Snake Oil and Politics in the Martial Arts
Disinformation, propaganda, sales, and an uncomfortable about how the martial arts world is making both worse.
Martial arts has always been political. Combat sports are political. “Leave politics out of it” is a dumbass position.
I don't just mean that athletes involved in the martial arts make political statements or take political action. That is obviously true. Muhammad Ali opposed the war in Vietnam. Former UFC fighters pushed an antitrust lawsuits in a substantive labor action. Steven Seagal promotes Russian propaganda. Many martial artists and combat sports athletes are public figures, and become political figures: Jesse Ventura, Antonio Inoki, Aleksander Karelin, Vitali Klitschko, Manny Pacquiao, the list goes on.
Years ago, when I was one of my first interviews was with former UFC middle weight champion Matt Lindland. (Sadly, I don’t have an archive of those pieces; the website is long since dead and I didn’t have the foresight to save my own archive.) Lindland was running for a state office in Oregon and it was an opportunity for him to talk about politics and mixed martial arts. The politics of fighters are complicated; there are open right-wing figures (Pat Miletich; Jake Shields), libertarians (Lindland), and even fringe views like weird red-brown anarcho-communist, Putin apologist Jeff Monson.
Many martial artists have strong political views because martial artists are people, and many people have strong political views. I don’t really think the views of individual martial artists and fighters are interesting; at least, they’re not any more or less interesting than the views of everyone else.
When Martial Arts are Political Movements
During the pandemic, the politics of lockdowns and their impact on martial arts schools led a lot of figures who were previously apolitical to start taking political positions. Rickson’s-heir-apparrent turned embarrassing-butt-scooter Kron Gracie moved to Montana after California’s lockdowns, though he was already arguably politically engaged with conspiracy theories, including flat-earth. After this happened, I started to see increased discussion about the varied politics of jiu-jitsu, including Ricardo De La Riva’s abuse of women.
I heard a lot of people lament that jiu-jitsu was “increasingly political.” As someone fascinated by the history, I found this critique interesting, but wrong. Brazilian jiu-jitsu has always been deeply political. Helio Gracie was deeply involved with the Catholic integralist movement. (Rener at the Gracie Academy still maintains some of these questionable political connections and views.) Renzo Gracie has a weird, defensive affection for Heinrich Himmler. (This takes a darker shade if you know the history of post-war Nazis in Brazil.) Robson Gracie gave then-President, now-indictee Jair Bolsanaro an “honorary blackbelt.”
From these examples, you might (rightly) infer that I think the politics of the Gracie family suck. I could do a deep dive here. If you’re interested in such a deep dive, let me know; I’m happy to do one. (But please also share and subscribe, so I can keep building this project.)
Martial arts organizations are commercial enterprises, and commerce is fundamentally political. Taxes impact revenue. Copyrights and licensing are often central to business models for martial arts organizations; ask Rorion and Carley Gracie, who went through some expensive litigation in the late-’90s to sort out who held the copyright to “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu” as a name (no one, as Carley contended) and the Gracie humaita triangle logo (Rorion, established on appeal).
Martial arts is political because martial arts styles are tied to brands. Schools are commercial enterprises that have to pay taxes and comply with regulations. Combat sports have regulatory frameworks and can be banned or influenced by governments. Politics matter to martial arts, so martial arts often have to care about the politics.
Being political isn't bad
“Martial arts is political” isn’t a criticism; it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Martial arts communities have norms and values. We expect members of the community to treat each other in certain ways. In general, we talk about treating one another with care and respect, though some martial arts communities don’t have those norms and values (and that’s a political choice too). This is usually most explicit in the kids’ programs, where martial arts students learn respect, caring, and hard work. The Gracie Academy’s Bullyproof program for kids is a good case example.
The anti-bullying work we’ve seen is a form of political activism, and is overwhelmingly positive. Tom DeBlass may not think of himself as a political figure, but his advocacy for kids is powerful stuff, especially in a political environment where the rights of children are a major political issue. The AcademySafe program is a part of a movement that’s both social and political, pushing for better regulation of martial arts (even if not by the government).
I’ve traveled a lot. I’ve been a part of a lot of different martial arts communities all over North America. Now, as an older martial artist, I try to be a part of communities where students of different backgrounds (including gender, race, and sexual orientation) are welcome and treated well; not all communities are like that. Some are homophobic; some are abusive to women; some are racist.
Who is included and welcome in our martial arts communities, and how different people are treated, has political dimensions. Does a gym have rules (explicit or implicit) about how to roll with people who are much smaller? Or people who are brand new? How and when are those rules enforced? Who cleans the mats after class? How much does membership cost, and how does that impact the accessibility of the gym? Who gets the instructor’s attention during training? These are all social issues that are tied to the norms and values (and therefore the politics) within our communities. Handled well, it makes both the community and the members better.
