# Anybody familiar with Ruben Alvarez?



## PhotonGuy (Jun 17, 2016)

Anybody familiar with Ruben Alvarez? He's a BJJ instructor in Miami and one of his videos went viral.


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## Tez3 (Jun 17, 2016)

and.....? there must be more to it that that?


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## PhotonGuy (Jun 17, 2016)

Im wondering if that many people here are aware of his video that went viral. Im assuming at least some of not most of the people here are. His video is a bit controversial. Also, I'm wondering if people are familiar with him and if he is a good instructor. He seems to me like he is so I might look him up.


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## Tony Dismukes (Jun 17, 2016)

Ruben Alvarez is a BJJ black belt under Roberto "Cyborg" Abreu. I haven't met him, but I'm confident that he's totally legit.

The video in question is probably the one of Alvarez publicly berating a fake black belt who showed up to train at his school. He comes across as pretty harsh in the video, but it seems the bozo in question pretty much had it coming. In the old days the fraud would probably have gotten smashed physically rather than just verbally. Alvarez tells the story behind the incident here:


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## PhotonGuy (Jun 17, 2016)

Tony Dismukes said:


> Ruben Alvarez is a BJJ black belt under Roberto "Cyborg" Abreu. I haven't met him, but I'm confident that he's totally legit.
> 
> The video in question is probably the one of Alvarez publicly berating a fake black belt who showed up to train at his school. He comes across as pretty harsh in the video, but it seems the bozo in question pretty much had it coming. In the old days the fraud would probably have gotten smashed physically rather than just verbally. Alvarez tells the story behind the incident here:


Yes the video you posted shows his response and the story behind his first video which went viral. I could post the link to the first video but Im not sure I should as its highly controversial and might not fly here.


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## Tony Dismukes (Jun 17, 2016)

BJJ is an art where there is pretty strict quality control when it comes to issuing rank. Also the art is young enough that it's relatively easy to track down and verify the lineage of any legit black belt. Periodically someone is discovered fraudulently claiming to be a BJJ black belt and their name gets spread far and wide in the BJJ community as a warning to others. It's not uncommon for there to be an in-person confrontation as well.

In this particular case, I suspect the fraud in question may have had some mental issues. Walking into a BJJ academy where there are multiple legit black belts and claiming to be a black belt yourself when you are barely acquainted with the art? That takes cluelessness to an extreme.


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## Buka (Jun 17, 2016)

Yeah, that's a really bad idea.


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## Tames D (Jun 17, 2016)

Buka said:


> Yeah, that's a really bad idea.


But interesting


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## kuniggety (Jun 18, 2016)

I remember when this went around awhile ago. 5 min into rolling with someone (or maybe even quicker), you're going to get a pretty good indication of what level someone is at. BJJ just isn't an art where you can be a successful fraud. I think it was close to 2 years ago now but one of the UFC franchise gyms independently owned hired a guy claiming to be a black belt. A local purple belt dropped in, destroyed him, and called him out to the owner.


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## PhotonGuy (Feb 7, 2017)

kuniggety said:


> I remember when this went around awhile ago. 5 min into rolling with someone (or maybe even quicker), you're going to get a pretty good indication of what level someone is at. BJJ just isn't an art where you can be a successful fraud. I think it was close to 2 years ago now but one of the UFC franchise gyms independently owned hired a guy claiming to be a black belt. A local purple belt dropped in, destroyed him, and called him out to the owner.



Well at the school where Ruben teaches, the guy in the video claiming to be a black belt when he wasn't claimed to have some kind of back injury that prevented him from rolling so he wasn't going to be exposed that way but sooner or later a fake will be exposed somehow or another. That much is obvious. I don't see the point in claiming to be of a rank that you haven't earned. You just end up embarrassing yourself as the guy did in the video.


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## drop bear (Feb 7, 2017)

PhotonGuy said:


> Well at the school where Ruben teaches, the guy in the video claiming to be a black belt when he wasn't claimed to have some kind of back injury that prevented him from rolling so he wasn't going to be exposed that way but sooner or later a fake will be exposed somehow or another. That much is obvious. I don't see the point in claiming to be of a rank that you haven't earned. You just end up embarrassing yourself as the guy did in the video.



And if you black belt your way into another school.  You are sparring/rolling.

That should pretty much be a given.


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