Integrity Martial Arts

Integrity Martial Arts Real Martial Arts taught by a professional fighter who teaches the principles of Martial Arts along

It was a great weekend for the gym.We closed Saturday for my belt promotion at . I take a lot of pride in maintaining g...
05/26/2026

It was a great weekend for the gym.

We closed Saturday for my belt promotion at . I take a lot of pride in maintaining good relationships with the local gyms and martial arts community. awarded me my black belt, and I’m honored to be one of his students.

We had a great turnout from Integrity. Honestly, I was touched by how many people came out just to watch me get a piece of tape put on my belt 😂

Special thanks to Christopher Schultz and Kayed Riz for coordinating getting my gym keys back to Integrity afterward. Kayed may have picked me last on the mat, but he’s definitely picking me first in life — and honestly that’s probably more important.

But something bigger happened that I didn’t expect.

I watched perform against everybody there, and I realized in that moment he needed to be promoted.

Normally I try to promote people around their family because training is a team effort and families sacrifice too. This time felt different. I talked to Dub, he had a belt available, and we promoted Ielfri on the spot.

Ielfri represents Integrity perfectly on and off the mat. He’s a family man, a man of character, an excellent teammate, and he has become a very good teacher. He inspires me. I wanted him to get recognition in front of the wider community, and the moment just felt right.

Welcome Integrity’s first Brown Belt — Ielfri 🟫

I was proud of all our guys on the mat. We were basically the last team training there — not counting R.J. Littlefield ., who somehow is always the last human being to leave every gym ever 😂

Thank you to everyone who came out. It meant a lot.

Good to see everybody like always.

Saturday gyms closed we will be at wny, Monday we are closed Sunday will be buisness as usual. Have a safe weekend.
05/23/2026

Saturday gyms closed we will be at wny, Monday we are closed Sunday will be buisness as usual. Have a safe weekend.

7 years and a day ago I opened Integrity Martial Arts with puzzle mats I had to set up before every class, a dream, and ...
05/20/2026

7 years and a day ago I opened Integrity Martial Arts with puzzle mats I had to set up before every class, a dream, and honestly… more belief in the gym than belief in my ability to build it.

Yesterday felt more important to talk about the members than the gym itself.

Since I went full time it's been four straight years averaging around 90-hour weeks between the machine shop and the gym’s full-time schedule. No days off. No vacations. No backup plan. Most days started before sunrise and ended with me locking the gym doors at night, cleaning mats, answering messages, making dinner at 11 PM, and waking up five hours later to do it all again.

People see the classes now.
They see the team.
They see the atmosphere.

What they don’t see is how carefully that atmosphere was built.

The OG’s helped shape this place: Jarrod, Hayden, Amanda, Josh, Ielfri, Joe K, Alex, Butch, Derrick, Greyson, Emmett, Aurora, and all the Green Mat OG’s.

Together we built a culture where kids feel safe, challenged, and supported. A place where people come in exactly as they are and slowly adapt to the culture around them. They work hard. They become more themselves, not less. We tease them with love and challenge them with love.

Now we’ve built something bigger than just me.

Alex runs noon classes. Ielfri and Aaron cover classes when I’m sick. If they can’t, somebody else steps up.
Adam still shows up to help coach while injured.
We’ve built an entire kids staff that believes in what we’re doing and keeps helping the program grow — led by Butch.

That means something to me.

Because for a long time, if I wasn’t there, the gym stopped.

Now the message is strong enough that other people carry it too.

And the message is working.

Families are growing together here.
Kids are becoming more confident.
Adults are getting healthier and stronger.
People are finding a place where they belong.

Entire families join and buy in together.
Kids grow up right in front of our eyes.
Men and women find health, confidence, and a room full of people who genuinely care about them.
Competitors get hard training without making newer people feel unwelcome.

That’s the real success story of Integrity.

This gym was never supposed to just make fighters.
It was supposed to make people stronger.

And honestly… this place saved me too.

There were years where the gym was the thing that kept me moving forward. The mats gave me purpose during some of the hardest periods of my life. Somewhere along the way, this stopped being “my gym” and became a second home for a lot of people — including me.

