Free Style Wrestling Seminar with Dani Vlad at Extreme Fighters MMA Academy of Redhill

I was generously invited along to yesterday's 'Free Style Wrestling seminar, both as guest of the presenter Dani Vlad and by kind permission of Russell Dennis and Martin Hollis for the 'Extreme Fighting Mixed Martial Arts Academy' of Redhill,  who were hosting the seminar.

The seminar drew some twenty-two MMA Sportsmen, ranging in age, from mid forties to late teens. Many of whom had little or no prior experience of Freestyle Wrestling, but all experienced and accomplished in at least one contact sport and a few with a range of experience from Boxing to Taekwon-do to Muay Thai.  Amongst them, Russell Dennis who was one of the earliest founders of the Academy who serves as Chairman of the ITF Discipline and Ethics committee and a Professional MMA fighter in his own right.


The Extreme Fighters MMA Academy is one of the top places to train in Surrey with excellent facilities staffed by Professionals in the discipline of MMA.

After brief introductions, Dani, a former Romanian Freestyle Wrestling Champion and BWA Wrestling Coach got straight down to business after a intro and a short wrestling video he set the group off on a 45 minute warm up circuit with a range of movements exercises before progress on to the Free style Wrestling holds and 'Take downs' that are part of the genre's repertoire of skills with the whole group fully engaged from start to finish of the 3 and half hour seminar. 

Feed back at the end was very positive and everyone was still smiling, which cant be a bad thing.

It was a completely new experience for me as a photographer and if I was to take one thing away from it, that would undoubtedly be how impressed I was with the positive attitude of everyone I spoke to.  Of course, now that I have sat down with the images I captured, I have a better idea about what works and what doesn't with the conclusion that I would go for a different lens next time and use a different flash technique for this type of action.


I have developed an enthusiasm to learn more about the sport, and the people involved in it. As Dani informs me, MMA is growing and gaining a lot of support with new venues opening across the country all the time, this was a view shared by others and I am sure they are right.