The Crazy Culture of Fake Martial Arts Masters Exposed 

After releasing the video it was brought to my attention that I've made a mistake by including a reference in it to professor Ronald Duncan as a questionable martial arts master. It was a fault in my assessment to which I wanted to apologize for and admit my mistake.The short segment about professor Ronald has now been removed from the video. I want to clarify that professor Ronald is a credible martial artist and does not fit the narrative of this video and the short segment about professor Ronald has now been removed. If you want to learn more about him and his work you can find some information in the following websites: • duncanmartialarts.com/history/ • nindoryu.weebly.com/professor-ronald-duncan.html • www.usadojo.com/ronald-duncan-sr/

Nobody ever says “I want to be a fake bullshido master when I grow up!” But they go and do it anyway for some reason. Awesome video!

The good old McDojo belly... Always a telltale sign of a skilled practitioner. Edit: FFS people, you guys keep talking about Oyama and many other masters, but have you seen them in their 40s? Those guys were fit, they never had to become Muscle Beach models, but you could see muscle development. One thing is the belly you get because your body is simply not what it used to be in your 20~30s, the other is when you see someone who simply never managed to do a single pushup in their entire lives with their fancy gi and embroidered belt. Crawl back to Twitter y'all.

More than 20 years ago, I created a martial art called Hu-Yen-Do (huyendo means running away in Spanish). Then I did 50 fights in 1 day but no rival attended so I declared myself winner. I retired from competitions after 3 days with a record of 110 wins, 0 loses and 0 ties. I awarded myself the title of Grand Master Sensei with 12th Dan grade and Golden Belt, only Golden Belt ever awarded to a Hu-Yen-Do fighter. I was undefeated national Champion and undefeated World Champion and I hold the title still. I had a website with all that information and a description of the martial art (very creative of course) but I can’t find it now. I might have to do it again.

the "presidential sports award" was an award that all american schoolkids tested for in an effort to promote physical fitness. I tested for it a few times as part of our physical education curriculum when I was in middle and high school in the 1980s. It included things like shuttle run, running around a football field, pull ups, and situps with minimum standards of completion. Every student who was able to run fast enough, do enough push ups and situps qualified and got the award. There must have been hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of these awarded. Putting it on list of credentials is hilarious.

In my country, we have a karateka that claims he's won 68 gold medals in world karate tournaments. He's 34 years old to this date. Apparently he's been winning since the day he was born, 2 times per year. Now that's a commitment.

I'm a real 10th Dan at Sitjitsu, I just sit on the couch all day and sometimes sleep

Your optimism and positive attitude, even when talking about negatives like bogus con artist, is refreshing and up lifting. OWN YOUR JOURNEY! What a great message.

Im a 12th degree MasterBaiter

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” - Sir Winston Churchill

Imagine being trained by someone old and “wise” that you look up to for years, only to find out the guy was a fraud, and everything you learned was bullshit. That could potentially be traumatic. It’s so easy for these frauds to get away with all of this because someone with no experience doesn’t know any better. And after trust is built through training, you’ll believe anything this guy says. It’s like a cult. It’s really fucked up if you think about it.

Great video! I was fortunate enough to train under two legitimate martial art masters. Myung Kyu Kang (Tae Kwan Do) and Kwang Kook Park (Kuk Sool Won), both of whom were bonafide masters in their disciplines. Neither man had colorful uniforms covered in patches or belts with dozens of stripes. Both were, however, examples of hard work, dedication, and excellence as both martial artists and people.

Martial Journey thank you so much for this video! Unlike the other videos on fake martial arts that, despite genuinely being funny, were just poking fun at the phenomenon, this was a legit tackle at the question of fake martial arts. Its amazing in this age people still fall for this.

I can't get enough of Bullshido videos

Chuck Norris gets more jokes making fun of how unrealistically tough he is in movies but at the same time he's the one martial artist nobody ever questions his real life talent because he's that legit. Its amazing when you think about it.

