About Miad Najafi

Miad has been training in martial arts for nearly 25 years. Initially training in Traditional Karate he was introduced to freestyle Karate and naturally gravitated towards the kickboxing aspect of martial arts. While at university Miad visited Bob Breens Academy in Hoxton London and his training immediately took on a whole new perspective.

Bob Breen was recognised as a world class instructor of Jeet Kune Do (JKD) and Filipino martial arts, Miad trained extensively in these arts and also trained in some Muay Thai (Thai-boxing) and by 1995 he had attained his black belt and was formerly certified as a qualified instructor under Guru Bob.

Soon after Miad was asked to box by Peter Kent, a traditional London boxing coach who introduced Miad to the Lynn Athletic Boxing Club, one of the most reputable boxing clubs in London. Having boxed for the Lynn, Miad was asked to compete for The London ABA Team vs The Army Boxing Team, winning his bout by a 3rd round TKO! However he soon realised that he was more of a martial artist than a competitor and was always looking outside of the boxing arena with regards to his future training.

As a JKD black belt, cross training had always been emphasised so when the BJJ explosion happened after the first four UFC events it was simply a matter of time before BJJ became an integral part of any serious martial artists training. The UFC showed how Royce Gracie a slight, skinny Brazilian went on to beat other well trained and much heavier martial artists in no holds barred competition. This proved to the martial arts world the effectiveness of BJJ and changed the face of martial arts forever.

Miad initially trained for a short time in freestyle wrestling under Kevin Darkus, a world silver medallist, but soon turned to BJJ briefly training under Maurizio Gomes. He was soon introduced to Roger Brooking, a world class BJJ competitor from Brazil. Over the next few years Miad attained his blue and purple belts under Roger, competing and winning medals in several BJJ UK tournaments including winning Gold at the first Gracie Invitational Tournament as a blue belt. During this time Miad has been involved in training several MMA fighters including Sol Gilbert for some of their MMA fights, helping Sol to win The Ultimate Combat European title. Miad himself has competed in some amateur MMA tournaments and has a record 5-1.

Miad received his brown belt from multiple time world champion Ricardo Vieira while training in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Widely respected amongst his peers, Miad has a reputation not only as a formidable competitor with success at many levels, but also an as astute and intelligent teacher. This man is an incredibly well rounded martial artist, as well as a qualified and practising osteopath.

Miad feels extremely proud to have trained under such world class instructors and to have had the pleasure to train with and compete against some of the other fantastic martial artists that he has come across over the years. He hopes that he can help his students to develop their skills, fitness and understanding of effective, high quality martial arts and to build a team based on respect and technique.