About the MMA Institute
The MMA Institute is a fraternal organization dedicated to preserving martial arts history, strengthening martial arts communities, and building institutions capable of lasting beyond any single fighter, gym, style, or generation.
We are creating a brotherhood of legacy keepers: martial artists, instructors, gym owners, historians, and supporters committed to protecting the knowledge, stories, institutions, and people that make martial arts possible.
The Institute does not exist to replace individual gyms, systems, or traditions. It exists to connect and reinforce them through shared standards, historical preservation, structured advancement, education, community support, and long-term institutional planning.
What We Do
Preserve Martial Arts History
The Institute documents the histories of fighters, instructors, gyms, styles, and martial arts organizations through interviews, documentaries, institutional records, and the MMA Institute Hall of Records.
Our purpose is to ensure that valuable knowledge and personal histories are not lost when a gym closes, an instructor retires, or one generation gives way to the next.
Build Lasting Martial Arts Communities
The Institute establishes a structured network of individual members, local chapters, and major institutional hubs:
Sentinels are individual members who uphold the Institute’s values and contribute to its work.
Ronin Chapters are locally established martial arts communities responsible for training, leadership development, preservation, and service.
Pathkeeper Hubs are major institutions that protect records, maintain standards, support chapters, and provide long-term regional leadership.
Together, these parts create a system through which martial arts communities can grow without losing their identity, history, or connection to those who came before them.
Support Members Through Life
Martial artists and gym owners often build strong communities while remaining vulnerable to emergencies, financial disruption, leadership gaps, and unexpected life events.
The Institute is developing structured welfare and emergency-support systems intended to assist eligible members during qualifying hardships. Participation, eligibility, and assistance are governed by the Institute’s bylaws, verification requirements, available resources, and conduct standards.
These systems are designed to reinforce personal responsibility while ensuring that members do not have to face every difficult moment alone.
Provide Education and Community Training
The Institute develops and provides practical education that strengthens both martial arts communities and the public. This includes martial arts instruction, mentorship, historical education, safety programs, self-defense seminars, and recognized health and emergency-response training.
These programs allow the Institute to serve the broader community while creating meaningful opportunities for qualified instructors and members.
Create a Structured Path of Advancement
Advancement within the Institute is based on participation, responsibility, leadership, teaching, service, and demonstrated ability.
The Institute’s chapter and rank systems are designed to develop people who can carry responsibility—not simply individuals who can perform techniques. Leadership must be earned through sustained work, accountability, and the ability to preserve and strengthen a community.
Establish Meaningful Competition
The MMA Institute’s tournament system is designed to evaluate more than raw athletic ability. Participants are tested through multiple stages involving preparation, discipline, technical skill, strategy, adaptability, and character.
Tournament achievement provides one path of advancement within the Institute, while the successful establishment and leadership of a chapter provides another.
Competition is not treated as the entirety of martial arts. It is one method through which martial artists may test themselves, represent their communities, and contribute to the Institute’s continuing history.
How the Institute Operates
Participation in the MMA Institute is governed by established bylaws, membership requirements, investigations, conduct standards, and defined leadership responsibilities.
The Institute is intentionally deliberate in its development. Chapters, ranks, benefits, and leadership positions are not created simply for the sake of rapid expansion. They are established through verified participation, sustained responsibility, and proven commitment.
Resources contributed to the Institute support historical preservation, education, organizational infrastructure, chapter development, member-focused programs, and long-term reserves. This structure is intended to protect the Institute’s mission and ensure that its work can continue across generations.
Our Goal
Our goal is not to become another martial arts brand.
Our goal is to build an enduring institution that martial artists can learn from, contribute to, rely upon, and eventually pass forward.
We want fighters to be remembered. We want instructors’ knowledge to survive them. We want gyms to be recognized as community institutions. We want future generations to understand not only how martial arts were practiced, but who preserved them and why they mattered.
The MMA Institute exists to preserve the past, strengthen the present, and build a future worthy of inheritance.
There is always more than one path.
About Solomon
My name is Solomon.
I am a martial artist, instructor, veteran, and the founder of the MMA Institute.
I have spent more than twenty years studying martial arts and personal development. During that time, I earned a black belt in Hung Gar Kung Fu, became an instructor in Commando Krav Maga taught by Jacob Lunon under Moni Aizik from Imi Lichtenfeld, and have extensive corporate security experience.
Outside of martial arts, I have lived in more than twelve states across the United States, lived in three countries, and traveled to several others. Those experiences exposed me to different cultures, communities, and ways of thinking. They taught me that there is rarely a single path to success and that valuable lessons can be found almost anywhere if you are willing to learn.
I also served in the Israel Defense Forces for just over two years during Operation Protective Edge. My military experience reinforced lessons that continue to influence my life today: preparation matters, leadership matters, and the ability to remain calm under pressure can change outcomes.
Throughout my life, I have worked with people from many different professions, backgrounds, and skill levels. One thing I have consistently found is that most people are capable of far more than they believe. Often, the difference between success and failure is not talent, but access to knowledge, guidance, and opportunity.
That belief ultimately led me to create the MMA Institute.
The Institute is the result of a lifelong interest in martial arts, education, history, preparedness, and personal growth. My goal is to help build a place where people can learn practical skills, challenge themselves, preserve knowledge, and develop the confidence needed to pursue their own goals.
When I am not working on the Institute, I continue to study martial arts, explore new places, meet new people, and look for opportunities to learn. I believe growth is a lifelong process and that every experience has something to teach us.
There is more than one path. I am still walking mine.
