Urban Krav Maga

Urban Krav Maga
Date founded 2008
Founder Stewart McGill
Leo Negao
Current head Stewart McGill and Leo Negao
Ancestor arts Krav Maga, Karate, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Western Boxing, Muay Thai, Wrestling
Official website Urban Krav MagaTeam Leo Negao

Urban Krav Maga is a self-defence system which has its roots in Israeli Krav Maga as its name suggests. It additionally draws on a variety of other fighting systems such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Boxing, Muay Thai and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) among others .[1][2]

The main focus of Urban Krav Maga is on defending the most common street attacks, pre-emptive moves to end a confrontation before it begins and a range of stand-up and ground fighting techniques. As well as hand-to-hand fighting, techniques cover defences against weaponry (chokes,[3] pushes, broken bottle or knife attacks,[4] etc.).[1][2][5][6]

Contrary to many other fighting systems and martial arts, the focus is on techniques that can be implemented regardless of strength or size based on leverage and the "surprise effect".[1][7] As a result, Urban Krav Maga's suitability for women and is considered to be higher than that of other self-defence systems; the senior instructors have actually made a whole DVD dedicated to female self defence and fighting larger, more powerful attackers.[8][9][10][11]

Basic Principles

Ultimately aiming to maintain safety under all circumstances, Urban Krav Maga is based on:[3][5][6][8]

The discipline has a grading system though the focus on such tends to be less than other system; on the most basic level, students will learn to defend themselves from the 10 most common street attacks (as registered by law enforcement statistics[12]), how to get up quickly if taken to the ground and pre-emptive moves and strikes.[13]

Origin

Urban Krav Maga was originally developed in 2008 by Stewart McGill, a 3rd Dan in Goju Ryu karate, Senior Instructor with the British Combat Association and Civilian/Law Enforcement Instructor with the International Krav Maga Federation (IKMF) under Eyal Yanilov.[1][14][15] He has also trained with the Israel Krav Maga Association in Israel.

Since then, McGill has been joined as Chief Instructor by Leo Negao, an experienced Vale Tudo and MMA fighter, and a Brazilian Ju Jitsu black belt under Master Fábio Gurgel.

Leo Negao started BJJ at Carlson Gracie’s academy under Carlson himself and trained with Murilo Bustamante, Amauri Bitteti, Mário Sperry, Vitor Belfort and others. He later moved to Sao Paulo to train at the Alliance Jiu Jitsu together with Fábio Gurgel, and Romero “Jacaré” Cavalcanti. Leo is a 4-Time BJJ World champion and has been MMA training partner to UFC champions Antoñio ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira and Vitor Belfort.[14][16]

UK and Global Reach

Well established practitioners from other Krav Maga organisations and fighting schools decided to join as Urban Krav Maga instructors almost since its inception. As a result, the organisation has grown in popularity, with over 50 active Urban Krav Maga instructors operating across the UK and international branches in:
United States;
Canada;
Brazil;
Italy;
Greece and
Colombia.
Branches will soon be starting up in Russia and Germany.[17]

DVDs

In 2008, McGill was asked to produce a DVD boxset by the UK producer NAP. This 6-set has been the top rated and top selling Krav Maga DVD product on Amazon in the UK since its release in December 2008. The 6-set covers:

defending the 10 most common attacks, knife threats and attacks, ground fighting, gun threats and third party protection. [18]

Other DVDs include:

Urban Krav Maga and MMA

Urban Krav Maga has been criticised for being too much like MMA, partly because of the prominent Vale Tudo, Jiu Jitsu and MMA background of Joint Chief Instructor, Leo Negao. In this respect, the reason why Urban Krav Maga draws from these techniques is so as to be able to counter attacks on the ground from those trained in said martial arts; given a large percentage[23] of fights end up on the ground, focus is placed on getting up quickly and safely.

Because of the move away from "pure" Krav Maga principles - such as the introduction of pre-emptive moves and striking with the heel of the hand to protect the knuckles rather than punching - the Urban Krav Maga organisation has alienated some in the wider Krav Maga community so such controversies will continue.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Chris Saunders (01/10/2014), "Going at Full Throttle", Forevever Sports (October 2014, pp: 96-98)
  2. 1 2 Laura Burgoine (18/10/2013),"Fighting Fit in Peckham", Weekender Life
  3. 1 2 Jordan Waller (12/08/2014), "How to get out of a choke hold like a highly trained assassin", FHM
  4. ↑ Nick Pope (19/08/2014), "How to disarm a knife-wielding maniac like you're Jason Bourne", FHM
  5. 1 2 Ben Ince (18/11/2013),"Urban Krav Maga", Men's Fitness
  6. 1 2 Ben Ince (29/04/2013),"MF tries Urban Krav Maga", Men's Fitness
  7. ↑ Alexi Duggins (05/10/2013), "Going full throttle: Alexi braves a Krav Maga self-defence class", Time Out
  8. 1 2 Dina Rickman (06/06/2014), "How women can floor a male attacker within minutes", The Telegraph
  9. ↑ Dr. Gina Z. Koutsopoulou (01.09.2014), "Self-protection courses for females", Martial Arts Illustrated (27(4), 66-69)
  10. ↑ Muireann Carey-Campbell (30/05/2013), "Review: Urban Krav Maga", Spikes & Heels
  11. ↑ DKW - A Different Kind Of Women (06.11.2014), "Space Invaders", My Channel – Sky 203
  12. ↑ Jeff Nash,"Habitual Acts of Violence"
  13. ↑ "Level 1 Syllabus", Urbankravmaga.org
  14. 1 2 "Founders Biographies", Urbankravmaga.org
  15. ↑ Oliver Bennett (29/01/2005), "Feeling a bit defensive . . .", The Times
  16. ↑ Henry Croft (12/03/2014), "Interview With Leo Negao Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World Champion", GymTalk
  17. ↑ "Self Defence Classes", UrbanKravMaga.org
  18. ↑ DVD, "Urban Krav Maga 6-DVD Box Set", New Approach Publishing (ASIN: B001MU45VC)
  19. ↑ DVD, "Urban Krav Maga: The Fighting System", New Approach Publishing (ASIN: B008J2I2LA)
  20. ↑ DVD, "Urban Krav Maga: Fighting a Bigger Guy and Female Self Defence", New Approach Publishing (ASIN: B00872GEP8)
  21. ↑ DVD, "Urban Krav Maga and MMA: Ground and Knife", New Approach Publishing (ASIN: B002QRJQMI)
  22. ↑ DVD, "Urban Krav Maga and MMA: Close Protection", New Approach Publishing (ASIN: B002ZN2P9Y)
  23. ↑ "Going to the ground: lessons from law enforcement"
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