"Things That Didn't Age Well...."

Have you ever sat and looked back at your life and honestly seen an event you caused which you wish you could change or take back? I sit here and think about that often and it comes to mind that we all have things we wish we could do over. But how the hell do you redo something that brought about the worst moments of your life for the world itself to see? That is a question one can ask Mr. Kaiso-Kyoshi-Soke-Grandmaster-Hanshi-Bret Gordon. 

In the world of things that didn't age well....

I sit here looking at the last of the information which proves the majority of his claims remaining are just piles of lies fed to his students. That brings me back to thinking about a mistake Gordon made three years ago. While yes this has been debunked by my predecessor Greg who was the previous holder of this blog and the name of Gerald Greysmith, I decided to research it myself and ever since that happened in July of 2020 I have been realizing some very strong points about good old Mr. Gordon. 

For example not one of his claims called under scrutiny by myself or other bloggers has been responded to but instead they've merely been changed on his myriad of web pages and altered to cover his previous statements. This is always a moot point for him because his websites have been archived and still they exist always now in the ether of the Internet Wayback Machine. And even if he could get them taken down from there I have them copied and secure for future use.

And with his claims aplenty came scrutiny untold. His responses of threats to those who give less than five-star reviews, speak their mind of a service he was paid to provide being met with threats of his attorney, or the many rants and accusations he has leveled at innocent people believing they’re yours truly I want to point out that in the years since he tried to assassinate the character of one of Central Florida’s most revered grapplers he himself has seen his own martial arts legacy falter under the weight of what one may call a “lack of evidence.” Oh, of course Gordon owes me no proof. He says so. But he does owe his students the truth. He set out to ruin Shepherd. What I do know is that his little hit-pieces regarding Barron have done him no favors. For all the things he accused Shepherd of I want to point out to you the following. And believe me when I say this is merely the tip of the iceberg:  

TO BE CLEAR: Bret Gordon has in the past defended Patrick Justice, a convicted sex offender and criminal who he claims his teacher or he has no connection to even to the point of putting a letter of reference from the man on his old website. He also defends to the death the man named Jack Stern who in a court of law stated he lied about his background and using a Medal of Honor to build a reputation on, while being told by the Kodokan Stern never trained there. This, among other things, while he attacked a legitimate Judoka by the name of Barron Shepherd who he has openly accused of being me as well. He stated Barron was not legitimate while stating Patrick Justice was indeed a 9^th degree black belt under his own teacher, Steven Hatfield. He said Barron’s teacher never existed, while he states Stern trained at the Kodokan despite the Kodokan saying he most certainly did not….among other folks who he has also claimed are licensed and endorsed by said organization.

I feel we should probably return to a moment in time where Gordon most likely high off of a milkshake bender decided to write a hit-piece on a person who the Judo and Combative community truly reveres and loves, has been working tirelessly to promote the art of Judo as it was taught by Kano, and to give people skills sets to increase their grappling abilities ten-fold. Let’s talk about Mr. Gordon’s little journalistic endeavor and how it was “correct when he wrote it.” And let us take a stroll to see where both men have ended up today. Who truly meets the criteria to be a true Judoka and who doesn’t? Who is doing Judo and who is doing Ju-Don’t?

"Things That Didn't

Age Well...."

By Gerald J. Greysmith

July 2020

It was a weird day as I remember when Greg, sick from cancer at the time, found the article that would begin this entire foray into madness that became the breaking of the foundation of claims laid out publicly by Bret Gordon. An article titled “Pot Meet Kettle” had been released by the lad in May of that year. Greg never had met Shepherd but he was aware of his pedigree, his achievements, his training and was well aware despite Gordon's claims knew Shepherd was certified by the NGB's. Greg reached out to Shepherd immediately and asked him what this article was about and found out that Shepherd himself had no idea this had been written. To say Shepherd was pissed off was an understatement. Greg then contacted his partner Cayce Lancaster and together they offered to do what Gerald Greysmith was known to do: verify things.

And Shepherd did something that to this day Bret Gordon has refused to do….he proved his background and in record time, too. It took all of about twenty minutes to get the information. Mr Shepherd's background was verified with references made to the NGB’s. 

