Mr. Mann, age 45, began his formal Karate training in 1980 with Mike Brown's TaeKwonDo while attending Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. He trained for 3 yrs with Mr. Brown, from 1980-1983, often staying in Arkansas during summer breaks to continue his training. Mr. Mann's training with Mr. Brown was unfortunately cut short in the summer of 1983, one week before his red belt test (the last belt before black), due to a near tragic motorcycle wreck, in Jacksonville, AR. Barely avoiding the amputation of one leg, and incurring damage to his back, his martial arts training was sidelined for several years. Shortly after the accident, and partly due to complications from those injuries, Mr. Mann moved back to his hometown of Dallas, and eventually earned his BBA in Marketing from the University of North Texas in Denton, TX.

After college and years of rehabilitation, Mr. Mann eventually started getting a little more feeling and control back in his nearly severed ankle from years earlier, and his back started feeling stronger. He then decided to continue pursuing his martial arts goals and resumed his TKD training. Mr. Mann enrolled at Robert Allemier's TKD school in Garland, TX due to it being convenient and close to his home, and spent some time there.

During his time at Master Allemier's school, Mr. Mann found that his injuries from years earlier combined with flexibility limitations made kicking to the head near impossible. Thus he always felt at a huge point disadvantage in the ATA's biased rules of "no punches to the head", and the way they structured their point-sparring system. Mr. Mann discovered that punches to the head became the only techniques to-the-head he could consistently do. As time went by, Mr. Mann became more-and-more uncomfortable sparring in an environment where their way of sparring stacked-the-deck against him (their point system and restrictions), due to his injuries and limitations from years earlier. He started missing more street realistic training that allowed one to practice light punches to the head, which he'd enjoyed and participated in under Mr. Brown in Arkansas, along with the old ITF style forms he had originally learned and felt comfortable with. But of course Mr. Brown was in Arkansas, and Mr. Mann in Dallas, which made the idea of resuming training several times a week with Mr. Brown geographically impossible.

Mr. Mann recalled having been exposed to Allen Steen's system briefly when he was a child, having done a free 2 week course, after which his parents wouldn't let him continue, so he decided to look into Allen Steen's lineage of instructors, to see their thoughts about hand usage. Mr. Mann soon discovered that Allen Steen and his instructors not only used ITF forms in their training, but many had also come from boxing backgrounds, and embraced sparring rules that allowed light-contact punches to the head in sparring, both of these Mr. Mann felt more comfortable with. For those that don't know, Mr. Steen created and relentlessly enforced many high quality TKD standards in Dallas, and Dallas was primarily known for being a TKD town, due to Mr. Steen opening the first TKD school here in 1962. Mr. Steen was Jhoon Rhee's (Father of TKD) first American black belt, and Mr. Steen had a reputation for turning out many full contact national champions. Unfortunately Mr. Steen had retired by this time, however he created a large number of real quality black belts, many of which had opened their own schools in the Dallas area. Mr. Mann then heard a well-known rumor that "A 3rd Brown of Allen Steen's (or his instructors) looks as good as a 3rd Black anywhere else", along with the rumor that "these brown belts often entered tournaments against black belts, and won!" Now that Mr. Mann was older and had some martial arts exposure, he went and watched a Steen-type brown belt (Johnston) and blue belt (Rhinehart) of Larry Wheeler's, and came to the conclusion the rumor was true. Both were winning full contact and point sparring tournament events against much higher ranked black belts from elsewhere. Due to this incredible-and-rare standard, and a unique Americanized TKD system Mr. Mann felt more comfortable with, he decided to start immediately training with Larry Wheeler, one of Mr. Steen's best black belts. In 1993 Mr. Mann passed Mr. Wheeler's 3rd brown test and became a Steen-type 3rd brown, thus joining the Steen lineage of brown belts considered to be "as good as a 3rd Black anywhere else". Early 90's pic of Mr. Steen and Mr. Mann.

