He Loved to Help People: A Don Nakaya Nielsen Retrospective (With Jon Nielsen)
By William Colosimo | wcolosimo@yahoo.com
Don Nakaya Nielsen (Nakaya being his mother’s maiden name, which he took when he began his professional fight career) was a Thai boxer and World Kickboxing Association champion who ventured into the world of mixed match bouts- both with and without predetermined outcomes- in the formative years of the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). His time in the Professional Wrestling Fujiwara-Gumi organization was brief, yet yielded two bouts that are very important to the history of that group.
Don passed away on August 16th, 2017 at the age of 58. I wanted to talk with someone close to Don who might be able to shed some light on how he became involved with the Fujiwara-Gumi organization. Don’s younger brother Jon was that person.
William Colosimo: You’re Don’s brother?
Jon Nielsen: Yep, I’m the youngest one.
Colosimo: How close in age are you?
Nielsen: Well I’m 47, so we’re probably about… I don’t know (laughter). I don’t really look at that, do the math on that (Editor’s Note: The brothers are fourteen years apart in age. Don would have been 61 at the time of this interview).
Colosimo: For the interview, do you want me to give any specific or general reason for cause of death? Or would you rather I not mention the cause?
Nielsen: You can- I mean obviously it was kind of sudden. He basically went in from a leg injury that he had, and they were going to clean it out, and I guess it spread- sepsis so bad, that he ended up having cardiac arrest when he was under.
Colosimo: Were you his manager?
Nielsen: No no no. But I was close and I’m still close with all his- I’m the bridge, the conduit to that whole part of his life, I guess you could say. I still stay in touch with all the guys- the Jet Center guys, and Rob Kaman, Maurice Smith, Dale Cook, John Hackleman, all those different guys. I’m not sure if you knew, but my brother was kind of the pioneer to the modern day UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). All the stuff that he did with All Japan (Enterprise), and all the mixed martial arts type stuff that he did was the precursor to what Dana (White) did with everything. My brother probably tapped out a year or two before he could have capitalized on that stuff. ‘Cause Maurice actually was the carryover from that era into the UFC early. It’s funny, Maurice was like “Dude, I never wanted to fight your brother, there’s no way.” (Laughter)
Colosimo: Maurice is someone who- just like Don- before the UFC and before Pancrase, he was doing a few of the mixed matches in the Japanese pro-wrestling organizations (Editor’s Note: Mixed matches were early attempts at MMA in Japan that happened sparingly, usually but not always involving a Japanese pro-wrestler versus a non-Japanese boxer or Thai boxer. These were likely seen more as style versus style, in an attempt to show the effectiveness of pro-wrestling. The rules could be varied, but usually featured seemingly unlimited rope escapes, with the gloved striker going against an ungloved wrestler who wasn’t allowed to throw closed fist punches to the head. The matches were sometimes shoots, and sometimes works).
Nielsen: I know the big thing for my brother was when he was the semi-main event for Inoki. It was Inoki-Spinks, and it was Maeda and my brother. That was the big culmination of my brother’s fandom-stardom in Japan (Editor’s Note: On October 9th, 1986, New Japan Pro-Wrestling held an event that featured Antonio Inoki versus Leon Spinks in the main event, and Akira Maeda versus Don Nakaya Nielsen in the semi-main event).
Colosimo: In 1986 he had the Akira Maeda match, and I think that was the first one he had there.
Nielsen: Yeah, that was the first one. And then that springboarded everything into what he did out there.
Colosimo: Did Don go through All Japan Enterprise for all of his matches in Japan?
Nielsen: Initially it was All Japan, then everything else after that was on his own. All Japan brokered the first few, and then he just did the rest.
Colosimo: How did he get approached, and how did that match come about with Maeda?
Nielsen: That came through some of the Jet Center stuff early, with Benny (“The Jet” Urquidez) and “Blinky” (William Rodriguez) when they were doing this- my brother was a Jet Center guy, before they parted ways. But that was the, I guess you would say initial steps to meet the people in Japan. There was a couple good friends of mine that ran a couple magazines, and that took his career from there. But I think the initial was when some of the matchmakers came out to the Jet Center to get some of those guys.
