Mixed martial arts is an ever-expanding sport with new advances in technique and strategy occurring each day. Just as the growth of a child cannot be contained, such is the case with MMA’s development. But thanks to the involvement of true professional trainers, it can be guided in the right direction.
Meet Ken Hahn, a martial artist with over twenty years of experience. He has taught striking skills to UFC champions and he owns and operates Striking Unlimited, a successful MMA gym, located in Las Vegas, Nevada. And most recently, he was an assistant coach for Team Mir, on the eighth installment of Zuffa’s hit reality series, The Ultimate Fighter.
Hahn’s training and fighting resume includes holding a second degree black belt in Tea Kwon Do and Enshin Karate. After attaining such high ranks in two different styles, he decided to test his skills against the world’s best in World Bare Knuckle Knockdown Karate tournaments. In 2000, he became the South American Bare Knuckle Karate Champion and in 2001, the World Bare Knuckle Karate Champion.
Always eager to expand his martial arts base, Hahn chose to learn Muay Thai from the best in the business, Fairtex. While studying at Fairtex, he was privately trained by four different Muay Thai champions and eventually landed in a teacher’s role at their prestigious gym.
He has also taught stand-up striking at Las Vegas’, Kobra Kai gym. In exchange, he received private jiu jitsu instruction from Marc Laimon, the gym’s owner.
In his spare time, he studies and develops martial arts for law enforcement and military applications. This interest is a natural extension of his fundamental belief that “martial arts are the warring arts.”
According to Hahn, once a martial artist has become advanced in one or two styles “it’s easy to understand the strong and weak points” of different fighting systems. That understanding helps him develop specific fight-strategies for his fighters, depending on the physical and technical characteristics of their scheduled opponents.
Hahn’s passion for teaching martial arts is unparalleled. “Winning a world championship in one style shows I have what it takes to be a great trainer” because “I’ve done the groundwork,” says Hahn. His own fighting background provides him with a true fighter’s mindset and it also establishes his credibility among his peers and students.
Though nothing can replace extensive training experience, training MMA’s elite fighters requires a sharp mind. Hahn possesses one of the brightest minds in modern MMA. He believes that any trainer can hold pads for a fighter and call out a “one-two” combination, but he values the ability to relate to his fighters the reasons behind using different technical and strategic applications.
A few of Hahn’s notable virtues include being open-minded, possessing a humble nature, and a high intellect; all of which have enabled him to reach the highest levels of MMA instruction, including time spent at Pat Miletich’s camp, where he helped train former UFC champions, Tim Sylvia, Matt Hughes, and Jens Pulver, in their striking games. And he currently trains UFC heavyweight contender Frank Mir at his Las Vegas, Nevada gym, Striking Unlimited.
Striking Unlimited is a special gym. Hahn describes the gym’s training environment as “cutting edge; a real learning environment.”
His wife, Yoriko Washiyama, also an owner of Striking Unlimited, helps him run the gym. She alone has over twenty years of martial arts training. She grew up in Japan, where female martial artists struggled to receive their due respect. But it’s that type of challenging environment that helped forge her inner-fighting spirit. Yoriko also competed in Bare Knuckle Karate and taught alongside her husband at the Fairtex and Cobra Kai facilities.
One of the reasons behind Hahn’s willingness to coach alongside Frank Mir on TUF 8 was to finally receive his due exposure. Additionally, he wanted to take part in the reality show so he could “expose what MMA lacks.” He was confident that he could help “bridge the gaps” between the different arts and bring “balance” to Team Mir’s training.
According to Hahn, modern MMA involves a lot of “strategy… It’s very analytical now, more so than physical. It’s like chess on steroids. You have to think five to six moves ahead” of your opponent.
Regarding his experience on TUF 8, Hahn stated “I’m not a showbiz kind of guy. I wasn’t there to show animation, I was there to teach. The T.V. producers might have wanted more animation from me, but I have my own reality show every day in my own gym. You have to deal with fighters who have egos and high hopes every day.”
Always a dedicated trainer, Hahn pointed out that during team selections for TUF 8, “there was not a lot of time to figure out each fighter. Very few trainers would be willing to “hold the pads for thirty-two different fighters. I held for every single fighter. I sparred with the guys. I wanted to bring the quality.”
For MMA fans that want more information about the world class training environment surrounding the reality show’s contestants, MMAJunkie.com has the answer. Every Thursday, during season eight’s broadcast; Hahn will offer a first-hand, written account, exclusively on MMAJunkie.com, of details about his coaching experience on Team Mir.
At the core of his training philosophy is the intent to “always seek the truth and expose it.” Similarly, his upcoming weekly MMAJunkie.com contribution is meant to provide TUF fans with “a new perspective that people haven’t seen.”