Sometimes the Politics are Bad
There are a lot of cases where martial arts communities are toxic, and where the politics suck. Rob from McDojoLife notes that some martial arts communities are cults. The term “cult” has an ambiguous association of properties, and I won’t go into detail here, but (in general) cults are epistemically closed from outside interrogation, limit the ability of their members to engage with the outside world (including limiting their ability to exit the cult at all), promote magical thinking, center the personality of their leader(s), and paint a picture of world events that put the cult (and especially its leader) at the center.
Rob’s work on George Dillman, his organization and his various disciples (Evan Pantazzi; Leon Jay; etc.) is terrific. There is a lot to say about the politics of Dillman Karate International, and perhaps that’s worth a future post, but I want to talk about a different case.
If you follow martial arts on instagram, then you’ve seen Mikhail Ryabko. You may not know his name, but you’ve probably laughed at him. He’s the systema guy with the superpowered belly.
Mikhail Ryabko was a major figure in systema. He taught seminars internationally and helped to set up schools throughout Europe; he did a demonstration at the United Nations in New York City in 2007. Ryabko held the rank of Colonel and the title of “Chief Instructor of Systema Headquarters.” He has a strange (and sometimes incoherent) biography, very little of which seems credible to me. Ryabko died in 2023, but his influence is enormous. His most successful acolyte is the Russian Toronto-based systema instructor Vladimir Vasiliev.
There are a lot of commentaries on systema and its relative efficacy; I’m not going to comment on that here. But I do want to make one observation that I feel excellent commentators often miss. When Rob at McDojoLife or Steven at StevenStranglesPeople discuss systema, they note that the techniques taught are facially ridiculous; the ideas are silly and impractical. Respondents will often say “that’s not real systema” and point to some systema practitioner they like (like Martin Wheeler) or some endorsement of systema from a venerated martial artist (like Dan Inosanto).
These things exist, but they miss the point. Ryabko was one of the central founders and the global popularizer of systema. Vasiliev is the central figure in the martial art, with Ryabko’s passing. We can get into the complexity of lineage, but if the founder of a martial art is the guy using belly-based superpowers, then that does reflect on the entire martial art. That’s “real” systema.
This should worry us not just because systema is pretty obviously promoting some weapons-grade bullshido, but because systema itself has a long history of being used as a Russian propaganda operation and recruiting for Russian paramilitary groups outside of Russia. This doesn’t mean all systema instructors are Russian agents or involved in this kind of recruiting, but Ryabko absolutely was and Vasiliev may be.
Ryabko’s interviews often appeal to Russian history, and this is pretty normal. As I’ve written elsewhere, nationalism plays a large role in many martial arts. That Ryabko (a Russian military officer); his promotion of Russian nationalism isn’t surprising. What is more interesting is the connection of systema communities to several eastern European paramilitary groups. Hungarian intelligence and journalists raised concerns about the proliferation of systema and the connections of systema schools in Hungary to the Night Wolves pro-Putin extremist group. A 2017 study by a team of European academics notes that systema schools are one area where Russian propaganda is pushed, often masquerading as “pro-Slavic” cultural material to develop these propaganda campaigns.
I don’t know all of the authors of the 2017 Political Capital study, but I’m familiar with the political scientist Péter Krekó and his work on European extremism.
Similarly, these propaganda efforts also operate in misinformation networks in North America. Contemporary discussion of Russian propaganda often centers social media. Social media campaigns are often public (at least in terms of the material posted) and so they’re easier to track and analyze in a way that’s more difficult for local networks. Ryabko was a significant figure in Russian martial arts. Vasiliev, who has taken over his legacy, has received multiple medals from the Russian state (at least according to his own biographies). Ryabko trained many high profile figures in Russian political media, including propagandist Vladimir Solovyov. Ryabko’s involvement in the promotion of these networks is extensive; whether Vasiliev is still actively maintaining this approach is not a matter of public record (just a matter of private discussion). In any case, the politics of this movement, and its continued activity in Europe and North America, should be troubling.
The Politics of Martial Arts, Today
I started writing the elements presented above a while ago. I wanted to talk about Ryabko and systema because Russian propaganda operations are a major concern and something I’ve studied and written about in academic contexts, without discussion of the martial arts. I also think the internal politics of many martial arts communities (especially the BJJ, boxing, and MMA communities) are in a really bad place, in part because so many people pretend they’re apolitical, and that pretense is exploited by bad actors. I started writing this before the most recent United States election.
