“Who has not used a Century Product?”

Mike Dillard 1950 –

“Who has not used a Century Product?”

Michael Dillard was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He is the owner of several businesses, a martial artist, college professor, and father among other things.

In 1969 Dillard earned his black belt under the instruction of Yong Ho Kim in Korea. He studied tae kwon do, and traditional Japanese karate. During his martial arts career he participated in over 300 tournaments. When asked about why he retired from competing in tournaments at the age of 41 Dillard said, "I didn't retire; I just got too old to keep winning." Dillard is a sixth degree black belt, who has been teaching classes since 1969.

In 1973, on his way to California, Dillard stopped in at local martial art schools for training. Once in California, he made his way to a martial art school ran by world reknowned martial artist, Chuck Norris. Dillard heard about Norris through Black Belt Magazine, all of the best fighters were featured in that magazine and all of those fighters were located on the West Coast.

The training Dillard had in Korea lead him to a way to make a living. The selling of uniforms. He decided to import uniforms that were specifically designed to fit American martial artists. Moving back to Oklahoma, he moved into his parents house and started Century Martial Arts in the garage.

Century Martial Arts is today the leader in martial arts equipment world wide and as well the largest supplier of equipment world wide. He and his team have devoted 40 years in researching and development of a wide range of martial arts product lines to benefit the martial artist community, whether they are a student, instructor, sensei, parent, or sponsor. The martial arts philosophy and experience runs through the organization, thus guaranteeing the consumer the cumulative knowledge of quality resource materials related to the kata, kumite, sparring, self defense, training materials such as weapons, workout equipment, dojo accessories, uniforms, motivational items, books, DVD collections, trophies, belts, patches. The owner of a dojo, the student embarked on his personal journey, the needs of the competitive environment, the designer of new product technologies – all place high demands and expectations on the expertise of suppliers of equipment, including worldwide and local markets.

Century Martial Arts has been in the business for over 40 years, and has experienced both downturns in the martial arts business as well as escalating demands leading to expansion of the organization into small and large communities alike. The qualities demanded of the martial artist are the same as those demanded of the martial arts suppliers: respect, trust, knowledge, loyalty, compassion, pursuit of excellence, focus, and leadership.