Ramon Rivera
Ramon Rivera has dedicated his life to bringing the physical - and spiritual - benefits of martial arts to the community of Bayonne.
Soke Ray was born and raised in the Bronx, NY and was first introduced to Martial Arts at the early age of ten. Ray trained at this early age under Sensei Cisco at the Davidson Community Center where he studied the art of Shotokan Karate.
He then began to study under Sensei Michael in the art of Freestyle Karate. Sensei Michael was a NYC Guardian Angel who taught Soke Ray to blend multiple karate systems that were being utilized at the Guardian Angels training facility.
At the age of fifteen, Ray began boxing at the PAL center on 183rd Street and Webster Avenue in the Bronx under Coach Rick. Soke Ray relocated to Bayonne, NJ and continued his training in Isshinryu Karate under Shihan Jerry Tardi and Shihan George Strydio. Soke Ray earned his second degree black belt in Isshinryu Karate in 2002 as well as his San Dan 3rd degree black belt in Japanese Jujitsu under Shihan Jerry Tardi and Grand Master Soke Joseph Miller in 2005.
He has trained in multiple disciplines such as Japanese Jujitsu, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, American Wrestling, Freestyle Submission Grappling, Judo, Kali, Street Fighting, Karate and Boxing.
In 2005 Ray was granted his right of passage to create his own system of self-defense and granted his Soke-ship under Soke Joseph Miller (TAI ZAN RYU GOSHIN JITSU).
Senshi Tori Mixed Martial Arts was the vision of Soke Ray Rivera to blend each discipline in which he trained.; boxing, kickboxing, Japanese jujitsu, judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and submission grappling. Furthermore, his philosophy of martial arts was that every art represented a quarter in a dollar, and in order to be capable of defending yourself from any compromising position you need to incorporate these arts.
“Every discipline of martial art has something to offer and only a misguided practitioner would think different”. – Soke Ray