Gordon attacked and accused Shepherd on quite a few things, to just include:

-        Gordon initially claimed there was no evidence to the existence of Shepherd’s original sensei in Judo, a Mr. Terrell Tucker. As it turns out there was plenty of evidence on the blog of Shepherd to substantiate this but Gordon can’t be pressured to do any real research. No sir, only knee-jerk statements and reactions will come from him. In turn when asked for evidence of Hasaka Yutashi, he states proudly he owes no one any evidence as the “guardian” of the man’s legacy. He has yet to debunk HK Hayward’s research stating he died in a closet having a “lewd encounter” with himself and be self-lynched on a noose. To this day Shepherd has proven the existence of not only Mr. Tucker but also Mr. Tucker’s teacher, a Mr. Jack Ro.

Indeed Terry Tucker ended up existing and was alive and well today. Greg talked to him and verified 

that Barron was trained by him.

-        He stated Shepherd’s USA Judo certification was expired and therefore he was no longer qualified to teach. What Gordon forgot was Shepherd was actually a member of the other two NGB’s at the time. Additionally people allow them to expire regularly for one reason or another (maybe they don’t want to be a member of all three that year?) and this is further compounded on Gordon by two things: he has never been a member of an NGB himself because, well, he isn’t a Judoka for real. And two? He has slandered the NGB’s on multiple occasions so why would this be of importance to him? With that being said Gordon himself has written blogs in the past stating he despises the NGB’s and touts his own membership with the USA-TKJ, claiming a link to the Kodokan. However the founder and president of the USA-TKJ, Bruce Bethers, has stated publicly they do not have a connection to the Kodokan.

Bret was very worried about Barron's claims to NGB's and Kodokan supremacy. Luckily

as a proud member of the USA-TKJ Gordon had no such issues as legitimacy, amiright?

Oh. Right.

-        Gordon stated publicly that Sheperd fabricated his background in Judo and Kenpo/Kajukenbo and stated that these expired certificates were the proof of such a thing. However Gordon has openly admitted to the fact his father purchased him a fourth-dan from the World Black Belt Bureau in the past. Additionally Gordon touts a link to Korea for his Jidokwan but has never stated the evidence given to obtain such a link. From all accounts he used a fabricated past with William Sirbaugh, the late step-father of Steven Hatfield as well as pictures of other people stating they are Sirbaugh to establish his credibility. It is also known that the ranks he claims in both Judo and Jidokwan are not possible for him due to age and time in grade, as those who knew Gordon for years have stated it was not until around 2018-2020 that he began stating he had been training in either of those arts. Gordon has also changed his Jidokwan page numerous times even having it taken down by Master Ed Mathna, a student of EA Fuzy who Gordon claimed to have a link to due to copyright infringement.

It was correct when he wrote it. 

As it turns out that pesky thing called “evidence” came to bear it was proven that Shepherd’s teacher existed and that his Judo credentials were authentic. AND the expired USJA State level coaching credential Gordon claimed was fake that he used as proof of Shepherd being a fraud got totally disproven when Shepherd got promoted to a USJA National Level Judo coach that same year.

So in July of 2020 Greg and Cayce released their findings, but not before talking to Gordon and confronting him about his lies. Smugly on a call with them both he informed them he wasn’t taking that article down and it was correct, by golly. He stood by his assertion that his defamation of Shepherd was legitimate and true, as a “journalist” he must tell the truth. In doing so he cemented his lies about the situation and when the actual truth came out Gordon declared all out war on Gerald Greysmith.

Where Are We Today?

Shortly after his attempt to discredit Shepherd Gordon was goaded into calling Shepherd to apologize. What he found on the other end of that line though was nothing friendly. He contacted Shepherd with his Steven Hatfield on the phone. I guess Gordon felt safer with his “dad” on the phone with him. But as soon as Shepherd answered the call he let Gordon have it, and by have it he called him every name in the book. How do I know this? Gordon himself told me. He even emailed Greg about the situation after the fact. 

You see despite his deep-seated hatred of me Gordon has kept an open line of communication to the former, and the current, Gerald Greysmith. He knows full well I’m none of the people he claimed I was and worse, even if he did, I can disprove that as much as I have disproven his many, many claims. But that’s a subject for another article that I promise will come soon enough.

The sad thing is that the attempt he took at Shepherd has backfired so incredulously on him and his teacher and it hasn’t stopped. See, once you lie on someone to hurt them and it’s proven you did so, well you tend to reap what you sow. People were not happy to find out Gordon lied on Sheperd, so of course it would draw a lot of scrutiny onto that Kaiso of Kaisos. And Greg then began digging and verifying as much as he could considering his health condition regarding the claims Gordon made publicly. This is called a "peer review," if you think about it. Anyway Greg as you all know passed away in 2020 and I took up that task and as everyone now can see Gordon hasn’t been able to disprove the findings I myself have presented. You’d think he would want to….I mean he has a “lAwSuIt ThAtS uNdErWaY” against a detractor he challenged and it is continually championed by none other than Dallas “Karen” Wittlessfield whenever he decides to comment on my blogs here. 

