Well apparently Bret Gordon has finally said something online. I will let him tell his side all day long.....I have no problems with that. Here is his little blog article, https://bretgordon.weebly.com/blog/pot-meet-kettle-barron-shepherd-part-2#/ for everybody to read.
His attempts to imply there is something inappropriate about my 5th degree are laughable and defamatory. Gordon likes to leave out PERTINENT things. He just conveniently skirts the pertinent information and spins. There are no holes regarding my judo experience or rank as Gordon tries to allude to. My rank is commensurate with my time and experience in judo....oh yes and my age, I am not too young for my 5th dan in judo. I have trained in judo over 35 years it's ALL verifiable.....there is no misrepresentation there.
I have zero problems answering questions regarding my rank, how I attained that rank OR GETTING ON THE MAT. The mat is the proving grounds so if Gordon is stating that I misrepresented my rank then he shouldn't have problem with a little randori session with me then. Gordon can drive forty minutes come in and sign a waiver and we will video it and let all decide who the actual judoka really is. I'm willing to put my skills to the test. Gordon wont because he knows he would be embarrassed.
I have always maintained that one should not make things out to be what they aren't. The biggest thing out of Bret's response on his blog is apparently his original kodokan claims were all just a big misunderstanding that he actually didn't make those claims. Well Gordon should make a public statement, if that's the case, like Bruce Bethers did regarding having no affiliation with the Kodokan. Bethers made it perfectly clear that there wasn't. Once he made it clear...then everyone knew what they were getting themselves into. End of story.
THE ISSUE WITH BRET GORDON
I also want to point out that Gordon failed to address the actual issue. No adult should ever threaten a child or threaten a parent to do harm to their child. He actually tried to twist this to make it about some case he supposedly won. I want to make this clear. I DONT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT SOME CASE.
The issue with Gordon is that he threatened the kid of one of my students, a 13 year old girl. He was caught red handed by police and knows he is being investigated. He skirts the real issue. I suppose threatening my student's daughter is some sort of big misunderstanding also. Funny that there was no such statement or apology ever offered to me or the victims. Gordon never denied anything to the police and even attempted to justify what he did to the police. I suppose this is somehow a misunderstanding though. Did Gordon attempt to apologize for this incident on his new blog? Nope. Bottom line, Gordon and some of his friends targeted them on purpose.
I suppose Gordon using my copyrighted material on his new blog is also a big misunderstanding as well. A lot of misunderstandings around Gordon it seems.
I believe Gordon has been unsettled by the fact that several people who knew and trained with him have reached out to me. I am sure he is worried about the outcome of HIS run in with the Alabama police. An incident that was of his own doing. There isn't much more I can write about either Gordon or Hatfield regarding their judo claims, they know what they did and how they tried to represent themselves. If Gordon is now claiming there is no affiliation with the Kodokan then he should make that perfectly clear online, like Bruce Bethers did with the USATKJ.
I teach Judo, specifically, Barron Shepherd Judo and Barron Shepherd Combat Judo....I don't claim it to be anything else and certainly not something that it is not. My rank is earned. I don't promote myself or give myself rank or buy it. Gordon's attempt to discredit someone who he too pussy to even scrimmage with is laughable. What a spineless coward.
However, there is still the issue of his involvement in threatening my student's kid which I believe, as the cops do, was intentional. THIS IS NOT FORGIVABLE! Gordon knows this is the issue and he avoids it in his blog and attempts to come off like he is the victim and not the 13 year old girl and her father who he tried to harras/threaten simply because the man was a student of mine!
