Antonio Graceffo

Graceffo spent seven years in the United States Military starting with the Army National Guard. At Fort Benning, Georgia he went through boot camp and completed infantry school. Later, he graduated from Non-Commissioned Officer’s Academy. He then served in the Navy and the US Merchant Marines.

Graceffo works, or has worked, as a martial arts consultant for TV shows such as Human Weapon, Digging for the Truth, Kill Arman, The Art of Fighting, Samantha Brown’s Asia, Inside Martial Arts, Black Belt Magazine Destinations Video Column, and Thai TV shows about Muay Thai Chaiya and Kun Khmer Champions in Cambodia.

In 2018, Graceffo published two books focussing on the Chinese Economy.

In 2013, Antonio was accepted into a PhD program at the Shanghai University of Sport. He is on the wrestling team, and is writing his dissertation on Chinese wrestling in Chinese language. In June 2016, Antonio became the first American to receive a PhD in Wu Shu from the Shanghai University of Sport.

In the summer of 2013, Antonio returned to the Shaolin Temple to learn San Da, contesting and winning a smoker San Da fight. He also commenced studying Chinese traditional wrestling, initially on a team in Beijing and later at the Shanghai University of Sport, where he won a silver medal at the Shanghai International BJJ Tournament in the traditional wrestling division for beginners.

In 2011, Antonio began competing in Mixed Martial Arts Exhibitions. He now has a record of 10 wins and 1 loss. Antonio also has 1 tie from an exhibition fight.

Antonio held black belts in three martial arts to date: Bokator (Black Krama) from Grand Master San Kim Saen in 2007; Kuntaw (KUMANDOS) From Grand Master Frank Aycocho in 2008, and Khmer boxing (BUSHIDO) from Paddy Carson in 2010.

In 2007 and 2008, Antonio was embedded with the Shan State Army in the war zone of Burma, reporting on the genocide. While embedded with the Shan State Army, Antonio taught hand-to-hand combat and basic knife fighting, as well as rifle bayonet training to new recruits.

In 2005 Antonio was the first foreign student of the Khmer martial art of Bokator. The story he wrote in Black Belt magazine was the first article ever written about the art in Black Belt magazine. In 2007, Antonio became one of two Americans promoted on the same day, to the rank of Black Krama in Bokator. These were the first foreigners to obtain this rank. In the same year, Antonio traveled into Burma and shot videos with a master of Lai Tai, a kung fu type art practiced by the Shan people. To date, this is the first video ever shot of the art. In 2009, Antonio was the first non-Muslim student of Silat Kalam, a Muslim martial art in Malaysia, and in 2011 was given a national award, Silat Kalam Warrior. He was the first non-Muslim to receive this award.

The tragedy of September 11, 2001 prompted him to leave his career as an investment banker on Wall Street to pursue full-time adventure writing in Asia. Arriving in Taiwan in 2001, Graceffo’s quest to discover Asia’s diverse martial arts has led him to the original Shaolin Temple in China and a Muay Thai monastery in Thailand, as well as Cambodia, Vietnam, Korea, the Philippines, and Burma.

At the age of 13 Antonio began studying martial arts from H. David Collins, at the American School of Empty Hand Fighting (Fire and Water) in Blountville, Tennessee. At age 20 he began training and competing in boxing and boxed in “smokers” and other informal boxing contests throughout his time in the military and beyond. He continued with boxing in the Merchant Marines. He later stopped fighting during his university studies in Germany, but then began training in earnest after seeing his first UFC video in 1997. He was training and had begun flying to Tennessee to participate in Friday night fights until he left the US for Asia in October 2001.

Antonio Graceffo (born September 6, 1967) is a martial artist and adventure author living in Asia. He is also the host of the web TV show, Martial Arts Odyssey, which traces his ongoing journey through Asia learning martial arts in various countries. Graceffo is credited for revitalizing the lost Khmer art of Bokator by being the first to report on it. Beyond martial arts, Graceffo is also a student of multiple languages, including Mandarin Chinese, Thai, Khmer, Vietnamese, German, Spanish, Italian, and French.