This episode covers the subject of the 1988 Jean Claude Van Damme film Bloodsport, Frank Dux. Although Bloodsport was billed as Frank Dux’s true story, it turns out that Dux’s military and martial arts records are not as impressive as he makes them out to be.

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Frank Dux’s Version

According to the biography on his website, Frank Dux was born in Toronto in 1956, the oldest son of “Holocaust survivors”. The LA Times quotes Dux about his father’s brand of parenting,

[He would] play games with me to expand my awareness. Sometimes he would throw things at me unexpectedly to improve my reflexes.

The Dux family moved to the San Fernando Valley in the early 60’s. “Martial art scholars” referred to this area as the “Valley of Champions,” because, “the San Fernando Valley is where leading martial art trade magazine and book publishers were located.” It was the “figurative Mecca” for martial artists. Sadly, Dux couldn’t afford the tuition necessary to train with these world class martial artist, but he did find a way to “audit” his way to mastery. Now, what the hell does this mean? According to his biography, “Frank Dux … stood on the outside looking in, the sidewalk his mat.” Grandmaster Bill Ryusaki talked about this time in Dux’s life in a 2002 documentary about the Kumite that Dux doesn’t bother to name,

Frank was just a kid then…he cleaned the sidewalk and kept the Ryu-Dojo windows clean and I kept my blinds open for him to watch and learn, I’d try to send someone to invite him in but he would leave before he would give me a chance to speak.

Fun fact: Bloodsport came out on DVD in 2002 so I really hope that’s what Dux is talking about. Another fun fact: “Kumite” refers to a particular part of karate training when one fights against an adversary, but also refers to a particular no-holds-barred tournament as depicted in Bloodsport. And finally a disclaimer: Dux does not offer any sources for any quotes he uses, so keep that in mind as the episode progresses.

Dux’s audited martial arts education appears to be a success, based on his moral victory over Victor Moore in 1969. Yes, that would make Dux 13 at the time. Moore had recently defeated the “thought unstoppable” Mike Stone. He had 91 straight wins under his belt, and always came in first place. He even beat Bruce Lee in a “test of speed”.

(This is, potentially, a piece of bullshit in its own right that we don’t have time to get into here. Dux’s life story is fractally dishonest; as soon as you begin fact checking you run into further lies.)

In an unnamed location, Dux walked up to Moore and asked if he remembered what Moore had told him two years earlier, “To be the best you have to fight the best.” We don’t know if Moore answered, but we do know that Dux followed this question by “politely ask[ing] if he could fight Moore.” Moore, thinking this was a joke, said sure, take your best shot. Being an extraordinarily abnormal person, Dux did just that. He struck Moore in the nose with a back knuckle. This was followed by ten to fifteen minutes of fighting without any officials present. Moore later recalled this fight,

Finally, there was no winner, everybody who was around just hooting and hollering, they couldn’t believe what took place.  Mike Stone, who had just got beat, his shoulder broken by me in the first round from being swept and there’s Frank Dux, an overgrown awkward looking kid taking me on, matching my speed, power and determination, it impressed me and everyone watching him

In 2004, Moore had this to say about their history-making match,

Not trying to take anything away from Bruce Lee, Bill ‘Superfoot’ Wallace, Joe Lewis, Chuck Norris, Jim Kelly and Mike Stone are just a few of the great fighters I fought and defeated as a World Champion. But my two most memorable fights I ever had are with the only guy I couldn’t beat, Frank Dux. I would say to him this is what I am going to do and pop him and I‘d say you ready I’m gonna do it again and I’d do it… but then, he would give it right back to me. He’d better me with my same combo… and every combo I used he adapted and made it his own and better… I was fast as they come, but Frank Dux was faster. FASTER THAN ALL OF US BACK THEN, including Bruce Lee. I told everyone this was the up and comer to watch.

(As a Bruce Lee fan, I can’t let this slide. Moore did not defeat Bruce Lee in a match. As best he kind of maybe sorta blocked a Bruce Lee punch. And even if you slow down a billion times it’s not quite clear.)

