Inpakuto Ryu & Sensei Stephen Hull: Hereby nominated for 2009 McDojo Hall of Fame

**Siberian Psycho** · Posted On: 8/18/2009 8:37am

So I noticed a school proclaiming to teach mma and brazilian jiu jitsu recently went up around the corner from my house. I gave the place a call and spoke with the owner, Stephen Hull. I agreed to stop by for what he described as his ""MMA class, primarly focused on brazlian jiu jitsu and ground fighting".

Here are somehighlights from my unfortunate stop by their "MMA" class:

- "Sensei" started by "teaching" us the triangle choke. He seemed to skip right over how you get into position to secure the choke, so I asked if he could show us a few basic set ups. His reply, I kid you not, was "What I like to do is just push off, get my legs free, and then kick them up at his head until my legs are where I need them to be."

- Throughout the class he kept talking about being involved in underground fights and underground tournaments before mma was legal. He also kept bragging about how dangerous his guard is, and that when we did live grappling later, I would learn the hard way that inside his guard is the wrong place to be.

- At the end of instruction, he asked, being my first night, if there was any move I wanted to learn. I replied "darce choke". He stuttered and stammered something about how the Darce choke is someone's signature move, and it isnt right for others to teach it. Annoyed with the whole situation at this point I challenged him. I told him that his statement was insane, that the darce choke is a widely taught move, that I had just seen Kendall Grove submit an opponent with it, and couldnt understand why he wouldnt teach it. The Grandmaster Black Belt than admitted that he didnt know how to do the move, but would study it and teach it next class. Awesome!

- During live grappling, one student got another student's head in a WWE style scissor lock using his legs. "Sensei" sees this and yells "Nice job! Awesome transition into rubber guard!".

- After repeatedly submitting a couple of his students who had studied with him for 2 years (apparently he taught out of a church prior to moving to this location) using the same move over and over (americana), I got to roll with the Grandmaster himself. His self-proclaimed "dangerous guard"? Highly over-rated. He pretty much did nothing. Just a lot of stalling.

- His students were delusional. One kept taking about how he has been in touch with TapOut and Revgear, and they were close to getting sponsored.

A couple months later I drove by the school and got to laughing about my class there. When I got home I decided to google "Inpakuto Ryu", and here are the web gems I found:

http://www.inpakuto-ryu.com/

http://www.myspace.com/inpakuto_ryu

Be sure to check out that awesome sparring video on his MySpace page.

**NinjaKilla187** · Posted On: 8/18/2009 8:42am

Claims he got judo shodan in one year.

**Siberian Psycho** · Posted On: 8/18/2009 8:49am

Oh yea, the bio on his website is absolutely hilarious as well. Honorary TKD black belt!

Don't know a ton about judo. I was an above average, but not great, high school wrestler. During live grappling, we locked up several times, and I eventually took him down. Shouldn't someone with that rank in Judo have been able to toss me with ease?

He also bragged about being US Special Forces....Green Beret I believe. I asked him if he knew any Krav Maga. His response "Yes. I was a Green Beret." Later when I asked him if he knows and incorporates a lot of Muay Thai into the striking portion of his class, I got a similiar answer. Apparently being a Green Beret makes you proficient in every martial art known to man.

**Lindz** · Posted On: 8/18/2009 11:19am

What you're describing is bulshido not a mcdojo. A mcdojo is all about milking you for money. Bullshido is bullshit techniques.

**Siberian Psycho** · Posted On: 8/18/2009 12:19pm

So...Bullshido Hall of Famer?

**The Sweetness** · Posted On: 8/19/2009 11:59pm

small world. my bjj instructor ran across this guys site and noticed that he was wearing our schools shirt and hoodie in a couple of the photos. funny thing is that only a few were made and he has no idea how the guy got them. the students are very closed knit and have no recollection of this guy. my instructor made a trip to his dojo/gym to find out who he was but the place has already closed up.

**searcher66071** · Posted On: 8/20/2009 12:36pm

Does anyone have any additional information on this guy besides what he has on his site and in the above class description?

I want to know his history and what makes him think he is capable to start his own "style." OMG, I almost upped in my mouth typing that last sentence.

And, are we calling this guy out or ???? Please invite him in.

**jeff5** · Posted On: 8/20/2009 12:50pm

Direct quote from his website:

"One night, after watching the UFC (which he had been a fan of since the early 90’s), he decided that it was time to take what he knew and develop a mixed martial arts system. He thought about what he knew, began self study of Brazilian Jujitsu and submission wrestling techniques, and create the IMPACT( acronym for Intelligent Martial Practice And Combat Training) School of Mixed Martial Arts combat system in 2007."

I'm not saying what the guy teaches is any good, but it doesn't appear that he is claiming rank, at least in BJJ, that he doesn't have. He's expressley admitting that his only knowledge of BJJ and Submission Wrestling is through self study.

Not exactly the qualifications I'd seek in an MMA teacher, but it doesn't appear that he's lieing. Unless he has some advertisements or marketing materials that say something other than his bio.

http://www.inpakuto-ryu.com/sensei.html

**searcher66071** · Posted On: 8/20/2009 1:53pm

Nevermind.

**NinjaKilla187** · Posted On: 8/20/2009 1:59pm

Originally Posted by jeff5

Direct quote from his website:

Not exactly the qualifications I'd seek in an MMA teacher, but it doesn't appear that he's lieing. Unless he has some advertisements or marketing materials that say something other than his bio.

http://www.inpakuto-ryu.com/sensei.html

sayds he got judo shodan in one year which is almost impossible