Mikey Musumeci’s reversal on Derek Moneyberg’s black belt promotion has left both Moneyberg and Jake Shields feeling betrayed.

When Moneyberg was first promoted to black belt after just 3.5 years of training, Musumeci defended him publicly, calling him a “genius” and praising his dedication to technical detail.
He even privately urged Jake Shields to help set up a match to silence critics, texting:

Please set it up. I’m literally being cancelled.

But in a recent appearance on the Simple Man Podcast, Musumeci reversed his position entirely.
He claimed he had only trained with Moneyberg three times and bluntly stated:

I would never give someone a black belt in that amount of time. He doesn’t compete or train.

While acknowledging Moneyberg’s theoretical knowledge, Musumeci dismissed his practical ability, saying:

Can he apply it and do it to someone in his division like Nicky Rod?
No f*cking way.

The reversal stunned Moneyberg, who said Musumeci had previously told him:

There’s guys that had a black belt for 20 years that they don’t have the technical knowledge that you do.

Feeling blindsided, Moneyberg said simply:

We’re not friends. You betrayed our friendship.

Jake Shields shared the sentiment, revealing that he had texts from Musumeci privately defending Moneyberg’s skills:

Typically, I wouldn’t read private texts, but he’s privately texted me defending you and then says something different, which to me is really disappointing because I looked at Mikey as a friend.

Despite the fallout, Moneyberg avoided escalating the feud:

I don’t want to make a new enemy. You’re a good person overall.

But I can’t trust you in the future based on the things that you said to me privately and the things you said on video – it was a total contradiction.

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