fighters magazine - april 2011

MARCH 2011 £3.95

On The Rise Again!COUNTTHE

UULLTTIIMMAATTEE FFIIGGHHTTEERRSeason 13 PreviewIIMMPPRROOVVEE YYOOUURR PPEERRFFOORRMMAANNCCEEReduce The Risk of Injury & Effects of AgingCCAAGGEE QQUUEEEENNOur Monthly Coverage of Women’s MMABBAAMMMMAA 55ReviewedWWAARRTTIIMMEEWith Mark CarlingUUFFCC 112266 && 112277Full Reviews InsideUULLTTIIMMAATTEE CCHHAALLLLEENNGGEEUCMMA 19 - ‘Lights Out’

www.fightersmag.co.ukMARTIALARTSSHOWthe THE NEC BIRMINGHAM

7TH & 8TH MAY 2011BRINGING MARTIALARTS TO LIFE!!!

KKIICCKKBBOOXXIINNGG -- MMUUAAYY TTHHAAII -- MMMMAA -- KK--11 -- BBOOXXIINNGG

Is He TheCoolest Guy

in ProfessionalWrestling?

RROOBB VVAANNDDAAMMMMEEIs He The

Coolest Guy in Professional

Wrestling?

CONTENTS

Well, the nights are quickly drawing out and at the end of thismonth the clocks go forward, it can mean only one thing, thetemparature is rising and the Summer is almost upon us!Things are heating up as well on the full contact circuit! Thismonth we see the UFC Light Heavyweight title on the line asMauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua makes his long awaited return to thecage in an interesting match up against one of the division’shottest prospects John ‘Bones’ Jones. This should be an excit-ing fight with Jones getting his title shot after coming off animpressive win over fellow contender Ryan Bader.

This month also sees the return of the ever popular ‘UltimateFighter’ series. The franchise enters it’s 13th year and doesn’tlook like letting up the pace at all. Coaches this time roundshould make for entertaining viewing as we see arguablyMMA’s biggest star Brock Lesnar take on Number 1Heavyweight contender Junior Dos Santos with, as always thetwo coaches fighting each other for a shot at Cain Velasquez’title at the end of the season.

If wrestling is your thing then this month we have a lot tointerest you. Our very own Wrestling correspondant Teddy Ghas been very busy doing interviews and recently caught upwith some big names in the scene. None other than JeffJarrett, Mick Foley and Rob Van Damme! So what are youwaiting for? Read on...

We all get injured now and then and whether you’re a profes-sional fighter or just a student of the martial arts this cancause havoc to your training and fighting regimes. Well, ifyou flick forward to page 20 you can read an article thatmight just help you avoid getting injured as we give yousome tips for warming up properly, it might even prolongyour career a bit longer too.

Our monthly women’s MMA section continues with residentwriter Isobel Carnwath. This issue she takes a trip up to theMidlands to visit Leicester Shootfighters, one of the premierwomens MMA gyms in the country.

We’ve also got reviews from UCMMA and UFC in anotherpacked edition of Fighters Magazine.

Till next month...

Keep it locked!

6 NEWS ROUND-UPDomestic & International

12 FIGHTERS PRODUCT REVIEWStop The Aches & Pains With CNP ProTect

14 THE NEIL ADAMS SUBMISSION CLINICBy Fergus Dullaghan

16 LEGENDS OF THE CAGEMatt Hughes

20 IMPROVE PERFORMANCEReduce The Risk of Injury & Effects of Aging

22 JEFF JARRETTBy Teddy G

28 GAS IN THE TANKFor The High Performance MMA Athlete

34 WAKO ITALIA & WAKO GBWorking Together in Order to Improve The Fighting Athletes

40 CAGE QUEENOur Monthly Women’s MMA column

44 A WINNING SMILE IS PRICELESS

46 ONE FOR THE LADIESA Masterclass in WAKO K-1 Rules ByMaster Cris Janson-Piers

48 MICK FOLEYBy Teddy G

54 WARTIMEWith Mark ‘Wartime’ Carling

56 CHALINENE BASSINAH‘I See a Target, I hit it’

60 KEITH HACKNEYThe Giant Killer

62 ROB VAN DAMMEBy Teddy G

66 JULIE KITCHENTV Debut As Coach On Enfusion

70 PETER DAVIESThe Man Behind The System

74 ULTIMATE CHALLENGE UKUCMMA 19 - Lights Out

76 UFC 126Silva vs Belfort

80 BATTLE ARENA

EDITORIAL

PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEFPaul S. Clifton

[email protected]

