With Friends Like These (Part One) - The Blunder Chicken

"Want to See My Credentials?"

By Gerald Greysmith

Fraudoka - "fra-do-ca" - (partial artist) - (1) a person who frequently expresses amazing skills in the martial arts or in the fighting arts in general through boasts, claims or other exaggerated statements which can be found to either be embellished or not provable either by certification from a governing body accredited by a Country of origin, or by a teacher with whom they directly trained; (2) a person of questionable character who teaches martial methods to the community on the pretext of legitimate training that cannot be verified by an impartial third party; (3) an alleged practitioner of martial arts with questionable skills, methods or claims that defy the laws of probability; (4) those who claim skill sets which have no basis in reality; (5) a play on the word "budoka," an established and verified practitioner of Japanese martial arts to include Judo, Jujutsu, or other Koryu and Gendai Budo systems, can be applied to legitimate martial artists the world over.

In the video above we see why no one should ever claim a fake BJJ lineage because they will come visit you and demand to roll. -claps loudly in support-

This year marks over thirty years of my life having spent time, money and effort training in the martial arts. In all these past many years I can say without question I have had the honor, the privilege and felt the pain of training with some amazing instructors and fellow students who guided me along the hard road to my goals. Each person I trained with seemed to be so much more knowledgeable than myself whether it was Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Budo Taijutsu, Filipino Martial Arts, or boxing. I was always finding the best of the best in my area (or the areas I found myself in) to train with. They were always willing to work with me and I always wanted to find my weaknesses and train those if possible. I remember learning to grapple from a man half my size, and an FMA instructor who would regularly stomp me into the ground with stick and knife techniques that were a flurry. I always threw myself at any chance to roll or spar that I could find as well with often-times hilarious results. But I found myself humbled as these teachers would hardly ever tell me techniques they used to win a match. No, instead they focused on techniques that were used to beat them. For a younger version of me this was quite a lesson in humility and reminds me daily that our best lessons come from failure and defeat. The measure of a man's character is how much he can take, be beaten down and get back up and demand more. 

The author in his prime.

Some very important factors lay in how I chose (and still choose) a teacher. I would always visit their class and see how they conducted themselves in  said class with their students. Were they firm? Did they possess confidence in their ability to instruct? Were they patient with students who were new or lacking in a certain area? I want to remind you that as a potential student you are about to possibly make a financial investment into a person and with that comes a responsibility on your end to properly and thoroughly vet the teacher or coach you want to learn from. Watch them closely. 

Are they a bully? Or are they truly invested in the students that are in their care? Do they seem to really want them to learn? Are they offering sound criticism that makes you or others better or are these instructors telling you what you want to hear? How long do they take in terms of grading and ranking? Are they selling them or are they truly making you EARN them?

A beautiful and motivating moment for a teacher passing on advice to a student. THIS is what you want a teacher to be like with their students...

...not this.

Another aspect I would look into was their criminal background. Specifically are they a convicted sex-offender? This is easy enough to do with a search engine or a call to the local sheriff's department. I would almost consider this to be a major part of your own independent investigation as well. You do NOT want to be involved in training with someone who has a record such as that. Believe me when I say the stink of their crimes can often be carried on to your own reputation...especially if it was public knowledge. One prime example of this is someone I've spoken about before, Mr. Mark Cruz (aka The Nashville Karate Man himself, Mark Connors.)

Country music star, Karate master, and convicted sex offender all rolled into one loveable ball of fun. In the end a news report would seal the deal making sure his school was closed.

Also I would check online to see if they have a social media presence or were public on forums and maybe became a topic of discussion. This was my own paranoia as I had met some frauds early on in my career and did not want to end up training under someone with a more-than-likely-false story of an ancient master who had retired and could never be contacted again. Or even better is that they pass the story that is both infamous nefariously simple, "they died a horrible death falling off a cliff and exploding in a car saving a train load of orphans from certain death." Yes, many will say this mysterious master just up and died under less-than ideal conditions thereby eliminating any need to verify them yourself because hey, martial arts are about honesty and integrity. Why would this black belt master lie to you? 

There is a literal biographical drama showing us why we should confirm these stories.

