MERCEDES, Texas – Onell Bonilla hadn’t seen his martial arts teacher in over 10 years. During that time, they stayed connected online, discussing training exercises and the Kajukenbo philosophy.
Then one day in November, Bonilla,40, received a phone call from his teacher and mentor Professor Gualberto Moncayo. He invited him to attend the Texas Kajukenbo Memorial Tournament—to compete, train, and learn more about the Kajukenbo Gaylord Method under Grandmaster Armando Saldana.
At first, Bonilla declined. He felt the trip was too long and inconvenient. Afterward, when Professor Moncayo distanced himself for a while, Bonilla began to reflect on their video sessions and remembered Moncayo’s words—that this would be a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity.
“It just wasn’t the same,” Bonilla said of their online training. “I couldn’t feel my teacher. Our practice lacked the intensity and energy of training together in person. So I changed my mind and decided to come to Texas to learn from the Grandmaster and participate in the tournament.”
Bonilla, born in Puerto Rico, was first trained to be a samurai by his father, a Shotokan black belt. He began martial arts at an early age, enduring tough and rigorous sessions that often made him want to quit.
“I hated it. I didn’t like it,” Bonilla admitted. “But I continued and eventually found a love for Kajukenbo. After completing my training with his father, he passed me on to a Kajukenbo black belt instructor on the island.
Today, Bonilla has his own school and teaches students in Puerto Rico at his Iguatu Kajukenbo School.
He said many people and businesses sponsored his trip to Texas for a chance to represent his school and martial arts from Puerto Rico Internationally.
“I am very grateful for the invitation from Gualberto Moncayo and Grandmaster Armando Saldana,” Bonilla said.
In Texas, he trained at the Texas Kajukenbo Gaylord Method School with Grandmaster Armando Saldana and Kajukenbo Association of America President Kelly Gaylord, who was also a karate school visitor and in attendance at the Texas Kajukenbo Memorial Tournament.
Saldana is a 9th-degree black belt in the Kajukenbo Gaylord Method, the foundation of the Kajukenbo Association of America. With over 40 years of training, Saldana has mastered the martial arts system often described as the “perfected art of street fighting” and the United States’ very own homegrown martial art.
He began studying the Gaylord Method in the early 1990s under Grandmaster Jose Quiroz. In 1994, he was promoted by Great Grandmaster Charles Gaylord himself and again in 2007. In 2018, Saldana was officially promoted to Grandmaster by the Kajukenbo Association of America.
Great Grandmaster Charles Gaylord earned his black belt in Hawaii during the 1950s, where Kajukenbo was first developed. The hybrid martial art combines Karate, Jujitsu, Kung Fu, and American Boxing. Gaylord later brought the system to California, where he trained students throughout the 1970s until his passing in 2009.
Since 2008, Grandmaster Saldana has led the Texas Kajukenbo Karate School, following the passing of his teacher, Grandmaster John Valdivia, who died from cancer. Each April, Saldana hosts the Texas Kajukenbo Karate Memorial Tournament in Valdivia’s honor, raising funds to fight cancer and support families impacted by the disease.