Even though Dux did not win the fight, witnesses of the site from the Black Dragon Fighting Society were so impressed with Dux that they made him an official member of the Society, the youngest in their history. Through the BDFS Dux became a formal student of the “legendary” Sanzo “Tiger” Tanaka. Tanaka was a former member of the Black Dragon Society, an industrial spy ring. In order to find fighters qualified of acting as enforcers for the spy ring, the Black Dragon Society would hold “no-holds-barred full contact fighting events”. These would become the event known as “the Kumite”. The Kumite was even the basis for MMA. Because Tanaka and other members of the BDFS participated in the Kumite, Dux was also offered an invitation, as depicted in Bloodsport. 

Tanaka was portrayed in the 2006 Jet Li film Fearless. But I know what you are thinking: wasn’t that film about early 20th century Chinese martial artist Hou Yuanjia? I sure didn’t know that, but I learned it reading the intro to the Wikipedia page on Fearless that was copied and pasted into Dux’s official bio. Even the hyperlinks were left in.

In 1975, Dux joined the marines and became an intelligence specialist involved in the USSR and Iran-Contra. Major General Anatoly Korneinko from the former USSR, notes Dux’s accomplishments,

In early 1983 I received an order from the military command to provide necessary assistance and cooperation to a joint military group known then as Officer Duchovny’s Group. This group was to carry out military operations in Soviet territories under my command. The leader of the group, “Officer Duchovny” was Frank Dux …Frank Dux was dubbed the Hunter. He was in the Soviet Union for just a few weeks when our intelligence received information about the exceptional talents of the Hunter and his unique ability to investigate extremely dangerous and complicated matters.

Bloodsport came out in 1988, and is 

…considered by many film critics as well as martial art authorities to be one of the greatest Martial Arts films ever made, surpassing in audience views and frequency it is replayed, Bruce Lee’s Enter The Dragon.”

There were two direct-to-video sequels of Bloodsport which were not at all successful. Dux has his own theories as to why this is,

…their lacking Frank Dux input as a fight choreographer (which Dux performed in original) as well as straying from the based on true events story resulted in the franchises failure. Bloodsport fan clubs complain they felt cheated, desiring the return of Frank Dux story and character.

At the end of the movie bloodsport we get some very helpful completely incorrect information: 

• “This motion picture is based upon true events in the life of Frank W. Dux.”

• From 1975 to 1980 Frank W. Dux fought 329 matches. He retired undefeated as the World Heavy Weight Full Contact Kumite Champion. 

• Mr. Dux still holds four world records: Fastest knockout: 3.2 seconds

•  Fastest Punch with a Knockout: .12 seconds

• Fastest Kick with a Knockout: 72 mph

• Most consecutive Knockouts in a Single Tournament: 56

The Truth About Frank Dux

Dux’s Military Record

Once Bloodsport was released, more attention was paid to Dux’s life story. One of the first articles on Dux was written by the LA Times right after Bloodsports release. First, what did they uncover about Dux’s military record? After all, in brochures for his ninjitsu school’s they say,

[Dux is] one of the most decorated veterans of the Southeast Asian conflict.

Dux also shows visitors to his home a Washington Star editorial about him called “A Silent Hero”, which includes an apparent quote from the diary of a commanding officer,

“We’re hungry. We’re tired. We’re all out of ammo. We all might go mad if not for a spunky kid named Duke for short.”

The diary describes Dux crawling through a mine field to rescue an Asian baby that he later turned over to a Taoist priest.

“When we almost gave up, the Duke, by himself, charged the gun. The next thing you know, the Duke was behind the gun, cutting the enemy to pieces. He must have killed a hundred . . . at least. He turned defeat into victory.”

One problem: it wasn’t from the Washington Star as the LA Times checked with them and they had no record of this editorial. Dux changed his mind and said he simply forgot where the article was from.

So that all sounds very impressive. Unfortunately, the truth is a little different,

Military records show that Dux never ventured closer to Southeast Asia than San Diego. His only known war injury occurred when he fell off a truck he was painting in the motor pool.