That doesn't cut it with me. I wanted to be sure that these instructors had no skeletons which may find their way on to the mats with me and follow me when I went to train elsewhere. This could have adverse effects on my own training as well because if I bought into that bullshit where would I be at when truth eventually caught up to me and kicked me in the balls? 

Finally, like any doctor or lawyer should have no issue providing, I would ask for their credentials. I said what I said, and I meant it. These people are possibly going to give you life-saving instruction and you may need to rely on those lessons down the road. You would do well to ensure you're learning something that is legit. 

There are multiple ways we can prove these. They could have reference letters from previous instructors or people they taught classes for. They could also provide personal references of a neutral party to state they are legitimate. They could produce a membership card listing their grade, level, title, etc. from a governing body of their art. Or finally we could go with the old-fashioned rank certificates which can be verified independently. There is no harm at all in verifying from WHOM and from WHERE these certificates came from. You wouldn't go to college to get an unaccredited degree, would you? You would want them to have accredited certificates from their own organization as well. While governing bodies do come with their own problems they validate the instructor and the process for you. It can bring you to a great place in future endeavors if you move and need to transfer dojo. Your system should not in my opinion be a loose grouping of various people with differing agendas. This can lead to issues with how a style or art is passed on and this in turn leads to frauds who make their own stuff up as they go.

Dammit George, don't start.

"But Gerald, why do all that to check someone out if the techniques work and you're happy?!" I get asked.

Well, read above. You're a potential customer and are thinking you may be making a strong long-term financial investment. This means you are purchasing a service. They need to be vetted in order to ensure they are offering you a solid service. Meaning if they claim to be offering you a legitimate product or service but in reality they are giving you something that relies on lies...well I would argue that this is actually theft by deception. The training may be solid as shit. It may be some of the best available. But if they're claiming some ancient lineage that is utter nonsense that can matter in the community. It can carry to you and it victimizes a potential practitioner. Many times these fraudulent backgrounds to a system is there to subtly draw someone in based on fantastical ideas of whimsy and glory. For others it can hide away criminal activities. As was the case with Bryce Dallas his system was rife with not only fraud, but with crimes as well. From extortion, abuse, theft and alleged assaults, it was all neatly hidden away by the luster of a lie (or lies) he told over and over again to conceal who he was and what he was doing. 

Rank Certifications Abound

The legend himself, Kang Rhee pictured with his sidekick "King" Presley.  Rhee is the founder of the World Black Belt Bureau. A comprehensive thread on the topic is here.

Notice when I got to verifying a potential sensei's background I mentioned these documents can come from a variety of places? It is in the capability of any teacher of the arts to have multiple methods of proving their claims. If there is one indisputable truth about frauds versus serious and very real practitioners is that real teachers can calmly tell you their background and are most willing to prove to you their past on demand. I have never met a true practitioner who would refuse to provide these details to any the future students. 

Fraudokas well...they sometimes have something from an organization or brotherhood they belong to in order to demonstrate their abilities and sometimes alleged abilities. And many times these certificates will list them as an ungodly high rank of some system. And sometimes they have all the youthful appearance of a teenager who just got their driver's license yet they're calling themselves a shihan or something else (Soke seems to be popular.) Be warned, there are organizations which seek to promote people as "heads of systems" in order to bolster their own credibility. They are less concerned with training and more with keeping a reputation that they feel is hard-earned through the blood, sweat and tears of handing money to another instructor of some random system and being given a rokudan in some obscure system with a mixture of Japanese and Korean names.

This was seemingly at one time the case with Mr. Bret Gordon, who currently has the title "Kaiso" and has numerous videos on YouTube. Mr. Gordon has a very detailed history with claims and certifications that go back as far as 2008 on Bullshido. Gordon came to my attention haphazardly over the years due to this thread on  and even once over at Martial Arts Planet. He has also been a topic of discussion on BSMA and other martial arts related social media groups as well. I will say based on his videos he appears well-trained in some sort of style akin to aikijujutsu it seems and this now must be his main type of martial training offered. 

Mr. Gordon has come under scrutiny by many of recent months due to some claims by himself and his (now) sensei, Mr. Steven Hatfield. Hatfield has allegedly passed on the headmaster role of two systems to Gordon as of this year.