After earning his brown belt, Mr. Mann quite literally kicked his own personal training up several notches, feeling if he was going to teach and be an example, he needed to achieve an even higher level of skill and speed. He started doing hundreds of kicks and punches on-his-own at home each evening, more than was done in class. Mr. Mann quickly saw dramatic improvements in his speed. However it wasn't long til his lingering motorcycle injuries/ailments from years earlier started catching up with him. Mr. Mann found that the hundreds of kicks he was doing each day, along with forced stretching that had been recommended for higher kicks, were causing additional damage to his back and knees. The problems this was causing his lower back became more frequent, leaving him painfully bent over for weeks at a time, unable to stand straight or train. Mr. Mann got to the point where just a dozen kicks or so caused problems, thus making him feel he was on the path to becoming a "career brown belt", with little chance for improving his kicking ability for future rank. Mr. Mann thus sought out the opinions of numerous Dallas orthopedic back specialists, and all confirmed that the hundreds of daily kicks he was doing, forced stretching he'd been encouraged to do, combined with his former motorcycle injuries, had led to instability and additional damage in his lower back. Several back specialists recommended to Mr. Mann that he have spinal fusion surgery, or steel rods surgically implanted in his back, for additional lower back stability. Yet he was told either surgery could very likely end his martial art training permanently. Mr. Mann then asked doctors about other alternatives, and they indicated if Mr. Mann stopped doing the things hurting his back (kicking and forced stretching), he might after some time somewhat recover and not need either surgery. Instead of opting for either surgery, which didn't guarantee 100% results and had the potential of ending any-and-all types of martial arts training permanently, Mr. Mann felt it was best to move-on and sadly left Mr. Wheeler's quality TKD program.

Mr. Mann had put the following time into his TKD training:

Mike Brown = 3 years
Robert Allemier = 1.5 years
Larry Wheeler = 1.5 years
Bill Pettypool = 6 months private
Randy Rudeen = 3 months private
Frankie Feltrop = 2 months private
Keith Yates = 1-2 months
Royce Young = 1-2 months

Total TKD Training = 7 years!

Immediately after leaving TKD with his highest tested rank of 3rd Brown, Mr. Mann started looking for a style that had less kicking and was more hands-oriented, so as to limit the problems kicking had caused his lower back. It wasn't long before Mr. Mann found American Kenpo and felt it was a perfect match for that. Mr. Mann did very well in American Kenpo, and credits the grueling quality training, along with excellent skill and speed he'd gained from Larry Wheeler, to his rapid advancement. He certainly progressed quicker-than-most, earning his 1st Dan in "Parker style" American Kenpo nearly 2 years after his departure from TKD.

Thus, after 9 years of Karate training, Mr. Mann finally achieved his goal of becoming a 1st Dan in Karate!

Mr. Mann obtained all his Kenpo Dan rank up through 6th Dan though the Jay T. Will - American Kenpo lineage. He "earned" his 1st Dan in 1995, his 2nd Dan in 1996, and his 3rd Dan in 1997. Mr. Mann was allowed to test for his 2nd and 3rd Dan sooner than most, due to having accumulated over 10 yrs of Karate training prior to either one. Thereafter, he met the requirements every 3 yrs for his subsequent ranks of 4th, 5th, and 6th Dan. Mr. Mann's American Kenpo instructor, now retired from Kenpo, was Richard "Brint" Berry, a former 5th Dan of the late Jay T. Will's, who for many years had his own orgranization, and in it slowly and properly rose to the rank of 8th Dan. Since Mr. Berry's retirement Mr. Mann was awarded the rank of 7th Dan by Kenpo Grandmaster Paul Britton.

During his Kenpo training in the early 90's, Mr. Mann began looking at cross-training in other styles, specifically looking for a style that would fill in some gaps not thoroughly covered by the Kenpo or TKD he'd been exposed too. It was important for him to find a style that didn't place any kicking or flexibility demands on him, as both those activities seemed to aggravate his back the most. Due to the Gracie grappling craze at that time, Mr. Mann looked into Jujitsu/Judo and began training with Bert Becerra a IJF/USJI/USJA 7th Dan in Judo who also holds the rank of 7th Dan in Jujitsu. Mr. Becerra had created many national Judo champions (still does), was nationally respected by all other high ranking Judo instructors, and currently has a large Judo school in Garland, TX with over 300 judo students! Mr. Mann trained intensely with Mr. Becerra, earned his Jujitsu Shodan (1st Degree) in 1996, his Jujitsu Nidan (2nd Degree) in 1998, and in 2005 Becerra awarded him a Jujitsu Sandan (3rd Degree) and Judo Shodan (1st Degree), and in 2007 Becerra awarded him a Judo Nidan (2nd Degree). Mr Mann's rank in Jujitsu is and Judo rank are through the USJA. Mr. Mann still trains with Mr. Becerra, and assists him in the teaching of his Jujitsu classes in the Dallas area at Richland Junior College. Mr. Mann an Mr. Becerra are very close friends, frequently spend time together, and Mr. Mann is honored to have Mr. Becerra as a UFS Board Member. To see a picture of Mr. Mann and Mr. Becerra click here.

