of the judo program. I'm probably getting his title incorrect, but he is he secured two Olympic medals for Canada in judo and then went on to continue in a leadership position. So Sentei Nakamura passed on his knowledge to so many generations of Canadian judo fighters, judo ka's so Shido Khan is definitely not a McDojo. It's a very, it has been a very probably one of the most rigorous judo dojos in North America, probably since the 1970s. And it was, I'm not sure if it still is, I'll assume it still is, located in the neighborhood in Montreal called NDG Notre Dame de Grasse. That's the name of the neighborhood, if you care to visit. That from what I understand, that's just down the street from TriStar Gym where GSP trained. If you have, if you happen to visit that part of Montreal, make sure you grab some Montreal-style bagels because they're way different than New York style bagels. But I actually really like them. Now, if there's any actual judoka out there who've actually done some judo with Roly Romero, I would love to hear about that in the comments because that would be potentially some evidence that Roly Romero is in fact a legit judoka. However, until we hear from another legit legit judoka that Rolly is in fact legit, then citing the fact that he says he has a brown belt and that he supposedly competed and that maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, that's not really evidence that Rolly is in fact a judoka. You're free to well, you're free to reply or ans state your opinion in the comments as always, and I will do my best to address everybody's concerns. Thanks for your input.