CALI COMBAT SYSTEMS

Founder & Head Instructor — Cali Combat Systems

Martial Artist | Fight Choreographer | Stunt Coordinator | Security Professional | Author | Podcaster | Devoted Father

"Research your own experience. Absorb what is useful. Reject what is useless. Add what is specifically your own." — Bruce Lee

 

Sifu Jeramiah Giehl is a San Diego-based martial arts instructor, fight choreographer, stunt coordinator, security professional, former bouncer, street fighter, journalist, podcaster, public speaker, and devoted father — a man whose life has been forged equally in the crucible of the street and the discipline of the dojo.

 

He holds Black Belts in Shorinji Ryu JuJitsu, Combat JuJitsu, and Songahm Taekwondo. He is a Full Instructor in Contemporary Jeet Kune Do and FMA under Sifu Paul Vunak — the man who trained US Navy SEAL Team 6. He is an Associate Instructor in the Jun Fan JKD Grappling Association under Sifu John Doty, with Black Belts under Sensei David Tice and a Blue Belt in BJJ under Professor Barry Jenkins Sr. — all under the JFJKDGA umbrella. He has trained directly under Guro Dan Inosanto — Bruce Lee's closest student and the foremost martial arts authority in the world. He is a Civilian Instructor in Israeli Krav Maga as well as a Level 1 Instructor certification in ATA/TAC Krav Maga. He is a certified Active Shooter Response instructor. He has ten years of professional security and bouncing experience. He trained full contact stick fighting from 2013 through 2023. He has survived a work injury, a car accident, a six-on-one attempted mugging, bare-knuckle underground fights, many street fights as a child in the inner city, and a years on the door as a bouncer.

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He has been teaching martial arts since 1996 — 30 plus years of passing forward what the mat, the street, and the dojo have taught him.

 

The lineage behind every class at Cali Combat Systems: Bruce Lee → Guro Dan Inosanto → Sifu Paul Vunak → Sifu Jeramiah Giehl.

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Sifu Jeramiah Giehl raised in the rough neighborhoods of Garfield Street and Libby Lake in Deep Valley, Oceanside, California in the late 1980's— hard blocks near the back gate of Camp Pendleton where the rules of the street applied early and applied often. The skinny kid with glasses was a visible target. Bullies and gangsters read him as easy. They were wrong — but he had to prove that repeatedly, in situations that did not come with referees.

 

His father — a former Marine who ran the household like a field commander — gave him his first tactical instruction: "If they push you, push them back. If they push you again, hit them in the nose." The lesson worked. Big guys run off crying when their nose bleeds. He became known in the neighborhood as a brawler through no fault of his own. He never started those fights. But he was learning, before he had a word for it, what real violence looked like and what it demanded.​

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In the late 1980s, before any formal training, he purchased The Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee. He credits it as one of the books that changed the direction of his life. The philosophy Bruce Lee laid out — absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own — gave him not just a framework for combat but a framework for living. He followed it with the VHS tape Bruce Lee's Fighting Method with Ted Wong and Richard Bustillo, and the four-book Bruce Lee's Fighting Method series. He bought a heavy bag, a speed bag, and started drilling stances and footwork in his room. He was not yet a martial artist. But he was becoming one.​​

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In high school, Sifu Jeramiah found his mentor — a man he compares to Mr. Miyagi and credits with changing his life. Under Mr. Dan Allegro, he began formal Taekwondo training in a modest dojo lit by humming fluorescent lights — and something shifted. The discipline, the structure, the respect demanded and given on the mat, the sweat-soaked Friday night sparring sessions and weekend tournaments. He earned the nickname "Ninja Boy." He found that learning to defend himself removed, almost paradoxically, the need to defend himself — the insecurity that had fueled the brawling dissolved in the dojo.

 

He was given the opportunity to clean the dojo and help teach kids classes in exchange for training — and he took it without hesitation. He would spend the rest of his life doing the same thing: paying for knowledge with work and paying that knowledge forward.