GRAPHIC DESIGN Kevin Thompson

WEB DESIGNNick Harley

ADVERTISING/SALES EXECUTIVEJan Harley [email protected]

PHOTOGRAPHYCarrie Austin 07716266854

IRISH MMA SUB EDITORThomas McCullough

UK THAI SUB EDITORDan Green

UK MMA SUB EDITORRob Nutley

UK BJJ SUB EDITORCarl Fisher

UK KICKBOXING SUB EDITORCris Janson-Piers

UK BOXING SUB EDITORSLuke Calvert, Mark Wilson Smith

THAI / KICKBOXINGTony Myers, Shaun Boland, Paul Hennessy,

Bob Spour, Neil Holden, Dean Sugden, Carl Emery

CONTRIBUTORSSteve Dileo, Bryan Levick, Fergus Dullaghan,

Ben Cartlidge, Teddy Galbally, Craig Bush, Rocki Sondhi, Tommy Thompson

COVER PICTURECopywrite Zuffa LLC

HOW TO GET WORK PUBLISHEDDrop us an email at [email protected] or give the editorial team a call on 0121 351 6930

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This month we will examine howNeil switches position from the backto attack the arm. In Fig 1 Neilbegins his attack on an opponentwho is in the turtle position. His firstobjective as always is to get his firsthook (foot) into position: the correctlocation for the hook is just inside theopponent’s thigh.

He then sinks his second hook in.Notice how Neil always maintains anupright, well balanced posture untilthis has been achieved. Importantlyhe does not venture much furtherforward than the opponent’s belt lineat any time until both hooks are in(Fig 2).

Now that his hooks are both in placeit is safe for Neil to begin to manoeu-vre his opponent. Ordinarily, whenrolling an opponent Neil would takecontrol with his hands as well, but forthe purposes of demonstrating thistechnique Neil has let go. This isbecause he wants to emphasise howthe legs are used in turning youropponent, and in Fig 3 -5 you can seehow Neil uses his left foot to force theopponent to roll over.

It is interesting to note that by Fig 5Neil has already underhooked thearm in preparation for the armlock.This illustrates how attacks must beembedded within transitional move-

ments and not simply applied as sep-arate techniques.

When his opponent reaches the seatedposition Neil is already positioneddirectly behind him ready to attack(Fig 6). He then begins to push hisopponent’s head away with his righthand, whilst maintaining the underhook on his opponent’s arm with hisleft hand. His hips are starting to pivotoutwards to create space (Fig 8). Neilnow swings his leg over his oppo-nent’s head. At this point many peo-ple lose the arm lock as the opponentcontinues to roll away. Neil preventsthis by continuing to push the oppo-nent’s head away and most important-ly by pivoting his hips slightly (Fig 9).This changes the angle of the attack,and creates a space into which hisopponent can fall as can be seen inFig 10.

This attack works so well becausemost opponents expect a choke attackonce you get behind them (Fig 11).Indeed there is no reason why youdon’t initially look for the choke anduse the armlock as a secondary attack.In Fig 12 Neil is trying to choke hisopponent who is putting up seriousresistance. Neil underhooks the armin preparation to switch to the armlock. Neil then shifts his hips andthrows his leg over his opponent’shead. As before he makes this easier

by pushing the opponent’s head away(Fig 13). Although his opponentattempts to defend by grabbing hisown arm or gi (Fig 14) Neil has theposition under control. He brieflyallows the opponent’s head to rise(Fig 15) before pushing it back downto the ground with his leg muscleswhilst maintaining pressure on thearm - this causes the opponent torelease the arm (Fig 16).

