World Martial Arts History

Paul F. Viele, Founder of WMA

"World Martial Arts is undoubtedly one of the top instructional video companies in business today." -
Michael James, publisher Black Belt Magazine (1979 -- 2000)



The story of World Martial Arts is one of vision and commitment to the needs of the serious martial arts practitioner. In the late eighties, the world of martial arts was exposed to one of the most dramatic changes in its history, no holds barred fighting. It was the ability to test one's true fighting capabilities without rules! For the first time in history the reality of American martial arts was exposed - we were drastically behind the times. I sat and watched in amazement as every American-based martial art system succumbed to no holds barred fighting on live Pay Per View Television. I was stunned to learn that not one of our martial arts systems could even come close to fending off Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (the first reality based style to enter America). I even attempted to test my own kickboxing system against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and I was easily defeated. I woke up one morning and decided it was time to face the truth. I could no longer continue teaching a system that was second rate. I immediately closed both of my martial arts schools and jumped on a plane to Brazil to discover the source of this new phenomenal fighting system. Since that day, I have never looked back!

In 1992, I founded World Martial Arts (WMA) , a company that would bring the very best martial art systems from all over the globe to video. My commitment to bringing nothing but the best has made WMA one of the leading martial arts video producers and distributors in the world. WMA notably has been the first company to introduce to the world the exotic and effective arts like Brazilian Vale-Tudo, Russian Sambo, Catch Wrestling and many more. Mario Sperry's Vale-Tudo instructional video series has become one of the most successful in the history of martial arts with over 60,000 videos sold world-wide. This series has received numerous awards and highly rated reviews.

As founder and spokesperson for World Martial Arts, I can assure you that you will get nothing but the best from our company. If you are a former or current customer, please look at some of the new and exciting products we have introduced in our new catalog. If you are not yet a current customer, we invite you to expand your abilities with the finest martial arts instructional videos available. If you have any questions about our products, please feel free to call us at 1-800-682-9842.