 

He competed in Wrestling in high school under a coach who integrated Greco-Roman, Sambo, and Judo elements alongside folkstyle — giving him a multi-system grappling foundation before he knew what multi-system meant. He trained in Aikido as part of the high school Martial Arts Club, of which he served as Vice President. He earned his Recommended Black Belt in Taekwondo in 1996 while working part-time.

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Before any formal film credits, before fight choreography, before film sets — there was Beach MTV. In May 1993, while still a teenager in Oceanside and in the midst of his early Taekwondo training, Sifu Jeramiah appeared on Beach MTV broadcast nationally from Oceanside, California as a Stunt Performer in the "Stupid Human Tricks" segment. National television. Unscripted. Physical. Fully committed. A fitting first camera appearance for a man who would spend the next three decades building one of the most authentic combat educations in San Diego.

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By 1995 and 1996 he was teaching Taekwondo at three locations simultaneously: Family Karate Oceanside, the YMCA in Vista, and a 24 Hour Fitness in Fallbrook. Thirty years ago. The teaching career that would span three decades and multiple countries had begun before he had graduated high school. During this time he briefly trained in Goju Ryu Karate in San Marcos. 

 

During this same period, Grand Master Pat Burleson — a legendary martial artist, full contact fighter, and combat sports pioneer — was teaching seminars at Family Karate Oceanside and at the annual Family Karate retreat. Sifu Jeramiah trained under him in Wadu Ryu JuJitsu, receiving his first formal JuJitsu instruction: learning the guard, mount, joint locks, chokes, sweeps, and the leverage-over-strength principles that make JuJitsu work regardless of size.

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In 1995 and 1996, while teaching at Family Karate, he delivered his first anti-drug and anti-gang school assembly presentations — high-energy martial arts demonstrations combined with motivational messaging targeting at-risk youth across multiple school districts. These early assemblies, born from his own experience in the neighborhoods of Oceanside, established the community advocacy thread that would run through his teaching career.

 

In 1996, at Family Karate Escondido, he received his first Kali training — the school was incorporating Filipino Martial Arts into its curriculum at the time. That first contact with the angles, Sinawali  (a practice he would continue for a long time), the flow, and the weaponization of body motion planted a seed that would define his martial arts career for the next three decades.

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During the mid-1990s, he began his first exposure to Original Jeet Kune Do through a student of Jerry Poteet — one of Bruce Lee's original Chinatown students. This was his earliest contact with JKD's foundational principles: the stop hit, the straight lead, the economy of motion that Bruce Lee had developed in his Chinatown school.

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The UFC launched in 1993 and changed combat sports forever. Sifu Jeramiah was watching. He began training in Muay Thai, Trap Fighting (an offshoot of Shooto/shoot fighting integrating striking and ranges from Jeet Kune Do Kickboxing, and Wing Chun Trapping, with Submission Grappling from Shooto / Shoot Fighting), and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

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His wrestling background from high school transferred immediately. He was putting Blue and Purple Belts on their backs and catching them in leg locks and ankle locks from his first grappling sessions. The competitive edge was real. The push to fight MMA was building.

 

But his teeth had been cut on the street, not on a mat with padded hands and a referee. The cage had rules that cut out weapons and multiple opponents. It was not real enough for what he was actually training for.

 

The moment that crystallized his combat philosophy: he was at a Midnight Fight Club — an unsanctioned, bare-knuckle, no-rules event — finishing a fight with a rear naked choke when his opponent's friend jumped in and stomped on his throat. No referee. No tapout. The limitation of a sport grappling mindset in a street situation revealed itself in one brutal, direct moment. The ground was dangerous. Multiple opponents were real. Mass attack. Multiple opponents. Weapons in play. The asymmetrical tools that sport rules eliminate but street violence deploys freely. He knew then that he needed a more complete system — and that search would consume the next two decades.