Colosimo: That was in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. How was the match set up beforehand, with Akira Maeda winning with the leg lock and what not-
Nielsen: Oh yeah of course, obviously those matches were all (worked) matches for the most part. It’s good theater- it’s real, but they try to choreograph it, they try to get to an end, and there’s a couple things that will end with the second (Yoshiaki) Fujiwara fight. But, the first fight obviously, they met and they talked about what was gonna happen.
But my brother hit Maeda (laughter) so many times with his left, that Maeda kinda forgot to do some things. I think he spent- and he’ll tell you- he spent about two weeks in the hospital, ‘cause the whole right side of his head was just so swollen from the left’s from my brother. So, he forgot a couple things in between the rounds, ‘cause my brother kept stinging him with the punches.
Colosimo: You know, there was one left hook in particular- there was one point in the match where it looked like Maeda got a little pissed and threw a hard low kick, and your brother retaliated with I think a left hook to the head that kind of stunned Maeda.
Nielsen: Oh yeah. That’s the competition side of it. When things go a certain way, it’s like “Okay- hey you’re off script; let me bring you back on board real quick.”
Colosimo: I think with a lot of those matches, going into them you know who the winner is and how they’re supposed to win. But leading up to that, you’re basically sparring with each other at fifty percent power and nothing’s really scripted.
Nielsen: Sure, yeah you’re playing it out- I mean it’s for show, it’s entertainment- but at the same time, it’s kind of real. And my brother, with the kickboxing side of it, they were handcuffed ‘cause they had gloves- the (pro-wrestling) guys didn’t have anything. Their boots had some padding in it, but they had open hand, and they could kick you with not much protection. I guess you’d say it wasn’t necessarily an even playing field at that point because they couldn’t, you know… how do you do that? And that segues into the (Ken) Shamrock fight. So again, you’re handcuffed with gloves, and certain things you’re limited to- it gets kind of different.
Colosimo: After that Maeda match, Don came back in ’88 to do two more matches in New Japan. The first one was with Keiichi Yamada, but the one I wanted to get to was a couple months after that- his first match with Yoshiaki Fujiwara. What can you tell me about the first match between Fujiwara and your brother?
Nielsen: That was good, I mean obviously Fujiwara was a big star. He was like the elder statesman for their organization. It was a good fight, they scripted some things out- it was fun because there was actually an impromptu corner fight- you see that chaos happening in the corner during the fight. I know Blinky from the Jet Center got involved in it a little bit, he had fun doing that. I think he took Yamada down or something happened, so it was funny.
Colosimo: I was talking the Yoshiaki Fujiwara fight- but a couple months before, there was the Keiichi Yamada fight, where your brother won with a knock out. I think it was a kick to the head. That’s the one you’re talking about?
Nielsen: Oh, no no no- it was the Fujiwara fight- but Yamada was in the corner of Fujiwara. So if you watch the fight clip- they didn't break it up fast enough, and then Fujiwara hit my brother, so my brother just started teeing off on him after the bell, and then the corners came in, and it got kinda hectic.
Colosimo: At the end of the fight your brother wins with basically a knockout-
Nielsen: Yeah, but right before that happened, it was a corner melee. Fujiwara’s half out of the ring, comes in, and then his corner storms in, then my brother throws some punches, and you know…
Colosimo: Now that first match with Fujiwara, did that pretty much go- in your brother’s eyes- how it was supposed to?
Nielsen: Yeah, that one did. That one was pretty clean, yes.
Colosimo: Don came back four years later for the two Fujiwara-Gumi matches. May of ’92 was the first one, a rematch with Fujiwara. I would love to get your side of what you think went down with that match.
Nielsen: Well, that match ended quickly. It wasn’t supposed to end like that, but the cuts with the kick to his head, I mean that’s just the unfortunate side of things. But, that was supposed to go I believe three or four rounds.
Colosimo: So it was supposed to go longer, but do you remember who was scripted to win that, and how?
Nielsen: To be honest, I wasn’t sure on how that one was gonna end out. All I know is my brother goes “Yeah, I kind of f**ked up” (laughter). He gave two low kicks, and the second one (Fujiwara) bent down in to, and it just split his forehead.
Colosimo: Not only was he split from the kick, but you could tell he was definitely stunned.
Nielsen: Oh, yeah. It’s unfortunate that he got the brunt of that kick.
Colosimo: So do you think Don was just overly aggressive, or was it a total accident that it ended that early when he threw the kick?
