Movie Review: New York Mixed Martial Arts

by Bloody Elbow on May 8, 2011 4:00 PM EDT in MMA Movie Review

This is a guest feature by Beth of Gal's Guide to MMA.

Living in Manhattan, it seems like the fight to legalize MMA has reached a fever pitch. Director Kahleem Poole-Tejada has created a documentary film on just that subject. New York Mixed Martial Arts has been accepted as an Official Selection in the First Annual Bronx Week Film Festival and I feel that it's going to be a great ambassador for the legalization movement.

Kahleem parallels the fight to legalize MMA in NY with one fighter's struggles to become a professional mixed martial artist. The fighter, Bradley Desir, was a great choice as the face of MMA athletes. This former US Marine and current Fordham University student is an intelligent, handsome, and well-spoken representative for his sport. He breaks the image that some non-fans have of a protruding-browed, mouth-breathing MMA fighter. When he talks about his love for his home state of New York, you feel a certain injustice that the sport he loves is illegal there. Also featured heavily in the documentary is Desir's coach, Stephan Koepfer. Koepfer, who produced the film, is the President and co-founder of the American Sambo Association and leader and co-founder of The Coalition to Legalize Mixed Martial Arts in New York. Again, Kahleem chose a very good ambassador in Koepfer. Koepfer's sincere love for MMA and his desire for legalizing it in NY come through very well on screen.

One thing the film does not do is spend 50 minutes bashing Bob Reilly, a member of the NY State Assembly with an almost pathological desire to keep MMA illegal in NY. Instead, they clearly debunk the no holds barred myth that is associated with the sport and talk about how when UFC was starting (and owned by SEG) that the no holds barred idea was actually promoted. The "any press is good press" that characterized the initial marketing of the sport has proven to be quite a detriment to its legalization today.

If you have the opportunity, I would definitely recommend this film. It does a great job of engaging both fans and people who have little to no knowledge of the sport. You can check out more at the film's official website

New York MMA- Feature Film Trailer from Kahleem on Vimeo.

Tweet Comment 15 comments | 1 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

This looks really good actually

And I really like whoever said that the entire battle over legalizing MMA is the word mixed

by DarthKitty on May 8, 2011 4:11 PM EDT reply actions

That would be the delightful Bas Rutten

Gals Guide to MMA

by Donna on May 8, 2011 5:27 PM EDT up reply actions

And of course by Bas Rutten, I meant Stephan Koepfer

Gals Guide to MMA

by Donna on May 8, 2011 5:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Good

For a second I was worried, I was like oh my god I am bad of an MMA fan?

by DarthKitty on May 8, 2011 6:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Thanks for the post

I’ve never heard of this film but now I’ll try to check it out sometime.

Hopefully they’ll add it to netflix streaming once the goddamn motherfucking Playstation network is back up.

Confucius says:

"Baseball is wrong; man with four balls cannot walk."

by RiverHorror on May 8, 2011 4:22 PM EDT reply actions

You can still watch Netflix on ps3

by 775assassin on May 8, 2011 4:43 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

First couple days of the outage I could

But now It wont let me

Confucius says:

"Baseball is wrong; man with four balls cannot walk."

by RiverHorror on May 8, 2011 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions

Thats shitty man I can still use it.

by 775assassin on May 8, 2011 5:46 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

samesys

by hewsdaddy on May 8, 2011 6:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Do you know if it's possible

In any way to watch this outside the U.S.?

by DreamingOfFighting on May 8, 2011 4:29 PM EDT reply actions

UK

I’d love to watch this film, Will it be coming to the UK shores? If so When?

by Happytoes on May 8, 2011 5:09 PM EDT reply actions

FYI

Stephen Koepfer, the film’s producer, wanted me to let you know he’ll be back tomorrow to answer your questions.

Follow me on Twitter @KidNate

by Nate Wilcox on May 8, 2011 11:41 PM EDT reply actions

I can get Kahleem, aka "Kahl One" on here too

I was going to try to post this trailer. Kahl has sick artistic talent and is one of the best MMA highlight reelers in the game. He did a bunch of original film work for The Garv.com.

GSP “Armour of Invincibility”: http://thegarv.com/KahL-One-Presents-St.-Pierre-The-Armour-of-Invincibility-Acts-1-3.html

Legend of Dragon and Tiger (Machida x Shogun): http://thegarv.com/KahL-One-Presents-Legend-of-Dragon-and-Tiger.html

Strikeforce GP Short Trailer: http://thegarv.com/KahL-One-s-Strikeforce-Grand-Prix-Trailer.html

Thiago Alves: “When the Pitbull Bites”: http://thegarv.com/Thiago-Alves-When-the-Pitbull-Bites-A-Film-by-KahL-One.html

http://thegarv.com/TUF-Season-14-Tryouts-A-Film-by-KahL-One.html

"A philosopher and solitary by instinct, who has found his advantage in standing aside and outside, in patience, in procrastination, in staying behind; as a spirit of daring and experiment that has already lost its way once in every labyrinth of the future; as a soothsayer-bird spirit who looks back when relating what will come." -Nietzsche

by Dallas Winston on May 9, 2011 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions

I have recall something about a mma promotion in NY, was that mearly underground? Is MMA illegal or not regulated? If promoter x wanted to have a mma event at venue x, could they?

I am free because I choose to be so-Me

by Kefka on May 9, 2011 7:42 AM EDT reply actions

answers...

Hi all, thanks for your patience! This movie has been a whirwind this last few weeks. But, I do want to answer all your questions.

This movie is in the very early stages of promotion. This festival will be the first public showing and it is already getting great reviews. In fact, we sold out today in 2 hours!

Generally, it is through the festival circuit that a film begins to generate buzz and gain a “resume”. Press screenings, reviews, fan screenings, Radio appearances, etc, all contribute to this buzz in the hopes that a distributer will pick up your film for wider distribution. I have been a madman pushing this film and getting meetings, venues, etc.

We have had some inquiries and do have some impending meetings in this regard (physical and on-line distribution, etc), but, I can’t give you en exact date that the film will be available outside of the screeings we are now planning in NY. I am confident the film will get picked up and eventually be available for viewing on a wider scale. Stay tuned to our website and facebook fan page to keep up with news.

Kahleem and I really appreciate all the support we have been getting! And we want people to see this movie (why else make a movie, right?).

And, yes..playstation sucks ass because I just can’t get my Assassin’s Creed on! But, then, if PS Network were up, I would probably not have gotten all the work done of the film that I have…so maybe we should thank PS Network…LOL.

by Stephen Koepfer on May 9, 2011 11:51 PM EDT reply actions