WWW.FIGHTERSMAG.CO.UK December 2010

TThhee NNeeiill AAddaammss

SSuubbmmiissssiioonn CClliinniiccIn this, the ninth instalment of the Neil Adams Submission clinic we are focusing on Neil’s specialism;hunting for the arm lock. At times when you roll with Neil it seems that he can find the armlock no matterwhat position you are both in. Over the next two months we will be looking at a couple of the ways inwhich he does this from the back.

Hunting the armlock from the back: Part one

BByy FFeerrgguuss DDuullllaagghhaann

FFiigg 11

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THE NEIL ADAMS SUBMISSION CLINIC

FFiigg 22 FFiigg 33 FFiigg 44





Matt Hughes accepted his hall of famestatus in the no-nonsense fashion thathe’s become synonymous with. Hiswords on the day illustrated just why hehas become such a great ambassadorfor the sport.

“Being given an award like this, the firstthing that I need to do is to cut it up intopieces because there’s a lot of people who’vehelped me get to where I am.”

However his post-ceremony plans werenot as traditional as you might think.Hughes made the trip back home afterthe festivities, to diligently continue histraining and teaching. Most would lookat a promotional tour or some televisionwork after an award like this. Hughesgot back to training, back to his teamand, in very impressive fashion, got

back to winning as he choked BJJ blackbelt Ricardo Almeida unconscious atUFC 117 with a hold that summed himup perfectly. It was a front wrestlingheadlock; a nod to his wrestling back-ground, his brute strength and his fero-cious fighting spirit.

The early days of Matt Hughes are anoften told tale of a determined Illinoisfarm boy, who was able to turn hisrelentless competitive nature and ath-leticism towards wrestling. No competi-tion is more intense than the competi-tion between brothers and with his twinbrother Mark there to drive himonward, Matt was never short of moti-vation. It was the start of a wrestlingcareer that that led him to both multipleNCAA honours and Division 1 status.

When the UFC began making morenoise in the mainstream consciousnessit was something that Matt was instantlyinterested by. He’d watched the UFCfrom its brutal early incarnations andthroughout that period was reflectingon how his own wrestling pedigreewould serve him in such a battle. Hecontinued to train after his wrestlingcareer but he was becoming more inter-ested in competing in this emergingsport as each day went by. It was in1997 that an event called the Jeet KuneDo challenge was advertised in nearbyChicago. Hughes, in an instant, realisedthat his chance had come, and he knewthat he had to find a way to compete.

The contest took place on 1st January1998 and the young Hughes wasmatched up with Shidokan fighter ErickSnyder. The contest lasted merely 15seconds and, almost instantly, became asymbol of the dangerous strength andruthless competitiveness that Hugheswould come to embody. The scorecardthat day read Matt Hughes KO (Slam),a harbinger of things to come and asimplistic template for greatness.

Hughes was enamoured by the successhe had found in the fledgling sport ofmma. He went on to fight for theExtreme Challenge promotion andracked up an impressive 8-1 record inhis first 9 fights; his only loss coming byquick submission to grappling expertDennis Hallman.

The crowning glory of his early fightswas an invitation to fight in theShooto 10th Anniversary Event...

WWW.FIGHTERSMAG.CO.UK October 2010

Legends of the Cage

Matt Hugh

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Achieving hall of fame status is a surely a crowning moment in any athlete’s career, an accoladeassociated with the best of the best. Most look at the hall of fame as the zenith of their career; itrepresents the chance to look back on just what has been achieved and how much has changed inthe wake of their accomplishments.

LEGENDS OF THE CAGE - MATT HUGHES

esBy Ben Cartlidge

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IMPROVE PERFORMANCE - BY KEN PYTLUK

Improve PerformanceReduce the Risk of Injury and Effects of Aging

I have found that as I’m getting older Ican’t just jump right in and lift or run. Ihave to spend about 15 minutes warm-ing up. This includes but is not limitedto: foam rolling, active isolated anddynamic stretching and activation exer-cises for certain muscles. This pre-exer-cise protocol helps prepare my entirebody for what’s to come. Then Iprogress to my workout whether it be

lifting or cardio etc...Next are somechanges we can expect as we get older.We have a say as to how much of thiswill happen to us.

Here are some of the differences wecan expect to see in our performanceas we age:* Decrease in aerobic performance-

maximal oxygen intake declines by

about 5 ml.kg-1.min-1 per decadefrom 25 to 65 years of age, withsome possible acceleration there-after.