Dux served in the Marines in some capacity from 1975 to 1981 but never left the United States. As Soldier of Fortune puts it, Dux is a “Former low-ranking commo technician in a Marine Reserve artillery unit.” 

He was also referred to a psychiatrist on Jan. 22, 1978 because he expressed, “Flighty and disconnected ideas”. What ideas? The idea that despite only being in active duty for a short period given he was in the Reserves that he worked for an intelligence agency. He had a follow-up appointment on April 18th that declared him “normal” and that the only truth behind his flighty and disconnected ideas about his intelligence work consisted of, “‘Cursorily’ involved in gathering information about one individual.”

What is Dux’s response to all of this? Simple: the government is lying about his military record! They’re worried that he knows too much about other covert actions that the military wants to hush up, so they preemptively trashed his record to ensure he had no credibility.

Besides the issue with his service, there is also confusion regarding the medals he was awarded by the military. According to Dux, he was forced to pester the military to get recognition for his covert actions. Eventually, his tenacity paid off,

One day, he said, he received a phone call and went to an address in West Los Angeles, where he was handed a paper bag filled with medals.

But it appears that just as the military scrubbed his military records of his intelligence work, it also scrubbed his military record of any military awards too. Marine Lt. Col. David Tomsky noted another problem with Dux’s military awards. After seeing a photo of Dux wearing ribbons out of sequence, he concluded that the medals and ribbons were Dux’s at all. There is also a bizarre incident where Dux went to his former high school teacher’s class to show them “boxes and boxes” of medals, including a Medal of Honor according to the teacher, Joe Feinstein. Dux has an explanation for this incident,

I . . . spoke to that teacher and to that class and made it clear that it doesn’t become official until the orders are declassified.

(The article isn’t clear on the timeline of this incidence, saying only that it happened “in recent years”. I think they are trying to indicate that this happened before he was supposedly given his medals in a paper bag after bothering the army. Otherwise, the explanation isn’t necessary.)

What is clear, according to Lt. Col. Tomsky, is that the Medal of Honor is never awarded secretly, so this explanation doesn’t make much sense. A USA Today article from 2016 confirms this, saying that while many Service Cross and Silver Star awards are given secretly, “Medals of Honor are not awarded in secret.” In fact, this rule appears so important that portions of secret missions are made public just to award someone the Medal of Honor. This happened to Senior Chief Petty Officer Edward Byers, who was awarded the Medal of Honor after saving an American doctor from the Taliban in 2012. “Byers’ surpassing heroism is the reason details of the mission were made public.” Another fun Medal of Honor fact: Dux often used the phrase “won the Medal of Honor” but this isn’t proper military terminology. You are awarded the Medal of Honor.

Lastly, Lt. Col. Tomsky notes that a photo of Dux wearing a Medal of Honor is for the Army despite Dux being in the Marines.

Dux, of course, blames the government. Sadly, he can’t get them to explain why he was awarded medals from different branches of the government. His other strategy was to gaslight people and say that he never told them he won the Medal of Honor in the first place. This was the experience of Bloodsport screenwriter Sheldon Lettich,

He even tried to convince me that he’d never told me he won the Medal, or that he’d even shown it to me, but by then his entire house of cards had collapsed and nearly everyone knew he was just a delusional day-dreamer and a big bullshitter.

The blog Military Phony has an article on Dux, and serves as an incredible digital archive on his various claims. Or particular interest is Dux’s military records acquired by FOIA request. Here are the highlights,

• He did not go to an intel school, or any military education for that matter.

• He won no awards, including Vietnam or Southeast Asia medals, purple hearts, silver star, BSM or DSC, and no Congressional Medal of Honor

• He never went to Vietnam. In fact, he has no combat history at all.

As mentioned above, Dux was in the US Marine Reserve Corps and was active duty for 130 days. But this doesn’t mean he was in combat or anything like that. This is because active duty includes basic training and basic school for an MOS (Military Occupational Specialty).

