Mark Yehia
(Judo/Tu Jitsu) Mahmoud “Mark” Yehia is the owner and founder of Elite Plus MMA. He comes from an athletic family; his father was an international handball and swimming instructor. Mark has participated in many athletic fields including handball, basketball and diving. He discovered his passion and talent in Judo when he went to college in 1986. In his first tournament, under 20 Juniors, he won his first gold regional medal and silver national medal. Since then Mark became a member of the Egyptian National Judo Team- in which he studied under Sensei Ohero Yamamoto, an 8th degree black belt. After moving to the states in 1997 Mark continued his Judo training under Sensei Ryohei Kanokogi, a 7th degree black belt, and his wife Rusty Kanokogi. In 2001, Mark expanded his fitness horizons and worked as a personal trainer at Equinox, where he continued his physical education, at Crunch Fitness, and at Excelsior Club. In 2010, Mark developed a new fighting style “Tu-Jitsu” meaning ‘the throwing way’, which combines styles from Sambo, Jiu Jitsu, and Grappling. This new style was featured in a tournament held at the annual MMA World Expo in 2010 alongside Renzo Gracie at the Jacob Javits Center. Mark teaches his new style at Elite Plus MMA and hopes to inspire the MMA world.
Paul Zukowski
(Kickboxing) Paul Zukowski has been practicing martial arts for over 25 years. In 1980, he started to practice Kyokushin Karate in Poland. He began fighting tournaments on a local and national stage in 1983. A few years later Paul came to the United States and studied under Grand Master Shigeru Oyama. In 1992 and 1993 he held the title of World Oyama champion. He represented the heavyweight Oyama team in the USA, Canada and Europe. He has also trained many fighters in Karate and Thai Boxing. Paul is also disciplined in Karate, Judo and Thai boxing.
Taishi Yamaguchi
(Jiu-Jitsu) Taishi Yamaguchi has over 20 years of Martial Arts experience. He began his roots in martial arts at the age of eight. Taishi has competed in several Karate and Jiu-Jitsu tournaments in his homeland Japan. He has competed in over 20 professional fights; (19-0-1). He holds a first degree black belt in Wajyutsu Keishukai Jiu-Jitsu, a first degree black belt in Seidokan Karate and a third degree black belt in Yamashita-Ryu Jiu-Jitsu. He is disciplined in Jiu-Jitsu, Karate, Russian Sambo, Aikido and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. His success led to him being considered for a preliminary fighter for the first PRIDE. Unfortunately, due to a spine injury Taishi was forced to retire. He is now a class instructor and a personal trainer of Jiu-Jitsu at Elite Plus Fitness.
Ramadan Yasser
(Professional Boxer/Personal Trainer) Ramadan Yasser currently holds 3 middleweight gold medals from; 1999, 2001 and 2003. In 2007 he won also won the gold medal in the All-Africa games as a light heavyweight. In 2007 he reached the quarter finals of the AIBA WBC in Chicago. Ramadan joined the Elite Plus Fitness team in 2009 as a boxing trainer. He also competes on a professional level on numerous occasions.
John “Greco” Salgado John found passion for physical fitness early, through his athletic pursuits and accomplishments in wrestling, football and Olympic weightlifting, which led him to a career in fitness. He is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brown belt and trains in Western Boxing and San Da Kickboxing. John is a professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter and has competed in many fighting leagues, most recently in a Showtime televised event for the well-known league, StrikeForce. Inspired by the idea of making a difference in other people’s lives, John is committed to helping students discover not only their full physical potential, but to find happiness and self-confidence through their mental and spiritual well-being. Over the past eight years, he has honed his skills as a certified fitness trainer and helped athletes and clients of all ages and abilities improve their physical condition and health through personal training and group exercise classes at Equinox and other well recognized health clubs. John is both knowledgeable and diverse in his training approach and strives to provide his students with a dynamic, exciting and rewarding experience with his unique “InnerG” workouts that incorporate aspects of strength training, cardiovascular exercise, yoga and Chi Gong breathing exercises. As an MMA competitor, John brings his fighting techniques into an innovative and energy-packed ultimate kickboxing class at the Wall Street Equinox location and looks forward to teaching his focused and integrated “InnerG” fitness system to Equinox members with additional classes at the Wall Street and other Equinox locations.
Tim O’Conner: Tim O'Connor started training in Martial Arts at the age of 11. After studying American Kenpo for 6 years and achieving his Black Belt at 17, Tim began training in various Martial Arts which eventually led him to Chinese kickboxing, known as San Shou or San Da. While training and competing in San Da for several years, Tim began to incorporate Muay Thai into his striking, which included going to and training in Thailand. Using aspects from all of these experiences, Tim teaches a well rounded and balanced form of striking for both kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts.