There are so many fakes in the martial arts world but this guy really takes the cake! I live in Baltimore and was looking for a place to train and I saw a new place in a strip mall in the subs. Thank God I knew to do some research before jumping on board. This is what I found out..... Thomas Harless has gone the extra mile in trying to make himself seem like a legitimate martial artists. Here is what he has done......
He created a new martial arts federation called....get this....the Extreme Budo Federation. He and his partner Joseph Slonski created this paper tiger federation complete with certificates. Then these two model martial artists decided to promote each other to the rank of 10th Dan and the title of Hanshi. Harless went even further and bought himself 3-4 outrageous looking belts.....red/black, red, black and white, 4 inches wide, black/white. It seems he just couldn't make up his mind which made him look the part so he bought them all. This genius probably spent close to $1,000 on all his fake belts to go with his fake rank and fake title!
Then he took the next step. He opened a dojang in a Baltamore strip mall. It just could not be anymore of a McDojo if he tried! There are several complaints about this man from well known and well respected martial artists. Apparently he had conned several respected martial artists into being one his board. I must add that they have all resigned and left from what I have read. But that did not stop Harless from his goal of becoming a high ranking "martial artist."
He connived into getting fake rank and title. And now he has a McDojo with a handful of minority students. I feel angry and upset that this fake is taking advantage of poor kids. Then I saw that he is handing out advanced rank to others. He has a photo of him with a man he says is testing for his 7th Dan. I have to wonder if this man knows his rank is going to be worthless. A fraud cannot give out legitimate rank!
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He created a new martial arts federation called....get this....the Extreme Budo Federation. He and his partner Joseph Slonski created this paper tiger federation complete with certificates. Then these two model martial artists decided to promote each other to the rank of 10th Dan and the title of Hanshi. Harless went even further and bought himself 3-4 outrageous looking belts.....red/black, red, black and white, 4 inches wide, black/white. It seems he just couldn't make up his mind which made him look the part so he bought them all. This genius probably spent close to $1,000 on all his fake belts to go with his fake rank and fake title!
Then he took the next step. He opened a dojang in a Baltamore strip mall. It just could not be anymore of a McDojo if he tried! There are several complaints about this man from well known and well respected martial artists. Apparently he had conned several respected martial artists into being one his board. I must add that they have all resigned and left from what I have read. But that did not stop Harless from his goal of becoming a high ranking "martial artist."
He connived into getting fake rank and title. And now he has a McDojo with a handful of minority students. I feel angry and upset that this fake is taking advantage of poor kids. Then I saw that he is handing out advanced rank to others. He has a photo of him with a man he says is testing for his 7th Dan. I have to wonder if this man knows his rank is going to be worthless. A fraud cannot give out legitimate rank!
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