*Editors note: Article updated with Barnabus Huang's statement*

On Sept. 21, 2019 Alvin Ang, Director of Operations at Singapore Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Open, wrote a Facebook post highlighting an alleged "scammer" hired by UFC Gym Singapore who has been masquerading as a certified brown belt practitioner in the discipline.

The post was accompanied by a screenshot of an Instagram post that showed the man, Iskandar, seemingly coaching a Brazilian JiuJitsu class with a brown belt on.

Here's the belt in question.

Brown.

Ang claimed that Iskandar was "not a brown belt, never been, never will"

He also implored the gym to vet their "staff properly".

General discontent

Ang's post was soon full of commenters decrying not only the possibility of an unqualified BJJ instructor, but other qualms they had with the establishment, such as constantly changing instructors or issues of what they deemed inadequate, or late payment.

Others brought up their own apparent tangles with Iskandar in the past.

Here's one from April 2019.

One Screenshot of an Instagram post from 2017 showed Iskandar wearing a blue belt.

In case some of you are lost, here's the progression system for BJJ, according to Wikipedia.

White belt - blue belt - (Recommended 2 years as blue belt) - Purple belt - (recommended 18 months as a purple belt) - brown belt

The seemingly quick transition from blue to brown caused some to doubt Iskandar's brown belt status.

Initial reply

To UFC Gym Singapore's credit, Barnabus Huang, who heads UFC Gym Singapore, tried to clarify the situation on the same day the post went up.

Which some considered inadequate reasoning for Iskandar's choice of belt.

When pressed further, Huang doubled down on his earlier comment.

While some commented after the first few days, attention towards the post appeared, for all intents and purposes, to have faded.

Then this happened on Oct. 16.

This

Whoa.

And they weren't done.

Many in the comments section took offence with the gym's comments, which some felt were rather unprofessional.

But what appears to be a staff member from the gym explained their actions.

That is very much their official stance as well.

According to a gym spokesperson Mothership spoke to, they consider the post defamatory as Iskandar was a Muay Thai trainer, not a BJJ coach as was apparently insinuated in Ang's post.

The spokesperson also claimed that upon further investigation, Iskandar was proven to have been "awarded a brown belt for BJJ, rectified by its Master Anassiel Kin who is affiliated with Bitetti Team BJJ/MMA".

They will also be moving ahead with legal means to "protect the brand" and ensure members can train safely.

"The allegation made is defamatory and libel towards our organisation and will not be tolerated. Thus said, we will proceed with legal means to protect the brand and also to ensure that our members can train safely within our club."

We have reached out to Ang for further comment.

Here's a statement by Huang, the Managing Director of UFC Gym Singapore:

"We have never hired any coaches without the proper qualifications. We have a very strict process in place when it comes to hiring our coaches. We have strict checks in place to ensure that all our coaches are certified and possess the necessary qualifications. If we discover that any of our employees have in any way lied about their qualifications, we will take the necessary action against them. We will also encourage any of our members to file the necessary reports with the authorities if they do discover that any of our coaches have lied about their qualifications, and we will also co-operate with the authorities if there are such reports filed against any of our trainers. In saying that, we will also do whatever is necessary to protect the integrity of the brand and the company if there are allegations which are untrue which are levelled against any of our employees or coaches."

Image from Ang's Facebook and Getty South_Agency

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