I’m glad you made this segment. Being a Nidan in a traditional Okinawan system with a traceable lineage right back to our founder (who’s Number One Student trained my two main Sensei’s IN Okinawa), I am astounded since the dawn of UFC in the early 90’s of the profusion not only of fake masters, but also fake systems. When I hear people speak of their training I usually ask questions about the training lineage of their instructors, if they even know, and of the heritage of their system. 70% of the time or so I conclude that the dojo or school or style is marginally valid. While not all martial arts have long and storied histories and can still be valid, many aren’t. Being a Marine, I questioned in another post about the Marine Corps martial arts program and the “belts” they hand out. I was assailed by many fellow Marines. I get it. After WWII when the Marine Corps set up major bases in Okinawa, many went on to become true martial arts legends like Joe Lewis etc.. Those guys could point to true systems which have stood the test of time. Oh well

When I was a kid, I was in a similar situation in real martial arts (judo and teakwondo). Teachers were terrible, thus there was toxic atmosphere amongst students (bullying other students and lack of respect for the teachers). It greatly discouraged me from doing martial arts as a kid and teen. Now I’m doing Muay Thai and everything is great there, and now I enjoy martial arts so much! Even when a martial art is real, quality of a teacher settles the quality and atmosphere of the training.

It took my husband 8 years to get his black belt, and I can see him roll his eyes, every time he hears of someone who says they got theirs in under 2 years. Or that their child is learning from one of the best, because that instructor got his black belt in under 2 years. Most people don't even say what they are unless asked. They just say they are martial artists. Probably why when other high ranking belts came to our school to spar, from other schools, they were getting thumped by our yellow and blue belts. Just because your belt is black , doesn't mean you know how to fight.

How strange, I'm 17th Dan in my own martial arts system, it's an amazing system that requires no training, you too can gain a 10th Dan by paying only £499, in ten easy payments of only £49 per month

I'm a 36th degree indica blackbelt of the Shaolin Wu-Tang style. I started as a weak boy at the temple, and steadily progressed so far that they allowed me to create my own chamber of Kung-Fu. It's a true story. They even made a movie about it.

Dude! You nailed everything! Awesome! The same cases we have here in Malaysia called sukma kencana or nara martial arts. All of the things you said in the videos fit 100%! Im really glad you making this video!

Both Dan Inosanto & Chuck Norris have earned BB’s in BJJ from the Machado Brothers. Both of these men - who are in their 80’s - are lifelong students of Martial Arts with very public resumes

You need to give all the credits to Master Ken for being the 11th black belt in Ameridote!

I created my own martial art. The goal is to keep myself from dying of a heart attack. The art only has one belt level and one form which takes me about an hour to do. I can now truthfully say that I am a Grand Master 16th Degree Ultraviolet Belt in Lechı̂y Chămôr.

When I was a teen there was this old man who was the handyman in the apartment complex where I lived turns out he knew karate and trained me when I told him I was always being picked on at school he didn’t believe in that color belt system he said something like “ belt mean no need rope to hold up pants” that was old Skool training😎

It's scary that these con people are connected to each other

Man, if a Gracie found out he was added to a list without his knowledge and consent, it could spell rough times for the organization.

I was married to such a person that you describe in this video. The fakey martial arts mentality and the con artist behavior permeates every aspect of these individuals lives.

Another great vid, thanks a lot for sharing your diligent research!!!

That's why Bruce Lee said, black belt means nothing if you don't know how to fight properly.

Man, I trained Aikido under an old lady who trained under the original students of Sensei Ueshiba. She never bragged like this dude. So disappointing to see people trying to front their "expertise".

I will tell you a little story about fraud in my own martial arts circles. I grew up with martial arts in a typical martial arts school. My grandmaster was certified in the country of origin of his art and he was a native from there, but apart from creating top fighters for competitions, making more money always seemed the next most important goal. To make a living, he had to offer other styles too, but seemed to have absolutely no training in them so he let "hired" local "masters" fumble around with them. One of these styles was Chinese. Eventually, one of my peers in that school quit his job and opened the same type of school, but with focus on Chinese martial arts which he never properly learned. When I visited, the school was full of accolades and pictures of his training on the walls, but when I asked about ANY specifics, like where in China they went, he became defensive and evasive with no answer at all. The issue with martial arts schools is how easy it is to open one but difficult to make a living with it, so it attracts frauds who are fine with resorting to scummy methods and who may very well be great athletes or fighters, but who teach you a load of potentially dangerous BS on top of the few basics they haphazardly googled together.

What’s funny is Villari received his first black belt from our professor Nick Cerio then he left and opened his own school claiming to be some high ranking black belt. He was only a shodan from my knowledge. It’s on the Family black belt tree that I have stared at for years. Please people don’t be afraid to do research on instructors you are going to train with. Love watching your episodes keep up the good work! OSS!

