Ralph Severe and Ninjitsu in Dallas - Please Help

[Skorzeny]

DaveK:

What we were in fact discussing was an actual flesh-and-blood individual, one Ralph Severe of Dallas, Texas, to be precise.

It's called an analogy. A fat guy in a Ninja suit toting a sword pretending to teach "combat" and "street effective" fighting system while parading in front of tacky fake Asian style lettering and dragon cartoon figures while "demonstrating" basic Judo/Jujutsu technique incorrectly on his own website doesn't require a physical confrontation to debunk.

In any case, however, I do find that lately I seem to be accepting challenges on a slightly more regular basis than I issue them.

I love it when you are cryptic. If you are still sore that I wouldn't travel 2,000 miles to visit your apartment to put up a Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu demonstration, that's just too bad. I don't have such an empty life that I need to travel around the country at my expense to visit everyone who decides to be cryptic on the Internet. As I recall, if I'm ever in your town, I offered to meet you at a Muay Thai or BJJ school - yes, a PUBLIC place - for a friendly sparring session. Sorry that I don't make a habit of personally visiting strangers around the country to do sparring sessions at their private residences.

All that aside, I am a fairly tolerant man. I ususally hold my judgement about people who claim to be "masters" unless some obvious things stick out. In this particular case we are discussing, obvious things do stick out.

Skorzeny

[Halffast]

If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck........

OR

If it looks like a wannabe and sounds like a wannabe........ :barf:

David

[Mike Weber]

It was the weapons display that looked like it had been purchased from the local True Value hardware store, the hokey advertising, and I still say that one item on the wall looked like a frog gig to me. That got my BS meter going off. I doubt that Doctor Hatsumi would approve of this guy.

[DaveK]

No hard feelings at all Skorz.

You are still invited to come visit anytime you like to take me up on the challenge _you_ issued, though I am admittedly not holding my breath here...

-Dave



--Oh, and as it happens, I feel kinda stupid now about not answering your previous question in a more timely fashion. We both know form experience exactly what I would do in that sort of situation, i.e. ask for an actual name, locale, details of emplyment, country of origin, etc...

The real question is what to do if you ask for evidence to back these sorts of questionable claims and are flatly refused?

So what would _you_ do in your own hypothetical question, Skorzy? After all, it would appear that you and Mr. Dux are operating off a similar playbook...

Take care now.

[Anthony]

Hello Everyone,

I have been running a thread over on the site one of your suggested, www.e-budo.com.

Well, before I posted anything I discovered that Mr. Severe is a regular contributor over there. So I just posted a general thread asking about a Ninpo school in the Dallas area. He got into the most UNprofessional game of character assassination with this other guy and refused to stop after I asked them to.

That told me everything I needed to know. Go over and look in the Ninpo section for a thread started by "Antonius" and read it. Some of the more inflamatory stuff was offloaded by the moderator at my request into a new thread in the "No Holds Barred" section. In the end, I asked the moderator to close the thread.

I did locate a private dojo run by a Luke J. Molitor that looks very promising. The only one so far that actually screens applicants to make sure they are ok before joining.

Anyone familar with Mr. Molitor?

- Anthony

[Skorzeny]

DaveK:

So what would _you_ do in your own hypothetical question, Skorzy? After all, it would appear that you and Mr. Dux are operating off a similar playbook...

There are many differences between Frank Dux and me - one of the main differences is that you don't see me going around telling people that I was secret agent (who practices a 2,000 year old system designed by me) making personal gains at other people's expense.

You are still sore that I won't bare my personal information to you, a complete stranger on the Net. Too bad. There were others who asked me nicely and politely (after introducing themselves a a bit more professionally), and they know a heck a lot more about me than you ever will.

