Teen focused on fighting

Jaxon Jones lands a kick on his opponent. Photos submitted

By Tom Victoria

Akin to a modern day warrior, Jaxon Jones kicks, strikes and thrusts a sword. The athlete is a martial arts competitor.

The Kentucky teen, who is a red belt en route to a black belt, competed in the Ozark nationals for kickboxing, point fighting, which is like tag fighting, and sword performances.

“In October, I'm going to Greece with WKU World Kickboxing and Karate Union,” he said. “The money to pay for that, I've been fundraising. I've been working lawn jobs. Just anything I can to get money.”

Jaxon, 15, already has met competitors on the mat from other countries.

“I didn't go international because it was Florida, but it was an international tournament,” he said. “There were British people. There were people from France.”

Jaxon also has competed in Atlanta, Georgia and Arkansas.

“I've been to other nationals,” he said.

Of the various martial arts Jaxon does, one stands out for him.

“The one I most enjoy is probably the weapons part of Tae Kwon Do,” he said. “But my main thing is I will not settle for being good at only one thing. I want and will work to be the best in fighting, the best in forms, the best in flipping. I will work as hard as possible and I will not settle.”

Jaxon is incorporating tricking, self-taught acrobatics, to his repertoire.

“I have achieved the half a backflip, an aerial, my full splits, almost a vertical kick 540 and quite a few others,” he said.

Tricking allows athletes to master an unlimited variety of tricks, which appeals to Jaxon.

“It gives you much more creative liberty,” he said. “You can do anything you want, really. The sky's the limit with what you can do in martial arts tricking because we incorporate gymnastics, a little bit of breakdance type stuff. I've seen people do that breakdance thing on the floor. They spin on their back. You can take inspiration from anywhere, and that's the greatest part about it.”

Jaxon favors a sword among martial arts weapons.

“It's made out of aluminum,” he said. “It's very lightweight. I mostly do sword. I started off with the bo staff and just bounced around until I found the one I liked. I do all my tricks. I do my lifts, and then I just flip around until I find something I like. Then I'll compete with it.”

Learning martial arts helped Jaxon in other areas of his life.

“Martial arts absolutely helps discipline and focus on life,” he said. “It helps build good habits and really forces you to do things you don’t wanna do to get better. Learning and developing the personal strength to do what you don’t want to is something that is very hard for people. Martial arts in general helps you get over the fear of trying new things and doing stuff you don’t want to.”

Photo courtesy of EMAC (Elite Martial Arts Challenge) Sport Karate

Jaxon wants to teach and inspire other youth.

“I want to help others because my journey has been a long and strenuous one,” he said. “I realize if I had the guidance and help of who I am now, I could have reached my full potential younger and been at a much higher level at this point and avoided a lot of hardships I had — not just in martial arts but also in life. I was bullied a lot when I was younger and didn’t realize it till I was older. I could have been at a much better place if I had a sit down talk with someone who has the knowledge and understanding of where I was at that point in life.”

Jaxon also is an entrepreneur.

“I have started a lot of extra side businesses, a lot of extra things just to make money, because I'm realizing I need to go to every competition, need to go to everything I possibly can to increase everything for me,” he said. “So I can become the best martial artist, become the best person for God, spread his word and just make everything be as good as I can. I realized the potential and reach I could have. I want to do the best for the world.”

Jaxon began learning martial arts a few years ago.

“I started seventh grade,” he said. “I was dragged to a class by my dad because I was doing nothing all day. I was sitting at home. I was playing video games, which I wasn't even good at. He said you're gonna do something. He dragged me in, and I just fell in love with it the first day.”

Photo courtesy of EMAC Sport Karate

Initially, Jaxon wasn’t as dedicated as he would later be.

“I wasn't really locked in the whole time,” he said.

Jaxon, who focused more on martial arts this year, credited his religious faith for the turnaround.

“Whenever I baptized my friend, I was like, that's the Holy Spirit,” he said. “Whenever I had mine, I was like, okay, then what? But whenever I baptized him, all my worries started to drift away, and I realized my potential and what I can do. So then I started working on tricking.”

Jaxon always put in work for his passions.

“I've always had a creative will,” he said. “Whenever I was younger, I was into cosplay. I would make costumes, Halloween projects. I made an Alien Xenomorph costume for when I was in seventh grade. All these things, they didn't look very good, but I put a lot of effort into them. I've been making weapons forever. I've been making spears, swords. I started making these stiff things with my dad. He got them for me. Had the laser tool cut them out, has Js in them. It's been a longtime project. Now I can really use my materials, and I can actually use the tools I need to make it as good as I want them.”

Jaxon has aspirations.

“My long-term goal is to get on team Paul Mitchell, which is sponsored by Paul Mitchell, the hair company,” he said. “They have the best in the world, and if we're thinking about it in terms of shoes, they're the Gucci of the martial arts world. Extremely hard to get in there, but I'm looking at some of their great people. One inspiration for me has been Dawson Holt. He's a sword guy and a tricker. Every time I watch him, it used to be like, I can never do that. Now it's like, if I learn from him, I can do that trick in six months. That is not that hard. It's just more of learning and taking the process and slowing myself down.”

Jaxon wants to motivate others.

“My big goal is to eventually reach a lot more followers and train with more people and just increase my reach and my influence as much as possible,” he said.

Jaxon plans to master various tricking moves.