Nielsen: Yeah, he just threw the kick, and he didn't expect him to lean into it, I should say. He wasn't trying to end the fight, let’s put it that way. He wasn’t trying to end the fight.
Colosimo: Do you remember how he got invited to do that rematch with Fujiwara?
Nielsen: It was planned for him to try and come out, because he just had his oldest son, who was actually on the cover of all the magazines. My brother brought him into the ring when he was like one, a little over one year old. It was one of those things where my brother got to take my parents to Japan to experience the fight, so it was more or less a homecoming for him to go back.
Colosimo: Oh, so that Fujiwara-Gumi event was the event that he used as an excuse to go back to Japan.
Nielsen: Yes. ‘Cause at that time he had already started his chiropractic clinic in Bangkok (Thailand). So, he started that in ’91. I’m not sure if you’re aware, that’s how his whole thing started with his health care, chiropractic clinic- all that stuff came from all the relationships that he had from fighting in Japan, ‘cause a lot of those guys were the initial investors, and some different people that helped him navigate to get to Thailand.
Colosimo: I understand he was the first person in Thailand to do it?
Nielsen: Yeah, he was the first U.S. born chiropractor to set up a shop in Thailand. So he was the first one, he was a pioneer for chiropractic in Southeast Asia. That’s actually a bigger story than his fights, though- because my brother has two careers- he has his fight, and then he has his practitioner phase of his life. And even when he was in Thailand doing that, he still worked with all the different Muay Thai camps. He used to do some different things with a bunch of different schools, and obviously Master Toddy was really involved with some of that stuff too that he did out there. We trained with Master Toddy, that was his long time teacher as well. He fought under Toddy for a long time.
Colosimo: What was the aftermath of that May of ’92 match against Fujiwara? What were the dealings with the Fujiwara-Gumi group with how that ended?
Nielsen: I think everything was fine. I mean, those things happen. I don’t think there was any animosity or anything from their end of it- from my understanding, at least. Because again, we still came back out to do the second-
Colosimo: In October of that year, the one with Ken.
Nielsen: Yeah. We did that too. And then we came back out later on too, when we did the whole Satake second thing, that was my brother’s last fight. I was actually in the corner for that one (Editor’s Note: On June 25th, 1993 Don Nielsen and Masaaki Satake had a kickboxing rematch in the K-1 organization). So, there were some different things that still took place. Again, his main focus at that point of his career was his chiropractic clinic. But they had an offer, that “Okay, let me go make this money. I’ll take my parents and my son, and we’ll go back out there.”
Colosimo: So the chiropractic was taking first place-
Nielsen: Oh yeah. During my brother’s career- even early on- he was going to chiropractic college when he was still fighting out here in the U.S. Once he got his stuff done there, he had an opportunity to go to Japan, and meet with some of the guys out there, and then from there he went to Bangkok and set up shop there. So that was his passion, obviously. He was a practitioner; my brother loved to help people, and he really catered to a lot of the fight people.
Colosimo: Why did he decide to settle in Thailand for the chiropractic?
Nielsen: Because it was uncharted territory, they didn't have chiropractors out there. So there was a need- that even when he would go and train in Bangkok, he would on his own adjust the people at the camp, so just the response that he got from that fueled the passion to set up out there. He did a lot of grass roots- my brother went out there and visited some of the villages, and adjusted the people of the village for free- so he did a lot of different things out there, that’s what his passion was. And he used the fight game to get involved and get set up with those things.
Colosimo: Awesome. So then the last match in Fujiwara-Gumi, five months later in October of ’92 versus Ken Shamrock- do you remember how that was set up? I understand that was different as far as that was a shoot match. That was real.
Nielsen: Yeah, it was kind of different. I mean obviously they couldn't really agree too much on… I know there were some stipulations with some of the rules, that threw those things off a little bit. But I mean my brother did it- again, he pretty much took the quick money on that, you know what I mean? That was one of those things “Hey, we’ll give you this amount of money, come out here.” “Okay.” At that point he wasn't training like he was contending for fights. His focus was on his clinic, so he would work out but he wasn’t in full on train fight mode. So with that fight, you go back and look at it- you go in a full shoot match and you have gloves on, dealing with someone who’s gonna get in there and jiu-jitsu- it’s a little different, right?
