My teacher Tom Weismuller’s teacher is Christopher Petrilli. Chris Petrilli is a former U.S. Army Ranger, and for years Chris trained in the Philippines directly under one of the founding members of the Doce Pares Eskrima system, Cacoy Cañete.
Petrilli is now one of the highest ranked students of Cañete’s, holding the esteemed rank of 10th degree black belt in Doce Pares.
I have been training at UMA for about four months now and it has become very important part of my weekly routine. The first thing that struck me about UMA is the low cost. Being a college student I am unable to afford the high prices and contracts that are required at other schools. At thirty dollars a month there is not much to lose when you enroll in the class. When I began attending UMA I found that the program and the instruction far exceeded my expectations. Rob is a very competent instructor in everything he teaches his students. Rob is proficient in boxing, kickboxing, grappling as well as stick and knife fighting. After the short time I have trained at UMA I have found myself stronger, quicker, more flexible and more self-confident. My technique in the arts taught at UMA has greatly improved as well.
Rob has designed a program that uses the most effective techniques in a very pragmatically structured atmosphere. I would highly recommend this program to anyone who would like to increase their self defense abilities or if you would just like to get a good workout that is also fun, rather than the monotony of running on a treadmill. The only thing I would like to see happen is an increase in class time; I would gladly pay more money to train at UMA for additional days or hours.