Kali Training · Fridays 6:00 PM & Saturdays 12:30 PM Self-defense built on angles, not brute strength.
Competitive Edge Karate is opening a new Kali training program, taught by Kyoshi Roger Dabney and built on iKali concepts. No prior experience, size, or athleticism required — just a willingness to learn how distance and timing work.
Filipino martial arts, in plain terms
Filipino Martial Arts trains you to work with a stick, a blade, and your empty hands as one connected skill — not three separate ones. It was developed by people who were often smaller and outnumbered, so it was never built around size or explosive strength. It was built around angle, timing, and distance.
That’s the whole idea behind this program at CEK: almost anything in your hand — a stick, an umbrella, a rolled-up magazine, your keys — becomes a real equalizer once you understand where to be and where your opponent isn’t. It’s a skill set, not a size requirement.
This is not part of CEK’s Black Belt Club, and it isn’t an extension of the karate curriculum. It’s a separate program, run on its own schedule, open to anyone regardless of prior martial arts background.
I want to be straight with you about something: I don’t teach iKali as the grandmaster of this system. I’m a student of it, just like you’ll be.
But here’s what I do bring — and why I believe it makes this program something you won’t find anywhere else in the Richmond area.
I’ve been training in martial arts for more than 48 years. In that time, I’ve competed at the national level in full-contact kickboxing as a 10th-ranked PKC Welterweight Champion, and students under my tutelage have earned 23 championship titles — 8 state, 8 regional, 6 national, and 1 world title. I’ve trained in American Open Style Karate under Danny Wilson, American Extension Fighting under Jim “Smokey” West, the Joe Lewis Fighting System under Joe Lewis, the Mike Sayoc Kali system, and spent decades in boxing gyms studying how fighters actually move, control distance, and create angles under pressure. Footwork and range management aren’t concepts I read about — they’re the foundation of everything I’ve done as a competitor and teacher.
What resonated with me most: FMA is fundamentally a close-range concept system. The trapping, the close-quarters entries, the transitions from weapon to empty hand — it maps directly onto what a trained fighter already understands about controlling range and making an opponent uncomfortable. If you’ve been in a real fight or real competition, you recognize it immediately.
So when I teach this program, you’re not just getting a Kali instructor. You’re getting a complete fighter — someone who sees FMA through the lens of footwork, timing, deflection, and close-range control that five decades of competitive training produces. I train under Tuhon Apollo Ladra in the Pekiti-Tirsia lineage, and the standard for this program comes from that lineage. But the interpretation, the context, the way I help you understand why it works — that comes from everything I’ve built over 48 years.
We train together. We figure it out together. That’s how authentic martial arts transmission has always worked.
If that appeals to you — this is the program.
— Kyoshi Roger Dabney
Founder, Competitive Edge Karate
You don’t need a martial arts background to start
NEVER TRAINED BEFORE
No belt, no background, no assumptions about fitness level. Every class starts from the same footwork fundamentals.
NOT THE “PHYSICAL” TYPE
This isn’t a strength contest. It’s built on positioning and leverage, so it works whether or not you consider yourself athletic.
THINKING ABOUT AGING PARENTS — OR YOURSELF
Because it doesn’t rely on speed or explosive strength, the same principles hold up as your body changes with age.
Schedule & pricing
6:00 PM
12:30 PM
Teens & Adults
$199 / month
TBD
TBD
Frequently asked questions
Kali is a Filipino combative system that trains stick, blade, and empty-hand movement together as one connected skill, built around angle, timing, and distance rather than size or strength.
No. The program is built for total beginners as well as experienced martial artists. Every class starts from the same footwork and positioning fundamentals.
No. This is a separate program with its own schedule and curriculum, open independently of any rank or belt in CEK’s karate program.
Kyoshi Dabney trains under Tuhon Apollo Ladra in the Pekiti-Tirsia Kali lineage as a student of the system, and teaches this program based on iKali training concepts combined with 48 years of competitive martial arts and fighting experience.
Nothing on day one. A gear package (training sticks, a training knife, and a uniform) is available once you decide to continue past your free trial.
Monthly tuition is $199. Enrollment and gear package pricing will be confirmed before your first paid month.
Fridays at 6:00 PM and Saturdays at 12:30 PM, open to teens and adults.