Who we are

TFC stands for Total Fighting Concepts: a self-defense system built on five ranges: kicking, punching, clinch, ground and weapons. Training by range lets an instructor bring in whatever blend of martial art fits that range. Its foundation comes from Aiki-Jujitsu, Filipino Martial Arts, Japanese Submission Fighting and Thai Boxing.

The MAUA created TFC JuJitsu to marry martial arts with martial fighting. Read more about TFC JuJitsu.

All-Japan Submission Fighting (AJSF) is part of the All-Japan Joint Technique Federation, based in Kansai, West Japan. Its origins are Kitō-ryū JuJutsu, Ninpo Taijutsu and Hidetaka Aso's Submission Arts Wrestling. The MAUA reorganized this grappling and fighting program as AJSF. It is both practical for fighting and suited to competition.

Its foundations: kumi waza (grappling), nage waza (throwing), atemi waza (striking), shime waza (choking), kansetsu (joint locking) and osaekomi (holding down).

Yoshin Budokai Aikido is a combative style of Aikido unique to the MAUA. Aikido techniques use entering and turning movements that redirect the momentum of an attack, finishing with a throw or a joint lock.

Aikido derives mainly from Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu and was founded by Morihei Ueshiba. The MAUA's Budokai Aikido draws on Gozo Shioda and Koichi Tohei, two senior students of O'Sensei Ueshiba with their own distinct philosophies.

Our Shuri-Te Karate comes from a pre-World War II Okinawan art whose roots go back to the 1400s, named for the Shuri region of Okinawa where it was born. Generations of grandmasters have revised it. Today the MAUA sponsors it as a style that blends the ways of the samurai with the modern warrior, restructured into combat tactics and self-defense concepts including weapons, ground technique and joint locks.

Kamot means hand and lihok means motion. Taking "Ka" and "Li" gives Kali: hand motions. Kali is the mother art of the Philippines, where Arnis and Eskrima also began. The Progressive Kali System (PKS) draws on the Lacoste, Villabrille, Presas and Inosanto families.

PKS is built on seven systems: single stick (solo baston), double stick (doble baston), stick and dagger (espada y daga), dagger (daga), double dagger (doble daga), empty hand (panantukan and dumog) and staff (sibat). Each is taught as a module or combined into a traditional curriculum.

Our catch wrestling division covers Submission Arts Wrestling and Pankration under Division Director Mike Martelle, a SAW 5th Degree and registered IBJJF black belt under Professor Enson Inoue of the Purebred team.

Submission Arts Wrestling (SAW) is a modern, catch-wrestling-based Japanese martial art and combat sport with elements of Sambo, Judo and Jiu-Jitsu. Founded in the 1980s by Hidetaka Aso, a student of Karl Gotch, it is a no-gi system of chained chokes and joint locks, famous for its leg locks.

Pankration was part of the Olympic Games from 648 B.C. and was the most popular sport of antiquity; its name means "to dominate totally." Our Pankration division is registered with the International Federation of Pankration Athlima and is part of the Canadian Pankration Federation under Mike Martelle.

In 1880s Japan, Jigoro Kano founded Judo from the jiu-jitsu styles of his day. His student Mitsuo Maeda, "Count Koma," emigrated to Brazil in 1914 and taught Carlos Gracie, who taught his brothers. In 1925 the first Gracie academy opened and Gracie Jiu-Jitsu was born, refined over decades into one of the most sophisticated ground fighting systems in the world.

When Royce Gracie dominated the first UFC events in 1993, often against much larger opponents, the world took notice. Today almost every successful MMA fighter trains Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

The Takenouchi-ryū system, founded in 1532, is considered the beginning of Japan's jujitsu forms. In 1882 Dr. Jigoro Kano, the father of Judo, studied the old self-defense forms and combined the best of them into Kodokan Judo.

Bruce Lee created Jeet Kune Do in 1967 as a reaction against traditional martial arts he saw as having little to do with real combat. It values adaptability, fluid movement and striking without telegraphing, the idea of being "like water."

Iaido grew from Iaijutsu (sword technique) in the mid-1500s; Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu (1542–1621) is widely accepted as its founder. A form draws and cuts in one motion, makes a finishing cut, cleans the blade and returns it to the scabbard, all without looking away from an imaginary opponent. Students strive for power, precision and control of body and mind.

The Korean arts are where many of our instructors began, including the MAUA's founder, who started Tae Kwon Do at age six with his father. Our network includes a Korean Arts Division Director.