Dux’s Martial Arts Record

Dux admits that his claims are difficult to verify because of the secrecy surrounding the Kumite and his work for the military. He does say there is one method, however,

He said his life story can be verified by a few witnesses who say they saw the blood-gushing fight in the Bahamas and received top secret messages from him while he was in the military.

What about the legendary Tiger Tanaka? When the LA Times article was written in 1988, they couldn’t find any evidence of such a person fitting the (shifting) timeline Dux produced (We discuss this aspect further below). But regardless of whether any such man existed, Shoto Tanemura, a “Ninja master” according to the LA Times, said he had never heard of Dux or Tanaka, “There is no Mr. Tanaka in Japanese history] of the Ninja families.” One place you can definitely find a Tiger Tanaka is in Ian Fleming’s novel, You Only Live Twice. Of course, says Dux, since Fleming based his characters on real people he knew.

The Kumite itself is of dubious origin. While Bloodsport take place in Hong Kong, the “Actual” Kumite took place in the Bahamas in 1975. The LA Times decided to ask Kenneth Wilson, a spokesman for the Ministry of Sports in the Bahamas, whether that was true. He said, 

We have no recollection of such a tournament.

“But!”, the LA Times replied, “It was supposedly a SECRET tournament!” 

We would know. No, never. It can’t happen.

Dux claims a large trophy was awarded to him in 1980 for his victory in the Kumite. The LA Times was able to determine that the base and ceramic plaque were actually made by a trophy shop in West Hollywood. Upon hearing this, Dux admitted that perhaps he picked up the award after it was ordered by the International Fighting Arts Association, the organization that runs the Kumite. Who runs the International Fight Arts Association? It is unclear, but their address is Frank Dux’s home and an invoice for another IFAA trophy lists Dux as the only contact for the association.

Perhaps the strangest claim Dux makes about the Kumite is the sword he was awarded as a trophy. When the LA Times asked to see it, he said he no longer had it because he sold it to pay ransom to free Philippino orphans.

I sold my sword. I have no regrets for it. It went for a good cause. It went to buy kids out of slavery [who were on pirate ships]. What they do is, these local chiefs, if you would, on Mindanao, and stuff, take these kids who are orphans, and they put them on these ships and go out to the South China Sea. [The ships were crowded and uncomfortable.] “I’m talking what we call a normal bunk. They have four or five kids squeezed into that thing. They live out in the open elements. They die. And the Philippine government just turns a blind eye.

However, when Dux gave the pirates the money for the ransom they reneged on the offer. So Dux had to take a different approach,

We took arms up and fought boat pirates and we got these kids free. [Many of them are now in the United States.] I’m in touch with some of them, and they love me to death. And, I’ll tell you, I’ve got one kid who’s about 15 years old. All I have to do is look cross-eyed at one guy, and he’ll kill for me.

The Secret Man

The primary source for Dux’s military adventures overseas is his autobiography The Secret Man. The cover is dominated by a brief description of Dux’s exploits,

He was the CIA’s finest covert operative… the subject of the martial arts film Bloodsport… a bridge to international organized crime… a legend on both sides of the Iron Curtain. His true identity always concealed from the people he served, he was The Secret Man.

According to a review from The Plain Dealer,

According to Dux, covert is his middle name: CIA drug dealing in Burma? Dux has the inside scoop. Raids on the Sandinistas? Ditto. Organized-crime lords from the Yakuza to the Mafia? Necessary evil allies for Dux. Wet work in the Middle East? Dux is the name, Frank Dux.

The Plain Dealer also suggests none of this might be accurate. Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense and at the time deputy under DCI William Casey, says, “I never heard of this guy and no one I know in the intelligence community ever heard of him.” Retired Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, who his name-dropped in the book, calls The Secret Man, “virtually a complete fabrication” A former CIA official says, “The claims he makes are nonsense. The notion that Casey would have a guy like this going out and performing hits is ludicrous.”