* Progressive decrease in muscle func-tion and flexibility- strength peaksaround 25 years of age, plateausthrough 35 or 40 years of age, andthen shows an accelerating decline,with 25% loss of peak force by theage of 65 years. The elasticity of ten-dons, ligaments and joint capsules isdecreased as cross-linkages developbetween adjacent fibrils of collagen.

* Athletic performance-The age ofpeak athletic performance dependsupon the key functional elementrequired of the successful competi-tor. In events where flexibility isparamount (for example, gymnasticsand brief swimming events) the topcompetitors are commonly adoles-cents. In aerobic events, perfor-mance usually peaks in the mid-twenties, as gains from prolongedtraining, improved mechanical skillsand competitive experience arenegated by decreases in maximaloxygen intake and flexibility.Because of a longer plateauing ofmuscle strength, performance inanaerobic events declines lesssteeply, and in pursuits such as golf

This article is to inform you on the effects of aging and help prevent injury, which seems morecommon as we age and exercise. We all know the importance of exercise and should want to stay active for the rest of our lives. The information herein will help the 35 and over crowd. But should still be taken into consideration for those younger as well.

and horseback riding, where experi-ence is paramount; the best com-petitors are aged 30-40 years.

There are nevertheless wide inter-indi-vidual differences in functional status atany given chronological age. In termsof maximal oxygen intake, musclestrength and flexibility, the best pre-served 65-year-old may out-perform asedentary 25-year-old. Whether assess-ing fitness for continuing employment orrecommending an exercise prescription,decisions should thus be based uponbiological rather than chronological age.Unfortunately, there is no very satisfac-tory method of determining a person’sbiological age, because the different bio-logical systems age at differing rates.

(Shephard, R.J. (1998). Aging andExercise. In: Encyclopedia of SportsMedicine and Science, T.D.Fahey (Editor).Internet Society for Sport Science:http://sportsci.org. 7 March 1998.)

A good pre-exercise protocol can great-ly reduce injury which will help you tocontinue your training, whether it bepower lifting, conditioning or body-building etc...Which will allow you totrain longer and offset some of theeffects of aging (for a while at least). Asyou know, if the muscle and jointsaren’t properly warmed up, excess wearand tear accumulates which leads toinflammation, altered joint mechanicsand eventually injury over time.

Here are some common areas toaddress with foam rolling, active-isolat-ed and dynamic stretching.

* Foam Roll (30-90 second hold ontender area)- hip flexors, outer thigh,glutes, calves and lats

* Active Isolated Stretching(hold for 2 seconds andrelease, 1 set of 5-10reps)- calves, ham-strings, lats and innerthighs

* Dynamic Stretching(use of force produc-tion of a muscle takingjoint through full ROM 1set of 5-10 reps)- front andside leg swings (hams and innerthighs), scorpions (hip flexors) andprisoner squats (glutes, low backand lats).

I have found that doing these move-ments before training has greatlyimproved my personal workouts andhas kept my athletes virtually injuryfree. This basic protocol will provideyou with the longevity you need tokeep you exercising longer and thuswarding off the aging process.

IMPROVE PERFORMANCE - BY KEN PYTLUK

By Ken PytlukCES,PES.

MMA Fitness andTraining. ESP-XC.com

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Hi Jeff, Firstly many thanks for taking the time out of yourhectic MMA training schedule to do this interview...

JEFF JARRETT: Oh, you’re welcome...

Congratulations on your win against Samoa Joe on Sunday,very good match....

JEFF JARRETT: He tapped, he tapped...

He certainly did, I can’t argue on that point, who do you planto shoot on next?

JEFF JARRETT: Well, did you see last night’s show (refer-ring to the Double J MMA challenge on Impact)?

I certainly did...

JEFF JARRETT: Well, there’s your answer then, I haveissued the open challenge...

It certainly seemed to get a good response from, the crowd...

