The Ballad of the "Naruto Nut Rider"
It never seems to fail that in this line of work once you start putting out material someone from deep in the past reaches out to speak to you especially concerning those who lie and fleece the public. These people want to tell their stories and many times it helps solve a mystery that has been left going for years. Cops do this all the time with cold cases. Many times that one story can lead the one researching or investigating it in a direction that they never would have gone to if not for hearing the person out.
And so it was when the former Gerald Greysmith was working tirelessly on the case of Bryce Dallas I happened to be there regularly at his home as an almost permanent guest. I saw people who would reach out to him in those years to ask questions, tell their stories or just vent. Greg always used to say that the best and most informative sources are often the people who were closest to the subject you were looking into. He often said that one person can tell you a story that may be a lie. Two people could have coordinated to tell a lie. But when you have a dozen or more people suddenly telling you the same story across the board as well as never having met one another....well, the story most likely is true. Believe me in those days he tried his best to find stories that were positive about Bryce Dallas. He found a few and I see them here in the notes he left behind. But as he always said it would be easier to tell you the crimes the man didn't commit than to sit and list the reasons Bryce was truly just an evil human being.
I guess it should come as no surprise that in the last two years of reporting on various frauds I, too, received help from the most unlikely places and people. The same can be said with regards to Bret Gordon. Where would I start with him? Having made arrogant remarks in a flippant manner to numerous people should come as no surprise to anyone. I think he and I know he does that only to hide the fact he can't prove anything he ever claimed. Hasaka Yutashi is a great example. If you notice when cornered due to my February article he went on a YouTube show to show off his knowledge of his own system and in a comments section debate with me tried several times to side-step the issues I presented. This is part and parcel for folks like him. They have lived the lie so long at this point it's become all they will ever know, they believe it so fully in their being that nothing else can be true. And should it proven untrue they find small details they hope they can twist to make it right again.
So it began almost two years ago now when during a year of silence I was contacted by someone who asked me to call him "Nate." It seems this young man actually knew a young Bret Gordon and has been privy to numerous things about his life and training. This person was so incensed at Gordon's excuses for his teacher's cousin, a debacle that by now has become almost legend to those of us in the legitimate community that it sickens the hardiest of people. "Nate" gave me lead after lead for information into Gordon's claims that always panned out. From "mastering a kata in three days" to knowing about the threats he had leveled against multiple people over the years, even noting Gordon was present when his partner, Richard Hackworth was "trespassed at a local school for threats" as well.
And so it was about a month and a half ago "Nate" decided it was time to be public about some of the things he personally witnessed. He showed no fear about the situation because as he informed me Gordon couldn't disprove him anymore than he can prove martial arts training for William Sirbaugh. Funny, Sirbaugh is nowhere in sight these days. I guess he finally has been given the retirement he so rightly deserved.
So with that I turn over the floor to this guest. I leave it to him to give his account of what he saw and allow you, the reader, to determine if he is telling the truth. But on a side note? It should be noted much of the leads I have had over the last many articles came directly from him.
So take it away "Nate." Let us hear your yarn. Tell us all....
The Ballad of the "Naruto Nut Rider"
Guest Piece by "Nate"
I was there the night “Hasaka Yutashi” was born. I remember it well and can say that Bret Gordon and Steven Hatfield laid out a bullshit scenario which created a man who never existed. Up until that point the only “Daito ryu” either of them spoke of was what Steven claimed his stepfather, William Sirbaugh learned Stateside. How do I know? Well maybe next time make sure I or others aren’t within earshot when you decide to remove the name “Haska Yutasi” from Steven’s alleged “Goju Ryu” training some years ago and then ceremoniously add him back with a few added syllables to your own concoction. This isn’t a cooking show Bret and not everything goes together. He and Steven put the whole thing in order and then tried to sell it to the public. There is a reason Bret won’t show off anything about this man publicly and that’s because Bret has nothing to go on, Hasaka Yutashi doesn’t exist, he is fictitious. That’s why Bret edited the Daito Ryu Wikipedia page and that’s why I edited to upend his constant lying. It was me, all me. You seriously are deluded Bret if you think one of us back in the day wouldn't try and step in to stop that nonsense.
