The story of two male Lloyd Irvin students who were charged with the rape of a female student on New Year's Eve has led to some unfortunate developments. Following the news about the students, details of a 1989 rape case involving a Lloyd E. Irvin Jr. surfaced. Some digging revealed that this Lloyd Irvin was the same age and attended the same university at the same time as MMA instructor Lloyd Irvin. Requests for a statement on the situation by the media were met with silence and anyone bringing it up on Irvin's Facebook page saw their post deleted.

However, following that story, Lloyd Irvin purchased the domain LloydIrvinRape.com and filled the page with marketing for his Rape Prevention Seminars, which has since been removed. That was a strategic move on two fronts. First, eliminating the possibility that someone else purchase the domain. But, more importantly, the purchase was an attempt to control Google search results, along with a press release about the seminars sent out via PRWeb which was automatically distributed to news sites.

But these stories always lead to odd moments of defensiveness from some in the MMA community. In this case it is a Lloyd Irvin black belt and head instructor at Wrightson BJJ who crossed a very significant line in trying to defend his mentor when he posted the following on the Total Protection Interactive forums:

Full disclosure: I am a Lloyd Irvin black belt. Lloyd is an absolutely billiant BJJ/MMA coach and business man. Our eam results speak for themselves. The school owner's success following his business model also speak for themselves. Nothing but a standup guy hs he ever been to me and the rest of his students. I've known him for over 15 years. Criticism of his marketing doesn't mean shit to me. Its like pissing and moaning about a tacky Bud Light commercial. A quality product is a quality product. It sounds like the evidence is overwhelming for the 2 lowlifes accused of rape. They are scum. They scarred a girl who was a teammate. I know for a fact what the rest of TLI would do to those two if tribal justice was socially acceptable. Since it isn't, I hope that justice is served and they rot in prison. The trial from 1990 is news to me. This will sound blunt and maybe offensive, but it sounds like a "train was run" on a dirty whore that got to feeling guilty. Bad judgment? Hell fuck yes. But not rape. I know this is a touchy subject and I have daughters too. The release of rape prevention marketing videos isn't about profiteering at all. It's about gaming google searches. Its called SEO. Lloyd is good at it and teaches it to BJJ/MMA school owners. Myself included.

(emphasis mine)

That was Phil Proctor. As previously mentioned, Phil is the head trainer at Wrightson BJJ in Maryland. Later in the thread he said "It is my belief, after speaking to those in the know, that even those convicted in 1990 were not guilty of a crime. Juries getting it wrong aren't anything new."

The desire to defend a mentor in a tough time is understandable to a point. But calling a woman who was 17 at the time when she was raped -- three men were convicted for rape and forced sodomy in the case -- a "dirty whore" is disturbing on a number of levels.

Rather than getting too off track with a discussion about victim blaming, I'll turn to an article about the trial:

Holly Smith was a physician at Riverside Regional Medical Center in the early morning of Oct. 10, 1989, when the 17-year-old was brought in by a police detective for examination. Smith testified Friday that the exam was hampered because the woman suffered from vaginal spasms. The doctor said the disorder virtually always is the result of rape, rather than consensual sexual intercourse, and that the condition can last for years. Often, she said, women explain that they cannot have intercourse after they have been raped because they get scared and begin to experience the spasms. ``It is very common after rape,'' said Smith. ``It is not common otherwise.''

Some will, no doubt, think that this isn't worth posting. But I think it's an interesting look into the insular, overly defensive nature of much of the MMA and BJJ community. All too often it is never enough to simply attempt to defend someone, you have to attack the other as well. And this also speaks to the widespread impact of a story like this.

Affiliates of Irvin are willing to go to these extreme lengths in public despite potential damage to their business because of...what? Because Irvin has been good to them in the past?

Proctor's gym teaches self defense classes, their website rambles on and on about defense and BJJ as self-defense. But when a 17 year old claims that she was gang raped with enough evidence to support that the 97 pound woman was overpowered by a large group of college men that multiple people were convicted in the case, she's a "dirty whore" who "got to feeling guilty."

(ht: Underground forum member soremano)

Update: The forum looks to have pulled the post entirely. But there is a screenshot:

They also posted this update: