Coach Velez

Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New Jersey, Silva Velez discovered martial arts at the age of 8 when his parents enrolled him in karate as a positive outlet after immigrating to the U.S. After training at several schools, he found his home at KBK, a USA GOJU Karate school, under the guidance of Shihan Eddy Torres. There, he developed elite skills in karate, boxing, and MMA—sparking a lifelong dedication to the battle arts.

Throughout the 1990s, Silva Velez earned numerous first-place finishes in New York and New Jersey Karate and MMA tournaments and became a gold medalist at New Jersey’s Garden State Games. His competitive success was matched by a disciplined mindset that later propelled him to a top-producing career on Wall Street, where he also recruited and mentored hundreds of young men from inner-city communities into sales careers.