Defendo
Scandinavian self-defense system founded by Jyrki Saario in 2005: simple solutions from natural reactions, four programs.
Quick Facts
FinlandCharacter & Origin
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
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About Defendo
Scandinavian Defendo is a self-defense system founded in 2005 by the Finn Jyrki Saario together with the organization Defendo Alliance. Saario trained for forty years, working through kickboxing, Thai boxing, grappling, judo, boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, krav maga, kapap, several styles of karate, Wing Chun, and Kyusho; at the start of the twenty-first century he earned a fifth dan in kickboxing from WAKO. He had already begun teaching in the early nineteen-eighties, co-founded the Swedish kickboxing federation, and opened one of the first Swedish fight clubs, in Gothenburg. In 1994 he met Imi Lichtenfeld, the creator of krav maga, and in 1996 he brought that system to the Scandinavian countries; from 2000 he trained security personnel. Saario's own system is built on simplicity. It practices solutions derived from natural reactions, so it requires no sporting or combat background, and the training deliberately accounts for stress and for the form street violence takes in Europe. Defendo is divided into four programs according to who it serves: red for civilians, blue for police and security personnel, green for the military and combat in built-up areas, and white for paramedics and medical staff. The civilian red branch has six levels, running from Hard Target through Combat Tech up to S.T.A.R., which focuses on situations involving weapons; certification for Hard Target takes roughly fifty hours of training. The Saario Academy holds events every year in seven European countries.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.