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A work injury to his lower back in 2000, followed by a car accident in 2001 that re-injured it, created chronic pain he carries to this day. The combination was devastating — physically, psychologically, and in terms of his training momentum. Reduced to managing pain, navigating doctors, and dealing with the mental weight that serious injury inflicts on anyone who has built their identity around physical discipline, he went through a genuinely difficult period.

 

He was healing. Slowly. The mat would still be there. But the setback was real and it demanded real time before he could fully return.

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In 2002, he trained at a Krav Maga Worldwide location in Dallas — the organization founded by Darren Levine, who was personally certified by Imi Lichtenfeld, the Grand Master and creator of Krav Maga. During this time he also briefly trained at the Lions Den in Dallas, under Guy Mezger in MMA. His training at KMW Dallas was the beginning of his formal Israeli combat education — the foundation that would later expand into multiple Krav Maga lineages and eventually define the First 2 Fight Retzev Combatives curriculum at CCS. The aggression-first, simultaneous defense-and-offense methodology of KMW aligned directly with what the Midnight Fight experience had taught him: do not wait to be hit.

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Relocating to Santa Maria, California between 2010 and 2012, He continued to train in Krav Maga when he moved to Santa Maria. Sifu Jeramiah trained formally in Haganah — drawing from the Hebrew word for "defense." Haganah is explicitly offense-oriented — pre-emptive striking, weapon defense, military team tactics, and an ethos that makes no distinction between self-defense and offensive neutralization of a threat.​ The Haganah methodology deepened his understanding of the Israeli combat tradition: the historical and cultural roots of Krav Maga in the Jewish fighting experience, the evolution of the system through the IDF, and the reason Israeli combat systems treat every violent confrontation as a potential life-or-death situation requiring a decisive, aggressive, offensive response.​

 

In 2012,  when he moved to Phoenix in 2012 he continued to train in Krav Mago. One day northwest of Phoenix in the Peoria area, six men attempted to jump him. He fought them off. He was punched through his glasses — the frame gouged into his face, leaving a scar above his right eye that he carries to this day. One of the men. a local MMA fighter, tried to pull guard on him — attempting to use Jiu-Jitsu in his attack — in response he pounded the man into the concrete while staying upright. He fought through all six as they pounded on him, picking them apart one by one as they scattered. He was the last man standing. Half his face was covered in blood. Unable to see out of his right eye due to all the blood. He went to the hospital and got stitches.

 

He felt, despite the outcome, completely unprepared. What he had survived felt more like luck than skill — and he did not intend to rely on luck again. He got back on the mat with renewed intensity and clarity of purpose.

 

The injuries of 2000-2001 had been a physical setback. The assault incident in 2012 was a wake-up call. Together they form the period of setbacks that forged the training philosophy behind Cali Combat Systems: prepare completely, train honestly, and never mistake sport competence for street readiness.

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Following the mugging and returning to serious training with renewed focus, the Phoenix years became the most productive training period of Sifu Jeramiah's life — expanding simultaneously across Taekwondo (he started over working his way back up to Black Belt as an adult to overcome his injuries and prove he could do it trying to overcome his injuries), he also returned to studying JKD, Kali, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with a commitment and intensity that would eventually produce the complete four-system curriculum of CCS.

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Upon settling into serious training in Phoenix, he trained under a student of Ted Wong — Bruce Lee's personal training partner and one of the foremost authorities on Bruce Lee's original Jun Fan methods. This deepened his understanding of JKD's foundational footwork, the fighting measure borrowed from fencing, and the scientific approach to interception and timing that Lee had refined throughout his life. Combined with the Jerry Poteet lineage exposure from the mid-1990s, this gave him both primary channels of Original JKD — the Poteet and Wong transmissions — as formative threads in his personal JKD education.