JEFF JARRETT: I’m not sure what exactly aired here, butafter we went to commercial break, there where several more‘willing participants’, two that jumped the rail... oh wow...Jeremy Borash, he wears a lot of heads for us, but suddenlyhe turned into head of security and he’s holding one guy

back and security are on the other side of the ring and theydidn’t know a thing (about what was supposed to be happen-ing) and they’re like ‘okay, is this guy going to be the nextchallenger?’, they didn’t know what was going on... this guywanted to get in the ring... I couldn’t wait ( Jeff wrings hishands together with an evil grin)... people where pissed cuzthey thought it was real... it was an ‘interesting’ thing.

In all seriousness, it’s good to have the chance to interviewthe founding father of TNA. Can you please tell our readershow it all started?

JEFF JARRETT: June 19th 2002 was our first show. In March2001 I was working for WCW, the Turner organization, and asthe story goes WWE brought their competition. I’m a 3rd gen-eration guy, I’ve been around the business... my grandmother,she didn’t wrestle but she promoted and everything else, myfather wrestled and promoted... I knew there was a huge void inthe marketplace and that the world of professional wrestlingwithout a number two organization meant that there really can’tbe a number one, and so it was kind of just WWE. So we ( Jeff,and his father Jerry) got into business. The television climatewas very unique in the ‘states at that time and so we becamethe first ever weekly Pay Per View series. We were on everyWednesday night for two hours, and we did that for almost twoyears. We went from that to Fight Sports Net, and we went fromthat and signed our contract with Spike TV and we’ve beenthere ever since. We started out on a Saturday night with a onehour program, then we got moved to Thursday nights, latenight, with a one hour show then to Thursday nights (in a betterslot) with a one hour show, then to a two hour show, so it’sbeen a labour of love, a lot of hard work. For the first five or sixyears we only did our television show, now in 2011 we hope todo between 80-100 non-televised events, live shows literallyfrom all around the world, we’ve just got back from Abu Dhabi,we’re coming over here, Paris, Germany, England and Scotlandand of course Ireland, mustn’t forget our Dublin brothers... so itfounded like I said, way back when and here we are over eightyears later and things are good.

You and your father pumped your own money into setting itup in the first place, putting your own money on the line...that’s a brave thing to do...

JEFF JARRETT INTERVIEW - BY TEDDY G

Jeff JarrWrestler ? Promoter ? MMA Fighter? Who is the real Jeff Jarrett ? That was the question I wasasking myself when I got the invite from TNA to go and interview the man himself. Although hison screen persona isn’t the most friendly, the real life Double J is actually very funny and veryhonest and open and he was more than happy to chat about anything...

JEFF JARRETT INTERVIEW - BY TEDDY G

By Teddy G

ettTo read the rest of this article

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GAS IN THE TANK - BY MORNE SWANEPOEL

Gas inthe tankfor the High Performance MMA Athlete

by MornéSwanepoel

In comparison, a MMA fight is veryshort, the rounds only last for five min-utes each and there are virtually nostops or breaks until the end of theround. Occasionally there might be abreak if a fighter gets hit in the groin orreceives an eye gouge, etc. But for themost part, an entire five minute roundgoes uninterrupted. Then, at the end ofthe round, the fighter receives only oneminute to rest. There are no half timebreaks, and no substitutions. Most fightsare scheduled for only three rounds,

with championship matches being a bitlonger. The entire length of a fight,including breaks between rounds, mayonly last for 20 -30 minutes.

Within the sport of Mixed Martial Arts,the conditioning of athletes has changedover time as the rules and time limitshave changed. When the UFC and Pridefirst started, the fights had no time limits.A fight could last 30 minutes with norounds or 20 seconds. As a fighter, youhad to be prepared for a fight that couldlast any length of time. On top of that,most fighting events were tournamentbased and had athletes fighting severaltimes in one night. The format of main-stream Mixed Martial Arts has changedquite a bit and therefore the physicaltraining, preparation and conditioninghas changed. In fact, conditioning forthe MMA athlete is still evolving today.

The most important thing to take awayfrom all this talk of different rules, dif-ferent formats, and different time limits,is to plan your MMA conditioning rou-tine around the specifics of the eventyou are fighting in. In other words, ifyou’re fighting with five-minute rounds,your conditioning should be geared

specifically for five-minute rounds. Ifyou only get one minute of restbetween rounds, then your conditioningroutine needs to reflect that as well.