Colosimo: Night and day, definitely.
Nielsen: And you can’t do those kind of things when you have boxing gloves on. It’s different when you have the UFC gloves on now, the little small ones- it’s different, you can operate. But when you don’t have (any ability to grip), versus someone that has nothing, in that kind of a fight- it’s a different deal, that’s why that fight was so fast.
Colosimo: Did Don ever mention to you any comments that he had about that match?
Nielsen: Said it was bullshit (both laugh). I mean, it’s what it is, but said it was bullshit.
Colosimo: Well, it’s those early mixed rules matches where they’re just trying to test the waters with different styles.
Nielsen: Oh of course, one hundred percent. One hundred percent. I know after that my brother got with some of the Gracies out here and trained and did some more, some different things with that- but again, his focus at that point of his life was being a chiropractor, and didn't really think about how the evolution of the fight game was gonna go. I think he was smart enough to understand that he had something bigger to offer (Editor’s Note: The Gracie family of Brazil is known for developing their own brand of jiu-jitsu, along with being heavily involved in the creation of the UFC).
Colosimo: With Don’s passing, is his chiropractic facility still there in Thailand?
Nielsen: One of my brother’s friends that he brought out here is still doing some work out there with the wellness clinic. And here’s the thing, my brother was only the entrepreneur- he thought he was gonna go out there, and five to ten years build it up and then sell it and then come back. Well the Thai people, went to see him. Does that make sense? They like chiropractic but they came to see him, so his following- I mean he dealt with all the royalty, he had to deal with the upper echelon of people. They would drive two to three hours to come see him from different far away villages. But when he would leave to come back home for a couple weeks, the office would kind of shut down because they came to see him, not necessarily get chiropractic care. He was pretty much tied into his office. And for him to be there. So, it wasn’t like he was going to go out there and sell chiropractic, and then franchise, and open up a bunch of places- they came to see Doctor Don.
Colosimo: It sounds like he had a huge impact on the people there.
Nielsen: For sure. I mean all the royal family came to the ceremony. He was good at what he did, but towards the later end of his career, that was where his passion was- on this side, versus the fight side. He still enjoyed doing the fight stuff, he just wasn't training like he should have been training for those things.
By William Colosimo | wcolosimo@yahoo.com
Don Nakaya Nielsen (Nakaya being his mother’s maiden name, which he took when he began his professional fight career) was a Thai boxer and World Kickboxing Association champion who ventured into the world of mixed match bouts- both with and without predetermined outcomes- in the formative years of the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). His time in the Professional Wrestling Fujiwara-Gumi organization was brief, yet yielded two bouts that are very important to the history of that group.
Don passed away on August 16th, 2017 at the age of 58. I wanted to talk with someone close to Don who might be able to shed some light on how he became involved with the Fujiwara-Gumi organization. Don’s younger brother Jon was that person.
William Colosimo: You’re Don’s brother?
Jon Nielsen: Yep, I’m the youngest one.
Colosimo: How close in age are you?
Nielsen: Well I’m 47, so we’re probably about… I don’t know (laughter). I don’t really look at that, do the math on that (Editor’s Note: The brothers are fourteen years apart in age. Don would have been 61 at the time of this interview).
Colosimo: For the interview, do you want me to give any specific or general reason for cause of death? Or would you rather I not mention the cause?
Nielsen: You can- I mean obviously it was kind of sudden. He basically went in from a leg injury that he had, and they were going to clean it out, and I guess it spread- sepsis so bad, that he ended up having cardiac arrest when he was under.
Colosimo: Were you his manager?
Nielsen: No no no. But I was close and I’m still close with all his- I’m the bridge, the conduit to that whole part of his life, I guess you could say. I still stay in touch with all the guys- the Jet Center guys, and Rob Kaman, Maurice Smith, Dale Cook, John Hackleman, all those different guys. I’m not sure if you knew, but my brother was kind of the pioneer to the modern day UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). All the stuff that he did with All Japan (Enterprise), and all the mixed martial arts type stuff that he did was the precursor to what Dana (White) did with everything. My brother probably tapped out a year or two before he could have capitalized on that stuff. ‘Cause Maurice actually was the carryover from that era into the UFC early. It’s funny, Maurice was like “Dude, I never wanted to fight your brother, there’s no way.” (Laughter)
Colosimo: Maurice is someone who- just like Don- before the UFC and before Pancrase, he was doing a few of the mixed matches in the Japanese pro-wrestling organizations (Editor’s Note: Mixed matches were early attempts at MMA in Japan that happened sparingly, usually but not always involving a Japanese pro-wrestler versus a non-Japanese boxer or Thai boxer. These were likely seen more as style versus style, in an attempt to show the effectiveness of pro-wrestling. The rules could be varied, but usually featured seemingly unlimited rope escapes, with the gloved striker going against an ungloved wrestler who wasn’t allowed to throw closed fist punches to the head. The matches were sometimes shoots, and sometimes works).