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One of his early priorities in Phoenix was finding serious Filipino Martial Arts training. He began training under a student of Doug Marcaida — the internationally recognized blade artist and FMA expert known for his devastating efficiency with edged weapons and the seamless transition between armed and unarmed ranges. The Marcaida lineage brought a specific blade-work emphasis that sharpened the foundational Kali system Sifu Jeramiah had been building since 1996 and pointed directly toward the formal certifications that would follow.

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In 2013, training at the Phoenix JKD Academy with Shahram Moosavi in JKD, Kali, and BJJ, Sifu Jeramiah began training full contact stick fighting. Moosavi's Kali curriculum provided the framework; from their first classes, full contact stick sparring was part of every session. Real rattan. Real contact. Real pressure — in every class, not just competition. Over the years that followed, this training eventually extended to formal competition as well, and he competed in full contact stick fighting through 2023, when injuries required him to step back. The decade of full contact stick work — from 2013 through 2023 — is the experiential foundation behind every stick drill, every defang, and every flow sequence he teaches.

 

Moosavi holds a Black Belt under Megaton (Rodrigo Medeiros) — one of the most decorated figures in international BJJ competition history. Training under him provided both competition-sharpened BJJ technique and the JKD integration that makes grappling applicable across all ranges of combat. Under Michael Akitoshi Stinson — Gracie Combatives, the self-defense-oriented BJJ methodology developed by Helio Gracie for real-world application.

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He began formal training with Tuhon Apolo Ladra in the Tri-V System of Pekiti Tirsia Kali — in Warrior Kali (Single and Double Stick), iKali Combat Blade, and P3 Live Hand. Pekiti Tirsia is the official combat system of the Philippine Marine Corps and Special Action Force. Alongside this, he trained with Master Anthony Landgren in Warrior Kali.

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In Phoenix, his Israeli combat training expanded through two additional lineages: he trained toward his Camo Belt in Warrior Krav Maga under Master Anthony Landgren — in the Warrior Krav Maga progression, and he also trained under Grand Master Daniel Longoria in ATA/TAC Krav Maga, earning his Level 1 Instructor credential and beginning to teach the TAC Krav Maga / Warrior Krav Maga curriculum at Lee's ATA in Tempe, Arizona.

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What distinguished Sifu Jeramiah's approach at Lee's ATA was not merely the Krav Maga curriculum on the surface — it was what was happening beneath it. He was subtly weaving Jeet Kune Do principles into the Krav Maga instruction: the interception timing, the economy of motion, the forward pressure philosophy that JKD and Krav Maga share at their core. To the untrained eye it looked like Krav Maga. To anyone with JKD experience, they could see the deeper system underneath. This depth did not go unnoticed. His instructor at Lee's ATA recognized the sophistication of what he was teaching — sought him out specifically — and invited him to share his insights and contribute his expertise to the program. It was a validation not only of his Krav Maga knowledge but of the integrative martial intelligence that would define Cali Combat Systems.

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Earning his 1st Dan Black Belt in Songahm Taekwondo again as an adult — pushing through chronic back pain and exercise-induced asthma to prove it was possible and to complete a credential that had been interrupted by injury years before.

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Teaching PE — a blend of Taekwondo and Krav Maga — to K-3rd graders at Shalom Montessori, a private Jewish school, integrating Israeli cultural and historical context into the curriculum. Teaching Krav Maga at the Chabad of the East Valley Men's Club. Teaching his First2Fight six-week self-defense course at the Phoenix area Synagogue. Teaching Warrior Krav Maga and TAC Krav Maga at Lee's ATA Tempe.

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Moving back to San Diego in 2016, ​He became the Official Head Coach of the San Diego Chinatown JKD (Jun Fan Gung Fu) Study Group — launched January 2017, the first of its kind in the region. He trained directly under Sifu Tim Tackett — one of Bruce Lee's original Chinatown students — and received his Senior Second Level Coach rank at the recommendation of Sifu Mike Blesch. This placed him in the direct lineage of Bruce Lee's Chinatown school, adding the Tackett transmission to the Jerry Poteet and Ted Wong lineage connections that had been part of his JKD education since the 1990s and early 2010s.

