PUNCH. KICK. REPEAT.

WITH MARTIAL ARTS PIONEERS JOE CORLEY AND JEFF SMITH AT THE HELM, THE NEW PKA IS ON THE HUNT FOR THE GREATEST STRIKERS ON THE PLANET!

- FLOYD BURK

Here’s an easy-to-overlook fact in the grappling era: There are some 100 million strikers in the world. “Strikers,” of course, is a martial arts category that includes punchers and kickers. Think of them as people who prefer to wage war while standing.

“That’s 10,000 times 10,000,” says Joe Corley, CEO of the new PKA. “People hear 100 million and really have no idea how much that is.”

If you’re one of those 100 million strikers, Corley has good news for you: The PKA — which started life as the Professional Karate Association in 1974, after which it morphed into the Professional Karate & Kickboxing Association — is back. Now called PKA Worldwide, it will provide a place for you to shine, a place to showcase your full-contact kickboxing skills. No longer do martial artists who hanker to hit have to settle for hybrid formats and venues that require them to learn grappling. In short order, they’ll have a public platform similar to the ones boxers and MMA fighters have.

PKA Worldwide already has begun “hunting,” or hosting preliminary fights around the country designed to give rising stars an opportunity to show what they’ve got. And it plans to go global in the near future. Presented here is what you need to know about the new PKA, whether you see yourself as a fan or a fighter.

HISTORY LESSON 

In the early 1970s, full-contact karate was just emerging in the United States as martial artists searched for new ways to test themselves. Full contact quickly became the default answer for any fighter who wanted to compete against the best of the best. The new fight sport really took off in 1974, then kept going strong for years.