In Chicago, John Keehan co-promoted with Michael FelKoff the first open to the public full-contact Kumite Bloodsport style mixed martial arts tournament held at the University of Chicago, on July 28, 1963. Many other such tournaments were hosted by him during the 1960s, pairing practitioners of different styles against one another.

Joining Keehan was a group of promoters and together they formed the International Fighting Arts Association (IFAA) in cooperation with former members of the Black Dragon Society, who sponsored the event since 1905, in Manchuria, China. Black Belt magazine, November 1980, John Stewart, Kumite: A Learning Experience, points out “while not a publicity seeking organization the IFAA is far from being a secret organization, as romanticized.

During the time of Hanshi Frank Dux’s participation in the Kumite and before the IFAA held the event every “five years” (Stewart, 1980).

The association exists still to this day, The modern IFAA and Black Dragon Fighting Society exist together as one organization called the International Fighting Arts Association Official Black Dragon Fighting Society.

It serves not as a historical society of Keehan’s BDFS, though born out of it, neither is it a secret society as in the past, but rather an international fraternal order established in the USA.

Source:

Stewart, J. (1980). Kumite: A Learning Experience. Black Belt.