The feud between the two has been going on for years, from back when there were message boards devoted to martial arts instead of Facebook. For those unfamiliar with the story, the next few paragraphs can help fill them in. For those that have been following it from the start, it might be best to skip to the bottom.
When the two first encountered each other online, Roley was living in Japan, fluent in the language and very knowledgeable about the history of the ninja. He has been called the West’s foremost expert on Fujita Seiko and the Koga ryu. Collins tried to portray himself as a student and teacher of ninjutsu, taught by someone with a Japanese name that can’t be verified even existed and various tall tales that change from time to time. Among those were his claim that he used his ninjutsu skills as part of his time in the elite USMC Force Recon. After over a decade of trying to convince everyone that he had served in this unit, a freedom of information request revealed he had not even made it through basic training in the Marines.
Collins has had a series of legal troubles resulting in a conviction for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and for battery on a police officer. He has been arrested for allegedly possessing child pornography and for making terroristic threats. While the latter two cases went nowhere, they did result in Collins being declared incompetent to stand trial and committed involuntarily to a mental institution for six months. Collins has responded to these various legal issues by blaming a wide ranging conspiracy against him involving the police, a local motorcycle gang and various critics of his.
Ever since Roley moved back to the states, Collins has tried to counter him by saying that he might take a trip out to visit him but Roley was scared to put up the address of his school for fear that he might encounter Collins. For years this was the theme that Collins tried to push as Roley took apart every story he tried to create.
Finally, Roley scheduled a seminar in Lexington Kentucky the same weekend that Collins would be attending a meeting of the Black Dragon Fighting Society. He let it be known that if Collins really wanted to challenge him, he could be found at the location of the seminar and made public announcements that Collins would not be charged with trespassing if he showed up to fight.
Collins tried to change things instead of agreeing to this. He started to insist that the fight be on the street, which would lead to both of them spending time in jail. Roley’s wife has cancer and sometimes after a treatment of chemo he has to take care of her and their children as she recovers. He could not risk taking that type of time away from them. Collins insisted even more when it was clear that Roley would not fight on the streets of Lexington, and Collins would not say where they could meet, sticking to inside the hotel that the BDFS event was going on.
But there was a surprise when Collins showed up on Saturday night with four members of the BDFS. Most of the encounter is captured in a 15 minute video where Collins stays safely behind the others making big noises, but then staying silent as others talk about fighting Roley. When Roley says that he will not fight anyone else until he has had a chance with Collins the rest stand aside and say it is up to Collins to chose to fight. Instead of stepping onto the mat where Roley is waiting, Collins announces that he is going to sue him instead and gets out of there in short order.
This was last October. As of today no one has been served with any papers in any lawsuit by Collins. Later Collins changed his story to the excuse that he knew he would go to jail if he had stepped on the mat, which not only did he not mention until months later but which has been denied by people with law degrees.
It was a humiliation for Collins and since then he has been obsessed with Roley. Not a month goes by where there isn’t a blog or two that Collins writes about him, accusing him of various crimes and ill deeds. in June, Collins took to the road in what he said was an attempt to show up on Roley’s front doorstep to challenge him to a fight.
Despite this, he never came closer than an hour’s ride away from Roley’s home. He instead stayed in the Denver area, an hour North of where Roley lives in Colorado Springs. He made sure to make mention of Roley’s family and the things he could do to them if he stopped by while Roley was gone. But while his car was still functional he never took the drive down, staying up in Denver the whole time. Collins’ car gave up the ghost a few weeks into his stay in Colorado. He was living on the street for a while.
During his stay in Denver, he had attracted the attention of a message board devoted to mixed martial arts. He joined and tried to sway them to his side. The forum had a sub section called the Other Ground, and from that they took on the name of The OG. Collins did various things such as post a video of him on a street corner and announcing that he would be there for two hours if Roley wanted to fight him. Not only did he know that Roley refused to face the legal troubles of a fight on the street, but he would have almost no time to get up to where the location was in time given the short, sudden notice. When Roley did not respond in time, Collins used this to call him a coward.
When Roley started communicating with the forum, the OG tried to set up an acceptable venue for the two that would not cause anyone to go to jail. Collins refused all such attempts. The OG was even willing to rent a hotel room in the hope it could go on. But Collins, who had been living on the street for a few days at this point, refused to even consider it.
Finally, on a Sunday night there was an attempt to get the two together. The OG tried to set up a venue other than the train stations or street corners Collins was demanding the meet at which would lead to jail time for both of them. One member made a comment that sounded like he might have a back yard the two could use and Roley agreed to show up in the morning. Collins also gave his agreement to doing something in the morning.
But come Monday morning, Collins went off line refusing to respond. Roley made a trip to Denver and communicated from a library he was waiting at. As it turns out, there was no location. But the OG scrambled to set something up at the last moment. All this while, Collins stayed silent. When the member from Denver that had agreed to ferry Collins to anything that could have been set up announced he had to get on with his life instead of waiting for a response from Collins that never came, Roley said he did not see how things could go on and he too was heading home.