A story to keep in mind when assessing self-created masters of this kind: There was once a guy in his late twenties who studied two traditional Japanese jujitsu styles for several years, who then decided he had learned all they had to offer. So the young man created his own style, which took the techniques he had studied and re-framed them in accordance with a set of unifying principles he claimed to have identified. The young man was Jigoro Kano, and his new system was originally called Kano Jujitsu, but quickly changed its name to Judo. When we see one of these 'founder' guys and recognize the classic story of over-hype and delusion, even fraud, it's good to keep in mind that the legitimate respected systems didn't get handed down on scrolls from a kami riding a winged tiger or something. The good systems have very similar founding stories, the only difference being their objectively higher quality.

great report bro 😎 💪🏼really good

I've studied martial arts for 40 years. There is a serious side but there's a lot of charlatans. I'm a member of Bujinkan and it's embarrassing what's happened. Politics and money have polluted the art and I don't go in for that. I study and teach the art for art's sake and that makes me a heretic. It's not about grades, it's about who you are and what you can do. I don't try to impress other people, I try to impress myself. Narcissism aside, it's all about the money.

Shocking to find out this type of fraud has become it's own institution.

Imagine clicking on this video while being one of the "grandmasters"

Don't forget Steven Seagull.

I don't think you blinked once in this video haha but it still was a great video Broseph. Good job!

When I worked in maintenance, a lot of the guys in the various shops were veterans. Most of them claimed to be "Special Forces", as well. It seems that the Special Forces are the single largest unit in the armed forces from how many ex-members there are walking around 😅

Wow! This video is so much better than I expected. I pretty much assumed it was going to be a standard countdown of fake martial arts Masters. I really appreciate your deep examination of the underlying issues that create such people. Excellent work.

This was a well made video . And your voice is soothing

The psychological aspect seems on point, great video! Seeing the list i catch one from my country (Argentina), Gerardo Cantore and apparently he got his own Karate style called Shinshinkan with a little school in a village near the mountains.

Thank you for your research. As a (past) practicing martial artist I always appreciate seeing scams being exposed.

Speaking of masters... RIP Takashi Azuma 9th-degree black belt in Kyokushin Budokai (awarded by Jon Bluming), a 3rd-degree black belt in judo, and a 9th-degree black belt in Kūdō.

It's wild and insane to me that people still try to do things like this when a simple Google search will show that whatever they're claiming to have attained/received doesn't even exist. Something that many don't realize is that there are body movements that when done repetitively (as you're supposed to do in any martial art) can be extremely damaging to your body. Yes, they can be countered by the correct exercises; but if they're not they can be completely debilitating or at least lead to costly surgery/surgeries.

you have such kind eyes and smooth voice. I love listening to you :)

I spent 7 years and got my "black belt" at a Villari dojo back in the 90's. Was told no touch sparring was the best form of sparring since it gave you better control over your self(total bullshido). Sparred with a friend who did one month of Gracie jujitsu(Villari had Chin Na grappling)and got destroyed. I then spent one year at a Muay Thai dojo and was 10 times better at striking from that one year.

As Italian I can confirm that Italy (like other countries) is suffering a lot from how internet can easily expose people; but who cares when pizza is good

Another very interesting video. Quite amazing that these people seem to make a good living when so many genuine, humble practitioners work three jobs just to be able to keep their classes afloat

I spoke with George Dillman back in the 1990's ... and our dojo successfully studied & utilized several of Dillman's pressure point knock outs ... these based off his first book. Had Dillman stopped there, his would have been a solid contribution. He, however, soon began taking his claims to odd and outlandish places.

omg Frank Dux was one of the 'Sensei's' at my Aikido dojo when I was a young teen! (late 90s early 2000s) He was rarely around, but when he was the atmosphere was totally different. He was a tyrant, very strict, full of self-importance, and overly aggressive with the kids. There was one particular kid, Chrisopher, who was a little on the chubby side. Frank always picked this kid when he was around to demonstrate on, we all felt so bad. Just odd that 'sensei Frank' never wanted to demonstrate with other senseis that were usually running things when he wasn't around. He used to tell stories that he was a cop for yrs and he taught self-defense to all the under-covers

I'm impressed. Despite putting up just another video showing off Fake Martial Art Masters with the same sequences over and over again you really put in a fair amount of time to come up with a detailed background research. To my knowledge, although I'm not that deep into this topic, this is the first time somebody is trying to get to the core of all of it. Great work!