“I really like to get my backflip down,” he said. “My main big goal would probably be a 720 into a round off. A tornado kick is a simple 360. A 540 is a kick where you land on the same leg. You kick with a 720 is all the way over, land on that same leg in the air, not letting anything else touch.”

Martial arts appealed to Jaxon more than other athletic endeavors.

“I've always been very tall, very lanky,” he said. “I just wanted to be able to do what all those Korean guys where they had their legs straight up. I was like, that's awesome. I want to do that and flipping around with cool swords. I wanted to be a movie actor. I wanted to be just like Keanu Reeves. That's probably another long-term goal. Meet that guy.”

Jaxon also would like to follow suit.

“I've always loved acting,” he said. “I've always wanted to get into it. I've never knew how to get into it. Being my own stuntman would also be good for that.”

Jaxon has other interests in the arts.

“I've been interested in music,” he said. “I want to make Christian rap that's really good, and I compete with it. I'm working with a company called Sport Karate Mixes right now to make some mixes for my music. I'll be working on my own music with them. Just trying to take these really bad songs, make them usable, make them clean, compete with them, because once you hear the people are gonna know it.”

Music is just the start of Jaxon creating a brand.

“I'm trying to put my own name out there, thinking if you see a person with their own weapons, their own music, their own uniform, their own forms, their own style, that's just going to set them apart from everyone else,” he said. “I want to be most unique person there is out there. I want to be a jack of all trades. I can do everything and do it well.”

Jaxon is open about his religious faith despite it not being en vogue in some quarters.

“I will never hide my faith,” he said. “If someone is not willing to work with my faith and put that out there, then I won't work with them. We just want everyone to become their best selves and go to the Lord because that's really the only thing that can help them the most.”

“I want them to see that you can do whatever you want. There are no limitations no matter how bad, no matter how down, far down low you may be.”

Jaxon is working with a company.

“The one I'm working on for Ozarks is the weapon creation business,” he said. “I'm doing odd jobs for them. I'm working on weapons on the side. I have not played video games. I've not done anything except for work, work out, train, become the better version of myself. Besides that, I have lawn care. I was working for a construction company before. And just as many things as I can do for money so I can increase my influence, I'm doing them.”

Jaxon is mulling whether to join the military after high school.

“Possibly I would look into the military,” he said. “I've been really wanting to serve my country and become the better version of myself. But that's one idea.”

Jaxon would be carrying on a tradition of family serving in the military.

“I have my grandfather,” he said. “He was in the Vietnam War. Another grandfather, he didn't go to war. It was between the Vietnam War and the War on Terror. I have a bunch more relatives that are doing it. And I have a bunch more family friends.”

Jaxon stays motivated by surrounding himself with good people.

“I have a very large support system,” he said. “I have my best friend, Jon Shipp. He is on Team BLITZ, son of my instructor. He has helped me through so much. He's helped me through motivation. His girlfriend Olivia along with everyone else. I used to have awful social anxiety. Now I talk to everyone I possibly can to reach people, to talk to them, just make their day better. I want to be the person that I've vented to. I want to be that person for as many people as I can. That keeps me motivated along with my faith.”

Jaxon plans to eventually join BLITZ.

“I am in talks with them and can’t join until next year when contacts start,” he said.

Jaxon poses with Will Schneider, EMAC Sport Karate CEO.

Jaxon wants to encourage his social media followers.

“I want them to see what's possible if you really put effort in, put in the work, put your faith, put Jesus first,” he said. “I want them to see that you can do whatever you want. There are no limitations no matter how bad, no matter how down, far down low you may be. I want them to get motivation. I want them to become the best versions of themselves and fix this world a little bit.”

Jaxon’s toughest lesson in martial arts was in how to approach fighting.

“The hardest thing that I've had to learn would probably be how to actually fight without fighting,” he said. “Not flinching whenever I'm fighting and footwork and just running at them without being scared. One thing we work on is called the blitz, where it's when you fight, you dive in, then you run into them. I couldn't get over that fear because one of my friends first time I tried it, side kicked me and almost took my ribs out. That was probably the hardest thing to understand and probably footwork and realizing not to use my stupidity and use my brute strength to win, but instead use my head. Fighting is a game of chess, only harder. Having to understand that is one of the hardest things as martial artists.”

Flipping through the air turned out to be easier than Jaxon predicted.

“Tricking is so much easier than I thought,” he said. “I had been working for an aerial and cartwheel for so long. Once I did it, I realized just don't put your hands down, kick your heel over and don't let your head go to the floor. Now I can hit it about seven out of 10 times. It’s so much easier once you drill it and take and learn the process and don't rush and don't hurt yourself, then you can do anything you want. You just have to accept the process.”

Jaxon credited his martial arts teacher.

“I would just like to give a large shout out to my martial arts family and my martial arts school Victory Martial Arts,” he said. “They are amazing people. My instructor, master Aaron, he has helped me through so much. He is a preacher. He is a business owner of three schools. If you put in the work and you put in the effort, he will make you the best. That's what he's done with probably 15, 20 other world competitors at our school. We're not the biggest school. We don't have everything, but we will be if I keep working and I keep doing all I can.”

Jaxon dispensed advice to those wanting to take up martial arts.

“I would probably find a good dojo or dojang,” he said. “I would say Tae Kwon Do, or I would say karate, kickboxing. Literally anything would be good to start with. Once you get good enough in there and have the basics and understandings of the martial arts world, branch out, change, learn everything you can, adapt it into how you want to fight and what you want to do. Not everyone is going to want to do everything like I do.”

Jaxon’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abnormal_jones_tkd/