BTW, there are ways to see if someone does have the experiences that he claims to have, other than simply asking his name, rank and serial number or where he had been. For example, I spoke of my defense contracting experience. You can quiz me about FMS/FMF procedures or munitions export compliance processes, and can tell if I'm "legit" or not. I spoke of military doctrine issues. Ask me about what used to be called (in my day, anyway) FM 100-5 Operations. Ask me about the difference between Aufstragstaktik and Befehlstaktik and how they relate to the evolution of "Active Defense" into "AirLand Battle." Wanna know where I've been? Ask me about the distance between 8th Army HQ and Camp Casey or about what assets there are at Osan AB.

The real question is: will you know the right questions to ask? My guess is not, which is why you keep engaging in this personal information banter rather than addressing the issues themselves.

You are still invited to come visit anytime you like to take me up on the challenge _you_ issued, though I am admittedly not holding my breath here...

I offered to meet you at a PUBLIC location (preferably at a Muay Thai gym or a BJJ school) where I can spar with you - and I offered to buy a round of beers - IF we are nearby and if not (which turned out to be the case), then WHEN and IF I am in YOUR town.

Having a real day job and a real life, I am NOT going to just fly 2,000 miles to where you live just to spar with you, okay? Furthermore, I am most certainly NOT walking into some stranger's private residence, not knowing what awaits me there. If you want to continue this juvenile conversation, I suggest you use the TFL PM.

Skorzeny

[Skorzeny]

Anthony:

Good luck with your search. Despite objections from another in this forum, I am glad that you did some research first. The way a person conducts himself says a lot about his philosophies and qualifications as an instructor. Keep at it and find someone whom you will be conformtable with.

Skorzeny

[DaveK]

Not one of your stronger responses.

Juvenile behavior might be, say, issuing a challenge after having lost one's temper during a totally unrelated discussion--but unfortunately that's what happened.

Also, in the event that you do actually screw up badly enough as to issue a challenge to a complete stranger on the internet, you need to at least be able to back it up with a time and a place, or at the very minimum, at least have the courage to disclose your general locale and even maybe a real-life name.

You seem to be suffering from a fair degree of confusion about generally accepted social conventions here, but I shall do my best to try to help you out.

Finally, if my accomodations were not up to your standards, I am even willing to come to you and meet with you for a friendly Muay Thai exhibition in whatever gym you choose. I do travel enough that, given time, I shall eventually be able to visit any locale in the lower 48.

I will make it so easy for you that I will even come to you.

Now where is your courage to back your words, man?

-Dave

P.S. I'm not really all that upset any more. The real issue here is that you have issued a challenge that you are now dodging. I think this ( http://home.att.net/~philelmore/mafraud.html ) may interest you.

[Borf]

Looking at those pictures on the previous page just makes me think of Col. Kurtz! What with the painting and all... can't shake it.

Probably like a great many other things, those who can do something don't need to tell everyone how good they are at it. I'm heading back to that website for some more after dinner relaxation now. Hoping for more snake handling pics

[ATeaM]

Master Kamiyama has quite a collection of original works. Check them out under the "art" link at his website. WARNING: quite a few of them are of an adult nature, be prepared to see the many roles master kamiyama's hand plays.

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DaveK said

Also, in the event that you do actually screw up badly enough as to issue a challenge to a complete stranger on the internet, you need to at least be able to back it up with a time and a place, or at the very minimum, at least have the courage to disclose your general locale and even maybe a real-life name.

I don't know what incited this but the response skorzeny gave doesn't seem out of line or cowardly. The way you drag this is a little creepy however and if I were Skorzeny, I would be equally as wary.

We have a bouncer who comes to my MT gym off and on. He's a heavyweight and fairly tough. Anyways, on his AOL profile he had put down kickboxing as one of his interests, some freak show instant messaged him and issued a challenge. It turned out this guy lived in the area and liked to "expose" wannabe martial artists. He bragged about training in his back yard, and that all the stuff we did in the gym was useless on the street. My friend the bouncer who's competed in a few club smokers with great success laughed it off at first, but the guy kept at it, emailing him, talking ****, even though my friend didn't seem to care. Finally my friend agreed but only on a cash basis, the guy insisted they fight in his back yard (which my friend later regretted). So the bouncer shows up at the time they agreed upon, the freak show is rail thin and looks mentally ill/perverted. He tries to back out of the fight, being friendly and all, wanting to go light at first ect. "Sure" said my friend, they put on the gloves, and 30 seconds later the freakshow was in a crumpled fetal position begging for mercy. My friend had not even broken a sweat. The freakshow apologized, and then tried to weasel out of the $100 he agreed to pay if he got knocked out or lost. He broke down and cried like a baby. My friend only agreed to leave without the money if the freak promised never again to issue challenges to people he didn't know.

