The author of "way of the 69 FIsts"
Martial arts book conception
The idea for the "way of the 69 Fists" book first came to me a couple of years ago while working as the owner of a company called Awakening Fighters. The company promotes female fighters and martial artists in a male-dominated industry. Our website was the largest and most comprehensive female fighter database on the internet, some 16,000+ athletes. Athletes from all walks of the industry have profiles showcasing their martial arts journeys and fight histories. At its peak, the website was generating approximately forty thousand unique visitors a month. Our small team of four worked fastidiously to give the website credibility by keeping it up to date and looking at stylish as possible. The idea being two-fold; athletes would be able to get noticed by promoters and get contacted, and the accomplishments of current athletes would inspire the next generation. The theory worked. We were inundated with athletes, journalists, and promoters contacting us for a multitude of reasons.
Along with the website, we also helped with other forms of promotion. Coming from a creative background (photography and design), I utilized my own skills to offer atypical photoshoots or “arty” photoshoots that went against the grain – helping the photos to stand out amongst the crowd. I retouched hundreds of my own photographs and shared them with the industry on social media. One of these photos received a staggering 1,100,000 views in a single day. The picture was of my friend Julie Kitchen, the Queen of Muay Thai. In addition, I filmed and edited promotional video reels for a score of athletes. I was free to be as creative as I wanted. I did not charge a fee for any of my work, I loved what I was doing, and I believed in it. While we received abundant praise and recognition for seven years, sadly, I was unable to turn it into a sustainable business. Reading my last two sentences back to myself, I now see why! I kid, the business model was never to become sustainable from the very people we were trying to promote. Our goal was to find sponsors to fund the ambitious project of cataloging the complete history of female fighting. Although I tried, I was not able to spark an interest from the potential sponsors I approached. Either my proposals did not fall into the right laps, or I was aiming too high with the companies I was approaching. I blame my own lack of business acumen and nothing else. It should be stated that website is still online and the vision is not dead. Although I am taking a break, it is not entirely implausible that I will come at it again with a plan at making it a sustainable project.
During my previous time on Awakening, I was in the fortunate position of speaking with hundreds of athletes regularly, several thousand over seven years. From amateur enthusiasts of all disciplines to professional Muay Thai fighters and many UFC fighters. I was also in contact with a multitude of coaches, a handful of fight promoters, matchmakers, and referees. I was a ringside photographer at many Muay Thai, kickboxing, and MMA events. From small UK events to Lion Fight Promotions in Nevada and Invicta Fighting Championship in Kansas City. Well, the latter is an exaggeration. I was in the media area at Invicta, not ringside. My lens and I were even splattered in Miriam Nakamoto’s blood the night she fought Julie Kitchen. While shooting promotional photographs and videos, I visited gyms around the UK, the United States, and Canada. I was able to watch a lot, and I mean a lot of training sessions in numerous disciplines. It never got tiring to be amongst the sweaty folk practicing their art, seeing how different gyms and athletes hone themselves. You may be surprised at how different each gym can be in their practices, techniques, and interpretations. The Awakening website had a small but growing martial arts encyclopedia, of which I painstakingly entered all the information. These pages are an evolution of that encyclopedia, rewritten, and then revised again into a book.
My own journey along the path of the 69 Fists
What of my own martial arts journey? I class myself as a master, a master of nothing. I always had a great interest in martial arts, and I have tried quite a few disciplines over the last three decades. At the age of nine, I was taken to judo by my father by way of him trying to find my brother and me something to get stuck into after a divorce. I stayed for around two years and reached the whopping heights of a yellow belt, two stripes. If you know judo, you know how useless that is, but I enjoyed it and remember it fondly. It was not until I was eighteen when the martial art bug hit once more and in a big way. I was taken to a Wu Shu Kwan class by a best friend as a way of toughening myself up. The street I lived on at the time had more than its fair share of teenagers that wanted to start trouble with me because of physical differences. I was threatened daily and one time pushed over a wall in front of a small crowd. This was the last time I was intimidated. I intended to learn this Wu Shu Kwan I was told about, come back and kick some serious ass. I can tell you that I really wanted to mush those boys’ faces into the pavement. The art gave me a huge confidence boost. It must have been the way I carried myself after that. I was never bothered again much to my youthful dismay. I threw myself into the philosophy of Wu Shu Kwan and well as it’s techniques. I was taught by Senior Master Eddie Cheah, an 8th Degree Black Belt and an aging Chinese man. His classes were brutal and addictive, and I had the utmost respect for him. I think I was quite good at it, and I feel he gave me extra attention, although this might be my mind playing tricks. I studied under him for three years, achieving my second blue belt. I was just a month away from going for the fifth belt, maroon when I quit. I do not expect you to know the grading system, but the ranks are in this order; white, white, blue, blue, maroon, maroon, brown, brown, black, and onwards. Before quitting, I was feverishly soaking up all I could, going to two sessions a week. For about six months in my final year, I was training up to eight hours a day. One hour of which I used to read and try and understand martial art philosophies (I have read the I Ching a few times).
I also joined a new kickboxing school for additional sessions. The first few sessions were great. The instructor saw that I had some knowledge, control, and flexibility. He pushed me harder than others during exercises, which I loved. During a sparring session, he chose me to spar against in front of the class. Not yet understanding the rules of kickboxing, I landed quite a hefty spinning back fist, a move drilled hard by Cheah during Wu Shu Kwan, and probably my specialty at the time. The instructor’s face changed instantly; he was not happy. He looked a little dazed, and perhaps his pride was hurt too in front of his class. He snapped “that is illegal in kickboxing!”, I apologized intensely, and we continued. His next strike was obviously intended to regain his standing as the boss; he kicked my leg harder than I have ever been hit before or since. My leg buckled, and it broke my big toe. I never went back, not through damaged pride but due to broken toes taking forever to heal. Around the same time, I also dabbled in a strange art known as “elephant style kung fu.” The moves were quite fun, but I am not sure the instructor was totally legit, looking back. In the following decades, I tried my hand at boxing a few times (I was not good) and then Muay Thai. I felt I was a lot better at Muay Thai due to my Wu Shu Kwan training. However, I never had a fight. I never had ‘fighting’ in me, just the training and philosophies.
Finally, in the decade just past, I dated a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner for eight years. While this is nowhere near the same as training in it myself, I have grown to respect the art immensely thanks to her dedication to it. I should also state that in recent times I have watched around twenty-five thousand mma, boxing, and Muay Thai fights, much like any fight enthusiast. I would like to thank and acknowledge a few people, my father Doug Mitchell and my mother, Maralyn Hubbard, for inspiring me without them really knowing they were doing so. My good friends and ex-Awakening team members Andy and Evelyn for experiencing the Awakening journey with me. Lastly, a special thanks for Dr. Ashley Mann for believing in me and being such a massive part of my life for so long.
This is my first book. Go easy on me.