Nielsen: I know the big thing for my brother was when he was the semi-main event for Inoki. It was Inoki-Spinks, and it was Maeda and my brother. That was the big culmination of my brother’s fandom-stardom in Japan (Editor’s Note: On October 9th, 1986, New Japan Pro-Wrestling held an event that featured Antonio Inoki versus Leon Spinks in the main event, and Akira Maeda versus Don Nakaya Nielsen in the semi-main event).
Colosimo: In 1986 he had the Akira Maeda match, and I think that was the first one he had there.
Nielsen: Yeah, that was the first one. And then that springboarded everything into what he did out there.
Colosimo: Did Don go through All Japan Enterprise for all of his matches in Japan?
Nielsen: Initially it was All Japan, then everything else after that was on his own. All Japan brokered the first few, and then he just did the rest.
Colosimo: How did he get approached, and how did that match come about with Maeda?
Nielsen: That came through some of the Jet Center stuff early, with Benny (“The Jet” Urquidez) and “Blinky” (William Rodriguez) when they were doing this- my brother was a Jet Center guy, before they parted ways. But that was the, I guess you would say initial steps to meet the people in Japan. There was a couple good friends of mine that ran a couple magazines, and that took his career from there. But I think the initial was when some of the matchmakers came out to the Jet Center to get some of those guys.
Colosimo: That was in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. How was the match set up beforehand, with Akira Maeda winning with the leg lock and what not-
Nielsen: Oh yeah of course, obviously those matches were all (worked) matches for the most part. It’s good theater- it’s real, but they try to choreograph it, they try to get to an end, and there’s a couple things that will end with the second (Yoshiaki) Fujiwara fight. But, the first fight obviously, they met and they talked about what was gonna happen.
But my brother hit Maeda (laughter) so many times with his left, that Maeda kinda forgot to do some things. I think he spent- and he’ll tell you- he spent about two weeks in the hospital, ‘cause the whole right side of his head was just so swollen from the left’s from my brother. So, he forgot a couple things in between the rounds, ‘cause my brother kept stinging him with the punches.
Colosimo: You know, there was one left hook in particular- there was one point in the match where it looked like Maeda got a little pissed and threw a hard low kick, and your brother retaliated with I think a left hook to the head that kind of stunned Maeda.
Nielsen: Oh yeah. That’s the competition side of it. When things go a certain way, it’s like “Okay- hey you’re off script; let me bring you back on board real quick.”
Colosimo: I think with a lot of those matches, going into them you know who the winner is and how they’re supposed to win. But leading up to that, you’re basically sparring with each other at fifty percent power and nothing’s really scripted.
Nielsen: Sure, yeah you’re playing it out- I mean it’s for show, it’s entertainment- but at the same time, it’s kind of real. And my brother, with the kickboxing side of it, they were handcuffed ‘cause they had gloves- the (pro-wrestling) guys didn’t have anything. Their boots had some padding in it, but they had open hand, and they could kick you with not much protection. I guess you’d say it wasn’t necessarily an even playing field at that point because they couldn’t, you know… how do you do that? And that segues into the (Ken) Shamrock fight. So again, you’re handcuffed with gloves, and certain things you’re limited to- it gets kind of different.
Colosimo: After that Maeda match, Don came back in ’88 to do two more matches in New Japan. The first one was with Keiichi Yamada, but the one I wanted to get to was a couple months after that- his first match with Yoshiaki Fujiwara. What can you tell me about the first match between Fujiwara and your brother?
