Cecil Burch has been training functional Martial Arts for over forty years.He has studied many different arts and systems and has held numerous teaching credentials in a number of them, including multiple Filipino, Indonesian, modern eclectic street fighting/combatives arts, and many of the combat sports.

While he got his first training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 1989 and spent time at Rickson Gracie’s gym in 1993, he began a dedicated study in 1994 with Megaton Dias. Cecil is currently a 3rd degree black belt under Megaton and has competed extensively, including the 2015 Pan-American Championships (silver medal–black belt), 2013 Masters World Championships (bronze medal as black belt),etc.

Cecil has also been a firearms enthusiast all his life. He went through his first NRA course at the age of twelve, and shot competitive skeet leagues. In 1987 he took the General Pistol class at Gunsite under Jeff Cooper and Louis Awerbuck, and he has trained extensively with SouthNarc in multiple classes (including assisting Craig in many of them), Larry Vickers, Mike Pannone, Ernest Langdon, and Pat McNamara, among others. He has also competed in many different types of firearm competitions. He also has instructor certifications from TomGivens/Rangemaster(Instructor, Advanced Handgun, and Shotgun), and Scott Jedlinski ModernSamurai Project (Red Dot Handgun).

Cecil has travelled extensively and conducted seminars across the U.S. as well as internationally and has been a featured presenter at many tactical/defense oriented conferences including many times at Rangemaster Polite Society Conference and has worked extensively with Law Enforcement officers, Federal Air Marshals, military special operation troops, and private citizens on the functional utilization of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, and clinch work in close quarters combat and how they can be integrated with a weapons based environment that is typical for self-defense.