We still don’t have the fanciest building.
We’re still growing.
But what we have is real.

Real friendships.
Real growth.
Real people trying to become better together.

To everyone who’s supported Integrity over these 7 years — whether you trained one class or have been here since the beginning — thank you.

Thank you for trusting me with your kids.
Thank you for believing in this crazy vision.
Thank you for helping build something that matters.

7 years down.

And I still feel like we’re just getting started.

Integrity is growing into exactly what I envisioned it becoming, and this latest outing at Grappling Industries showed j...
05/19/2026

Integrity is growing into exactly what I envisioned it becoming, and this latest outing at Grappling Industries showed just how much all the hard work is paying off.

I wear a lot of hats — owner, coach, teammate — and this weekend every one of those hats got some glaze on it.

The culture was there.

Amanda Rae and Joe LaDuca ran kids class and brought in a new member.
Ielfri Heytm Hernandez ran another great Jiu Jitsu class and wrestling practice.
Aaron Ackley ran Muay Thai and did a great job tightening up some fundamentals with the team.
Adam, still hurt, came out to help coach — and I needed the help.

That’s what a real team looks like.

Kayed Riz started us off.

He came to us older and not in great health when he started training. During camp for this tournament, his weight kept dropping and he ended up making 155 with no cut after originally signing up for 170.

First match, he got caught. He said afterward he felt present mentally, but honestly by the time I got to the mat he was already in deep trouble and had to tap.

We talked, adjusted strategy a little, and after that he looked much more like himself. He competed in both gi and no-gi, got forced into younger divisions, came close to finishing several matches, and landed a beautiful takedown.

What we learned:

Competition feels different
We found a few holes to tighten up
And you are never too old to chase something difficult and become healthy again

Much love, Kayed.

Christopher Schultz was up next.

Former military. Quiet. Tough. Humble. Hard working.

He came back to Jiu Jitsu with us and won gold in the 30+ division at the last tournament. This time he got bumped into adult divisions and I don’t think he faced anyone over 25. The guy is in our 40+ class killing it.

He won gold in gi and took third in no-gi in stacked brackets.

At one point he was stuck in a kimura so bad I almost stopped the match myself. I thought about it a lot afterward and realized how “Caveman” my mindset can be about winning sometimes. Going forward, I’ll protect my athletes even if they’re mad about it in the moment.

Chris later told me he would have understood completely.

That’s trust.

Chris may honestly be the mentally toughest competitor on our team.

Excellent performance.

Both Chris and Kayed told me afterward how much the 40+ class has been helping them, and hearing that meant a lot. That class is doing exactly what I hoped it would.

If you’re interested:
📅 Sundays – 8 AM at Integrity.

Joey Pasiak was next.

He had a TON of gi matches and won all of them, taking gold in a 7-man bracket.

In the semifinals he gave up a takedown after getting confused by inconsistent out-of-bounds calls. Joey’s response was hilarious and terrifying. Instead of getting upset, he just stood up and hit the guy with the Earth, and I’m pretty sure submitted him shortly after.

Joey is different.

Then he went into no-gi, thought his division was over, took pictures, I left… and apparently he still had more matches 😂

By the end of a very long day he took second in an 11-man bracket.

Joey is our young superstar. Keep your eye on him.

His demeanor, humility, humor, conditioning, and refusal to quit are everything I love in our athletes.

Hayden Litten is a veteran at this point.

He moved up from blue belt divisions into purple/brown/black belt divisions and had an absolute war of a tournament.

He went 1-1 on the day, but all the wrestling work he’s been putting in showed immediately as he continued the Integrity tradition of eventually running somebody through a table.

He had excellent north-south pressure and got caught in a sneaky submission by Cruton — another guy who trains with us often.

I offered $20 to the winner to make it interesting.

Cruton later got tapped by the guy Hayden mollywhopped, so Hayden ended up taking third.

Since Hayden didn’t win the money, I ended up giving him and Joey the cash I had on me for sushi after the tournament anyway.

Such a good day.

I’m proud of everyone on this team.

Thank you guys.