I understand that lots of different people have different views on politics; there’s room on lots of issues for reasonable people to disagree. However, there are some issues where I think there is no room for disagreement among serious people. Here are a few points:
Selling snake oil, fake cures for diseases or fake techniques or promises of weight loss, is exploitative and evil. If a person engages in fraud, then they shouldn’t have public trust.
Protecting child abusers from accountability and allowing them to continue abusing has no place in our society, and anyone who does it should certainly never have authority.
If you make an agreement with a person, then you treat that person fairly within the scope of that agreement. If you said you’d pay them and they acted in good faith, then you pay them.
If these seem like implicit criticisms of President-elect Donald Trump, that’s an issue with Mr. Trump. And it should be. Taken on their face, these points are basic observations of how morally decent people conduct themselves in a society, whether you’re a libertarian or a communist, whether you’re a judo guy or a boxer.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mehmet Oz, and many others are straightforwardly snake oil salesmen who are setting themselves up to lobby for other snake oil salesmen. There’s a reason the supplement industry, which already faces very little regulation, supports them. Unfortunately, this is an area where major figures in the martial arts community are actively perpetuating fraud, just like Mehmet Oz, a man who uses his platform to sell a cornucopia of bullshit.
Linda McMahon was nominated for Secretary of Education, a position that involves addressing concerns about sexual abuse of children. As we’re seeing in St. Helens, Oregon, there are real concerns about abuse in our society today. But Linda McMahon covered up the sexual abuse of boys by WWF announcer Mel Phillips in the 1980s; I’d say “alleged” with regard to the new allegations in the Maryland lawsuit, but Tom Cole and Chris Loss’s stories of abuse are extensively documented, as is Linda McMahon’s role in rehiring Phillips.
And then, of course, there’s Donald Trump himself; Trump is famous for screwing contractors he hired to do work. He did it as a property developer; he did it as a candidate; he did it during his first term as President; it stands to reason he’ll do it again. “He’s good at business.” No, he’s not. But even if he were good at business, these fraudulent dealings would be strong reason to keep him out of any position of public trust.
But here we are.
I like Rob from McDojoLife’s motto: Keep the martial arts legit. Oppose frauds and protect kids. Unfortunately, I think the politics of the modern martial arts community is a part of the problem. People in the martial arts community are rightly critical of frauds like Dillman and Ryabko, but a lot of those same people are going to the mat for RFK Jr. as “evidence based” and “a skeptic” while he pushes for the deregulation of supplements, which have a measurable, significant fatality risk, from “benikoji red yeast” to “OxyElitePro.”
Joe Rogan is probably the most visible figure in the American martial arts media today. He’s earned a major role there. He’s a legit BJJ blackbelt under Eddie Bravo; whatever one thinks about Eddie’s weird conspiracy theories, Eddie is a major innovator and culturally significant figure in jiu-jitsu. Rogan was a major force in popularizing MMA, a voice of the sport on commentary and an advocate for it in public. Unfortunately, he’s also a snake oil salesman, and he’s aligned himself with Trump, RFK Jr., and others in that universe while slinging his own brand (ONNIT).
Joe Rogan is, according to Joe Rogan, “the master of hyperbole.” He hyped Ronda Rousey as making huge gains in her striking, as capable of taking on elite boxers and making huge jumps in her striking. He’s a hype man; his job is to bring hype. But saying “Ronda Rousey’s striking is incredible” wasn’t exaggeration. It wasn’t hyperbole. It was bullshit. It was a lie.
We could see Ronda’s striking. We could see the videos of her wiggle-butt, arm-flailing shadow boxing. We could see the high-elbow positioning on the jab and the left-hook that didn’t engage the hips. Ronda was an excellent MMA fighter and she deserves much more credit than she gets for her role in bringing mainstream attention to women’s MMA, but saying “I’m a skeptic and I hate cults” while just lying to your listeners… it’s just garbage.
Is the community going to get better? Probably not.
Joe Rogan makes a lot of money from selling snake oil, including AlphaBrain. It’s lucrative to hype people up. The reason there are so many snake oil salesman is because it’s profitable. The reason we see so many guys slinging the same bullshit supplements as Mehmet Oz is because people will buy them, and they’ll get self-righteous that their snake oil is the best.
Joe will say, “It’s not horseshit or snake oil or placebos. It’s real.” And he’ll say it with the same conviction with which he praised Ronda’s striking.
Not tolerating frauds is a political value. Treating people who protect pedophiles as pariahs is a political value. They require an active choice to exclude those people. I wish I thought America and the martial arts community were ready to adopt those political values, but it doesn’t look good right now.
You will appreciate this recent episode of The Daily
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/02/podcasts/the-daily/dana-white-donald-trump-ufc.html