About 35 years ago we had a student who got to brown belt by training in the beginner classes because he didn’t want to mix with the big boys, then when it became obvious that he would not be able to progress unless he actually trained in the proper classes he quit. 6 weeks later he turned up in town with a black belt that no one know where he got it from, started his own club up next door to us and within a single year had given black belts to about 20 of his students. After a few years these students would realise that something is not right and quit his club and then come over to train with us, almost all of them could not cope with our training and they were always devastated to learn that the grades that they had been given were worthless and that they were not capable of upholding the standard that was required for their rank in the wider martial arts community. These students came in 3 types. 1, the student would have the temerity to train with us and up their standard and retake their grades to a recognised qualification. 2, they would recognise that they hadn’t actually been doing martial arts at all and after seeing the real thing decide that this isn’t for them and quit training altogether. 3, they would realise that they couldn’t cope with the real stuff because they didn’t want to put the hard work in to get a real black belt, so they would then return to their original fake club where they could strut around and pretend and then tell all of their social friends that they are a black belt. I have a lot of respect for types 1 & 2 because these people are honest with themselves over what they are and are not prepared to do and achieve. I have no respect for type 3 because these guys knew deep down that something was not right at the original club which was why they quit in the 1st place, but when they then realised that the real stuff is not for them they would then go back to the original club knowing full well that the training they are doing and grades they were receiving is all fake and worthless. The problem now is that after 35 years a lot of these type 3 students have now started their own clubs too, And so the problems goes on.

Count Dante is very interesting, because he actually could fight and was witnessed multiple times winning local macthes, also his black dragon fighting society had better spareing and full contact macthes than most real martial arts.

I couldn't even watch this but thank you for making it. I've seen plenty of these fake masters....known plenty of their ummm...followers that believe they can attain the same thing. It's just a little sad and disgusting. You are doing a good service. Thanks.

here in Italy we call Them Krav magicians 😂😂👏

I really like and thank you for all your video's, I have seen loads but only subscibed today lol, keep up the good work dude :) :) :)

Excellent and very deep investigation, congrats!

"It's Chuck Norris - come on." Only he could have black belts in multiple martial arts.

I just turned my thermostat up to 22 degrees making me one of the greatest masters of the art of central heating in the world today.

finally a video on fake martial arts that actually adds something to the conversation instead of just regurgitating whats already been done 100 times on this site

It is because of these people that martial arts, especially traditional ones, suffer from low popularity: those who are interested in practicing martial arts easily fall victim of such "grand masters" and either they become on of their "followers" or they develop disrespect towards martial arts, assuming it is all crap... very few keep searching for a teacher that can actually teach them something technically veritable and pragmatic. This, combined with the general public's indifference towards martial arts (sports and other entertainment means are widely much more appreciated and recognized as "fair and ok", e.g. watching youtube videos), makes it difficult to divulge their culture, so I am glad people like you take their time to discuss about this matter

On another note, Rokas, I love your humility, honesty, ability to take criticism and your critical approach to Martial Arts. I always seem to learn something new from your videos either about Martial arts or life. Your guests are insightful too. So thank you and keep up the good work! 🙂

Alexi Kunin ... OMG! He was a student of my good friend David Meyer's - back in the 1989. No where near the US Army - or any service. He has attended (as a green belt) some of my seminars. Nice to see him 'achieve' so much. OMG! My scheeks are hurting from laughter.

"...the skeptic was a total non-believer." I can be a total non-believer in boxing. If a boxer hits me in the mouth, I'm still going down.

Amazing investigation!!! Fakers exposed. Thank you for all this information. Even the disclaimer about Duncan reveals the truth-seeking behavior. Rokas, as alwais, brave, humble and honest

Love your work. Your humility is beyond reproach. I love your honesty, about your own martial arts discipline. Your articles are always interesting and informative. In these times, that is rare. Thanks, Jerry

I joined Fred Villari’s studios of self defense from 1987-89. I became a 3rd degree Brown belt. By that time my teacher seemed more concerned about who was paying that night than how we were doing as we walked through the door. I soon left after that. Then I discovered he was in trouble for not paying taxes and all the schools immediately changed their name to American self defense or something to that effect. I later went on to learn Wing Chun and Jeet Kune Do. Now I’m questioning the validity of the so called Shaolin Kenpo Karate that I learned.

Oh gosh, so Many memories...Many of the "Italian Grand masters" you mentioned have bene extensively addressed in a very popular italian MA forum back in 2005-2010. So much drama followed... unfortunately, that forum does not exist anymore. And... the Legends still thrive 😂😂

Roka I am familiar with these self proclaimed grandmasters of Bullshitsu . However many individuals are not, and I thank for producing a brilliant video lecture on the subject. God bless you and your Mrs.

Excellent video! Very well structured and explained. I also like how you keep the points you explain neutral so that the viewer can make up their mind themselves.

