Yesterday a startling information came to light thanks to the vigilant reporting by Georgette Oden.
Oden was startled to find out that someone who is registered as a sex offender has since been promoted from brown to black belt – and even more so given that the man in question claims he was promoted by Rigan Machado who publicly distanced himself from Paul Saucido in 2013.
The story first unfolded back in 2009 when Paul Saucido, a brown belt under Rigan Machado was charged with 2 counts of sexual assault as reported by kxan.com and preserved in the internet archive. You can read the entire disturbing account there. Saucido ended up pleading to a lesser misdemeanor charges – With the plea bargain, Saucido must register as a sex offender for 14 years, said prosecutor Buddy Meyer.
Rigan Machado issued a statement distancing himself from the incident in question at the time. Georgette Oden was nice enough to preserve the statement:
However he was later seen driving around with Saucido in spite of this statement. This was November of 2014:
A statement from his brother Carlos was also released in 2013 (h/t Georgette Oden) :
Paul Saucido The BJJ Black Belt
Fast forward to Yesterday, Oden initially wrote about the questionable promotion and grabbed the following screencap from the website of the academy of the sex offender in question – Paul Saucido.
By the afternoon the site of Saucido had changed. It now said:
Paul has been studying the art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for over the past 13 years. Beside his black belt in Jiu Jitsu, he is well versed in many martial arts. His philospohy is find the one art that best suits you, as there is no superior art form.
The hastily written change even has a typo!
Both Carlos and Rigan Machado promptly reacted to the initial post by Oden. According to Lindsay Machado, Carlos’ wife and his written statement Carlos has no affiliation with either Paul or Rigan.
Oden also reports that Rigan Machado is preparing a statement officially denying having promoted Paul:
My understanding is that Carlos Machado has no affiliation with either Paul or Rigan, according to Lindsay Machado, Carlos’ wife and a written signed statement by Carlos. I am also told that Rigan is preparing a public statement officially denying having promoted Paul. It seems, and I hope, that Paul was lying for the obvious credibility boost of being a Rigan Machado blackbelt.
Paul was promoted to black belt at some point in January 2015 :
But this isn’t all, Oden also reports that Rigan Machado had a seminar in October 2016 at Saucido’s gym:
One other posting attracts curiosity as well:
Carlos Machado’s wife confirmed that Rigan cut ties with Paul in a comment on BJJScout’s New facebook page:
Comment was attached to a share of the original post that has since been replaced with the new version.
But the evidence seems to indicate the contrary:
You can find the detailed account of their interaction and a ton of additional info over on her blog post titled “Did Rigan Machado Knowingly Promote A Sexual Predator To Black Belt? If not, Who did?”
Many martial arts instructors have been exposed as having questionable behavior in the past months. But how is it ok to not only support them being a part of the community but also to promote them to the highest ranking in bjj?
