Following its closure during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Yaw-Yan Ardigma Cebu reopens for business today, June 8, on the fourth floor of the Coast Pacific Downtown Center across the University of Cebu Main Campus.

“It was really hard during the pandemic because contact sports weren’t allowed. That wasn’t the only problem that arrived, we also had problems financially for the rent. That’s why I decided to temporarily close the gym,” said Yaw-Yan Ardigma Cebu founder and chief executive officer Benigno “Ekin” Caniga Jr.

“So now, we are in the new normal. That’s why I decided to reopen the gym. This is really my passion, the martial arts life. This is the start of my new journey in martial arts.”

Yaw-Yan Ardigma Cebu is one of the premier martial arts gyms in Cebu. Caniga Jr. is the pioneer of mixed martial arts (MMA) here in Cebu and has developed talented MMA fighters that have fought in country’s and Asia’s biggest MMA organizations, the likes of ONE Championship and URCC.

Yaw-Yan Ardigma is known as “Arnis Pandigma” or what the late Grandmaster Napoleon “Nap” Fernandez, the Yaw-Yan creator, called “furykane.” Ardigma movements are patterned to that of the arnis stick. Ardigma is one of the three major Yaw-Yan revisions by Fernandez.

Caniga Jr. announced that enrollment for the summer clinic is still ongoing.

The summer clinic offers courses like MMA, Muay Thai/Kickboxing, Arnis/Eskrima, Boxing Fitness and Yaw-Yan Combat (practical self-defense).

The Yaw-Yan Ardigma Gym is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.