MuscleSport Media – You began training in martial arts at an age when most, if not all, of us are still playing with blocks. LOL. What was you inspiration to start back then?
Nick Appello – My dad was actually my inspiration for the beginning of my martial arts career, he first joined the program, saw how great it was and he ended up putting me in it.
mSm – You have accomplished so much in the different MA disciplines in your childhood and teen years. Which one was the most difficult to master and why?
NA – The hardest discipline that I have trained under has to be Chinese Kempo, that’s because not only must you master the techniques you have to learn about the history and the past owners and where their inspirations came from and how the Martial Art came to be.
mSm – Which one is your favorite and why?
NA – The favorite one that I have learned has to be wrestling, the sport itself is so much fun to learn and the matches that you compete in have you drained like no other.
mSm – What made you decide to go from the MA disciplines to MMA?
NA – Throughout the years while learning these disciplines I’ve always competed in MMA, and conditioning for my fights we used losts of MMA style workouts.
mSm – What MMA leagues have you fought in?
NA – I have fought in IMAC, I.E Fight Night, and the California Sports MMA Championship
mSm – Being inducted into the IMA HOF is an amazing accomplishment for anyone, let alone someone as young as yourself. How did that come to be?
NA – As I competed in IMAC I fought numerous time through the course of 9 years and in that time i was undefeated in MMA.
mSm – The varsity HS team you mentioned – which sport? Wrestling?
NA – Yeah wrestling, I was also captain of my high school team.
mSm – Brag a little LOL and list the shows on YouTube you have been on.
NA – So far I have been on 2 series, I was on Six Feet Down Under and Bane.
mSm – Take me into your mind for a moment. Your goal is to fight in the UFC and win a belt. How many times per day does that cross your mind and give me a little description of what that is like.
NA – Every time I train I’m reminded of why I put in the hard work, and also at home when it comes to something as simple as dieting; if you want to be a champion you must eat, think,and train like one.
MORE NICK APPELLO
• Born in year 2000, Year of the Golden Dragon.
• Started training in martial arts at the young age of three.
• Disciplines – karate, Russian combat sambo, judo. Currently a 2nd degree black belt in American freestyle karate, and the holder of a Kempo black belt. Appello is also in the process of obtaining a black belt in jujitsu His overall under-18 record was 30-3 and he went 40-6 in his senior year in high school wrestling.
• Competed in his first Ju Jitsu tournament when he was six years old and took first place .
• Had his first fight at seven and subsequently won his first world title in MMA.
• Between the years 2008-to-present, Appello had over 33 MMA fights, winning the world championships nine times. In 2018, he won the World Grand Championships.
• In 2014, Appello was inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
• Appello made varsity his freshman year of high school and became the captain of the team my junior year, the following year as captain, his team won the Golden League title and went undefeated.
• Appello has also acted for a couple of shows on YouTube and enjoys playing videos games on his PC when he’s not training.
• Appello aspires to get into the UFC and win a championship title.
Nick Appaello/Instagram