That is how I want this story to begin. When it comes to his martial arts expertise Bret Gordon is a liar one hundred percent. A person who has had minimal training in the arts he claims lineages to yet somehow expects the general public as well as the larger martial arts community to believe his claims of having master ranks in several styles despite his age and time in grade. Oh he loves to compare himself to others out there who became inheritors, but in all honesty Bret has no idea what that means. His aiki system came from Steven he says. Yeah well they made it up. I heard them while they talked about it. They knew damn well they were making this shit up as they went along.
I think it’s absolutely hilarious he has some nerve to threaten to bring lawsuits. Even more hilarious to attempt sue someone for things like defamation or slander when he has done it several times himself. Oh yes he has bad mouthed defamed and slandered other legitimate martial artists many times but never to their faces. He's mad for being called a fraud? I hate to tell him this but there are many people out there who call him that very thing because he is. He won't answer straight questions and hides behind everyone else. He does all of this while writing defamatory statements of his own online wherever he can and all in an effort to act badass. Sorry dude but you weren't badass in the 2010's and you certainly aren't now.
So how do I know all of this? I admit it that at one point I was friends with him that is if friends is what he actually sees people as. I also spent time with him, his relatives, his other friends and he and I at one time could have been called training partners. That was before his stories got as large as the belt that holds his pants together. No, Bret was determined from a young age to make sure he made his mark on the martial arts. I believe a lot of his attitude began with his father. Looking back at it he encouraged Bret as any father would have. But there have to be boundaries, I mean come on! I remember when Bret left Chad Love’s school after getting a black belt and attempted to get his own school off the ground. His dad may have felt that was probably the only thing he would ever be good at. And well lack of social skills aside he was partly right. I have to be up front and say Bret was terrible with people unless he’s in a position where he can be bossy.
It isn’t a secret that after leaving Love’s school Bret’s dad would literally buy him a fourth degree black belt from a rank mill. It was no secret Bret would steal off to work with others for what he would claim as extended amounts of time. What did I mean by extended amounts of time? Well ask Joe Whelan, a local Kenpo guy who Bret stole a kata from. You see Bret was such a master of martial arts that he claimed he “mastered” a BASIC KATA from Joe in THREE DAYS and then promptly added it to his little system of “San Budo Bugei.” That is real extensive in-depth training there Bret. Enough to make all high level martial artist get their pants damp and be jealous of you right? In Bret’s mind everyone is jealous of him and his accomplishments....accomplishments that seem to be rooted in falsehoods.
Bret would probably like everyone to forget about the billboard his dad rented at one time to show off his son advertising him as the highest ranked instructor in all of Clermont, a tenth-degree black belt no less! It sat right down in Clermont and to this day I know of a couple of people he did wrong who regularly laugh at him for this one. I think a couple of folks still have photos of it, too. Even more funny was that Bret was only around seventeen or eighteen years old at the time. Wow He earned a 1st degree from Chad Love and within a year of that his dad bought him a 4th degree black belt and then with the help of a magical advertising tool he was a much, much higher rank.
You see Bret has several secrets he wished others like myself didn’t know about. He really wouldn’t want this stuff being known. For example in 2015 Bret was licking his wounds from being told not to return to the Daito folks here in the Orlando area. You see it became clear to them Bret was lying to them then about his martial art background. Bret seemed not to understand why he was booted from the group and got mad.
And here is the con folks. As much as he wishes he could say he “has always done aiki,” he and Steven in their minds had to come up with something to explain where they got all this magical aiki training and rank. They claimed it came from a man called Hasaka Yutashi. The issue? As Gerald Greysmith pointed out in his February article on the matter: HASAKA YUTASHI NEVER EVER FUCKING EXISTED. In truth? What I heard him say before this was that Steven Hatfield was training under a guy named Paul Linden in Ohio in Aikido. According to Linden when I spoke to him a year ago on the phone, he said Steven had told him personally he was an aikijujutsu practitioner. When asked about verification Mr. Linden said he just took Steven’s word for it. It wasn’t long after he was told not to return to the Daito folks that I think Bret found himself in a predicament of the most epic and deserved kind.