This reminds me of the "stolen valor" problem we have here in the US. I wonder if it happens in other countries too.

Hello 🙂 Great Video. I wanted to add one thing about the 15. Dan Ranks in the Bujinkan. As far as I know, those above 10. Degree are all honorary for helping to promote the art and/or doing other things that deserve recognition.

Fantastic reporting and investigating. (All jokes aside.) This also exposes those fake "Grand Masters" in rap music. "Grand Master Flash," indeed.

I love the crap of "it didnt work because he isn't a believer" By that logic a Kamehameha will hurt you if you believe enough.

11:46 Well, DUH! If he was easy to find, he wouldn’t be a very good Ninja, now would he?! Checkmate, hater!

The old twisted tongue nullifier😂. Great video

I showed this to my Tang Soo Do teacher, and she loved it. She told me about her first Tang Soo do teacher who was a bit sketchy.

I will be honest, I love practicing martial arts and the work to achieve better training. I stepped away from proper training for a while and got into military combatives and other stuff, however, I have begun to miss the training and camaraderie of training with fellow classmates. I started teaching again in 2013 and almost forgot about myself, so now I am working to get back into serious training again!! However, I will never claim some weird nonsense and create an air of goofiness for my students!! For me, the UFC has been a blessing.

Honestly glad I didn’t stumble upon a martial arts class that taught this way...

I'm buying a 30th degree black belt at the nearest McDojo. I need a belt to hold up my pants. LOL

Rokas, could you please provide the name of the master who taught you Aikido?

Cyber security is rife with “masters” who never do the hard work

You're quite fluent in English. Lithuania must have an excellent education system.

I like to watch this video every once in a while for a good laugh!

When you said Lithuania … I did a double take. Your English is REALLY good! Very entertaining video!

It's easy to call yourself a grandmaster when you never fight anyone who isn't a student under your bullshido spell. Great video. Always love to see these "grandmasters" exposed. So many old men who have a myriad of illustrious achievements that never happened.

I started into Martial Arts in the late 60’s, so I have seen many of these characters. I really enjoyed your video. I liked your attitude and research. Keep up the great work.

To be fair to Count Dante, he did have a legitimate martial arts background and participated in full-contact tournaments. His story is much more complex than just being a fraudster. It's a tale about civil rights, fighting against the established martial arts community, and ultimately morphing into a fake persona of his own making.

I started in Karate as a 10 year old in the late 80s, went on to Wing Chun and Lau Gar in my teens to early 20s. Eventually in my mid 20s I went on to Muay Thai full rules fighting, and then in my 30s I went on to Krav Maga as the Muay Thai was pretty rough on my aging bones. Luckily in my early experience clubs in Karate we trained mostly for semi-contact tournaments, the Wing Chun focused on a lot of heavy sparring with headgear, and the Lau Gar focused on full contact kickboxing. In all of this I was pretty lucky as I dodged the McDojo nonsense and it was always a case of constantly sparring and fighting, and all the instructors were real fighters and had experience in street confrontations and bouncer work. This set me up nicely for the Muay Thai later on. Sadly, I was probably the exception back then when Bulshido was rife and many, many people bought into the nonsense. If a martial arts master or student has never been in a fight then they are nothing more than dancers.

Thank you sir. We are blessed to have a real teacher exposing this garbage.

Superb video Rokas. You could get lost investigating these associations. I’ve read that their model is for members to promote each other in their personal “systems.” That is how you get a single person with dozens of high ranks.

Great job👏👏👏 I can imagine the hard work you' vê donne invastigating all those falar masters🙌👍👍👍👍👍👍

Thank you for inspiring me to add a fake martial arts master in my book.

I have been a student of Kodokan Judo for over 40 years. I often have people say "Wow. you must be a master." My reply is always the same. "Yes, I am a master, but not of Judo. I am a master of avoiding a fight." That is the greatest art to be a master of. If you can do that, you need not master anything else.

Ronald Duncan is someone I heard of in 1998 when Wesley Snipes was promoting the film Blade via a television program called Masters of the Martial Arts. While they did present alot of great black martial artists that I was very familiar with, such as Moses Powell, Ron Van Cleef and Steve Muhammed, Ronald Duncan was someone I had never heard of before then.

Calling Sifu Keith Kernspecht "the father of WingTsun in Europe" is of course a bit exaggerated, but it's true that he made WingTsun effectively popular in Germany, and was teached by Grandmaster Leung Ting. He's definitely 100% legit.

Great video.