Ricky Manetta - MMA Krav Maga Instructor

Ricky Manetta is the Founder and Senior Instructor of MMA KRAV MAGA. He is 46 years of old and had his first taste of martial arts when he was just 9 years old. His journey has taken him through many different styles and he has made a conscious effort to find and train with some of the best instructors in the world, which he says has helped keep his "open mind" to self defence.

Ricky has multiple clubs and instructors affiliated to him now teaching Mma Krav Maga across London and the surrounding Counties.

• With over 30 years of martial arts experience he spends his time teaching to a wide audience his belief that less is more when it comes to the art of confrontation and self defence.
• His best selling self defence iPhone App has reached number 1 In 12 countries.
• Is the Self Defence Instructor for some of the largest trade organisations and teaches courses for both the LTDA, (The largest taxi union in the UK with over 10,000 members) and 'Dial-A-Cab' one of the largest Black Taxi radio circuits in London.
• Is a Head Co-ordinator working world wide with the UFC the ultimate fighting championship.
• Heads Security Teams working with the Police looking after the safety and security of high profile events such as the Virgin London Marathon and the 2012 London Olympics.
• Has corporate classes with companies such as Bank of England and Nuffield sports clubs and centres.
• Works within schools teaching his Anti-Knife and Anti-Bullying "Your words have power campaign" and within the work place teaching self defence and avoidance and awareness.
• Is used for his knowledge in the media, London Tonight News, OK Magazine in the UK and across the Middle East, Evening Standard and many Trade papers across the UK etc.
For more on Ricky and his history you can read his article in Martial Arts Illustrated on the press page or the podcast on the blog page.

 

Click here to visit official Site >

 

History of the Martial Arts

KRAV MAGA - The name in Hebrew means 'hand to hand combat', 

Krav meaning 'combat' or 'battle' and Maga meaning 'contact' or 'touch'.

Krav Maga teaches combat involving physical body combat as opposed to distance weapons such as guns, artillery , tanks, planes etc.

Krav Maga is not a martial art by traditional standards, but the reason it is so effective on the street is that there are no rules to Krav Maga fighting and built in distinction in training between men and women. It has no sporting federation, but progress can be recognised through gradings for belts or higher levels.

Krav Maga has taken many techniques form other martial arts, however unlike the set routines and choreographed moves in most martial arts, Krav Maga teaches realistic 'Self Defence' against 'Fighting' attacks in social settings like pubs, clubs etc. as the principle is being albe to defend yourself to the extreme – it has been born and improvised in an environment that shows no mercy. Krav Maga will teach you everything that you will need to know in the most realistic and straight forward way possible, remember if that day ever comes there is no second place.

You can not talk about it the history of Krav Maga without mentioning Imi Sde-Or* (Imi Lichtenfield) as he developed the system in Hungary & Czechoslovakia in the 1930′s. He first taught his fighting system in Bratislava in order to help protect the local Jewish Community from Nazi militia. In 1964, Lichtenfeld retired from the Israeli Military and then modified Krav Maga to fit the needs of police forces and ordinary civilians. He trained teams of Krav Maga instructors, who were accredited by him and the Israeli Ministry of Education. He also created the 'Not for Profit' Israeli Krav Maga Association in 1978. On January 9, 1998, Imi Lichtenfeld died in Netanya, Israel, at the age of 87.

All Israeli soldiers including all special forces learn Krav Maga as their basic training regime.

This tactical defence system is used to train the Israeli police, Israeli intelligence and all security devisions.

Being the most effective of defence systems, it is now being taught all around the world to civilians, security agencies and law enforcement officers.

 

M.M.A. usually written MMA is an abbreviation for 'Mixed Martial Arts'.

 

MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) is a full body contact sport that allows a wide range of fighting techniques from a worldwide range of both traditional and non traditional fighting regimes to be used in Competitions around the globe. Fighters bring a range of skills such as Boxing, Thai Boxing, Judo, Wrestling, Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and many more.

The rules allow the use of striking and grappling techniques to be used whilst standing and when on the ground. Such Competitions allow martial arts contestants of different backgrounds, styles and techniques to compete against each other within a clear set of rules. It's first notable appearance was with the founding of U.F.C, the Ultimate Fighting Championships in 1993. This was originally organised to find the most effective martial art for real life combat situations.

With a short period of time, it became clear that by mixing the different Arts and Techniques was the best way to become a 'complete' fighter, not only for fighting but also for Self Defence. Although to some it seems barbaric it is governed by very strict safety measure and rules in place to protect the fighters during competition bouts. The Octagon, often referred to as the Cage was specifically designed to prevent the fighter from leaving the ring as happens in wrestling and boxing. Also, the fighters are allowed to stand up or fight on the floor and unlike most other 'stand up' fighting sports, the fighter are allowed to 'Tap Out' at any time if they feel they are unable to continue or in a position where they could be injured.