About 20 minutes later, Collins started to respond. Indeed, he has tried to say that he responded before Roley said he was going home, but the sequence of posts on the forum prove otherwise. The OG was not ready to give up.They actually found a gym in the Denver area whose owner was a member there and willing to let the two use it for the fight the next day. The night before it could happen, Collins left on a train home saying that he had to take care of his mother.
A typical response from the OG is this,
“Ron Collins is the pound for pound biggest pussy in the history of the world. I don't think there is any redemption for you after this. Just like being a pedophile this will follow you around everywhere you go. Might as well change your name now and pretend to be a BJJ black belt.”
Collins, of course, tried to portray this as a victory for him. He claimed his phone was out of order all morning and even tried to say that Roley announced he was going home after Collins responded. However, Roley’s announcement was on page 51 and Collins resurfaced on the next page. Collins claims that since Roley did not think to post a video of him waiting in Denver, it is proof he was not.
Last weekend, Roley gave a seminar in Maryland. It is only about a four hour trip between where he was teaching and where Collins lives. There was an open invitation prior to the Colorado trip for Collins to show up and challenge Roley to a fight. Collins made various excuses, mainly saying that it was some sort of legal trap. Just before Roley was about to get on a plane out to Maryland, Collins suggested that he come out to a location a few hours away to confront him.
This was quite simply not possible to set up on Roley’s end at the last minute. After he said that he could not make it, but that Collins was still welcome to show up at the location that had been set for months, Collins took heart and was very brave about trying to call Roley out and give up his prior obligations, which he had been paid to do.
Once Collins knew Roley could not make it to the location Collins had picked, he even went so far as to post the following,
“Don you can fight me this week end and have a video to show your kids you are diddling and that whore wife if yours... Come on Don either you want to fight me for calling sick whore wife a whore or you are gonna keep making excuses...
What kind of man won't defend the honor of his sick dying wife and children..? Are you that scared of me that you are gonna let me call your wife a whore and dare you to come out and fight me? Don't you care about her?
What kind if husband are you? What kind of father? Are you grooming your daughter to be a whore like her mother? Come on Don... I am kinda pissed at own damn self for saying shit and you don't want to fight me? You can't drive for 5 hours round trip?”
The OG recoiled at this and Collins tried to pass it off as a tactic to get Roley to give up teaching on Sunday to come face him. No one seems to believe that.
In the end, Roley went home and Collins made videos of himself.
Before the end of the weekend, the suggestion was made for one more chance. Roley is teaching in Lexington in October, the site of their first face to face meeting, the one where Collins ended up turning and fleeing instead of fighting.
Roley suggested that the members of the OG set up a neutral location as Collins claims he wanted.
Collins response at the idea of a really neutral location was as follows,
“I am telling you I am not wasting my time coming to Lexington... I can set everything up at home & I am going to be dealing with court, motions and researching cases for a while as the motions start flying... You aren't important... I gave Barron multiple shots, I gave you multiple shots... hell I went to Colorado and all the time I was there you did nothing until I said I was gonna call it &, now that I am telling you, I am done. I am gonna fight Icy Mike & you can go fuck yourself if you want me to chase you to Lexington... No... I don't care I am not going to do it.”
So in the end, the man who claims he showed his bravery by driving across the country to show up in Denver absolutely refuses to take the short trip to Lexington to face Roley in a completely neutral location set up by people outside of either of their control. He claims that he has better things to do, but no one seems to believe that and express the opinion that it is just the latest example of him fleeing from Roley.
Roley announced that he saw no way to make Collins actually get in a ring under any circumstances and said he was through with him.
Today Collins is supposed to face another man named Icy Mike. The chances are good he will show up. Only Collins seems to think he has a chance. But he is building it up as a great show of his willingness to fight someone. He probably hope he thinks it will make up for all the times so far he has had a real chance to face Roley, but failed to go through.
Collins is trying to build Icy Mike up as a great fighter and keep on his good side. He has made sure to not say anything disrespectful knowing that he will have to face him. Odds are that he will lose and present it as him losing to the best. But in reality, Collins has claimed to have learned fighting skills from age two, including trips to Japan and various victories in un verifiable encounters. His destruction will not do him much good.
And in the end, his fighting Icy Mike will only show that he fears Roley more than he does a stranger who has no particular hatred for him. He said as much when he wrote,
“Icy is worth 100 Roley's and such a better person to fight. At least I compare Mike to me and be like I lost to that guy... If it Roley, my God I would have PTSD every time I saw rubber chicken for the shame alone…”
So Collins will face Icy Mike and lose, and then stay safe at home as Roley teaches a seminar only a short distance away. He claims he is done with Roley and moving on to other things. But it possibly will only hold until after the seminar in Lexington.
But for now, Collins is throwing in the towel and giving up talk of driving to Colorado to threaten Roley’s family. That, at least, is a positive outcome for everyone involved.
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