She's honestly never looked better. 

I mean surely he has proof of his ties to E.A. Fuzy, or Curtis Herrington, or can throw out a picture of Hasaka Yutashi. Nah, like he said….he and Steven are so amazing they must have made it all up….well duh, genius. We know you did. You may can learn all the techniques you want but the geneology and background just aren't adding up. His desire to be connected has yet to produce a discernable and honest pedigree that isn't tainted in some way.

The same cannot be said about Barron Shepherd. Life seems to have been very good to him. Instead of being questioned at every turn for his claims of martial skills and lineage as Gordon had hoped would be, one can find that Shepherd is teaching Judo at a BJJ school in Winter Haven, Florida and funny enough, he's teaching it just the way Kano intended. I’m almost positive Carlos, Sr. would be proud of this as well. To see their arts working together in unison is a sight to see of that I’m sure.

Also let us not forget that Shepherd has written two books so far with a further two coming out in the next year. I think it prudent to mention that the first two have sold out. I have managed to see a copy of them and to be honest they are top-notch, step by step and very easy to follow and learn from. Shepherd has shown beyond a doubt that he can explain the technical aspects of combatives and Judo in a way a layman can understand. I would argue they were indeed correct when they were written and hilariously unlike Gordon’s articles and claims remain correct to this day. I want to add that recently Shepherd has began training in BJJ himself as a white belt. Now readers, I want you to think about this a moment. Shepherd recently was promoted to 5^th dan in Freestyle Judo under Steve Scott. I know this because he posted it on Facebook. So for him to don a white belt and begin at the start with BJJ says something about his character that can’t be underestimated.

The Brazilian and Gracie Jiu Jitsu community despises fakes 

and frauds but they love humility. Gordon has openly admitted he's 

simply just arrogant. Seemed very proud of it, too.

And Gordon? He hasn't written any books. His pages have been taken down a few times due to copyright infringement, using other people's materials without permission, and finally he has backtracked and changed his claims more times these last three years than I have changed my pants. Speaking to grapplers who have seen his videos they all say he is literally the biggest joke among them at this point. His throws are awful, his techniques atrocious and most feel he is going to get someone hurt. 

I think it's important to mention that Gordon has apparently acquired a “black belt in Gracie Jiu Jitsu” which has now changed to a “black belt in Gracie Jiu Jitsu Martial Science” which is in reality, by his own admission, “Gracie Self Defense Modules,” something he admitted in email to a legitimate black belt in BJJ who reached out to me. 

Seeing as he likes to threaten people I find it funny Gordon has never 

reached out to this dude since that fateful day.

While I’m sure some would argue that “no art is as misunderstood as BJJ,” Gordon is bringing it to the street level with his vast experience in Judo and Japanese Jujutsu that enabled him to obtain this remarkable ranking. He went from blue belt in BJJ to the more dignified art of Gracie Jiu Jitsu and was ranked a black belt. Why even the same can be said for Steven Hatfield. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Steven is doing the same in his own dojo. Why Steven has even founded his own Judo Organization, the Can't-tay Judo Club or something like that and is teaching the fine arts sporting a belt reserved for those in the 6^th to 8^th dan range. But hey, that 7^th dan was honorary, right?

I say all of this to point out that neither Bret or his teacher, Steven, have shown anything to back their training in Judo aside from stating it traces to Jack Stern, who they in turn claim trained with Mifune at the Kodokan while confusingly posting an email from the Kodokan stating Stern was never there at all. 

All the claims of Stern almost without fail that exist today begin with Gordon's own webpage. And considering I am staring at paperwork beside me which states Stern wasn’t exactly as active as Gordon would have you believe…..well, let’s just say I may have to give the lad a chance to be honest. Either he can, or I will be. It didn’t help that Gordon himself put an email out from the Kodokan stating Stern never trained there. But hey we have all the time in the world to get to that one. My concern here is him and his teacher saying a legitimate guy was a fake when things weren't on the up and up with him.