Link to Gordon's USAMA Page:

"These arts were fully inherited by Kaiso on July 24, 2019 (Satori Ryu Kokusai Goju Kai) and January 12, 2020 (American Yoshinkan Aiki Jujutsu), and Kaiso assumed the position of Headmaster of both arts. When receiving his Sokeship of American Yoshinkan, Kaiso was also awarded a traditional certification scroll from the AJKF to signify that San Budo Sogo Bugei was a fully licensed and recognized independent style of martial arts directly from Japan as well as several traditional jujutsu and aikijujutsu scrolls."

If Gordon is legitimate now he actually didn't seem to begin as such. As a matter of fact the aforementioned thread regarding him seems to expose quite a bit of harsh truths about a young man coming into the world of martial arts and seemed to, like David Richardson recently did, go to Bullshido in the hopes of making himself appear to be a true and respectable martial artist. 

Starting to read this we see how the saga began when he listed his newly minted school Trio Martial Arts (which still operates today) on Bullshido for review yet was called out almost immediately by another user...

Post #1 on the thread details Gordon as he talks about his new school. In it he detailed him achieving a rank in Tae Kwon Do, Kempo Jujutsu and Karate. He also speaks about his grappling background  in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Shaolin Kung Fu. Also of interest is his admission of his created style San Budo.

This was followed by admins who then instructed him how to rate his school....

….and give him some constructive criticism.

Finally responding it would appear Gordon took their advice. From here on out it would seem just a mistake on the end of a student who was starting out their teaching career being a bit overzealous and being immature. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first. That changed, however, when his own former teacher came in and began posting some harsh comments in response to his original post.

At first glance I'm kind of dumbfounded. This man "Chad" is claiming to be his instructor and Gordon is not at all denying this fact. Gordon did respond in the affirmative that "Chad" was his former teacher and "Chad" was bringing up some very good facts. But Bullshido readers were not getting really any straight answers. 

Deflection: check.

Questionable training: check.

Then Gordon launched his response and admittedly I was floored.

Bret Gordon was a teenager who was breaking from his teacher to form his own system and style. And it would appear he was being empowered by a certification from the WBBB, better known as The World Black Belt Bureau founded by one Kang Rhee. 

Remember me saying you should verify WHERE a certificate came from and by whom it was issued? Yes, well, the WBBB is known to sell ranks regularly to almost anyone. Sad to see as Mr. Rhee was a very talented, skilled and respected martial artist who probably had great intentions about this kind of thing when he started it. Today it is a subject of controversy which deserves it's own article detailing it explicitly. 

Well, it didn't end there. No, sadly for Gordon a member of Bullshido calling himself GoldenJonas who investigates claims and ranking in the Florida area found the thread and got involved. 

From the thread:

10/02/2008 8:41am,

Brett,

I have gone through your website, clicked on every link, and read every word on the site.

The facts as I see them, or as you wrote them, are as follows, correct me if I am wrong:
_______________________________

1. You are 16 years old;

2. You hold a black belt in San Budo (self-awarded, its your own style after all), TKD, Kempo JiuJitsu, Nihon Tetsuken-Ryu Karate, and a brown "belt" in Shaolin Kempo/Kung Fu;

3. You and one of your Sempia's have trained under Gregg Thompson a Royce Gracie Black Belt. The Gregg Thompson that has co-authored a few well-known books on BJJ with Kid Peligro;

4. You were awarded a 4th Dan ranking by the WBBB; based solely on an application and submission of your rank certificates in other styles plus an undisclosed "fee".

5. Chad Love of South Lake Karate Academy awarded you a black belt two years ago (when you were 14-15).

6. You run your school out of your parents garage.
_______________________________

Your rank claims are pretty unbelievable. How you found the time to dedicate the effort it takes to obtain a BB in one style at your age is impressive in and of itself....but 3 styles plus an advanced rank in Kung Fu?

Enzo Aliota and Rich Spatola essentially come from the same school in California. It looks like Spatola is a business partner of Enzo's father (maybe brother), Giuseppe. Their school teaches Hawaiian Kempo JiuJitsu and Kung Fu and is called West Coast Martial Arts Academy. I could not find what or where Enzo's school is; although it would appear that it is in northern California.

The only thing I could find under a Mark Bivens and TKD is Mark and Terry Bivens teaching out of Fighting Dragons Dojang in Coram, New York.

