Ray McKenzie has a background in several martial arts, including Karate, Aikido and Taekwondo.

Ray developed his own unique style of Freestyle Karate, taking influence from all the martial arts that he had studied. In 1985 Ray formed the Phoenix Karate Association in order to teach his style of Karate.

Ray has regularly featured in Karate magazines and can be often seen participating in and helping to arrange Karate competitions all over the UK. Ray and some of his senior instructors are regularly selected to compete at international level for the England Karate team.