THE KUGTAR STANDARD
A FAMILY STORY. A LIVING LEGACY.
SALINAS, CALIFORNIA
KUGTAR MMA began in Salinas in 1995. Meet Master V and Ma’am—the martial artists and teachers whose work helps shape the academy, on and beyond the mat.
SMALL BEGINNINGS. LASTING PURPOSE.
A small school became part of a family’s daily life: training, teaching and returning to the mat.
KUGTAR MMA began in Salinas in 1995. The commitment at its center was the work of martial arts—learning a skill, practicing it carefully and helping someone else understand it.
Through the years, that work has brought students, families and instructors together. The academy’s history lives in those relationships, in its traditions and in the knowledge people continue to share.
Today, children, teens and adults arrive with different experiences and ambitions. The purpose remains clear: develop martial arts skill through disciplined practice, patient instruction and responsibility toward others.
FOUNDER · MARTIAL ARTIST · TEACHER.
MASTER V.
VICENTE “VINCE” VANDERLIPE
Master V’s martial arts journey began with early exposure to Eskrima through his father. His Filipino martial arts roots are part of KUGTAR MMA’s story, alongside his continued exploration of traditional arts, striking and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
His teaching draws on practical application, technical study and competition experience. Understanding a technique means examining its details, practicing with purpose and learning how to explain it to someone else.
That work returns to the students on the mat: build a foundation, understand what you are practicing and keep developing it. Passing knowledge forward carries a responsibility to teach it with care.
CECILIA VANDERLIPE
MA’AM
Ma’am’s own martial arts journey includes early Judo and later Tang Soo Do and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Her experience as a martial artist informs the academy’s everyday teaching and her work with young students.
She emphasizes breaking a technique into clear steps and matching an explanation to the student’s age and understanding. Patience and appropriate challenge work together: students need to know what is expected and how to practice toward it.
Personal acknowledgment is part of that teaching. Knowing a student, welcoming a question and offering a useful correction help make the next step understandable. Those small moments contribute to a disciplined, caring academy.
OWNER • YOUTH PROGRAM DIRECTOR
TOGETHER
For more than three decades, Vince and Cecilia have built KUGTAR around martial arts they have actually lived—traditional striking, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, kickboxing, Eskrima, competition, coaching, and years of teaching students.
Their combined experience is what gives KUGTAR its depth: different disciplines, different perspectives, and one academy shaped over time by the people who built it.
LIVING HISTORY
The years between 1995 and today were built one class, one student and one family at a time. Students grew up, brought their own children to the mat and continued to share what they had learned.
Competition asks a student to prepare, make decisions under pressure and show composure. Effort, sportsmanship and the lessons brought back to training matter beyond the result.
Everyday progress also belongs in this story: understanding a correction, caring for a partner, returning after a break or trying a difficult skill again. Students who never compete remain a valued part of the academy.
EST. 1995
TODAY
Different years. The same responsibility.
KUGTAR today carries more than thirty years of accumulated experience into every class — from the programs Vince and Cecilia built, to the students they have developed, to the next generation now growing up around the academy.
The history is established. The work is still moving forward.
OUR STANDARD
A lasting academy begins with people.
Our vision is to carry the teaching forward: preserve the traditions, develop trusted instructors and keep personal care at the center of a family-led academy. We continue improving how we teach, communicate and support families while staying true to that purpose.
Not a monument to the past.
A standard carried into the present.