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Having moved back to San Diego the previous year, he founded Cali Combat Systems in 2017 — and has never looked back. CCS has trained civilians, stunt actors, law enforcement, military, and security professionals who have carried these tools directly into their professional and personal lives. With a 5-star rating across nine years of operation, CCS has trained hundreds of students across the US and into Mexico.

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That same year, Sifu Jeramiah attended the International Military Edged Weapons Conference where Sifu Paul Vunak was present. Vunak recognized what Giehl had built over the previous two-plus decades. He certified him as a Phase 1 PFS Instructor at the conference, he was also awarding his Military Edged Weapons and Rapid Assault Tactics (Ground & Clinch) credentials. He then began training with Vunak in Oceanside on a regular, ongoing basis.

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He also completed training under Master Alain Cohen — 5th Dan, authorized by the Wingate Institute, Israel's national sports and physical education authority and the official IDF Krav Maga certification body — through the Krav Maga Federation of America. He earned his Level 1 - Civilian Instructor certification, received his Brown Belt, and his Law Enforcement Control Tactics (LECT) certification — his most direct connection to the IDF source tradition available outside Israel. He also trained with Darren Levine's in Defense Against Attacks in Tubular Environments: trains, buses, aircraft, hallways, and hostage scenarios. 

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During this period, he also had the opportunity to attend numerous conferences, conventions, and training events, where he trained with Randy Couture at a RevGear University Convention in Couture's Dirty Boxing method—a system that blended Greco-Roman wrestling with close-range dirty boxing. This approach inspired Sifu Paul Vunak to refer to his own fighting method "Filthy MMA," a title that continues to be used today by Cali Combat Systems.

 

Although his time training in this method was limited, the experience played a significant role in helping him integrate his high school wrestling background with JuJitsu, Trapfighting/Shooto, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), and Jeet Kune Do (JKD) into one cohesive fighting system.

 

During this same period, he also had the opportunity to train with Sifu Francis Fong in Wing Chun, as well as under Guro David Seiwert in DFA Kali-KunTao, where he earned credentials in Single Stick, Double Stick, Knife Defense, and Knife Offense.

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He began teaching Chinatown JKD at a local gym at their request — which led to the invitation to teach at the UCSD Recreation Center, instructing university students in JKD and Kali through 2018. He simultaneously taught at local academy.

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From 2018 through 2022, Sifu Jeramiah served as Sifu Paul Vunak's assistant instructor, stepping in to teach Vunak's IPTP (Intensive Personal Training Programs) regularly as Vunak's health required it. He was in the room. He was on the mat. Assisting teaching the RAT curriculum. He eventually earned his full Progressive Fighting Systems Descendants of the Masters - Full Instructor certification in Contemporary JKD and FMA — placing him among the select worldwide group authorized to teach the complete PFS curriculum and offer official IPTP certification.​

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The film work began alongside the founding of CCS. In August 2017, he appeared as Martial Artist and Performer on Enigma 2, produced by Progressive Fighting Systems in San Clemente. In October 2018, he appeared with Sifu Paul Vunak himself on Asymmetrical Fighting featuring Sifu Paul Vunak, produced by PFS in Carlsbad — performing alongside his primary instructor on camera, a credit that speaks directly to the trust and respect of that relationship.

 

Through his PFS training and affiliation under Sifu John Doty — a direct student of Sifu Larry Hartsell — he received his Associate Level Instructor certification in the JFJKDGA (formally placing him in the lineage: Bruce Lee → Sifu Larry Hartsell → Sifu John Doty → Sifu Jeramiah Giehl), and under Professor Barry Jenkins Sr. (who also within the JFJKDGA organization) he received his Blue Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

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In May 2019, he made his narrative film debut in Unspoken — a short action film produced by AzkoFrames Co., directed by Andrew Ascough, shot in Escondido, California. He appeared as Fight Crowd Extra, and Fight Crowd Member — his first narrative film credit, bridging three decades of martial arts training directly into a cinematic fight sequence context.

