Meet the Founder

Darius Yancy is a for professional fighter who learned to turn pressure into performance and after retiring 15 years ago, he’s been teaching that formula ever since. As the founder of 3SM Training & Programming (Strength • Striking • Self Defense), Darius builds disciplined movers and sharper thinkers, coaching athletes and everyday grinders to train with intention, compete with clarity, and carry themselves like pros in and out of the gym. He’s as comfortable on the heavy bag as he is on the whiteboard, designing programs that translate sweat into measurable wins.

Beyond the gym, Darius is the heart behind Yancy House, comprised of Nonprofit Yancy House Community Alliance and Yancy House Publishing that takes the same tools that shaped him and puts them in the hands of the neighborhood and fellow writers. Through mentorship, literacy and storytelling, workforce readiness, and sport-based development, Yancy House creates pathways: first reps, first jobs, first chances to believe you can be more than your circumstances.

MMA Fighter. Writer. Entrepreneur. Coach. Darius connects those roles with one thread: disciplined love. He builds rooms where standards are high, the pace is honest, and progress is tracked because momentum is a choice. If you’re ready to do the work, he’s ready to meet you there.