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Real Fighter has done a story on Khristian Geraci in the current issue. Here is a brief comment about the piece from Sacha Feinman, the author:
When Real Fighter Magazine first asked me to investigate and write up a profile of “an MMA con man”, I automatically turned to the Bullshido community for guidance. This website has done solid work unveiling frauds and false prophets, providing an impressive resource for those looking to penetrate the (often bullshit) veil of secrecy in which martial arts has historically been cloaked.
After reviewing a number of potential candidates for my story, I settled on Khristian Geraci. His Bullshido profile had all the elements that make for an interesting story. He was ex-military, a supposed Jujitsu black belt, and had once fought on national TV. Contact was made with Khristian, and after a short exchange, he agreed to cooperate. The resulting story can be found in the current issue of the magazine, out on newstands now.
Throughout the process of reporting this story, Khristian proved remarkably cooperative and candid. He was forthcoming and seemed to be genuinely sorry for the past decisions he had made. I spoke to both his friends and his enemies, and my interviews with the latter always seemed to follow the same tract. When his name would first come up, people would get angry and curse. Then they would calm down and talk through their history with Khristian. As the conversation came to an end, they almost all said that Khristian wasn’t a bad guy, just a serial exaggerator.
“Really”, they would always concluded, “if Khristian is serious about turning his life around, tell him to give me a call and we’ll try and work things out. He was a hard worker.”
The truth with Khristian always seemed to move whenever I would try and pin it down; no one’s feelings about him ever seemed to hold consistent over multiple phone calls.
The story is, on the whole, a negative one for Khristian. This was inevitable; my goal was to illustrate, as best I could, the mistakes he made in an attempt to establish himself as a name in Pittsburgh’s MMA community. If he hadn’t made a number of poor decisions in his life, there would never have been an article.
That said, the most critical part of the piece is the way that it ends. Rob Guarino of RHINO New Jersey put it best when he said, “Khristian is a liar, but at least he has the balls to get in the ring, the cage, and do something. Before you pass judgment on him, recognize that he is part of that 1% who has actually done it.”
Khristian Geraci spent a significant part of his life exaggerating his martial arts credentials. His mistakes cost him dearly; he lost his business, was dragged into court, and fell out of touch with friends and family alike.
He viewed his cooperation with Real Fighter as an opportunity to come clean about his past and potentially start anew. And I think he accomplished that. His story is now public, his exaggerations have all been debunked. The simplest google search of his name guarantees that he will never be able to pass those same lies again
Sitting at the cross-section of journalism and martial arts, Bullshido and Real Fighter represented his own personal rehab. Khristian says he is ready to make thinks right and keep his nose clean. As a member of the community that helped expose him, I now say it’s time that we offer him what we have all been given at some point on our lives; a second chance.
Everyone please check out the piece on newstands now.