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Todd
Medina has been involved with mixed martial arts for over fourteen
years now and is one of the few men to have dominated the sport
since the beginning.
Todd was born and raised in Santa Ana, California. He began his
career in martial arts with black belt Ken Gabrielson as his instructor,
friend and role model. Todd was Ken's first student to compete in
the mixed martial arts world at Ultimate Fighting Championship 5.
After his UFC debut, the Japanese Vale Tudo Organization asked Todd
to represent the United States Team in Japan.
Todd and Vitor Belfort met at a photo shoot in Los Angeles and decided
to compare and refine their individual techniques together. This
chance meeting (in addition to Todd's victory at the Japanese Vale
Tudo Championship) led to the honor of being asked by Carlson Gracie
to join his fight team. Ken Gabrielson no longer had the time to
train as heavily as he did in previous years, so with Ken's blessing,
Todd made the switch and began tutelage under Grand Master Carlson
Gracie. Having the most successful and technical group of fighters
in the world, the Carlson Gracie team were training full time in
their Los Angeles academy. This facility became Todd's new home
away from home. Todd's new teammates and training partners included
Vitor Belfort, Rey Diogo, Amary Betti, Murillo Bustamante, Carlos
Betteo, Wallid Ismail, Rodigo Mederios, Conan Silveria and Mario
Sperry. Todd was the first and only American to be accepted by Carlson
Gracie and the entire team.
While
spending the better part of ten years studying under Carlson, Todd
has become the world's best fighter and coach. He has managed and
trained fighters for events such as Pride, UFC, KITC, SHOOTO, K-1
as well as other competitions in Japan, Hawaii, Guam, Mexico, the
Caribbean and the United States. Todd has a total of 13 world champions
on his team as well as just been inducted into the martial arts
hall of fame.
Todd
has taken the best of the proven techniques from each martial art
that he's learned over the years and carefully combined them into
one fighting system. Since Mr. Medina began utilizing this system,
Todd has gained a total of seven World Titles.
As
the sport is continuously evolving, Todd still consistently trains
with champions from many different disciplines because he believes
that steel sharpens steel and to stay the best you must train with
the best.
Mr.
Medina is now focusing more on the coaching aspect rather than the
fighting so he can give back to the community. A large part of Todd’s
instruction is with law enforcement and the military. Todd has taught
and continues to teach police departments such as:
LOS
ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT,
LONG
BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT,
HUNTINGTON
PARK POLICE DEPARTMENT,
ANAHIEM
POLICE DEPARTMENT AND
COLTON
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
It has also been Todd’s pleasure to instruct the UNITED STATES
MARINES and the UNITED STATES ARMY in hand to hand combat. Mr. Medina
considers these opportunities to be his and combat. |
Russian
Heavyweight World Champion