It's obvious who's trying to sell a load of bs and who's got their story straight. I've read a lot of Skorzeny's posts, and while he is very opinionated, he's never trumped himself up like Master Kamiyama or the freak who challenged my friend. I too value my privacy and keep quiet about my personal life and my own involvement in the martial arts. However, if someone feels the need to prove something to me, I'm more than happy to indulge them, and just like Skorzeny, it's gonna be in a public place. DaveK, since it seems you and Skorzeny will never be in the same place at the same time, I have another solution that might suit you. You live in AZ, I'm in L.A., my MT club puts on competitions every month, K-1 rules with shin pads and head gear. If you want to come and compete, we're more than happy to put you in the fight show. This month it's on the 18th, let me know if you want to participate, we'll let everyone here know how you did.

BTW, that "virtual tough guy" link was hilarious, thanks.

[Mike Weber]

Dittos on that virtual tough guy link A Team. I've been over to that sight and checked out some similar links there. I'm kind of new to BB chat rooms myself, so I was unfamiliar with terms such as TROLLS and such. They had some very interesting related posts over there. I've been following this thread out of curiosity. The hokie ninja advertising got me to wondering how many people would take such a school seriously. We have a school in my city that uses similar advertising and no one takes them seriously. They are called Temple Kung Fu. If you check out the martial sites around the net you'll see them compared with the likes of Frank Dux and Ashida Kim as frauds. Relating to this thread I went over and took a look at Ralph Severe's site The cover photo showed him in the same picture with Doctor Hatsumi. I just can't quite see that happening in real life.

[krept]

DaveK, where do you roll? Have you done much MT? I'm looking for a place around the west side of Phx that teaches... any ideas?

I have no doubt Skorz knows that of which he speaks, but at this point there aren't any issues where I need to take sides. Suffice to say that Skorz has given good advice here and on submissionfighting.com or mixedmartialarts.com or mma.tv, whatever it may be now.

Rereading the thread it seems like there are some inferrences that are simply over my head. I didn't see anything out of line unless I was the ninpo grandmaster. (FUNNY ass comments Ateam)

Just remember... hell hath no fury like that of Grandmaster Robert Ferguson...




edited to correct "...at this point there isn't an issues..." because i lack skils

[DaveK]

Skorz challenged me a couple months ago.

Will link it tonight...

[LawDog]

I recall that back in my Wing Chun days, proper etiquette required one to challenge, square off against, and soundly defeat one's fellow martial arts practitioner prior to insulting his/her abilities and/or school.

Maybe in your school, but Hollywood and Hong Kong notwithstanding, mud-slinging, back-stabbing, knee-biting and mush-mouthing other schools and styles of martial arts has been around as long as the martial arts have been.

Ah, Grasshopper, to critique, first you must defeat.

Horsefeathers. If someone is over the top, I can bloody well say that he's over the top without having to wander down to his school and slap him with a glove.

We have a alleged ninja sensei who lost his girlish figure sometime ago -- to put it mildly.

He's demonstrating at least one technique incorrectly.

Judging by the pictures and artwork, he's got the old Martial Arts Sex God thing going.

He visits a forum and devotes himself to some truly outstanding troll-work on two threads at least.

