IKMF, KMG, KMW — The Three Major Federations

If you walk into a Krav Maga school anywhere in the world, it is most likely affiliated with one of three international federations. They share an Imi lineage and roughly the same curriculum, with meaningful but minor differences.

IKMF — International Krav Maga Federation

Founded by Eyal Yanilov in 1996 with Imi's endorsement, IKMF was the first global federation. After Yanilov's departure in 2010 to found KMG, IKMF continued under other leadership and remains a major presence in Europe, Israel, and Asia. Curriculum: the P / G grading system, with a strong emphasis on third-party protection and law-enforcement variants.

KMG — Krav Maga Global

Founded by Yanilov in 2010, KMG is the federation that most of his senior instructors followed when he left IKMF. KMG is widely considered the technical heir of the original IKMF program. It has the largest curriculum library publicly available (graded technique manuals, expert testing standards) and the most aggressive international expansion.

KMW — Krav Maga Worldwide

Founded by Darren Levine in Los Angeles in 1997 (after he brought Krav Maga to the US in 1981), KMW is the dominant US federation. It uses a 5-level civilian grading system plus expert and master levels. KMW has a strong franchised-gym model and the largest law-enforcement training portfolio of any federation, including ongoing contracts with the FBI, US Marshals, and various major police departments.

How a cross-federation visitor experiences the difference

A KMG blue belt visiting a KMW Level 3 class will recognize 90% of the techniques. The names will be different, the warm-ups will be different, the teaching cadence will be different. The defenses themselves — front choke, headlock, knife, gun — are structurally the same techniques with cosmetic differences in stance and counter-strike sequencing.