Goytia's Martial Arts

PRESS RELEASE – August 24, 2026
Illinois Martial Arts Hall of Fame Announces New Inductees and 2026 Event Details – October 24, 2926
For Immediate Release:
The Illinois Martial Arts Hall of Fame is proud to announce its nineteenth class of inductees, to be officially introduced at the Illinois Martial Arts Hall of Fame’s Annual Event Saturday October 24 in Lombard, Illinois in Chicago’s Western Suburbs.
The 2026 inductees are:
Chase Beebe – Beebe is a former WEC MMA World Champion and later a fixture at the top of the rankings in his weight class during his long career in the UFC. He was also a multiple time high school and youth Illinois State Wrestling Champion.
Joe Goytia – Goytia is a hugely accomplished martial artist with instructor ranks in multiple martial arts including, but not limited to, taekwondo, karate, Filipino martial arts, and Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do Concepts. In addition to being a retired and extremely successful competitor, Goytia runs a successful school and has promoted Total Fight Challenge for more than 30 years, TFC produces multiple sold out, stadium-filling cards per year, featuring MMA, Muay Thai, and Kickboxing Fights.
Duk Gun Kwon – Kwon is a renowned and high-ranking Taekwondo practitioner, instructor, administrator, and tournament promotor. He is also a world class coach and who has had a hand in training nearly every Illinois TKD Olympian and National Team member.
Ricardo Lamas – Lamas is a highly decorated mixed martial artist who ran up a 20-8 record with the vast majority of those fights in the WEC and especially the UFC. He fought for the UFC Featherweight title once against the legendary Jose Also. He was a NCAA Division III Wrestling All American at Elmhurst College. After training in Florida for most of his MMA career, he now owns and operates the UFC Gym in Naperville, Illinois.
Mike Lee – the late Mike Lee was a well-known Wing Chun and non-classical Gung Fu instructor who had a large following. His classes emphasized practical martial arts applications for the real world and especially in developing resilience, effective technique, and technical excellence among his students. For many years he traveled to Seattle to study with several of Bruce Lee’s early students and brought many of them to Chicago for seminars.
Byron Lytle - Lytle is a senior karate instructor with a well deserved reputation for turning out extremely talented, technically excellent, and extremely tough students at all levels. He received his black belt from IMAHOF inductee and martial arts legend Shorty Mills. Lytle and his wife, IMAHOF inductee Andrea Lytle, own and operate a large martial arts school in Chicago's south suurbs.
Jo Mirza – Mirza is a high-ranking karate practitioner, instructor and administrator. Mirza was the longtime head of AAU Karate and is now President of the entire Amateur Athletic Union. He is also the instructor and coach of two-time Pan Am Games Karate Gold Medalist and World Karate Championship medalist John Fonseca.
Ramiro Mota – a renowned BJJ instructor and MMA coach, Mota was the first American to ever be promoted to black belt by legendary Jiu-Jitsu world champion Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros. He has produced scores of highly competitive BJJ black belts and MMA fighters.
Waysun Johnny Tsai – a lifelong martial artist with decades of experience, Tsai has parlayed that experience into a career as a leading expert and world-famous instructor in martial arts training and tactics. He conducts seminars around the world for students, martial arts schools and organizations, and especially for law enforcement and government agencies. He is the author of several books and runs a large association of affiliated schools.
Wendy Whited – The late Whited Sensei was a high-ranking Aikido practitioner and successful dojo owner. But perhaps her most enduring legacy was the founding of the Midwest Aikido Bridge Seminars which brought together high-ranking instructors from disparate Aikido styles and organizations from around the country and the world for intense weekends of training, cooperation, socializing, and furthering the development of the art, literally building bridges between often competing organizations. The Midwest Bridge Seminars have continued since her passing,
The Director of Illinois Martial Arts Hall of Fame, Mike McNamara, says “we feel fortunate to be able to induct such an accomplished class of people from such a wide range of martial arts and experiences. This is another in a long line of inductees for whom it is our honor to recognize their accomplishments.”
The Illinois Martial Arts Hall of Fame’s Annual Event will return Saturday, October 24 at The Carlisle in Lombard in West Suburban Chicago.
Illinois Martial Arts Hall of Fame Co-Director Pete Hoffman added ““last year’s event was another big success, and we sold nearly 700 tickets. In fact, if one more person had shown up, we wouldn’t have had a chair for them! We’re looking forward to our move to the Carlisle which can seat up to 800 people. We’re expecting another sell out!” Hoffman adds “as we have done for the past few years, the event will also feature a full slate of inductees from our sister organization, the Illinois Boxing Hall of Fame.”
The annual Illinois Martial Arts Hall of Fame banquet typically draws more than 600 attendees and is attended by past Hall of Fame inductees, former World Champions, Olympians, trainers, coaches, managers, promoters and family, friends, and fans.
The Illinois Martial Arts Hall of Fame was founded in 2005 by Fred Richmond. McNamara, himself a past inductee, was an accomplished, world-ranked kickboxer, tournament fighter, and trainer of former ISKA World Cruiserweight Kickboxing Champion Rob Salazar. McNamara is also Director of the Illinois Boxing Hall of Fame. McNamara took over as Director of the IMAHOF in 2007.
Tickets are $70 per person and $630 for a table of 10 and are available by clicking the following Eventbrite link. All major credit cards as well as Venmo, Zelle and PayPal are accepted.
https://www.eventbrite.com/.../illinois-boxing-hall-of...
The Illinois Martial Arts Hall of Fame is dedicated to honoring people from Illinois and/or who participated in or contributed to Martial Arts in Illinois. The Illinois Martial Arts Hall of Fame is an Illinois 501c3 nonprofit corporation as Illinois Hall of Fame, Inc.
The Carlisle is located at 435 Butterfield Rd, Lombard, IL. The event starts at 6PM with a social hour followed by dinner at 7PM and induction ceremony at 8PM.
For more information, please contact Pete Hofman C: 708-267-8154, [email protected]
Illinois Boxing Hall of Fame & Illinois Martial Arts Hall of Fame See less

Power is back on , we are open !

New schedule everyone ! Please look closely

We are open today everyone

Our very own Alekzia top of her 8th grade class , she trains hard in class and studies hard in school what a great young lady !

We will be closed today everyone we have been getting wind and flood advisories for area , stay home !