Over the years, I have also trained in aikido, jujutsu and judo. In the early 2000s, karate became my main discipline – more specifically, the Kyokushin style, which was officially established in Finland in 2005.

Martial arts have taken me around the world: over one hundred training camps abroad, three trips to Japan, and long training periods in countries such as Sweden and India. I have also gained extensive experience across different parts of Europe.

Even after all these years, my heart still beats for the continuous development of my own skills and above all, for passing on the knowledge I have gained.

The next discipline I took up was the Korean martial art Hoi Jeon Moo Sool. I spent several years training in it and achieved the purple belt. I also competed, and the highlight was fighting in the Hoi Jeon Moo Sool World Championships in Helsinki in 1995. During those years, I also became somewhat familiar with the Filipino martial art Kali.

In the early 2000s, I trained in kickboxing and met my future teacher and friend, Shihan Kai Hallamaa. Together with Kaitsu, we began training in Kyokushin Karate, which at that time was still in its early stages in Finland.

Kyokushin Karate became my passion and a way of life. I competed in Kyokushin Karate full-contact fighting at a major tournament for the first time in 2005 in Copenhagen. The event was the Scandinavian Fullcontact Karate Tournament, with Japanese guests of honour in attendance, including Soshi Hasegawa. I won silver in my category that year. I also competed in the same tournament in Copenhagen in 2006 and 2007, winning silver again in 2007.

In 2008, I became the first Finn to take part in the Kyokushin Karate World Championships, the Union Cup. What made it especially remarkable was that the tournament was held in Okinawa, Japan – the birthplace of karate.

I took part in the Kyokushin World Championships for the second time at the World Tournament in Fukuoka, Japan, in 2019.

My most recent Kyokushin competition was last year, in 2025, in Poland at the European Championships in the Masters category (+36 years). I won bronze in the European Cup. As a fun detail, things came full circle for me: I fought exactly twenty years after my first tournament, from 2005 to 2025, once again at a major event with Soshi – the head of our organisation – in attendance. Alongside Kyokushin, I also trained in Muay Thai and mixed martial arts during the 2000s.

Later on, I have also trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Riihimäki under Heracles.

I earned my first dan in Kyokushin Karate in Tromsø, Norway, in 2009. The grading was conducted by Shihan Koi. I earned my second dan in 2010, again in Tromsø, during a summer camp. The grading was conducted by Shihan Shibata and Sensei Miyagi. I earned my third dan in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2019. On that occasion, the grading was conducted by Shihan Ito.

For my fourth dan, Shihan Kai and I travelled to Japan again in 2023. It was a true dream come true to be able to take my grading under Soshi Hasegawa, 9th dan, at the original Kyokushin Karate Honbu Dojo in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

My journey in martial arts continues as a way of life, through daily training and the constant pursuit of growth.