CHULA VISTA (KGTV) — A martial arts academy in Chula Vista is making waves in competitive fighting, producing top-ranked young competitors under the legendary American Kickboxing Academy banner.
The American Kickboxing Academy, or AKA San Diego, is part of an elite global network with studios only found in select locations around the world, including Thailand and India.
However, this Chula Vista location is putting local kids on the international jiu-jitsu map.
AKA San Diego is known for producing some of the greatest fighters in the world, including UFC champions Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov. That same training is also being taught in Chula Vista, and it's already producing the next wave of great fighters.
"We have numerous kids that are ranked number 1 in 2025 in the grappling neck and in the grappling world in jiu-jitsu," said coach Tony Caravelli, who has been with AKA since 1985.
Caravelli is training his students in Jiu-Jitsu, Taekwondo, Muay Thai Kickboxing, and more.
In 2025, they competed in about 20 of the most prestigious tournaments around the United States.
"A lot of them have done very well in the Grappane X World League. Out of a small group of a team that we have, we produced 146 medals," Caravelli said.
Those medals represent the hard work these young fighters put in throughout the past year, and now they're training for tournaments in 2026, when AKA plans to compete in another 20 tournaments nationwide.
Besides training to be the best, AKA San Diego is also working to make an impact in these fighters' lives outside the studio.
"Really, our main goal here is to help children transform them for life," Caravelli said.
For student Amanda Flores, the training helped her avoid being bullied at school.
"I started getting braver and more confident in myself to speak up to the people who like tease me and stuff like that," Flores said.
For Layla Reeves, she said she loves coming to train because it instills values and helps her be better at competition.
"It also builds self-discipline, responsibility, and dedication and it helps, it helps me a lot when I wanna compete in like World League," Reeves said.
Other fighters, like Lorenzo Farrale, said he loves training for his loved ones.
"I can protect my family members," Farrale said.