With a brutal sport like Mixed MartialArts, even if you are not training orcompeting professionally, havingtremendous conditioning is the mostimportant aspect of your training. Youneed the conditioning to outlast youropponent as the rounds lag on. Fatigueis a huge factor in all sports. You needthe edge in cardio to push it to the limitwhenever you need to.

SO which training program?When engaging in any workout pro-gram, a good question to ask yourself is:“What is my goal?” i.e. Is it to finish allmy opponents within 20 seconds so thatI do not need to worry about going thefull length in fights or is it knowing thatI am able to fight the full 3 or 5 roundsat a high level with enough gas in thetank? Asking this question will help youidentify whether or not your currenttraining routine is leading you down theright path. This is especially importantwhen you are speaking in terms of sportspecific conditioning.

You have to realize that MMA conditioning is different from every other sport you can think of.The majority of competitive sports have many breaks, time-outs, rest periods, etc not to mentionthat every time there is a foul or rule violation, the action stops momentarily.

Here are some helpful hints: First off,you want the exercises and workoutsyou use to reflect the kind of condition-ing you need in a fight. For example,MMA fights are of a very high intensitylevel. You are constantly moving,changing positions, engaging in explo-sive movements, breaking your breath-ing pattern, using a widevariety of different move-ments and using your entirebody at full intensity for agiven time period. It mayseem obvious, but the sameconditioning routine thatworks for a professional ath-lete of a different sport, whileit may improve your overallconditioning, it isn’t neces-sarily going to improve your MMAconditioning. Likewise, the condition-ing you use to train for a triathlon isnot the same as the conditioning need-ed for a MMA fight.

So while your exercise selection isimportant, the first problem you needto address is how to organize yourworkouts. You can use the best exercis-es available, but if you don’t combinethem in a way that makes sense as amixed martial artist, your conditioningwill never get to that higher level.

The simplest thing you can do is orga-nize your workout in several circuits.Each circuit represents the round of afight. During each circuit, you can use avariety of exercises, but the importantthing is that each circuit lasts for at leastfive minutes without stopping at all.

Then you stack three to five of thesecircuits on top of each other.

Endurance is the name of the gameYou can have all the strength in theworld, but without gas in your tank, it isuseless. So while it is good to have as

much strength as possible,you also have to have a realMMA conditioning routine.

Strength is great. All mixedmartial artists need strength.Having more strength thanyour opponent is alwaysgoing to be an advantage...

GAS IN THE TANK - BY MORNE SWANEPOEL

‘‘

‘‘The will to win isworthless if you do nothave the will to prepare



WAKO Italia &WAKO GBWorking together in order to improve the fighting athletes

WAKO ITALIA & GB WORKING TOGETHER

For the past few years Elite fighter and very successful champion Marco Mastrorocco of Italy andMaster Cris Janson-Piers the president of WAKO Pro GB and the National coach and ExecutiveDirector to Great Britain for WAKO GB have been communicating by email ever since Marcocame to the UK. Marco expressed from an early date that he would like to work alongside Crisand develop a close sporting and working relationship, with the possibility of passing on thewealth of the knowledge they both had to each other and to each others students. Marco hasdeveloped his own club here in the UK namely Epic Gym West London and indeed has his ownfighters almost ready to go out onto the scene and is just putting the finishing touches to them. A few years on, Saturday 18th September 2010 saw these two greats come together in Sheffieldat the WAKO Pro GB training headquarters.

Marco had made the long journey toSheffield from London with his own stu-dent Luca Caputo who was to help Marcowith his demonstrations. Present on theday were a small, but very experiencedclass of Cris’ students, ranging fromBritish to World Champions. Cris hadselected these people carefully knowingthat their experience would allow thegroup to work well together and at a goodadvanced pace. This was a key element inmaking the seminar flow and maximizedthe absorption rate of technique for all.

With Marco being a multiple ItalianThai and Full Contact champion and anincredible WAKO Rules K1 exponent(Who was coached by Roberto Fragale),it was natural that Master Cris wasgoing to select the newest format of K1rules as the base of the seminar. Marcohas a great reputation not only as beinga top class fighter but an extremelygood coach, who demands nothing butthe best off all he teaches.

