The Art of Bullshido: Rafiel Torre

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Once again, it’s time to return to The Art of Bullshido. So far, we have covered Ashida Kim and George Dillman. This time with have Rafiel Torre, some call him Rafiel Torres. For those who don’t know, the term Bullshido refers to fakes, frauds and so-called martial artists that make stuff up, preach useless and fake techniques such as single touch knockouts i.e. Dim Mak and even no-touch knockouts. Officially the term means fake, inept, not trustworthy and basically out to make money. As mentioned in my other Bullshido posts, one of the reasons traditional martial arts takes such a ribbing now days is because of Bullshido masters. A lot of Ninjutsu masters seems to fall into this category because let’s face it, Ninjas may never even have existed in which case their entire Ninjutsu’s system is built of fraudulent claims. All the Chi masters on YouTube throwing out chi waves are all classed as complete Bullshido. I would happily go to one of their classes and let them perform one of their most devastating Chi attacks on me with a smile on my face.

 

Rafiel Torre

Rafiel Torre Came to fame in the early ’90s. Hitching a ride on the UFC train to gain fame, money and a bad-arse reputation. After the success of UFC. The snowflakes of the media and government claiming it was too violent for TV drove it off the TV’s and into the underground. Only a few fighters stuck with it and the only real way to view the fights was through the internet.

This is where Rafiel Torre enters the scene. He actually did a lot to raise awareness and help the UFC grow into what it is today through interviews and articles. He was a journalist and a very good one at that which is what he should have stuck to. He was claiming to have a 14-0 underground fight record and is now retired. Although he had zero proof, easily claiming not all fights were recorded which is believable, a lot of people bought his story. To be fair to Rafiel Torre, a lot of fights back then went undocumented but 14 fight wins for one fighter not being documented would be a little too far-fetched. Such a fighter would surely gain a rep and their fights would start being filmed. There’s wasn’t really any money in UFC back then and the fighters did purely to prove themselves and they loved to do it. Rafiel was actually generally a nice guy, knowledgeable about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu/MMA and helped build the sport up through his stories.

After he had everybody’s attention Rafiel Torre started bringing stuff up about his background such as being an ex-navy seal, he was a black belt in BJJ and also taught it. He was invited to compete in the Abu Dhabi Combat club which he did. He was submitted in under a minute but this didn’t harm his rep at all.

For some reason, Rafiel decided to come out of retirement for a so-called vendetta fight against a former student. Heavyweight Ioka Tianuu who had a record of 1 fight and 1 loss to his name. The fight was promoted under King of the Cage. The match was pretty much a joke. Within the first few seconds Rafiel throws a few punches, one actually connects then Rafiel throws himself on his back waiting for Tianuu to get on top. There’s a bit of rolling about, not much offence from Tianuu who then hands Rafiel his leg for him to submit him in a kneebar. The knee wasn’t even extended and Tianuu submitted.

Rafiel basically paid his opponent to take a dive. After this fight, a lot of people were sceptical about Rafiel. It was later discovered he wasn’t an ex-navy seal, didn’t have a black belt and wasn’t even Brazilian as he stated. Rafiel Torre wasn’t even his real name, it was Ralph Bartel. After this Rafiel disappeared from the martial arts scene.

A bit later Rafiel met Angelina Richards, wife of Bryan Richards. The pair would fall in love and then decide to murder Angelina husband Bryan for his 1 million insurance policy.

First off Rafiel tried to pay someone to do it. Ex UFC fighter and former marine Gerald Strebendt. He was initially offered $10000 but Strebendt refused. After this Rafiel decided to do it himself and killed Bryan with a rear-naked choke. He later told this to Strebendt and asked him to provide him with an alibi. Strebendt again refused and was even a key witness in the trial against Rafiel.

Bryans body was discovered covered by trash bags and wheeled dollies in the bed of his pick-up truck parked at a supermarket.

During the trail, Rafiel tried to claim it was self-defence as Bryan was threatening Angelina and Rafiel with a gun after he had discovered the affair with his wife. After Strebendt testimony, the jury didn’t buy it. Rafiel Torre was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Bryan Richards where he still is today.

A little more serious than my other Bullshido articles but it goes to show even the martial arts world is full of snake oil sales men, frauds, fakes people looking to exploit and even convicted murderers. We all need to stay vigilant and watch out for each other. Check out the short video below for 1^st hand accounts of Rafiel Torre.