🥋🌊 Integrity’s newest Blue Belt 🌊🥋At Integrity, Jiu Jitsu is for everyone.Competitors. Parents. Beginners. People chasin...
05/14/2026

🥋🌊 Integrity’s newest Blue Belt 🌊🥋

At Integrity, Jiu Jitsu is for everyone.

Competitors. Parents. Beginners. People chasing medals. People chasing growth. Busy adults trying to become a little better every day.

Joe is a perfect example of that.

He’s a hard-working family man who trains as consistently as he can while balancing work, family, and life outside the gym. He helps with kids class, supports his teammates, helps me prep for competitions, and still finds time to improve himself.

He’s competed twice already and chooses to compete in the adult division, even though he could easily compete in masters.

What stands out most to me is his defense and composure. He’s tough to break, tough to discourage, and always willing to learn. That’s what I believe a blue belt should represent.

This promotion wasn’t built on talent alone. It was built on consistency, humility, resilience, and effort.

That’s what Integrity is about.

Please welcome Joe to the deep blue sea 🌊

🥋 Biggest belt test in Integrity history. 🥋This was the biggest and most successful belt test we’ve ever had at Integrit...
05/14/2026

🥋 Biggest belt test in Integrity history. 🥋

This was the biggest and most successful belt test we’ve ever had at Integrity, and I couldn’t be more proud of this team.

The kids showed up for each other.
The coaches showed up for belt reviews and helped keep everything running smooth.
The parents put in extra time getting kids to extra classes and supporting the process.

That’s what makes Integrity special. We grow together.

At Integrity, belts are earned through:
✅ Attendance
✅ Performance
✅ Technical ability
✅ Rolling ability
✅ Performing under pressure

Being promoted here means something.

Dan really stepped up as a leader during this camp and helped Lincoln get through the test. Those two are becoming like brothers.

Lincoln pushed through despite missing some review classes and showed a ton of heart.

Vlad came through under pressure and passed after putting in a ton of work preparing for this test.

Valeriy also passed and showed great improvement.

Lucas handled everything calmly and professionally like he always does.

Ray Ray had a very strong performance during testing.

Grayson edged out Grace for the highest score on the Gray/White belt test.

Aurora got through the test and helped Emmett get through his as well after both missed some review classes.

Emmett struggled at one point with a technique he normally hits live all the time, but instead of shutting down, he kept pushing and fighting through it. That growth matters.

The belts are awesome…

But the real victory is watching these kids become tougher, more confident, and better people.

That’s what Integrity is about.

05/10/2026

Happy mother's day to every one out there. Little tease to Aaron but thank you for all the mom's that make Integrity what it is.

Vlad is champion of the month. Vlad has always been very independent, very much into doing things his way and at times ...
05/09/2026

Vlad is champion of the month. Vlad has always been very independent, very much into doing things his way and at times resistive to correction. He has worked very hard to prep for his Grey-belt test. He has been very responsive to coaching since he came back from a break and his ability to work with other students has dramatically risen. Every kid in our program grows at a different pace and pattern. The best thing about Integrity is they all grow into good humans. They all learn how to live the name.

05/05/2026

Real world application of Jiu-Jitsu today. There is differences between the real world and the mat we will look at some of them tonight. If you have been waiting to try a class tonight is the night.

Last night was Parent Night at Integrity — and this is exactly why we do it.Parents and kids on the mat together.Laughin...
04/29/2026

Last night was Parent Night at Integrity — and this is exactly why we do it.
Parents and kids on the mat together.
Laughing. Struggling. Learning side by side.
Not watching from the sidelines…
being part of each other’s journey.
These are the moments kids remember.
These are the moments that build trust, confidence, and connection that goes way beyond the gym.
At Integrity, this isn’t just a place to train.
It’s a place where families grow stronger together.
Different ages. Different levels.
One team. One family.
That’s what we’re building here.

Address

1333 Strad Avenue Suite 107
North Tonawanda, NY
14120

Opening Hours

Tuesday 5:30pm - 9pm
Thursday 5:30pm - 9pm
Friday 5:30pm - 9pm
Saturday 10am - 2pm
Sunday 11am - 4pm

Telephone

(716) 390-5670

Website

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