On Saturday, July 16th 2016, EBI held its 7th installment, a fantastic event aired on UFC Fight Pass.
During the event, one of the semifinalists, Mike Davila, succumbed to the ultimate winner of the event, Eddie Cummings. At the conclusion of the match, Cummings’ coach, John Danaher refused to shake Davila’s hand.
Subsequently there have been posts made by both Danaher and Davila about this.
Essentially, the readers digest version is that Davila was invited to compete at the event and was told by his instructor and John Danaher that if he decided to compete at the event he would no longer be welcome at Bronx Martial Arts Academy and RGA. He decided to compete anyways.
Here are two posts containing Mr. Danaher’s and Mr. Davila’s words on the matter:
Why John Danaher Refused to Shake Hands with Mike Davila at EBI
Mike Davila: ‘Never allow anyone to tell you your’e not good enough’
From reading about these two events, there are some thoughts I’d like to throw out there for discussion.
First off, my personal experience:
From day one, my current instructor has been crystal clear: if you are given an opportunity, take it. If you win, awesome; if you lose, at least you took your shot and maybe you got to learn from the opportunity. Maybe having taken the opportunity will open up other doors.
I am just a blue belt, but I have already had opportunities that many black belts haven’t had. My instructor encourages me to capitalize on these opportunities; and win, lose, or draw, he always supports me in my decisions as long as I conduct myself professionally and give it my all.
If I understand the situation correctly, Davila was able to posture himself in such a way to be invited to compete by Eddie Bravo. He didn’t skip any lines; he was simply given an offer that he wanted to accept. From a brief chat with him, he believes he was invited to compete because of his results at the Finishers Submission Only tournament in which he submitted some EBI competitors. He is also a purple belt no-gi world champion. Why should a grown man defer opportunities? Why did people to whom Davila was loyal tell him he’s not good enough to compete on a specific stage?
I don’t know Danaher, and have only interacted with Davila briefly through Facebook. From reading Danaher’s response to Davila, it would appear to me that either there are details being left out, or Danaher never believed in Davila to begin with. Prior to his first EBI, who precisely had Eddie Cummings beaten? Which tournaments had Cummings won?
To be clear, Eddie Cummings has put on phenomenal performances in the EBI arena, and he has clearly proven his worth to the competitive grappling scene in his thrilling performances. However, on the same token, Davila definitely showed that he belonged on that card by subbing Baret Yoshida and Joao Marinho.
During the competition, one of the competitors was injured and could not continue. What if Cummings had the misfortune of being injured and Davila had managed to win the competition? Would Danaher have rescinded his condemnation of Davila? What if Davila managed to unexpectedly catch Cummings? Sometimes in competition people can be surprised. Anything is possible.
The situation shows me that, insofar as the information we have been presented, the issue wasn’t as much with Davila’s lack of loyalty as his lack of respect for the politics in jiu-jitsu and not “knowing his place.” He was told to toe the line and was punished when he opted not to. One could argue that those who turned their backs on him were as disloyal to him as he supposedly was to them. Loyalty is a two way street.
From the information presented on social media, what do you, our readers, conclude from this protracted incident and the information that has been presented to the jiu-jitsu community? Was Davila disloyal in choosing to force his long time instructor to kick him out by disobeying direct orders, or did he exercise his judgment as an adult, making a statement in his performance at the event?
The post A Question of Loyalty: An Assessment of the Mike Davila situation appeared first on Jiu-Jitsu Times.