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He directed and taught the JKD Jr. Dragons after-school self-defense and bully-prevention program for K-6 students at Kavod Charter School — adapting the PFS Jr. Dragons curriculum to integrate JKD, Taekwondo warm-up forms, Kali empty-hand skills, and Krav Maga with Israeli and Jewish cultural elements appropriate for the school's population.​

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In 2019 and 2020, Sifu Jeramiah undertook one of the most demanding training commitments of his martial arts career, regularly driving from San Diego to Marina del Rey multiple times each week to train as a full-time student at the Inosanto Academy of Martial Arts. There, he trained directly under Sifu/Guro Dan Inosanto in Jeet Kune Do, Filipino Martial Arts (Kali/FMA), Southeast Asian Martial Arts—including Silat and Muay Thai (Thai Boxing)—as well as Shooto (Shoot Fighting). During this same period, he also trained under Sifu Francis Fong in Wing Chun.

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Concurrently, Sifu Jeramiah participated in Guro Daniel Sullivan's Filipino Dirty Boxing Camps and Instructor Courses in 2018 and 2019, where he studied the integration of Panantukan, Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do, Savate, and Silat into an effective empty-hand combat system with an emphasis on asymmetrical fighting tactics, including headbutts, eye gouges, elbows, knees, sweeps, and other close-quarter combat applications.

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During this same period, Sifu Jeramiah also had the opportunity to train with Guro Burton Richardson at various seminars, studying Richardson's practical self-defense systems, including Knife Defense for the Street, Battlefield Kali, and Gun Defense for the Street. 

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Sifu Jeramiah also had the opportunity to attend Guro Ron Balicki's annual MARS (Martial Arts Research Systems) Training Camp, where he received intensive instruction in Jeet Kune Do, Filipino Martial Arts (Kali), Silat, Muay Thai, Shoot Wrestling, and Active Shooter Defense.

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Following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, while still living in San Diego, he undertook another demanding training commitments of his martial arts career. Multiple times each week, he drove to Pasadena to train under Professor David Tice, a direct student of Sifu Larry Hartsell, within the Jun Fan JKD Grappling Association lineage—the lineage under which all three of his primary grappling credentials are organized.

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Professor David Tice was a pioneering martial artist best known for developing "Catch-Jitsu," an innovative system that seamlessly blended the submission chains of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with the aggressive takedowns, rides, and punishing joint locks of traditional Catch Wrestling. His own grappling journey began under Sifu Larry Hartsell in Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do Grappling before expanding his education under many of the most influential figures in modern martial arts. He earned his first Black Belt under Machado Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt Lonnie Phillips, became an affiliated Black Belt under Gene LeBell and Gokor Chivichyan in the Hayastan Grappling system, achieved expert-certified "Leglocker" status under Sensei Erik Paulson in Combat Submission Wrestling (CSW), and ultimately earned the rank of 5th Degree Black Belt under Hanshi Ken Penland. Collectively, the Tice-Hartsell-LeBell-Chivichyan-Paulson lineage preserved the technical DNA of traditional Catch Wrestling, Russian Sambo, Shooto, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Japanese JuJitsu, and decades of pressure-tested submission grappling.

