Antonio Estepanian, BJJ brown belt and other spurious claims.

**doc8404** · Posted On: 1/05/2013 3:04pm

No one with the last name Estepanian comes back on a search of the team USA website under any sport.

**pliers Hanrahan** · Posted On: 1/05/2013 3:26pm

He also does not appear to have a searchable history for any Muay Thai or MMA fights. What normally happens now? Do I get in touch and ask him to explain himself?

**brodown** · Posted On: 1/05/2013 4:06pm

Here are screenshots of the fb discussion to date:

1) http://i45.tinypic.com/j9mxhh.png

2) http://i45.tinypic.com/jhqxja.png

3)http://i50.tinypic.com/2d9e3jd.png

4)http://i45.tinypic.com/5argcn.jpg

5)http://i49.tinypic.com/332t2ma.png

6)http://i48.tinypic.com/bjfnll.png

7)http://i48.tinypic.com/bg72a1.png

**pliers Hanrahan** · Posted On: 1/06/2013 10:38am

This thread on the UG seems to have more momentum on the topic of his brown belt claims and he looks like he may discredited very soon.

http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/ns/m...#post-42692549

Im still curious to the legitamacy of his other credentials

**jfarhead** · Posted On: 1/06/2013 3:08pm

Someone just directed me to this thread, hope I can be of some help.

I am a 4th Dan Taekwondo back belt and registered instructor with British Taekwondo. I came across Antonio when I trained in central London around 2008-2009 when he was a personal instructor at Fitness First... as I was only a 3rd Dan back then gunning for a place in the national team, I thought his experience on that sheet was pretty impressive (Pan Ams, US National Team etc...) so I had a chat with him and booked some sessions...

... long story short, he did know some Taekwondo, but definitely not what a 5th Dan/ Master would be. If he were indeed a 5th Dan, I would know of it from British Taekwondo. I contacted USA Taekwondo with all the details I had of him and they replied to me in email that they have never heard of him, there are no records of such a person anywhere on their databases, especially not part of the national team or reserves. He has not competed in any Pan Am games, and definitely not medalled for the US Team because only the Lopez borthers had done that!

Antonio had not even heard of the Lopez family even though they spearheaded USA Taekwondo with the brothers' and sister's national and international success...

I will tell you flat out he's a fraud with regards to his Taekwondo claims, I doubt you'll find anything credible on him in the other fields. If ANYTHING, he's a Muay Thai fighter who's branched into a bit of the other sports.

My British Taekwondo certification and registrations are available in private message if anybody doubts the authenticity of my post. I THINK I still have the USA Taekwondo emails archived, not sure, but be warned he did not check out in my field.

Thanks and hope this helps.
JFarhead - 4th Dan - British Taekwondo - WTF

**brodown** · Posted On: 1/06/2013 3:50pm

Originally Posted by jfarhead

Someone just directed me to this thread, hope I can be of some help.

I am a 4th Dan Taekwondo back belt and registered instructor with British Taekwondo. I came across Antonio when I trained in central London around 2008-2009 when he was a personal instructor at Fitness First... as I was only a 3rd Dan back then gunning for a place in the national team, I thought his experience on that sheet was pretty impressive (Pan Ams, US National Team etc...) so I had a chat with him and booked some sessions...

... long story short, he did know some Taekwondo, but definitely not what a 5th Dan/ Master would be. If he were indeed a 5th Dan, I would know of it from British Taekwondo. I contacted USA Taekwondo with all the details I had of him and they replied to me in email that they have never heard of him, there are no records of such a person anywhere on their databases, especially not part of the national team or reserves. He has not competed in any Pan Am games, and definitely not medalled for the US Team because only the Lopez borthers had done that!

Antonio had not even heard of the Lopez family even though they spearheaded USA Taekwondo with the brothers' and sister's national and international success...

I will tell you flat out he's a fraud with regards to his Taekwondo claims, I doubt you'll find anything credible on him in the other fields. If ANYTHING, he's a Muay Thai fighter who's branched into a bit of the other sports.

My British Taekwondo certification and registrations are available in private message if anybody doubts the authenticity of my post. I THINK I still have the USA Taekwondo emails archived, not sure, but be warned he did not check out in my field.

Thanks and hope this helps.
JFarhead - 4th Dan - British Taekwondo - WTF

Awesome thank you.

**Rock Ape** · Posted On: 1/06/2013 3:57pm

Originally Posted by jfarhead

I will tell you flat out he's a fraud with regards to his Taekwondo claims, I doubt you'll find anything credible on him in the other fields.

Ok, thanks for taking the time to post here however; Fraud is a legal term so you need to support your comments with copies (screen shots) of the email(s) you refer to and any other information which proves what you're suggesting.

No one should make unsubstantiated claims of being something or someone they're not - that applies here, to you also. If you claim he's a fraud - Prove it.

**brodown** · Posted On: 1/06/2013 5:55pm

Jfarhead, any chance of providing a screenshot of the emails? It would give a better basis to help us substantiate a definite answer regarding his TKD validity.

**brodown** · Posted On: 1/06/2013 6:21pm

Rob T has pointed out on the facebook group, that the NASM level 4 certification he is claiming via the instructor information on the website. cannot be verified via the NASM's online credential validation portal.

http://www.nasm.org/trainer-resource...te-credentials

Searching his full name and a few different versions of it draws a blank.

**The Cap** · Posted On: 1/06/2013 8:42pm

It seems he's removed his claim of being a BJJ brownbelt from his resume.

http://www.guildfordmartialarts.com/ourinstructors.htm

Must have caught wind of the investigation into his claims. Did anyone get a screenshot of the page before he changed it?

*EDIT: The formatting of his resume makes it look like this is a recent and rushed change. The bullet for "BJJ brownbelt" is less indented than the other points, as if someone hit the backspace key once too many times while removing something.