Two years ago you got a BB from Chad Love in Florida.

Lastly, on your "iMartial.com" profile you list that you have been training for approximately 11 years. I'll come back to the profile in a minute.

So, from this information, it would appear between the ages of 5 and 16 you moved from California to New York then finally to Florida. During your time in each state you were able to train enough to earn a black belt under Aliota and a brown belt under Spelota in California, earn a black belt under Bivens in New York, and then earn a black belt under Love here in Florida.

Please correct me where I am wrong as I am limited to the wonders of "google" to pull this info out. The next step would be to call these instructors and verify your rank but we are not to that point yet.

In your "iMartial" profile your state as follows:

I am a 3rd generation Black Belt and have been training in the martial arts over 10 years. I've earned Black Belts in the respective arts of: Tae Kwon Do, Shaolin Kempo, and Goju-Ryu. I've also trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Shaolin Kung Fu, Isshin-Ryu Karate, and Full Contact Kickboxing. I hold State and National Championships for all aspects of martial arts competition including Katas, Weapons, and Sparring. In 2007, I was ranked 2nd in the nation for all 14/15 Year-Old Black Belts in KICK International Circuit for Point-Sparring. Since I was 7, I've been assisting classes and I've been instructing professionally since 2006. In 2007, I opened my own dojo, Trio Martial Arts Academy, with the assistance of my father: Randy Gordon. I am a certified instructor through World Black Belt Bureau in the art of San Budo and in 2008, I was awarded the official title Hanshi by the International Association of Martial Arts Founders.

and

Martial Art Style: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Karate, Kempo, Tae Kwon Do

"Tae Kwon Do, Shaolin Kempo, and Goju-Ryu" are not "TKD, Kempo JiuJitsu, and Nihon Tetsuken-Ryu Karate".

Lastly, taking a seminar with Gregg Thompson or participating in a GBB after school program does not make you a BJJ practitioner and does not make you even remotely competent in day one BJJ instruction.

Sorry if this seems a bit harsh but claims of rank and martial accomplishments are subject to close scrutiny on this website.

However, it would seem that you have quite a few trusting students and parents and the kids look like they are having fun doing what they are doing and with you as their teacher. This is a good thing. Being a father of 2 myself, when my kids are happy, I am happy. However, this does not change the fact that your stated credentials seem a bit...well...inflated.

Can you explain. Your explanation will determine whether or not I transfer this thread to the "MABS", Martial Arts Fraud Investigation, forum or not. My goal is not to crush a 16 year old entrepreneur and his attempts to run a successful business, but rather to clear up any "misinformation" or "misunderstanding" which results from your stated credentials and apparent affiliation with the WBBB.

I'll give you until Monday, 10/6/08, to quell my misgivings.

GJ

Last edited by GoldenJonas; 10/02/2008 8:47am, .

So here we have a student who recently broke from his instructor with, as far as anyone could tell, an earned first-degree black belt under said instructor and set himself up in a garage dojo to begin with and from there opened up 200 yards from said former teacher. Oh, and he was quite disrespectful to the teacher. His response was very lengthy in return:

So when confronted with the facts he may have, shall we say, "broadly interpreted" his rankings and standing in the professional martial arts community (when you open a school you have in my opinion entered that arena) he was found to get defensive and try and run from the confrontation. As it would turn out this would be the level of something an immature person would do given his age at the time. The thread ends with Gordon changing his original webpage to fit the standards of his true ranking and no longer claiming any BJJ in his program. Aside from the questionable ranking at the start all seemed to mellow out by the end of the thread.

Do you recall me saying you need to vet your teachers, do a deep background check on them and ensure they're being up front and honest? I meant that. This is a prime example of WHY I do what I do with regards to exposing truths in the larger martial arts world. Anyone can get a Century wholesale account and put on a crisp new uniform and matching belt and claim to teach you....well, anything. And apparently the WBBB had no issue with ranking this adolescent youngster with a rank far from his maturity level. (addendum - in a later post Gordon would state that his rank wasn't issued by the WBBB but by another entity, the International Association of Martial Arts Founders. One poster on the thread stated this organization seemed to end and begin with him, but I saw no further mention of it after that.)

