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Boxing Entertainment General Fitness Martial Arts Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Tae Kwon Do Technique

MMA Defined

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about martial arts and it occurred to me that the term MMA is confusing to many people. Parents continue to put their kids into Tae Kwon Do and Karate schools in large numbers while many MMA schools have fewer students and have to diversify to stay in business. And, there is still the occasional debate pitting MMA versus Traditional Martial Arts.

I personally started with Tae Kwon Do over 30 years ago. I love martial arts and therefore I love Tae Kwon Do, but I learned (the hard way, which is sometimes the best way) that if you study just one discipline you are cheating yourself and not learning everything you will need going forward.

So, what is MMA? MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts. To some this means the UFC, because the UFC has spent millions of dollars spreading their business to every corner of the world. This also means MMA is tightly associated with (sometimes brutal) cage fights. But MMA is much more than this.

MMA has been around for a long time–long before the epic 1993 contest that put the Gracie name on the map . Anytime a martial arts practitioner used techniques from more than one style, they were doing MMA. MMA includes striking (Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Boxing, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Wing Chun, etc.), grappling (Wrestling, Judo, Jiu Jitsu, etc.) and ground fighting (Wrestling, Judo, Jiu Jitsu, ground and pound, etc.), but the most important part of MMA is transitioning smoothly between and amongst these three areas and many styles.

So, that means that time you got in a fight and boxed with your opponent who then took you down and you choked him until he quit, you were doing MMA. The first person to have international fame using MMA was Bruce Lee. Although his striking was amazing, Lee was aware that he had to know more than just striking to win on the street. This is why Lee trained with people like Gene LaBell, and Lee was able to show some of what he knew about ground fighting in his movies.

One of my goals with this blog and my book is to help people to be more open minded about martial arts and fitness. For people to argue about MMA vs Traditional, or MMA vs Boxing, etc. is really a waste of time; MMA is traditional martial arts and MMA is boxing. MMA is learning Tae Kwon Do and Karate, but also learning grappling and ground fighting.

I cover this and much more in my book, Martial Arts For Everyone. Thanks and best of luck with your training.

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Entertainment Martial Arts Media Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Movies

#DoritoZ Commercial

We filmed on Sunday, November 10, 2013 on location at Umstead Park in Raleigh, NC with a great cast and crew, and put together a Zombie commercial to enter into this years Doritos Crash the Superbowl Contest (www.Doritos.com).

Our entry can be found at:

https://www.youtube.com/doritos?x=us-en_submissionsphase_9946_

Here are the credits:

Produced by David V. Nelson and Nikki Nelson

Directed by David V. Nelson

Co-Directed by Ashley Jones and Tsuyoshi Saito

Director of Photography:     Josh Ortiz

Assistant Director:     Sue Thies

Edited by Josh Ortiz and Tom Babb

Director of Information Technology:     John Cloud

Make up by:     Nikki Nelson, Aleya Richards, Megan Patton and Tsuyoshi Saito

Photographer:     Sorng Buntoum assisted by Nathan Buntoum

Starring:     David V. Nelson and Master Kenji Saykosy

Lead Zombie:     Mike Nelson

Featured Zombies:     Debra Nelson and Murry Haithcock

The Zombie Horde:     Tom Babb, Phal Buntoum, Alphonso Dunston, Nina Ehara, Kirsten Ehlert, Crystal Newman, Robbie Newman, Ella Srikhirisawan, Liz Stabenow and Te’ Walker

Thanks to everyone for your help with this project! It was a lot of fun!

 

Categories
22 Warrior Films Lao Warrior Martial Arts Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Uncategorized

Lao Warrior Update

April has been a busy month. On the 7th, we went to Triangle Jiu Jitsu in Durham, NC to film some fight scenes for the movie. We had several talented actors from Charlotte (Mike Gutowski, Brittany Bass and Jennifer Williamson) and local incredible actor Tony Basile present for a great day of filming. Kenji Saykosy was directing as myself and several stuntmen spent hours in the cage knocking out some great scenes. Sean Pollock and Daniel Calvert were the cameramen and Jonathan Carvajal was running sound.

On the 14th we had a huge night of filming at the local bar Mosaic here in Raleigh, NC. Except for one person, we had the entire main cast and crew together. This was the first time we had this many main characters together since the photo shoot for the movie posters last year. Once again, the energy was incredible and we filmed until about 2 am. Many thanks go to the extras and supporting actors who stepped up to make it a great night.

For the weekend of the 20th, Kenji headed out to Wisconsin for the Lao International Film Festival. Kenji did a martial arts demonstration and showed the music video from the movie (also released this month), our initial trailer and a promo reel. The reception was great and many new friends were made for the star of Lao Warrior.

We look forward to what May brings as we plan to film several more great scenes for the movie in addition to training a lot to make the fight scenes great. Thanks.