John F. Springer

From The Martial Arts Encyclopedia

John F. Springer

John F. Springer is a practitioner of Hung Gar and Southern Praying Mantis kung-fu styles, and a former member of Bullshido.net.

1 Background/History
2 Controversies on Bullshido.net
3 Controversies Elsewhere
4 Sources
5 Links

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Background/History

Springer claimed to be 51 on July 11, 2007, which would put the year of his birth around 1956.

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Controversies on Bullshido.net

John F. Springer was known for an abrasive, flamboyant style of posting on the Bullshido.net website.

In one thread, Springer asserted that if he and Royce Gracie got into a fight, Gracie would end up in the hospital. Notably, in a fight he had with a blue-belt level fighter, Springer was mounted and punched in the head several times.

In another thread (which precipitated his leaving the Bullshido website), Springer was found to be teaching grappling and groundfighting to students even though he did not have any established rank in these areas; Springer only held verifiable rank in Chinese stand-up styles.

However, even this is questionable. JFS was never able to provide any real evidence of having trained for a significant period of time with any notable teachers. He beat around the bush when questioned, and none of the videos of him in action indicate that he was a highly trained CMA practicioner.Nor did he demonstrate any forms. Since leaving Bullshido, JFS has angered senior members of the Southern Praying Mantis Community and has been challenged on more than one occasion.

A cursory phone investigation by Bullshido member Scrapper did verify that many of the teachers Springer had mentioned when questioned about his training (at least the more recent ones) confirmed that Springer had trained with them. Most of those individuals affirmed that John was a competent fighter, but almost all had personal issues with him.

This was not an in-depth investigation at the time, so actual time-frames of said training remains unverified. It was concluded that Springer was certainly a recognized, if controversial, individual in the circles he claimed.

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Controversies Elsewhere

Before a planned fight between a current and former Bullshido member, Springer interfered by grabbing the Bullshido member by the throat in response to verbal taunting. What was supposed to be a fight between "Annatrocity and Omar" ended up being a fight between " Osiris and John F. Springer

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