Mixed Martial Arts in DC News Blog

HERNDON, Va. – Fairfax Jiu-Jitsu regularly has fighters compete in martial arts fighting events such as mixed martial arts and muay thai. An essential ingredient in having a successful MMA and thaiboxing team is an experienced striking coach. As the head coach of muay thai at Fairfax Jiu-Jitsu, Matt Nielsen brings his knowledge of authentic Thai training to the team.

Nielsen’s first experience in training martial arts was at the age of eight, when he briefly started training in judo. At age 11, he started training in tae kwon do and eventually earned his black belt. After high school, he joined the Navy in 1993 and was stationed in Japan where he trained at the World Ring Boxing Gym and the Hiranaka Gym in K-1 style kickboxing. The K-1 style, he says, does not include clinching and elbows, and is characterized by “long knees from the outside…(with) good boxing and very good kicks.”

Upon returning to the U.S., he would continue training in the striking arts and also start training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In 2001, he started training in muay thai and went to Thailand regularly. “Once I got there…the training atmosphere…it was beautiful. I fell in love. It was just hard to find an authentic place that would teach clinching and proper Thai style.”

As an elementary school teacher, he is able to go twice a year to Thailand and train for two months. His philosophy on teaching muay thai is heavily influenced by the Sinbi muay thai camp in Phuket, where he trains under Banpot Sor Ramayanon. “I’m a teacher and I teach elementary school P.E. I watch the kids to see how they learn, and they learn by playing. So I bring that here. I try and have my students play. That’s how the Thai’s do it. They play…They play spar, but they don’t let anything slip.”

He further went on to describe his thoughts on training that he learned in Thailand. He says, “I don’t believe in hard sparring. I believe in Thai style sparring where it is about technique and being creative and being clever. You save the hard sparring for when you have a fight…because you can’t progress by sparring hard all the time. You’re only playing your ‘A’ game.”

James McGartland, a student of Nielsen’s, says of his classes, “It’s a wealth of knowledge to gain…there is just so much to learn…After my first training session here, I said, ‘this is the greatest day of my life.’”

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Watch Nielsen work with his team in the video.

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