NORFOLK, VA — Nine months into what both parties now refer to in text messages as ‘the purple question,’ 33-year-old database analyst and three-stripe blue belt Callum Whetstone has entered what sources close to the negotiation describe as ‘the hardest stretch’ of his ongoing contract dispute with head instructor Professor Rick Trujillo of Hampton Grappling Academy.
At issue is a 12-page document internally titled the ‘48-Month Lineage-Retention Package,’ which Whetstone would be required to sign before receiving a purple belt that has already been printed, monogrammed with his surname across the black bar, and hung on the peg board directly behind the gym’s front desk, where it has remained since November.
‘I just wanted a belt,’ said Whetstone, who first raised the purple question in a post-class conversation last July after receiving what Trujillo described in that moment as ‘a thumbs up, brother.’ ‘I didn’t even ask for a belt, really. I said, “Do you think I’m close?” And Rick said, “Let me draft something up.” I thought he meant a congratulations text.’
The ‘something’ Trujillo drafted runs approximately 11,000 words and includes five substantive clauses.
Under Clause 1, Whetstone would agree not to cross-train at any non-Trujillo-affiliate academy for a period of 48 months. Under Clause 2, he would refrain from posting any social media image of his new purple belt that tags a gym outside the Trujillo lineage. Under Clause 3, he would pay a 15% ‘belt-transfer administrative fee’ if he ever competes under another banner within one calendar year of promotion. Clause 4 requires attendance at a minimum of 11 open mats per quarter, with tardiness defined in the agreement as ‘any entry to the mat after the Professor’s opening bow.’ Clause 5 prohibits the use of the phrase ‘my old gym’ for the duration of the contract, with a carve-out permitting ‘a gym I used to train at’ if delivered ‘without nostalgia.’
Mediating the negotiation is Casey Whetstone, Callum’s wife, who does not train and whose legal qualifications stem from a paralegal certificate she completed in 2019 at a community college located, per one source, ‘basically right next to the mall.’
‘She keeps saying “under duress,”’ Trujillo told reporters on Monday, flipping through a three-ring binder labeled BELT RETENTION LITIGATION. ‘I’m not sure if she knows what that means in the legal sense, but I know what it means in the Jiu-Jitsu sense, which is that I have had my knee on your chest for a long time, and that is a trust exercise.’
The current sticking point is Clause 2, which Whetstone has asked to modify following an invitation to attend a one-day seminar at a well-regarded competition-focused academy in Virginia Beach. Whetstone is requesting a single seminar carve-out. Trujillo has countered with what the academy is calling the Weekend Grappling Pass, a travel rider that would require Whetstone to (1) pay a 30% surcharge on his monthly dues for the month containing the seminar, (2) wear a Hampton Grappling Academy rash guard underneath his gi for the entire duration of the seminar, including during drilling breaks, and (3) file a ‘grappling report’ with Trujillo’s front office within 72 hours of returning home.
The grappling report, per the language in the proposal, must include the names of every person Whetstone rolled with, what belt color they wore, any techniques observed, and ‘a paragraph-length summary of what Hampton does better.’
‘I think he just wants to make sure I come home,’ said Whetstone, who has been at Hampton since 2021, when he walked in off the street and asked about a deal on an intro pack. ‘I do come home. I’ve always come home. I went to my in-laws last Christmas and he asked if I rolled at a Gracie Barra in Pittsburgh.’
The six other blue belts at Hampton, all of whom hold between two and four stripes, have said nothing publicly about the negotiation but are reportedly checking the peg board behind the front desk on a daily basis to see whether the belt bearing WHETSTONE across its embroidery has been moved. According to three of them, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they have not yet been promoted and would like to be, the belt’s continued presence on the peg has become, in the words of one, ‘a kind of thermometer.’
‘If Callum signs, we all sign,’ said one blue belt, age 29. ‘If Callum doesn’t sign, I’m going to Apex Combat Club in Chesapeake and I’m not telling anybody.’
Trujillo, who owns 100% of Hampton Grappling Academy and holds the rank of fourth-degree black belt under a lineage he describes on the gym’s About page as ‘directly traceable to the source, period,’ has stated publicly that the retention package is not a contract in any traditional sense but rather ‘a gentleman’s structure that I typed up in Pages and had my girlfriend Notary Public for us.’
Notary services were performed by Trujillo’s partner, Kendra, at the front desk, in her capacity as a Commissioned Notary for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Kendra is also a two-stripe blue belt, promoted 11 months ago, and has not asked any questions about her own contract.
As of press time, Whetstone had walked past the purple belt four times during Thursday evening class — twice on the way to the locker room, twice on the way back — and had stopped briefly to look at it during the third pass. Trujillo, who was standing by the desk at the time folding a stack of Hampton Grappling Academy rash guards that had arrived that morning, did not make eye contact.
A seventh blue belt at the gym, who joined four months ago and does not yet understand what is happening, said in an interview that he is ‘really enjoying the vibe here’ and is ‘excited to be part of a real lineage.’ He has already pre-ordered a custom patch.
The belt whipping, currently scheduled tentatively for the first weekend of June, will take place regardless of whether Whetstone signs. Trujillo has confirmed that he and the academy’s purple and brown belts will be present either way.