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After four years of disciplined training within this lineage, he earned three formal credentials: 1st Dan Black Belt in Shorinji Ryu JuJitsu, 1st Dan Black Belt in Combat JuJitsu, and Level 5 Professional Grappler. More importantly, he inherited Professor Tice's integrated grappling methodology, which united Catch Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Sambo, Judo, Shooto, and Japanese JuJitsu into a single cohesive system. Before his passing, Professor Tice entrusted this knowledge to a select group of dedicated practitioners, including world-renowned UFC referee Herb Dean and Sifu Jeramiah. Today, Cali Combat Systems continues to preserve and teach this distinctive grappling curriculum as part of its comprehensive martial arts program.​

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The curriculum drew from Catch Wrestling, Combat JuJitsu, Russian Sambo, ShorinJi Ryu JuJitsu, and BJJ — synthesized through the Tice-Hartsell-LeBell-Chivichyan-Paulson framework into a complete submission grappling education covering every range from standing clinch to deep ground. This training period built the grappling spine of the IGFS curriculum at CCS.

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In 2023, Sifu Jeramiah delivered international seminars in Mexico — traveling alongside Sensei David Tice to bring the CCS curriculum across the border. He has also taught seminars independently across the United States, covering the full CCS curriculum from JKD and Kali to RAT, grappling, and the specialized seminar menu.

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The most recent film work of his career came in 2023, with back-to-back productions for independent films in San Diego as an Actor, Fight Choreographer, Stunt Coordinator. His first triple credit on a television production — designing combat sequences, rehearsing performers, managing on-set safety protocol, and stepping in front of the camera. His most expansive credit to date. Three simultaneous roles: designing all combat sequences through pre-visualization, coordinating stunt safety, and performing as a principal actor. Every fight sequence draws from functional JKD, Kali, Silat, Krav Maga, and Combat JuJitsu — real systems, translated to cinematic language by a practitioner who has lived them. He is listed on IMDb: imdb.com/name/nm14518651 and Backstage: backstage.com/u/jeramiah-giehl as an Actor, Stunt Performer, Fight Choreographer, and Stunt Coordinator.

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THE TEACHING RECORD

• Family Karate Oceanside / YMCA Vista / 24 Hour Fitness Fallbrook (1994-1997): Taekwondo for adults and children at three locations simultaneously. Anti-drug and anti-gang school assembly presentations during this time.

• Shalom Montessori — K-3rd Grade PE (Phoenix, 2012-2013): Taekwondo and Krav Maga physical education to K-3rd graders at a private Jewish school, integrating Israeli cultural and historical context.

• Chabad of the East Valley Men's Club — Krav Maga (Phoenix, 2016): Teaching Krav Maga at the synagogue Men's Club, blending Israeli combat methodology with the Jewish historical context of Krav Maga's origins.

• Lee's ATA Tempe — Warrior/TAC Krav Maga (2015-2016): Teaching ATA/TAC Krav Maga and Warrior Krav Maga at Lee's ATA Tempe — and being sought out by his own instructor to share the JKD-integrated depth he was weaving into the curriculum.

• UCSD Recreation Center — JKD/Kali (2017-2018): Teaching JKD and Kali to university students at the UCSD Recreation Center.

• Local Academy — JKD/Kali (2017-2018): Teaching JKD and Kali to adults and youth.

• Assistant Instructor, Sifu Paul Vunak / PFS (2018-2022): Teaching Vunak's IPTPs as an assistant instructor.

• Kavod Charter School — Jr. Dragons After School Program (2019): Directing and teaching the JKD Jr. Dragons self-defense and bully-prevention program for K-6 students.

• Assistant Instructor, Shihan David Tice (2020-2024): Teaching Catch-Jitsu as an assistant instructor, at various seminars nationally and internationally.

• Cali Combat Systems (2017-Present): Founder and Head Instructor. Group classes, private lessons, semi-private sessions, workshops, seminars, and IPTP certifications. Civilians, law enforcement, military, security professionals, stunt performers, women and children. San Diego and beyond.

• International Seminars — Mexico with Sensei David Tice (2023): International curriculum delivery alongside Sensei David Tice.

• Independent US Seminars (Ongoing): Stick Fighting, Knife Grappling, Street Trapping, Gun Grappling, Street Grappling, CCS MMA HIIT Fit, and Fight Choreography Training — delivered nationally to martial arts schools, gyms, corporate environments, and community organizations.

