12/02/2025
January 1st will mark exactly 20 years that I’ve been an instructor in Madison. It is with mixed emotions I finally announce publicly that I’ll be relocating my entire operation to a warmer climate effective January 1st. I’ll still be available to Madison Indiana for seminars, fi****ms training, specialized private training and remote video training sessions, but our local weekly group classes are ending with the new year.
I’ve been working towards this since pre-2020, and delayed many times to train several who were interested in taking over the local classes. At the end of the day, the risk/reward balance necessary to run an adult focused training center full time in a low income town of 12,000 just hasn't been realistic for any of my applicants; especially with the years of training, travel, and resources required to forge themselves into the type of leader that could do it effectively. Several have expressed interest in running things without doing all of that, but for us it will be elite quality or nothing at all, so the Madison Indiana branch will be closing.
I’m immensely grateful to have had the opportunity to train so many of you in an area that is frankly much more dangerous than it pretends to be. Over the last 20 years I’ve tracked 26 instances of our training protecting innocent people who were under immediate physical assault. Additionally, we’ve gone up against: rapists, abusers, a corrupt justice system, attempted murder, local government, home invaders, a corrupt school system & the bullies it protects, ego driven “prize fighters” who’ve based their whole personality on 80s karate movie villains, stalkers, violent drunks, shady local business practices, motorcycle gangs, and one time a very vicious mule. We’ve sheltered people who were being hunted, weathered sabotage and betrayal from every angle imaginable, built security systems for less fortunate survivors, coordinated & performed stunts for feature films, celebrated victories, learned from defeats, offered classes in 10 different martial arts, trained shooters who went on to break local qualifying records, spawned 7 other martial arts clubs, disarmed real world attackers armed with blades-blunt objects and fi****ms, and helped Madison collectively lose hundreds (maybe thousands) of pounds. Ultimately, we ran the most effective and successful self defense training this area will see in any of our lifetimes.
I achieved much more than I set out to accomplish when I originally assumed ownership of a failing MMA club and founded Counter Violence USA. Thank you for being a part of our growth process. I will be announcing new training opportunities in a more densely populated area in the new year.
Thank you for your efforts, your blood, sweat and tears, and for forging me into the instructor I am today, I could not have done it without you.
Special thanks to Madelynn C, Zakk W, Donald S, and Lindsay H; for always backing my decisions, believing in my vision, having my back through thick and thin, and being the best training partners I could have hoped for.
It’s been an honor.
-Coach Clay Folkner