Why have WAKO K1 Rules become sopopular over the last few years then?Apart from the obvious that they arevery very entertaining and the sportrequires and elevated amount of fitnessand stamina.

Over the last few years we have seen amassive spectator and participantincrease in the ever growing UFC andMMA scene. When it first started itappeared to be mainly a ground gamewith the influences of such as BrazilianJu Jitsu etc playing a main part in it.Once the fight went to the floor therecould be a long wait as the fighters maybe left locked on the floor right up untilthe end of the round. But over time andas things grew and progressed, fighterswere made to stand up if the fightbecame inactive which then threw agreater emphasis on the requirement ofa good stand up game also.

Many top gyms took on “groundwork”coaches and “stand up” coaches andthis is exactly what happened at Cris’own gym. Although he also fought inKick Jutsu all his life and fought on thecombined services judo squad whilstserving in Her Majesties Forces his reallove became Full Contact kickboxingbefore he moved onto the K1 format.He therefore remained with the standup and passed the groundwork, MMAonto his Chief Instructor at his gym.

So WAKO K1 rules or K1 Rulesbecame attractive and widely followed

for two reasons. One was it being a fan-tastic combat sport in its own right withso much variation and the other as itwas seen as the ultimate in stand uprequirements for the MMA scene.

The seminar started as per normal witha thorough warm up and then the stu-dents were straight into hands on practi-cal application. No focus mitts or Thaipads etc were used during this seminar,everything was demonstrated and prac-ticed practically to each other whichgave every technique a great feeling ofrealism and a better understanding ofnot only how to do it but it gave a bet-ter perspective of body positioning anddefensive or countering lines.

Both Marco and Luca were on hand toadvise and correct what seemed some-times to be minor points but again wereall very important. Marco’s English wassuperb and it made it very interesting tosee how another country portrayed K1rules and their slant on the game. Thestudents were all engrossed in the semi-nar and were taking on all the informa-tion they were being given.

What was noticeable was that Marcohad obviously developed his power

from his Thai fighting style but thenused his Full Contact to allow his move-ments to become more fluent. I person-ally have trained and become a champi-on in Points, Light and Full Contact,moved on to Thai boxing of which Ihave still yet to compete in and Ibelieve that all these have benefited myK1 rules fighting in one way or another.As I am always told.....K1 is a formatnot a style so adapt it to suit yourself aslong as you fight within the rules set outon the day.

Every technique was constantly grilledbut in a practical moving fashion andnot a stationary robotic way whichsome people seem to get drawn into. Aswith every seminar it is not alwaysabout coming out of them and expect-ing things to be very different but it’sthe smallest points which can be invalu-able. Many times have I come awayfrom a seminar and taken away maybe

3 or 4 pieces of new information. It maybe that some things are justexplained differently, or that it shines anew light on how you perceive orunderstand a technique?

As with all K1 Rules work, the seminarsare never long enough even thoughMarco gave an intense 3 hour account ofthe system. As an instructor I break myclasses down into many different areasfrom boxing skills, to footwork, ringcraft,clinch work, knee application, checkingskills, blocking and evading skills andobviously application and sparring. WhatI did think is that Marco had planned theseminar out extremely well and had triedto involve an equal amount of each areainto the session. This kept it flowing andvery exciting for all.

To finish there was a sparring andassessment session where Marco stud-ied the fighters in the ring and watched

them closely passing on comments tofighter and coach alike. Again it wasvery good to have an outsiders opinionon how we were doing as fighters. Justlike learning that small, invaluable pointon a seminar, having a weak area high-lighted by an independent could lead tofurther improvement or even serve tokeep you away from making a fatalerror in combat!

After a great seminar Marco and Lucareturned to our home for a meal beforethe long journey home and where wefurther discussed some personal thingsand also a little more on how we couldall work at moving the sport on further.A great friendship was forged on thatday and it looks as though it will contin-ue to be long and successful...

WAKO ITALIA & GB WORKING TOGETHER

Story by Kerry-Louise Photography by Janson-Piers Imaging

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I had finally made the journey up fromLondon to train at Leicester Shootfight-er’s fortnightly women’s grappling ses-sion under the tuition of submissionwrestler, Caz “Ghost Owl” Tweedy.