 

Moving Ahead Now

Gordon defamed Mr. Shepherd who is a legitimate Judoka and martial artist. He went after one man who never bothered him except to say that the presentation of a Kodokan card was not proof  of being licensed or endorsed, by the kodokan. Gordon however would have you believe despite the words of the president of his own organization that he is legitimately in like Flynt with Japan and the Kodokan. Well nothing could be farther from the truth. Speaking to the NGB’s and the Kodokan myself there is no record of either Bret Gordon nor Steven Hatfield holding any ranks at all, and neither one can match the qualifications to be licensed (and endorsed!) by the Kodokan. Add this to the fact there remains no records of Stern at the Kodokan either. I believe this is why they created their own organization and are trying to promote in “Kodokan Judo,” something they are according to evidence misrepresenting to their students. 

Gordon often states things with regards to arts he claims to teach to set 

himself apart from the competition. Speaking of competition I've never

seen nor heard of him taking part in any Judo competitions.

At this point neither have proven any true Judo training with anyone save claims to Jack Stern and a Rick Rodgers that Hatfield is claiming. As I stated in the last article though neither can meet the standards to be “Kodokan licensed” however Shepherd can. And here lies why I think they both Bret and Steven went after the man: Shepherd can prove his background and he was beginning to be vocal about frauds in the Judo community. Shepherd has the support of several verified people in the Judo AND the Special Forces Community. So what about this alleged Judo connection Steven Hatfield claims to have? Well according to his own public statements as well as defenses from Bret Gordon the general public and students would be led to believe that Hatfield is a licensed and endorsed instructor by the Kodokan in Japan.

Well seems reaching out to the Kodokan shows a different story altogether. You see when you are ranked through the Kodokan and have a membership card they will put your rank on that very card. But that’s not the only thing. The Kodokan confirms Hatfield purchased his card in 2017….

       

…but he is not licensed nor is he endorsed by the Kodokan as an instructor. As for the membership card they've paraded about? It merely (as stated before) shows that the person purchased a membership. If Hatfield had any rank recognized by the Kodokan in Japan at all it would be printed on his card. As of this writing neither he nor his student Gordon have provided any recognized ranks outside of the USA-TKJ which again has no connection to the Kodokan per Bruce Bethers. Perhaps they do have Kodokan licensures but the mean old Kodokan just lied to me. 

Think about this once more: Bret Gordon went to great lengths to defame and cast doubt on Barron Shepherd three years ago now but has defended every other person who was proven a fake that was attached to him. Despite his efforts in those three years Shepherd has begun training in BJJ at the very school he teaches at. I doubt BJJ schools would allow Judo teachers to teach or train there if they can’t verify their pedigree. 

Meanwhile Gordon tells everyone that he is teaching "GRACIE" Jiu Jitsu, the 

art Carlos, Sr. meant to be shown to the world. I guess them boys in Winter Haven had 

best watch out! The street level "GJJ" has arrived!

On the reverse Gordon’s and ultimately his own teacher’s claims have been brought under massive and constant scrutiny and not a single one has survived to really any degree whatsoever. No Hasaka Yutashi. No Jidokwan heritage to the Ohio folks. William Sirbaugh turned out to not be who he was claimed to be. And now the claims of being connected to the Kodokan in Japan are not adding up, either. 

I would love to see why the USJA didn't approve Steven's rank.

I guess someone has to tell the truth in this and as usual I guess it’s going to be me. I believe it’s time to show everyone that, since Bret wrote that little defamatory article on Shepherd, the lengths he has gone to in order to change his story, the absolute lunatics he enjoined with to try and dox, harass and belittle others, and finally discuss who he has claimed I am. Mind you he’s wrong on all fronts but then again when you ally with the folks he has you really shouldn’t expect amazing results. No, that story is about to be told and goodness knows for that one I also have evidence to back it all. It's time to show the world the fact that every time he's questioned Gordon resorts to threats, harassment, doxing and the like. And now it seems he's gained some allies in all of this who swear they've unmasked me. I lost count of the people accused of being me or other bloggers long, long ago. But bless their hearts people might take them at their word if they weren't batting -1000 and were actually not known liars and slanderers themselves. Taking people's pictures and adding things to them doesn't help the case at all, though. Especially when said people have proof they aren't me. But hey that's okay, because these geniuses can be exposed as easily as any other fraud. I think that may be what I do next.

Wouldn't it be sad if in the end it was found they all had conspired to do damage to innocent people? Yeah. It really would be, wouldn't it?