They had to create Hasaka Yutashi. They had no choice. They always felt a damn lineage would help them in the long run. Just insert Steve’s dad who has been dead for years into a spot next to another dead guy and BOOM you have insta-lineage. This had worked before I guess for Steven so why not stick him next to Hasaka Yutashi, a man they created?
The issues worsened after Bret’s father passed away in 2015(ish). I know this took him rather hard and honestly despite it all I feel bad for him. I know the guy misses his dad. But his dad had all the business sense. Bret? He couldn’t keep the utilities on in his dojo during those days and yes, he did move place to place a lot. There are several folks in the area he lives in now as a matter of fact who have told me about him and his bullshit. This is not to mention what I know went on. Remember when it was said he didn’t have utilities on? Yeah that happened. Students exist today who can attest to that one. I’d say I’d get them to speak up but Bret would just wave his legal team at them. He's done it before after all to a former student's mother on Lordus' blog.
And then of course whenever someone asked about his legitimacy on any level what did he do? Shows up at their dojo usually during kids’ classes and threatens to attack them. Funny how he only did that when it suited him and I want to add he made sure the door was in easy reach for him to make a quick exit. Bret may be stupid and arrogant but he knows he can’t win a fight. That was the case where he and Richard Hackworth got the cops called on them, isn’t it Bret? I mean sure you didn’t get anything done to you but your business partner did. Do you still have that police report my dude? Everyone knows about it and to be honest you shouldn’t have been given a pass even if you were just a kid. You were eighteen and should know better. You stood idly by though and let Richard take that fall all by himself.
And that wasn’t the only place you were told to get the hell out of when you showed up starting trouble. I swear he thinks he’s John Wayne or something the way he struts in and starts announcing his presence. Thank goodness some people have videos of one such incident. Maybe those should make their way out into the public view. Who was it had that? I keep forgetting.
And then this Jidokwan and BJJ and Gracie Jiu Jitsu nonsense he keeps talking about. Well fun fact ladies and gentlemen: Bret Gordon had all of about a dozen or so BJJ classes for real when I knew him. And unless he’s secretly Batman he has not had the time to commit to learn all the other shit he’s claiming. I can say though part of the Judo claims began when he met Del Sharpe, who had some connection to Kojido through a Jack Stern, a military fraud convicted of stolen valor and fake judo instructor. I remember him going to see this guy for a seminar and when he got back he was bragging about how he got a black belt due to his time in training in other arts.
I think it’s important to point out that Bret himself believes a black belt in one art constitutes special treatment in other martial arts and for any instructor not to offer Bret a rank of such level is a slap in his face. Bret is the perpetual kid that was never told no. The group of people Bret affiliates and keeps company with are not much better than he is. They seem to cross-rank one another as fast as one can get a certificate or some kind of “super amazing link to (enter organization here.)” This is why Bret is always just a rank or two behind Steven.
I loved how Bret started boasting a few years ago, out of the blue one day to have a 4 th dan in Kodokan judo and then that rank magically changed to a 5 th dan, but then for some strange reason it shrunk back down to a 2nd dan and appeared to come from yet another questionable organization now found to have no connection to the Kodokan. I remember someone telling me he said he took the lower rank because people were questioning him about the higher ranks too much. He even said the rank didn’t matter. Well if it didn’t matter why the hell claim it? Funny that I and others never saw Bret train in Judo like EVER. But this didn’t stop Bret and Steven from forming their own “Kontei Judo” organization. These black belt ranks just seem to magically appear don’t they Bret? But when you started out buying ranks from the World Black Belt Bureau at sixteen years old I guess that habit just stuck.