Nielsen: That was good, I mean obviously Fujiwara was a big star. He was like the elder statesman for their organization. It was a good fight, they scripted some things out- it was fun because there was actually an impromptu corner fight- you see that chaos happening in the corner during the fight. I know Blinky from the Jet Center got involved in it a little bit, he had fun doing that. I think he took Yamada down or something happened, so it was funny.
Colosimo: I was talking the Yoshiaki Fujiwara fight- but a couple months before, there was the Keiichi Yamada fight, where your brother won with a knock out. I think it was a kick to the head. That’s the one you’re talking about?
Nielsen: Oh, no no no- it was the Fujiwara fight- but Yamada was in the corner of Fujiwara. So if you watch the fight clip- they didn't break it up fast enough, and then Fujiwara hit my brother, so my brother just started teeing off on him after the bell, and then the corners came in, and it got kinda hectic.
Colosimo: At the end of the fight your brother wins with basically a knockout-
Nielsen: Yeah, but right before that happened, it was a corner melee. Fujiwara’s half out of the ring, comes in, and then his corner storms in, then my brother throws some punches, and you know…
Colosimo: Now that first match with Fujiwara, did that pretty much go- in your brother’s eyes- how it was supposed to?
Nielsen: Yeah, that one did. That one was pretty clean, yes.
Colosimo: Don came back four years later for the two Fujiwara-Gumi matches. May of ’92 was the first one, a rematch with Fujiwara. I would love to get your side of what you think went down with that match.
Nielsen: Well, that match ended quickly. It wasn’t supposed to end like that, but the cuts with the kick to his head, I mean that’s just the unfortunate side of things. But, that was supposed to go I believe three or four rounds.
Colosimo: So it was supposed to go longer, but do you remember who was scripted to win that, and how?
Nielsen: To be honest, I wasn’t sure on how that one was gonna end out. All I know is my brother goes “Yeah, I kind of f**ked up” (laughter). He gave two low kicks, and the second one (Fujiwara) bent down in to, and it just split his forehead.
Colosimo: Not only was he split from the kick, but you could tell he was definitely stunned.
Nielsen: Oh, yeah. It’s unfortunate that he got the brunt of that kick.
Colosimo: So do you think Don was just overly aggressive, or was it a total accident that it ended that early when he threw the kick?
Nielsen: Yeah, he just threw the kick, and he didn't expect him to lean into it, I should say. He wasn't trying to end the fight, let’s put it that way. He wasn’t trying to end the fight.
Colosimo: Do you remember how he got invited to do that rematch with Fujiwara?
Nielsen: It was planned for him to try and come out, because he just had his oldest son, who was actually on the cover of all the magazines. My brother brought him into the ring when he was like one, a little over one year old. It was one of those things where my brother got to take my parents to Japan to experience the fight, so it was more or less a homecoming for him to go back.
Colosimo: Oh, so that Fujiwara-Gumi event was the event that he used as an excuse to go back to Japan.
Nielsen: Yes. ‘Cause at that time he had already started his chiropractic clinic in Bangkok (Thailand). So, he started that in ’91. I’m not sure if you’re aware, that’s how his whole thing started with his health care, chiropractic clinic- all that stuff came from all the relationships that he had from fighting in Japan, ‘cause a lot of those guys were the initial investors, and some different people that helped him navigate to get to Thailand.
Colosimo: I understand he was the first person in Thailand to do it?
Nielsen: Yeah, he was the first U.S. born chiropractor to set up a shop in Thailand. So he was the first one, he was a pioneer for chiropractic in Southeast Asia. That’s actually a bigger story than his fights, though- because my brother has two careers- he has his fight, and then he has his practitioner phase of his life. And even when he was in Thailand doing that, he still worked with all the different Muay Thai camps. He used to do some different things with a bunch of different schools, and obviously Master Toddy was really involved with some of that stuff too that he did out there. We trained with Master Toddy, that was his long time teacher as well. He fought under Toddy for a long time.
Colosimo: What was the aftermath of that May of ’92 match against Fujiwara? What were the dealings with the Fujiwara-Gumi group with how that ended?
Nielsen: I think everything was fine. I mean, those things happen. I don’t think there was any animosity or anything from their end of it- from my understanding, at least. Because again, we still came back out to do the second-
Colosimo: In October of that year, the one with Ken.