And last, but certainly not least, his curriculum vitae looks like this:

SHOTOKAN
TAE KWON DO
SPORT JUDO
JUJUTSU
TANG SOO DO
HAPKIDO
WESTERN BOXING
JUN FAN GUNG FU - JEET KUNE DO (1976)
WING CHUN Gung Fu
WESTERN WRESTLING Free style
WESTERN FENCING (FOIL & SABER AND RAPIER)
NORTHERN CHINESE KICKING METHODS
AIKIDO
HWARANGDO
NINPO HAPPO BIKENJUTSU-BUJINKAN (1980)
MUAY THAI KICKBOXING
SAVATE
AIKIJUJUTSU DITO RYU
FILIPINO METHODS-KALI (1983)
PENCAK SILAT
CHIN NA
KUKISHINDEN RYU DAKENTAIJUTSU HAPPO BIKEN
TAKAGI YOSHIN RYU JUTAIJUTSU(1988)
TOGAKURE RYU NINPO HAPPO BIKEN
KOTO RYU KOPPOJUTSU
GYOKKO RYU KOSHIJUTSU NINPO
SHINDEN FUDO RYU DAKENTAIJUTSU,JUTAIJUTSU
FILIPINO METHODS-DUMOG, PANANTUKAN-PANAJAKMAN
TAI CHI CHUAN(YANG)
GRECO-ROMAN WRESTLING
SHOOTO WRESTLING-SATORU SAYAMA METHOD(1992)
SAMBO-SPORT & COMBAT (1995)
BRAZILIAN JUJUTSU (1996)
CATCH "Hook" WRESTLING (1998)

Taken directly from his website and apparently in chronological order. He may have trained in eight different arts in a four year period (1976-1980), and twelve more from 1988 to 1998, but you'll pardon me if I opine that he might have missed some of the umm ... finer points ... in his fast-food approach to the martial arts.

If it waddles like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck, I am not required to challenge it to a nunchuck duel at noon to wonder if its Ninja Master claims just might smell a wee bit of bovine exhaust.

LawDog

[krept]

Wow, I didn't even see all that. Amazing fella... and he can paint hotties.

Guys, I wouldn't mess with ninjas. The things they post on their site are obviously ploys to draw unwitting traditional martial artists in for challenge matches and they end up disappearing in the desert. Look closely at the pictures. The real ninjas are hiding. One is in a bush where the guy has the LAR Grizzly .50 BMG and the other one is hiding behind a heavybag with a hole in it so he can look at the camera. Pretty clever stuff, I must say. Oh yeah, don't forget to look on the ceiling in the pic where the guys are 'stickfighting.'

In any event, DaveK, I got all excited with the thought that some ultimate tactical war was going on between you and Skorz, both martial artists and both firearm enthusiasts, but alas with my search of the forums I didn't find anything alluding to a challenge match.

If you guys do a friendly roll, I'll tape it. I've got some good challenge matches on tape, like guys vs. Joe Pardo at the Gracie school and garage fights with Alan Goes... you know, stuff like that. Trust me, I'm not holding my breath, I'd just like to be there and I'll even buy you guys both a round for being good sports.

To you outsiders, things like this seem twisted and bizarre or barbarian. Really, people can have friendly matches like this, settle their differences on the mat in a neutral setting and walk away buddies. That's what's great about MMA. It's the people that get their ego cut down and take things way too personal and then come back armed or with buddies that ruin the sport for everyone. I know Skorz ain't the type of guy to do something like that. Don't know about DaveK but he seems like a decent guy from the posts I've saw in the search.

What an ironic thread to be posting this message on.

[C.R.Sam]

Renassance man ?

[DaveK]

For those wondering why I seem to be hounding Skorzeny, here is a link to a thread in which we discussed some issues and he then offered to meet me in the ring. ( http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/...hreadid=105779 )

I'm not one to pick fights, but if someone is going to resort to argumentum ad baculum they must be answered. A challenge is a serious thing that should be acknowledged and resolved honorably.

The offer for a K-1 match is appreciated, but I am not looking for any old fight. I am simply holding a man to his challenge.

Skorzeny has been given all of my contact information while sharing none of his own, making it difficult for me to aid him in the resolution of his offer. I'm beginning to question the sincerity of his challenge.