Bret’s false claims of black belt judo ranks also didn’t stop from attempting to discredit a legitimate Judoka online. Why? Bret knew this local judoka was the real deal and Bret was jealous of him for being real about it all. This Judo instructor is literally only 40 minutes away. But would Bret face this guy on the mat? The answer is no. Why? Bret if you’re such a “judo beast” what’s the problem? Oh yeah, it’s just safer to talk crap from behind your computer key board. As much as Bret likes to picture himself as some great martial artist he’s a coward. Bret wouldn’t dare get on the mat with that judo instructor that he tried to slander nor any other. You’ve all seen the emails where he deflected from the actual BJJ guy, right? Bret would be embarrassed if he got on the mats with any real grappler and had to be tested.
I have known Bret a long time and never once saw him actually train in Judo, Jidokwan, Moodukkwan, or Jiu Jitsu. I know because the majority of us who were there in those days all know he’s lied his ass off about everything.
I want to set the record straight for myself and others who knew Bret and have had previous dealings with him. The things I have seen him do in the past have only gotten worse over the years from intimidation, threatening statements online to students and their parents, as well as defending the worst of the worst only because it comes back around and can make him appear to look bad. I look back at the years I spent around him and it pains me to see such a waste. But I feel that I can make up for it. Hell I have! I and a few others are the ones who gave the leads to Gerald beginning two years ago. I guess in his rush to glory Bret forgot one important thing: tyrants create their own worst enemies.
So yeah Bret Gordon made it all up so far as I saw. Histories, lineages, ranks, everything, made up, fabricated, all just a figment of Bret’s claims. Bret Gordon, the ONLY time you were truthful was when you insulted Master Ed Mathna and the rest of the Ohio Jidokwan on The Dojang when you said, I quote: “I am arrogant, but at least I admit it.”
Yeah you only admitted it because your bullshit stories have been ripped apart. As for me and the others who knew you? We got to watch as the leads panned out. Think about it hard enough and maybe, just maybe, you will realize who gave all this to the martial arts community so that others can be notified about who you really are and what little martial arts training they are truly getting. You didn't train in the things you claimed and you and I both know it.
I was there and so were others. And we have talked and given our testimonies. It was time you were held accountable and made to be honest. You stole the lineage of Fuzy, you made of Yutashi, you never trained in Hankido, you lied about your Gracie Jiu Jitsu, you defended that vile man, you made false police reports and have stood idly by and let your own claims get ripped up only to change them when it suited your needs.
The Value of Honesty
I have long stated that fraud perpetrated by these people who con and steal from others leaves a trail of victims and witnesses who see things. Eventually people get tired of being threatened, yelled at or whatever else these men and women in the fraudoka community do and decide to tell their stories. It was as I said almost two years ago when this young man contacted me and informed me who he was and what his story laid out. And as I said every lead he sent me down panned out. To this day I have seen many of Gordon’s claims break and crumble under scrutiny. It never stands the test but then again like "Nate" said he just readjusts his words to fit his needs. “Nate” has shown that a multitude of times. From calling himself Soke, Hanshi, Kaiso, as this young man told me many times for Gordon it isn’t just the thrill of martial arts but the actual desire to be someone important in the community. The issue “Nate” had? Gordon took shortcuts and lied to a lot of people along the way and honestly I could see that. It pains me to see it. I wish I could have verified this entire story to be completely transparent. But nothing has ever surfaced except proof against it all.
Gordon hates me and people like me because we tell the truth. He hates that I will verify his words. That’s why he’s accused everyone under the sun of being me, be it people he knows or people he doesn’t know. And sometimes that has brought him much trouble. As “Nate” told me once Gordon sees this he will narrow it down to a select group of people and probably not be too happy with them. But they’ve been warned ahead of time to be watching. It’s as he said:
“He is doing all of this simply to protect made-up martial arts lineages, man. And to be honest sometimes I look back and I miss my friend. Then it hits me that my friend was never there. It was always this guy hiding right under the surface.”
I almost want to cry reading that again. As "Nate" sits there talking on the phone with me as I put these final touches on this all I can say is that this is really a waste. To make up your background is bad enough. But I have to ask something of Gordon myself. He accuses me of being a liar because of my mask. To him I ask this in closing:
"Which of us is the more honest? The one who openly wears a mask and tells the truth? Or is it the one who constructs the lie and wears that as his mask?"
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