Tom Sotis
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Tom Sotis is an edged-weapons instructor and the founder of the modern mixed martial art known as AMOK!. Sotis has had an active martial career spanning three decades. Between 1970 and 1984, Sotis trained mainly in Kenpo, Tae Kwon Do, Jiu Jitsu, Boxing, and Kickboxing. In July of 1980, Sotis was coached to win the World Professional Karate Organization's Light Middleweight Kickboxing Championship.
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[edit] Experience
During his only break from formal training, Sotis gained extensive streetwise experience working as a criminal investigator, bounty hunter, and bodyguard in Los Angeles, California. After more than 100 encounters, the reality of edged-weapons convinced him to research both blunt and edged-weapon methodologies. After returning to New England, and while pursuing martial arts, he continued with law enforcement activities for another 15 years.
[edit] Filipino/Malay Experience
Returning to the East Coast in 1983, he continued Kenpo-Kobudo training under the tutelage of Soke Eugene Coutu and was introduced to Kuntao by Frank Masiello. In 1996, Sotis was invited to train exclusively, in indigenous Filipino bladework by the legendary Leo T Gaje Jnr in Philippine mountain camps. He became the first person to ever learn all three of Gaje's knife systems: Pekiti Tirsia Daga, Dagaso, and Qol Demama. Present at the graduation was Lt Col Ecarma III of the Philippine Presidential Security Command, who presented Professor Sotis with the Order of Sikatuna, the highest award ever given to a martial artist by the Philippine Armed Forces.
[edit] AMOK! Combatives and the International Blade Fighters Guild
In early 1992, Sotis founded the International Blade Fighters Guild. While promoting the IBFG in Russia and Bashkortostan in 1994, he was challenged by military instructors at the Spetsnaz Training Compound in Ufa. Consequently, he was appointed Special Advisor to the Special Forces (Spetsnaz) and to date, he remains the only American ever to receive the unit's coveted honorary Ruby Beret.
