The interesting story of Bart Vale
https://prommanow.com/2017/07/21/the-incredibly-true-fake-legend-of-shootfight-champion-bart-vale/
"
When “legend” Bart Vale came back from Japan he became a popular figure by using some of the same techniques these shams did to sell merchandise and teach comic book readers mail order video classes that would get people beaten up in the cage. He had competed in an organization in Japan called Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi. This organization was one of the first to adopt a realistic style of sports entertainment that simulated shoot fighting. It was like a scripted Pancrase style fight with a predetermined winner. Something Vale forgot to mention when he came back home.
The internet wasn’t the debunking tool it was today and people like Vale could make these claims without much fact checking. Hell, you could buy a belt back then and show it to someone with a story of a Russian tournament of 128 fighters that you won by knockout in the first round of every match and as long as you had the belt they would believe you. Frank Dux bought a trophy, fought in a tournament where they used a radar gun, and got a movie out of those claims. In this case, Vale brought back his scripted accomplishments and presented them as real which was dishonest, misleading, and downright evil."
I remember seeing this guy in Black belt magazine all the time,touted as the toughest of the tough.
The thing is unlike alot of the guys in the magazine who never would prove themselves in a real fight he started having a bunch of real mma fights in kickboxing and mma where he got his ass kicked...bad,
But at least he tried. Maybe he was delusional and believed his own hype,i dont know,but he had more balls than the rest of these guys who never tried to prove their claims.
in the ufc
