Before Dwight left California, Sifu Inosanto said to him, “You know, one of the best ways to get this stuff is to teach it as you learn. So since you’re the first person from your part of the world to come out to us, you have my permission to share it when you get home.”

Dwight’s original intention had been to spend two weeks at the camp and then go back to Barbados and show his friends what he’d learned.

But, as he says, he got bitten by the JKD bug and arranged an additional week off from work to head back out to Orange County.

After that, he started travelling out to Los Angeles as much as he could on an average of every six to eight weeks.

In the summer of 1984 he was back at CMAA camp, this time in St. Louis, Missouri and again in 1985.

When Did Things Start To Get “Serious”?

In 1985, he received his Apprentice Instructor certificate from Dan Inosanto and UMAA was “officially” started.

From October 1985 until May 1986, UMAA operated out of the garage of Dwight’s home in Barbados.

The South Florida Adventure Begins …
Miami’s Unified Martial Art Academy

That “backyard JKD” mentality continued in 1986 when he relocated to Miami, Florida as UMAA moved through a succession of parks, basketball courts, living rooms and garages.

In April 1988, the first step was taken to provide instruction to a wider clientele with the opening of the first “bricks & mortar” Academy in the warehouse district of Tamiami Airport. This small group, semi-private/semi-public tradition continued for 4 years as word about Jeet Kune Do spread throughout the South Florida area.

Locations 2 & 3

In December 1992, UMAA moved to its first “professional” location on busy Kendall Drive in southwest Miami-Dade county.

In March 1996, in its second Kendall Drive incarnation, UMAA provided students from ages 7 and up with 2400 square feet of state-of-the-art facilities, including heavy bag and wooden dummy stations, a pro shop and separate men’s and women’s shower and bathroom facilities.

There is also a UMAA affiliate branch in Barbados, where Sifu Dwight conducts periodic seminars.

The Instructorship Path

In October 1985, Dwight Woods was accepted as Apprentice Instructor into the Inosanto International Martial Arts Instructors’ Association.

In 1992 he was promoted to Associate Instructor.

In June 1997, Dwight Woods was awarded the rank of Full Instructor in Jun Fan Gung Fu/Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Martial arts by Dan Inosanto.

He also holds the rank of Senior Full Instructor in Muay Thai under Surachai Sirisute as well as teaching diplomas in Boxe Française-Savate under Salem Assli and has a “working knowledge” of Wing Chun Gung Fu through Francis Fong.

Who Else Has He Trained With?

Dwight has also trained with and been trained by Rick Faye, Chris Kent, (the late) Ted Lucaylucay, Jean-Jacques Machado, Cass Magda, Yorinaga Nakamura, Erik Paulson, Burton Richardson, (the late) Edgar Sulite, Paul Vunak and other luminaries in the martial art world.

The Miami Seminar Series

Since its first seminar in April 1989 with Pendekar Paul de Thouars and Burton Richardson, UMAA has afforded martial artists the opportunity to train with the world’s best.

In October 1989, Dan Inosanto conducted his first Miami seminar and continued to do so the first weekend of June every summer until 2006.

Over the decades, UMAA has also hosted (or co-hosted) seminars with Salem Assli (Boxe Francaise-Savate), Willem de Thouars (Kuntao Silat), Francis Fong (Wing Chun), Samuel Kwok (Wing Chun), Jean-Jacques Machado (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu), Cass Magda (JKD, Kali, Silat) Erik Paulson (Combat Submission Wrestling), Surachai Sirisute (Muay Thai), (the late) Herman Suwanda (Pencak Silat Mande Muda), Tim Tackett (Jeet Kune Do) and Paul Vunak (Jeet Kune Do, Kali).

That Was Then…

In April 2014 after 20+ years as a solo operator UMAA merged with TOT’L Martial Arts and Fitness and moved into its third Kendall location. However, this association ultimately proved incompatible and dissolved in July 2015.

…This Is Now

Since then UMAA has returned to its original roots as a small group class Academy inside The Health Joint located at 8015 SW 40th Street (Bird Road) in the Westchester area of Miami.

In July 2017, Sifu Dwight, along with his longtime student Carlos Redlich, performed an impromptu FaceBook Live show which was so well received, it gave birth to what is now known as The I Love Jeet Kune Do Broadcast, the Internet’s only weekly topical discussion of Jeet Kune Do and its “associated disciplines”.

Subsequent to starting The ILJKD Broadcast, Sifu Dwight realised another dream of “lending voice” to his myriad JKD colleagues by creating a second FaceBook Live show, The Jeet Kune Do Dialogues, another Internet first as the only weekly online conversation between members of the JKD clan.