Founder
Grandmaster Vidadi “Vigor” Hajiyev
Six-time World Champion. 8th Dan. Eighteen years in presidential and government protection. Founder of GAMAO.
Biography
Grandmaster Vidadi Hajiyev is one of the most decorated and operationally tested martial artists of his generation. Over a career spanning more than three decades, he has won six world titles, earned master-level rank across multiple combat systems, and spent eighteen years in close-protection and government-security roles where technique is not theory — it is survival.
He is the third generation of a martial arts and law-enforcement family. His grandfather, a high-ranking police officer, founded a combat-training group while leading a criminal-investigations department and was known for defending the vulnerable. That ethic — strength in service of protection — runs through GAMAO to this day.
His career uniquely bridges three worlds that rarely meet: government security, elite close protection, and international martial-arts leadership. Across four decades he has personally trained more than 10,000 military, law-enforcement and security personnel in over fifteen countries — building defensive-tactics programs still in service today.
Recognition & Legacy
A record built in competition, on the mat, and among the masters who set the global standard.
Championship Record
| Year | Event | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | World Championship of Sanda Fighting (ICMAC) — Nassau, Bahamas | 1st Place, 95+ kg |
| 2007 | World Gold Cup, Hapkido — Self-Defense & Sparring (California, USA) | Double Gold |
| — | Additional world-level titles across his career | 6× World Champion total |
Rank & Credentials
Also a Master-Instructor in Tactical Sambo (VCS) and Jeet Kune Do.
Education & Professional Certification
- Expert in Applied Hand-to-Hand Combat — Russian Ministry of Defence (2,200 hours; unlimited teaching license across the Russian Federation)
- LUNEX University, Luxembourg — Sports Management & Marketing; Strategic Development of Sports
- IACUS (USA) — Athletic Performance Coaching & Conditioning
- Law degree and academic honors
Protection & Government Service
Grandmaster Hajiyev served eighteen years in presidential and government protection and training roles — most recently as a senior training inspector and combat specialist responsible for the operational readiness of protection personnel. This is the crucible in which his methodology was tested. When he says “if we teach it, we can test it,” he means it in the most literal sense: the techniques GAMAO certifies have been proven under genuine threat.
Within the Special State Protection Service he built and delivered the close-protection combat curriculum — selecting, training and re-testing the officers entrusted with safeguarding the nation's highest-ranking principals. Every technique he certifies has been refined against resisting, fully-equipped operators, not compliant partners.
As a serving officer he was personally entrusted with the close protection of members of the President’s family during high-risk assignments — among the highest levels of operational trust a protection professional can hold.
Training the Protectors
For more than two decades Grandmaster Hajiyev has been entrusted with the hand-to-hand readiness of the people who protect everyone else — presidential security, special forces, internal-troops units, SWAT teams and national police. Faces are concealed to protect serving personnel; the experience behind GAMAO's standards is anything but anonymous.
Core Competencies
Four decades on the mat and in the field have produced a rare breadth of operational and organizational expertise.
Teaching Legacy & Methodology
Grandmaster Hajiyev is the founding pioneer of Krav Maga, Jeet Kune Do and Philippine martial arts in Azerbaijan, and has trained instructors, competitors and protection professionals for decades. His personal synthesis — KAYIDO Vigor Combat Systems — integrates Hapkido, Krav Maga, Jeet Kune Do, and Filipino martial arts into one evidence-based methodology. It is this commitment to what actually works, taught with the discipline of tradition, that defines GAMAO’s standards.
Today, as Founder & CEO of GAMAO and Regional Director for PSTSS (Israel), he leads international training programs, strategic security partnerships and martial-arts development initiatives spanning Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and beyond.
See How GAMAO Certifies