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Kumite Classic brining WAKO USA Nationals to Arnold Sports Festival 2025

Arnold Sports Festival to Host 2025 WAKO USA National Championships Through Innovative Partnerships with Kumite Classic The Arnold Sports Festival (ASF), the world’s premier sports and fitness exhibition, will host the 2025 WAKO USA National Championship and Team Trials in a strategic partnership with Kumite Classic February 28th to March 1st, 2025.     ASF is...

Gabby Viola “3rd Generation” Black Belt

Gabby Viola Joins the Viola Karate Legacy   On August 17th 2021, Pittsburgh area karate champion Gabby Viola celebrated her 11th birthday and simultaneously became the youngest Black Belt at Allegheny Shotokan, a dojo that dates back to the 1960s.  Gabby joins a Pittsburgh karate legacy that includes three generations of Viola black belts including...

Bill Viola Sr. and Bill Viola Jr. featured in Chuck Norris “Who’s Who” Book

Durham, NC, December 1, 2020 – Jessie Bowen, Director of the American Martial Arts Alliance Foundation announced the release of highly anticipated 2020 MARTIAL ARTS MASTERS & PIONEERS CHUCK NORRIS BIO BOOK – US & World Edition. The Viola Karate Family Honored in Chuck Norris “Who’s Who” Book Father and Son karate experts, Bill Viola...

Gabby Viola – Fighting in 🥋 and out ⚕️ of the Ring

Let me share.  Life isn’t fair, the sooner you accept that the better.  In 2018, completely out of the blue, my daughter Gabby was diagnosed with bowel disease, an incurable inflammatory form of colitis 😥.  Without too much detail you’d never know she is sick on the outside, but on the inside, it is killing...

WKC World Champions Karate & Kickboxing

2019 WKC World Titles brought home to Western Pennsylvania The World Karate and Kickboxing Council (WKC) hosted the World Championships November, 3rd -9th in Niagara Falls, New York.   The world’s best from 22 countries converged to compete in WKC Tatami-style divisions.  The competition was the largest WKC championships in history with over 2000 athletes. Team...

“Sensei Viola” Day in Pittsburgh

“Sensei Viola Day” is September 23rd 2019 in Pittsburgh to honor of Allegheny Shotokan Karate’s 50-year Anniversary WHEREAS, Allegheny Shotokan Karate, or Viola Karate as it is more commonly known today, was established in 1969 at East Allegheny High School by Bill Viola, Sr. and is celebrating its 50th anniversary of educating students in martial...

Finding a Cure for Parkinson’s Disease One “Kick” at a Time

Finding a Cure for Parkinson’s Disease One “Kick” at a Time An inspiring group of martial artists have made it their mission to KICK Parkinson’s disease—literally.  On September 3rd 2018 the Viola Karate Dojo and their sister program Norwin Ninjas assembled over 100 students to make a bold statement and kick non-stop for one mile...

Interview with Bill Viola Jr. Author of Tough Guys -MMA Book

Interview with Bill Viola Jr. Author of Amazon Best Seller ‘Tough Guys’ By Heather Holtschlag |  Oct. 16, 2017 Tough Guys (2017) Kumite Classic Press available on Amazon Why and when did you decide to write Godfathers of MMA? The real story of who invented the sport of MMA in America was in jeopardy of being lost forever....

Tough Guys Premiere

Tough Guys Premiere on SHOWTIME By Jonathan Guth jguth@heraldstandard.com GREENSBURG — The stars came out on Friday night at The Palace Theatre for a special showing of Showtime’s “Tough Guys” documentary that takes a first-hand look at what Brownsville native Bill Viola, Sr. and Frank Caliguri started 13 years before the first UFC event took...