SIMI VALLEY

Krav Maga was developed by Czechoslovakian-born Imi Lichtenfeld, a champion heavyweight boxer, a professional in Ju-Jitsu and Judo as well as a dancer and trapeze acrobat. Imi's family was forced to emigrate, eventually landing in what was then Palestine and is now known as Israel. Soon after the Israeli state was set up in 1948, Imi was asked to build a system of fighting and self-defense for the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Imi carefully refined Krav Maga during his career as chief instructor of hand to hand combat for the IDF.