5 May 2010 - Interview by John Freeman

Alwyn Dixon was the IKMF Director in the United Kingdom (UK) from 1996 to 2002. He brought Krav Maga and Eyal Yanilov to the UK and organised the first ever Krav Maga instructor course in England in 1997.

What is your background in martial arts before Krav Maga? 
My background in Martial Arts before Krav Maga was karate and boxing. I was an amateur with my local boxing club and loved every minute of it! I studied Wadoryu (Karate) with Suzuki and Meiji and Shotokan with Oneida. To be truthful although I trained for quite a few years I didn't find the training challenging coming from a boxing background. I also didn't understand katas etc, nothing was explained as to why we were doing certain things and I couldn't get to grip with the sparring, which back in those days was the equivalent of "air guitar" playing! I understand things have changed a bit since then though.

How and when did you get into Krav Maga? What potential did you see in Krav Maga when you first came across it?
I got into Krav Maga when I was living and working in Israel during the early 90's. In the 80's a friend of mine was killed during his military term and I went to visit his family. His younger brother was teaching KM and kind of introduced me to it all! When i was back in Israel in the early 90's I was introduced to Eyal Yanilov (in fact his wife Merav was our company lawyer!) and I started my KM training with a 7 day intensive one to one course with Eyal. We trained 8 to 10 hours a day and then went on the KM clubs in the evening to continue! The potential I saw was massive. My friend's brother (Yuval) explained how it worked based on a persons instinctive behaviour etc and how women were loving it as they were becoming empowered by KM. It was an easy sale on me.
I brought KM to the UK in 1995 and together with Eyal we ran a series of weekend courses all over the UK. The first instructor's course was in 1997 at Derby University.

You were the first IKMF director in the UK from 1996 to 2002. How difficult was it to promote Krav Maga when nobody knew what it was about and there was very little information available on the web (which wasn’t that widespread at the time)?
It was not easy to promote back in those days. It took a lot of hard work and help from people like Paul, the owner of Combat magazine and Steve Graysons Martial Arts Mag etc. We also managed to get some great coverage on tv and newspapers including the Times and Observer as well as Maxim & FHM. It seems it's finally paying off now for the guys and girls in the UK which I'm very happy about.

You left the UK in 2001 to live abroad, I believe. Did you follow the development of Krav Maga in the UK until now?
I left the UK in 2001. In fairness I haven't been that close to what's happening in the UK since then.

Where are you living now?
I'm based in Thailand but work takes me to different places. I'm off to Bangladesh in a few weeks for example.

You have relaunched your website in a new design. What are your Krav Maga plans for the near and long-term future?
My friend battered me into submission on the website thing! He totally redesigned for me and I think he's done a great job. I'm planning to open a KM centre in Phuket and have been speaking with Eyal about coming over in probably August to participate on a week long course. It would be nice to be able to focus on KM again.

A lot has happened in respect to Krav Maga outside Israel. Where do you see Krav Maga in 10 years from now?
KM 10 years from now? I would like to see KM taught in schools for both self protection and fitness. I also think there will be a KM channel on cable soon. I think it will be a household word in 10 years' time. There are some great people involved and they are totally dedicated.