The former editor of Soldier of Fortune, Robert K. Brown, had a less-than-impressed reaction to The Secret Man,

If one requires a literary laxative, this book rates an 11 on a one-to-10 scale. Dux fails to name even one individual who can corroborate his fraud/fantasies. A ‘brain tumor’ is no justification for labeling The Secret Man as non-fiction.

CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield confirmed to Soldier of Fortune that Dux never worked for the CIA. Mansfield also says that the CIA speaking publicly about such claims is unusual, but that,

This individual’s claims are so preposterous that we thought it was necessary and appropriate.

Soldier of Fortune interviewed Dux to try to explain these discrepancies. Dux’s two explanations were they his activities were secret or that he forgot details because of a brain tumor. Soldier of Fortune notes how strange it is that Dux wrote a book about exposing CIA secrets and then refused to comment on claims because they needed to be kept secret.

I couldn’t leave this article without mentioning two less than savory bits. The first is in reference to Dux relying on his work with men who were already dead and could not verify his story,

Think of all of the aging, suburban women whose claim to “fame” is a jealously held fantasy about having slept with JFK – you get the idea.

The second is a show of support for some not-so-nice fellas the CIA worked with in the past,

The book is full of the politically correct, anti-CIA sentiment (a sure winner in New York and Hollywood), and badmouths the Nicaraguan anti-Sandinistas and U.S.-friendly regimes just about everywhere.

In case you are unfamiliar the “Nicaraguan anti-Sandinistas” were the Contras, famous for politically incorrect murders of civilians, nurses, doctors and judges

Dux’s Response to Reality

According to the LA Times, Dux thinks his critics are, “part of a conspiracy to discredit him involving a Moriarty-like archenemy half a continent away.” Dux’s Moriarty is Stephen Hayes, “regarded by many as the best-known Ninja trainer in the country”. Despite this reputation, Dux thinks Hayes sees him as a threat, and has even tried to “undermine” him. Hayes disputes this, and he has set up an “extensive security system” to protect against threats.

An article in ArtVoice found evidence that, contrary to the LA Times reporting in 1988, there was a man named Sanzo Tanaka living in California at roughly the times suggested by Dux. They provide both a death certificate and documentation filed when Tanaka and his family came to the US. 

But comparing this Tanaka to the Tanaka discussed in Dux’s biography makes it unclear if these could be the same person. First, the real Tanaka’s first name is “Senzo” with an “e” where Dux always spells it with an “a”. Dux also claims that Tanaka “lost favor” in the martial arts community when he married an Irish American, but the real Tanaka immigrated to the US already married to a woman named “Sae”. 

Dux quotes Lawrence Day and Patriarch Donald Miskel (no, he doesn’t say which is actually talking) as saying that Tanaka worked as a spy and part of the “early stages of events that led up to World War II”. Tanaka was also wanted for questioning and lived under assumed identities during the occupation of Japan. But the Real Tanaka immigrated to the US on June 3rd, 1940. Japan didn’t enter World War II until the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. So either Tanaka got started really earlier or else continued his spy work in the US.

Despite these discrepancies, Dux seems to be familiar with these documents. He mentions his theory that fellow martial artist Sanzo Jack Seki’s father was actually Sanzo Tanaka because they shared many biographical details, including his Irish American wife, being born in 1888 and dying on September 1975.

On this last point, Dux said he died in Japan where the Real Tanaka record appears to state he died in California but that could just be his last residence. Further, the LA Times uncovered a manuscript co-written by Dux about his time with Tanaka that said he died on July 30, 1975, and was buried in California. They also mention that in an interview Dux claimed he didn’t know if Tanaka was dead or alive at all. Lastly, when the LA Times could not find a Sanzo Tanaka who died in California in the 1970s (the article having been written in 1988), Dux’s explanation was that Tanaka was living under an assumed name.

The mystery is solved when you take a closer look at that ArtVoice article. The body of the article says the author is Frank Parlato, but the cited author and the author bio at the bottom belongs to a different person: Frank Dux himself. 

Conclusion

From the LA Times,

I discovered my own way, my own method, my own style. Nobody had ever seen it before. Nobody understood it.