• Adaptive Martial Arts (Ongoing): Modified martial arts instruction to clients who need physical accommodations.

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THE RANK AND CERTIFICATION RECORD

Rank:

• Full Instructor — Contemporary JKD & FMA / Kali (Sifu Paul Vunak / PFS)

• Full Instructor — Rapid Assault Tactics, Clinch & Ground (Sifu Paul Vunak / PFS)

• Full Instructor — Military Edged Weapons (Sifu Paul Vunak / PFS)

• 1st Dan Black Belt — Shorinji Ryu JuJitsu (Sensei David Tice / JFJKDGA)

• 1st Dan Black Belt — Combat JuJitsu (Sensei David Tice / JFJKDGA)

• 1st Dan Black Belt — Songahm Taekwondo (Master Anthony Landgren)

• Civilian Instructor — Israeli Krav Maga (Master Alain Cohen / KMF-AC / Wingate Institute)

• Associate Instructor — Jun Fan JKD Grappling Association (Sifu John Doty)

• Instructor of Double Stick — DFA Kali-KunTao Silat (Guro David Seiwert)

• Instructor of Single Stick — DFA Kali-KunTao Silat (Guro David Seiwert)

• Instructor of Knife Defense — DFA Kali-KunTao Silat (Guro David Seiwert)

• Instructor of Knife Offense — DFA Kali-KunTao Silat (Guro David Seiwert)

• Level 5 Professional Grappler (Sensei David Tice / JFJKDGA)

• Senior 2nd Level Coach — Jun Fan Gung Fu / Chinatown JKD (Sifu Tim Tackett)

• Level 1 Instructor — ATA/TAC Krav Maga (Chief Master Daniel Longoria)

• Brown Belt — Israeli Krav Maga (Master Alain Cohen / KMF-AC / Wingate Institute)

• Camo Belt — Warrior Krav Maga (Master Anthony Landgren)

• Blue Belt — Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Professor Barry Jenkins Sr. / JFJKDGA)

 

Certifications:

• Law Enforcement Control Tactics (Master Alain Cohen / KMF-AC)

• Active Shooter Defense — FEMA & DHS-EMI

• Preparing for Mass Casualty Incidents in Schools, Higher Education & Houses of Worship — FEMA & DHS-EMI

• CERT Academy 39 — San Diego Fire Department (2019)

• Tactical First Aid — AMA (2019)

• Warrior X-Fit / Cage Fitness Coach / Fitness Kickboxing (Chief Master Michelle Landgren-Lee)

 

Key Training Lineage:

Guro Dan Inosanto | Sifu Paul Vunak | Sifu Tim Tackett | Sensei David Tice | Master Alain Cohen | Guro David Seiwert | Master Anthony Landgren | Tuhon Apolo Ladra | Guro Burton Richardson | Guro Daniel Sullivan | Sifu John Doty | Grand Master Daniel Longoria | Darren Levine | Grand Master Pat Burleson | Shahram Moosavi | Professor Barry Jenkins Sr. | Sifu Francis Fong

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The intro class is $15. That is the only barrier between you and authentic JKD, Kali-Silat, Israeli Krav Maga, and submission grappling — taught by a direct lineage instructor with 30+ years on the mat, 30+ years of teaching, and ten years on the door.

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Book your intro class today. The mat is waiting.

 

"Research your own experience. Absorb what is useful. Reject what is useless. Add what is specifically your own." — Bruce Lee

 

"Give me two days, and I can turn you into a fully competent street fighter with the same system taught to the Navy SEALs." — Sifu Paul Vunak

 

"In the field of strategic Knife Defense, the Pekiti-Tirsia System of Kali is the most progressive, practical and sophisticated system of Tactical Knife Self-Defense and Edged Weapon awareness that I have ever encountered." — Guro Dan Inosanto