Nielsen: Yeah. We did that too. And then we came back out later on too, when we did the whole Satake second thing, that was my brother’s last fight. I was actually in the corner for that one (Editor’s Note: On June 25th, 1993 Don Nielsen and Masaaki Satake had a kickboxing rematch in the K-1 organization). So, there were some different things that still took place. Again, his main focus at that point of his career was his chiropractic clinic. But they had an offer, that “Okay, let me go make this money. I’ll take my parents and my son, and we’ll go back out there.”
Colosimo: So the chiropractic was taking first place-
Nielsen: Oh yeah. During my brother’s career- even early on- he was going to chiropractic college when he was still fighting out here in the U.S. Once he got his stuff done there, he had an opportunity to go to Japan, and meet with some of the guys out there, and then from there he went to Bangkok and set up shop there. So that was his passion, obviously. He was a practitioner; my brother loved to help people, and he really catered to a lot of the fight people.
Colosimo: Why did he decide to settle in Thailand for the chiropractic?
Nielsen: Because it was uncharted territory, they didn't have chiropractors out there. So there was a need- that even when he would go and train in Bangkok, he would on his own adjust the people at the camp, so just the response that he got from that fueled the passion to set up out there. He did a lot of grass roots- my brother went out there and visited some of the villages, and adjusted the people of the village for free- so he did a lot of different things out there, that’s what his passion was. And he used the fight game to get involved and get set up with those things.
Colosimo: Awesome. So then the last match in Fujiwara-Gumi, five months later in October of ’92 versus Ken Shamrock- do you remember how that was set up? I understand that was different as far as that was a shoot match. That was real.
Nielsen: Yeah, it was kind of different. I mean obviously they couldn't really agree too much on… I know there were some stipulations with some of the rules, that threw those things off a little bit. But I mean my brother did it- again, he pretty much took the quick money on that, you know what I mean? That was one of those things “Hey, we’ll give you this amount of money, come out here.” “Okay.” At that point he wasn't training like he was contending for fights. His focus was on his clinic, so he would work out but he wasn’t in full on train fight mode. So with that fight, you go back and look at it- you go in a full shoot match and you have gloves on, dealing with someone who’s gonna get in there and jiu-jitsu- it’s a little different, right?
Colosimo: Night and day, definitely.
Nielsen: And you can’t do those kind of things when you have boxing gloves on. It’s different when you have the UFC gloves on now, the little small ones- it’s different, you can operate. But when you don’t have (any ability to grip), versus someone that has nothing, in that kind of a fight- it’s a different deal, that’s why that fight was so fast.
Colosimo: Did Don ever mention to you any comments that he had about that match?
Nielsen: Said it was bullshit (both laugh). I mean, it’s what it is, but said it was bullshit.
Colosimo: Well, it’s those early mixed rules matches where they’re just trying to test the waters with different styles.
Nielsen: Oh of course, one hundred percent. One hundred percent. I know after that my brother got with some of the Gracies out here and trained and did some more, some different things with that- but again, his focus at that point of his life was being a chiropractor, and didn't really think about how the evolution of the fight game was gonna go. I think he was smart enough to understand that he had something bigger to offer (Editor’s Note: The Gracie family of Brazil is known for developing their own brand of jiu-jitsu, along with being heavily involved in the creation of the UFC).
Colosimo: With Don’s passing, is his chiropractic facility still there in Thailand?
Nielsen: One of my brother’s friends that he brought out here is still doing some work out there with the wellness clinic. And here’s the thing, my brother was only the entrepreneur- he thought he was gonna go out there, and five to ten years build it up and then sell it and then come back. Well the Thai people, went to see him. Does that make sense? They like chiropractic but they came to see him, so his following- I mean he dealt with all the royalty, he had to deal with the upper echelon of people. They would drive two to three hours to come see him from different far away villages. But when he would leave to come back home for a couple weeks, the office would kind of shut down because they came to see him, not necessarily get chiropractic care. He was pretty much tied into his office. And for him to be there. So, it wasn’t like he was going to go out there and sell chiropractic, and then franchise, and open up a bunch of places- they came to see Doctor Don.
Colosimo: It sounds like he had a huge impact on the people there.
Nielsen: For sure. I mean all the royal family came to the ceremony. He was good at what he did, but towards the later end of his career, that was where his passion was- on this side, versus the fight side. He still enjoyed doing the fight stuff, he just wasn't training like he should have been training for those things.
