Today we’d like to introduce you to Gregg McMahan.
Hi Gregg, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started boxing at the Knoxville Golden Gloves in 1967 under pro boxer Jack Gilbert. I moved to Miami in 1968 and with no boxing gym close to me I started martial arts and kickboxing until 1974 when I moved back to Knoxville. I did nothing martial arts related until 1979 when a friend ask me to join a karate class with him. We joined and my friend quit after a few months but I stayed and started competing in tournaments and for the first few years I wasn’t very good because it was very hard for me at least to transition from full contact to playing a game of tag. By 1975 I had earned a blackbelt and switched to Isshinryu and won over 300 awards from 1985 until my last competition in 2015. I started my own school North Knox Isshinryu aka Team NKI in 2005. At that time I continued to teach Isshinryu but I had transitioned more towards mixed martial arts. Over the past 20 years my team has been very much a dominant force in Isshinryu Karate but even a bigger force in the world of mixed martial arts with guys fighting and winning championship’s all over the world. At 66 years young I feel I still have a lot left in me and I’m willing to take younger students with an interest in martial arts and help them to be even better and achieve even more than I ever did.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Actually so much of point karate is reliant on judges who are only human but seem to have a huge tendency to miss calls. Then in mma it’s the fact that if you travel, most promoters bring you in from out of town to fight their top guy and ticket seller so you better be dominant if your ti win out of town. Then you have so much politics and jealousy in the martial arts and to many people want others to know who they are and what they’ve done instead of just coming in, training and learning every session in the dojo.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in training young people to believe in themselves and to be Champion’s whether in martial arts or their life outside of the arts. I’d say I’m most proud of seeing young men and women who started with me as kids turn out to be great men and women and become successful in their life. I think having learned to keep my ego in check and the ability to relate to others no matter what the situation is.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I owe so much to my early boxing coach Jack Gilbert for teaching me the love of contact sports and to compete. I also owe my 1st karate instructor John Pachivas all the praise in the world for teaching me to be disciplined and to never quit on myself. Then most importantly my instructor over the past 45 years Pete Mills for all of his hardwork in helping me achieve my goals in martial arts and to never limit my myself or sell myself short. I owe Pete for teaching me how to relate to students as well as run a martial arts studio and the ability to teach from 1 on 1 to as many as 50 or more in class at a time.
Pricing:
- Our price for monthly membership, normally 3 classes a week unless you training mma and Isshinryu is $100 for the Isshinryu classes or 3 mma classes or all 6 per week for the same $100.
- If your looking to just drop in on occasion to train, we have a $15 mat fee.
- We do offer private lessons at the rate of $50 per hr.