[DaveK]

Krept-

I live all the way out in the wilds of east Phoenix. If you like, I'll email you my contact info and we could partake in some fermented grain beverages.

-DaveK

[LawDog]

Argumentum ad baculum (resorting to force or the threat of force in order to try and push the acceptance of a conclusion) is not acceptable at The Firing Line.

Neither is tu quoque reasoning.

I neither know, nor care, where, when or how this vendetta between two Members of TFL started, but the public manifestations of it end now.

LawDog

[Skorzeny]

LawDog:

AIKIJUJUTSU DITO RYU

That's interesting. The Ninpo Master apparently does not realize that it is "Daito-Ryu Aiki-Jujutsu" meaning Greater East Style Harmonious Techniques of Softness. BTW, the "Greater East" part does come from "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" as the founder of that style was highly influenced by the Japanese philosophy then current about "uniting" the people of East Asia against the Western "barbarian" colonialists.

krept:

I've got some good challenge matches on tape, like guys vs. Joe Pardo at the Gracie school and garage fights with Alan Goes... you know, stuff like that.

So do I! But, then again, don't half the people who train in BJJ do? BTW, isn't Alan huge now? In that footage, he is "normal" sized.

Just remember... hell hath no fury like that of Grandmaster Robert Ferguson...

Is the "Prince of Leglocks" still around? Doesn't he realize that *I* am the real "Prince of Leglocks"? I trained in Shooto for a bit under a student of Erik Paulson - and I became fanatical about leglocks, particularly heel hooks and ankle twists off being in the Guard (especially the one in which you grab the opposite ankle, twist your body 90 degrees and roll over into a lock, with a nice switch/transition to a kneebar). So much so that my BJJ instructor forbade me from using leglocks for a year, because he thought that my guard passing skills were suffering - he said that I was addicted to leglocks. He was right, of course. My guard skills had stalled a bit while I was gingerly pulling out leglocks everytime I was in the guard.

It's the people that get their ego cut down and take things way too personal and then come back armed or with buddies that ruin the sport for everyone.

That's why I get scared - yes, scared - when people refuse public engagements and offer their apartments.

In any case, per request from management, I will not respond to DaveK's posts.

Skorzeny

[ATeaM]

[edited: because pic was too evil to post, Master Ralph has had enough] Probably my funniest photo edit yet though !

[krept]

Man, those threads about Israel really make my head hurt. Good stuff, thanks for the link.

As far as the situation between Skorzeny and DaveK, I don't think it's as much a matter of Argumentum ad baculum as it is about whose Kung-Fu is better. MMA guys (and gals) are like that. Even if one taps the other, I doubt they would say "see, I told you I was right about Israel!" But yeah, LawDog is right I guess it's better stuff like this is left in PMs.

Is the "Prince of Leglocks" still around?

Yep, the scary thing is, I think he's even competing in MMA matches. I've always wanted to see the Ferg Follies tape where Oxnard Doc (a 50+ year old BJJ student) comes in and offers to give him $1000 in cash he brought with him if Ferg could make Doc tap... man, the video clip from that is so funny.

BTW, isn't Alan huge now? In that footage, he is "normal" sized.

Alan had to have been in his teens in those vids. He is a big fella now... hmm... must be all the vitamins. Man, I have a lot of fights on tape, but really nothing is better than challenge matches, IMO. Talk about tension...

By the way... I want to see more ninja pics! Is that out of line?

BTW, DaveK, I e-mailed your hotmail account...

[Byron Quick]

I trained with Luke Molitor at Bud Malmstrom's dojo in Atlanta before Luke moved to Japan to train with Hatsumi sensei. He's pretty good. Ralph, on the other hand, is kinda weird.

[DaveK]

Just trying to hold a man to his word, Lawdog.

[ATeaM]

"By the way... I want to see more ninja pics! Is that out of line?"

Alright allright !...quit twisiting my arm Edit: I emailed it to you instead.