While Mr. Mann was searching in the early 90's for a style that was more hands-oriented, he started buying and watching large quantities of martial arts training tapes, to get a feel for available hands-oriented styles. After numerous instances of becoming unhappy with some companies poor quality videos, combined with their "no refund" policies, he subsequently noticed there was no resource that reviewed or provided unbiased information about the 1000's of instructional tapes on-the-market. Mr. Mann kept the thought of that in the back-of-his-mind. A few years later in 1997, after earning black belts in 2 different styles, he felt the time was right to start such a review website for the benefit of martial artists everywhere, and simply called it Martial Arts Video Reviews. That site has since become the largest and most visted website of its kind that reviews martial arts instructional training tapes. At different times that site has seen as many as 10,000 visitors a month! Nearly every well-known video instructor and company has contributed or been a part of that project. This allowed Mr. Mann to see many different martial arts styles and techniques, learn many new things, along with being able to discuss those techniques and meet with many video instructors. That project is still active, has been well-received amongst martial artists, and to-date has posted reviews on over 350 instructional videos. Mr. Mann typically receives dozens of emails a day from fans of this project, telling him how much they appreciate those reviews.

In 1996, after having earned Dan ranking in Kenpo and Jujitsu, Mr. Mann became interested in combining those 2 styles. Upon looking around and seeing who had combined those 2 styles, and the official process and methodology for doing so, he soon noticed that many Mixed-Martial-Arts (MMA) instructors were often outcast by the single style traditional instructors they had originally learned from. This turning-their-backs on their own, and casting-them-aside-like-garbage, Mr Mann felt was an appauling thing for close-minded traditional style instructors to do too their own former students (now instructors in more than one style). So Mr. Mann created a non-political association targeting their needs called United Fighting Systems. His association has been a huge success since it's founding, and hundreds of Mixed-Martial-Arts instructors have joined from all over the world.

In February 2005 Mr. Mann was evaluated by Dr. J.M. Gallego of the Sekai Seito Goju-Ryu system and awarded the rank of 6th Dan in Goju-Ryu Karate!

Then in August 2005, Mr. Mann was reunited with Mr. Brown, his original TKD instructor from 25 yrs earlier. Mr. Brown was now rightfully a highly respected TKD Grandmaster in Arkansas, and over the course of 25+ yrs had created many high quality black belts and champions in Arkansas, many of which went on to open their own schools, thus extending Grandmaster Brown's TKD lineage several generations deeper. Mr. Mann and Grandmaster Brown had several discussions about Mr. Mann's years of training and future martial arts goals. Subsequently, Grandmaster Brown did an in-depth evaluation of Mr. Mann's background, verifying his ranks in other styles, his skills, martial arts training/experience, his many years in the martial arts, and his contributions to the arts. Taking all that into consideration, along with the 3 yrs Mr. Mann spent training with Grandmaster Brown from 1980-1983, and the present age - physical condition - and limitations of Mr. Mann, Grandmaster Brown and the NTFA High Dan Board unanimously agreed Mr. Mann should be cross-graded and promoted to a Taekwondo 3rd Dan in Grandmaster Brown's NTFA. Mr. Mann considers this promotion by Grandmaster Brown and his NTFA Board a huge honor. It was a long road of twists-and-turns with regard to his martial arts training, however Mr. Mann finally achieved his original goal of becoming a TKD black belt, with the instructor he originally began with 25 yrs earlier. Quite literally, everything in Mr. Mann's martial arts training had come full circle!

Mr. Mann has been classified by doctors, and several of his instructors, to be near-handicapped, due to various injuries. Addtionally, these have created many flexiblity and kicking limitations. Still, he does not allow those issues to slow down his training, involvement, or love for the martial arts. In fact, Mr. Mann feels his condition has created a unique training perspective, that can help him more effectively teach those with similar limitations such as older adults, or those with handicaps, or who simply can't kick well due to flexibility limitations. Mr. Mann feels he can show others how to find a mixture of martial arts techniques from several styles he's trained in, that will allow anyone to have enough options they can enjoy training in the arts for a lifetime.

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