Proving a Pedigree

Just a nice picture of a pot and a kettle. Cast iron. Black.

We all hear that word, pedigree, tossed around in the martial arts community regularly. What we mean by that is where someone's lineage came from. Was it from an established teacher who has produced great fighters, practitioners, coaches and the like? Or was the pedigree of the potential teacher of the design that he or she paid hundreds of dollars for a handshake, a piece of paper with their choice of rank on it that was signed and procured at the local fast food parking lot?

ORDER YOURS TODAY!

One positive example of proof of training and verification comes from Mr. Barron Shepherd, himself a Judoka who runs the Winter Haven Florida Judo Club. The group serves as a community outreach class that has been in operation since 1971. Mr. Shepherd, for instance, had no issue with providing to me references when I spoke to him about his background and agreed to allow me to post this in an article detailing the importance of the matter at hand.

These recommendation and reference letters took Barron about two minutes of waiting to procure and send to me. These are simply thank you letters for his self-defense classes he offered to corporate divisions and the local community.

Barron is a former Kenpo instructor, but has taught and coached wrestling, Judo and grappling, combatives and the like for almost forty years now. I have always had a good bit of respect for him as well. He has had his works reviewed by Phil Elmore at The Martialist, he has a great sense of humor and knows a lot of players in the martial arts community. He was great friends with the late Ronald Duncan and even survived the perpetual horror of a possible onslaught of Ron Collins. 

Ron's reaction when Barron met him face to face and offered to teach him ukemi the proper way.

Yes, he was at one time a person who Ron "The West Virginia Wildman" Collins was swearing he would fight in the ring. Collins was unavailable for any comments on this matter as he is currently serving time in prison for charges stemming from his stupidity. His purchased rank from the BDFS must make the other inmates quake in fear.

Anyway....

God love Barron because he is genuinely a nice and warm Southern man. Being a Southern boy myself I enjoy sitting for hours talking to him. You would be surprised what you can learn from your elders when you actually try. Oh, and he went above and beyond to show me some more verifications of his time being involved in the martial ways.

For example earlier this week I had the pleasure of speaking to Terry Tucker. Mr. Tucker was Barron's primary Judo instructor who took over Winter Haven Judo after his own teacher, Jack Ro left.

Mr. Tucker related to me, "Barron came to me in about 1991 I think it was. He breathed, bled and ate Judo. He was and remains a dedicated student. He is a great coach and a wonderful friend."

Additionally Mr. Tucker also gave me verification of his own background as well.

Some pictures of, you guessed it, himself and Barron teaching Judo at the Winter Haven Judo Club. I can also verify that he was forthcoming about his ranking not only in Judo but also holding a fifth dan from the Kukkiwon. Despite some articles I've read about the organization being akin to brainwashing (as are many organizations according to said article) it has a steady reputation and his rank was hard and well-earned.

Courtesy of Mr. Tucker, Barron Shepherd's Judo sensei.

For me this is standard operating procedure for any aspiring sensei or martial arts instructor to offer these as proof of ability and knowledge. Here we have Barron with a traceable lineage to his training, his references check out, and finally he has told a consistent story about his training. Though some people seek to defame the legitimate members of our little world we all occupy, those of us who are seeking the true ways of training have no issue showing who we are, what we are, and that we are above all else truly certified to do so. I wanted a practical example of how to verify Barron's claims and got it. I also wanted to show what to NOT do if you want to survive in a world of fighters and competitors who take their craft quite seriously.

In Conclusion....

I have had this article on my mind for a while now. What do we as individuals seek when we want to find a teacher? Some areas are saturated with multiple teachers of the same system, and some are blessed to have a ton of varying styles taught by different people. But the standard should be the same across the board. 

To you, my dear reader, you may be a potential student seeking to begin your path, to restart your training you left behind, or are wanting to expand your horizons. Take heed of my words. Verify your potential teachers in all ways. If they act offended you checked out their backgrounds maybe that's a red flag you should take into mind and think again about spending any time or money with that person. In the end you are responsible for your own training. 

I've given you a way. A sure-fire way at that. I've used this method not only to conclude spending any time with someone training but also when I research any suspected frauds. If I can verify them using nothing short of Google and the public records you can do the same. Don't be fooled. It can be more costly than you can imagine in the end if you decide not to.