As Caz remarks, “It really is unusual tohave a group of women training togetherin Submission Wrestling. Especiallywomen of all different abilities, sizes andbackgrounds. Apart from LeicesterShootfighters’ reputation, it’s the oppor-tunity to train with other women, drillmoves they’ve been eager to try some-where new, learn new techniques, getready for fights, and the unique opportu-nity to work on fundamental techniquesand fitness together that draws people. “

And since the first class took place inMarch 2010, its reputation really has

spread like wildfire. The very first ses-sion immediately attracted sixteenwomen, which as Caz points out, “ isjust amazing for a first class in women’smartial arts, never mind grappling!”

Now, in addition to a core group ofattendees, there are number of new stu-dents every time coming from places asfar afield as Manchester, Leeds,London, Devon, Cornwall, Derby, andBirmingham. The sessions have alsodrawn the attention of MMA fightersincluding Rosi Sexton, Danielle West,Katharine Jackson and Vickie Watts.

I was curious to know more about whatinspired Caz to found the women’sgrappling sessions; and Caz told methat as she was coming to the end ofher studies at Leicester University withplans to move to Oxford, her coachNathan Leverton persuaded her to stayon to coach: “I decided that, for the sake oftraining and my passion for SubmissionWrestling and Leicester Shootfighters, Iwould stay. It was important for me to findmy own niche at the club, so when Nathanasked me what was important to me, creat-ing more opportunities for women to enterthe sport seemed the obvious choice.”

It is a common problem for the femalegrapplers that they generally find them-selves training with men with largerbody weights. I’ve personally foundmyself frustrated with being stuck in therut of maintaining good defence, butbecause I’m constantly fighting frommy back against heavier guys, havinglittle opportunity to evolve a moredominant ground game.

As Caz says, “For the sake of keeping thesport alive for those women who are passion-ate about it, and for creating more opportu-nities for female competitors and competitionbrackets, it is important to have groupswhich are dedicated solely to the purpose ofmeeting those needs. Most female competitorsfind it is important in their preparation totrain with women,” Additionally, shepoints out “Some women don’t like to trainwith men or can’t for religious or culturalreasons, and others just like the social aspectof it. I wanted to address those issues.”

Indeed, one of the things that struck memost was the friendly and welcomingatmosphere. Everyone seemed to helpeach other and I didn’t experience anycliquiness as a newcomer. Peopleseemed genuinely happy to have drawn

CAGE QUEEN - WITH ISOBEL CARNWATH

Leicester Shootfighters lies about twenty minutes walk from Leicester’s mainline train station and can befound on a street that runs off from Leicester FC. Sandwiched somewhere between northern redbrickterraced housing and industrial warehouses, through an archway and up a back way stairwell, LeicesterShootfighters is surprisingly clean and well facilitated. Its location would lead you to anticipate the usualspit ‘n’ sawdust MMA gym but it in fact boasts a well lit and spacious open plan setting, with glossybright blue matting and the luxury of clean toilets and small drinks bar.

WWoommeenn’’ss GGrraapppplliinngg aatt LLeeiicceesstteerr SShhoooottffiigghhtteerrss

another person to share their passionwith. The session I attended included fit-ness training (circuits), technical workand rolling. Caz who runs the class ispetit and was full of useful advice andtechniques for smaller grapplers. For meit was a completely new experience tohave a coach of similar body weight whofaced similar obstacles and could offersolutions that came directly from person-al experience. Caz was reassuring andencouraging. She demonstrated someguard submissions that were new to mytoolbox and that work well if you aresmall and flexible and took time to talkme through various escapes. Perhaps thesingle most useful piece of advice I tookaway with me was that you can nevershrimp enough. If you think three timesis enough then go for ten -always.

I was keen to know about Caz’s ownpersonal experience training withwomen. How was it for her when shestarted? Did she have women to trainwith before she started up the sessions?

“When I first started training there were twowomen training a day or two a week. Bothhad been training for years, one was a bluebelt and one was much bigger than me. Itwas nice having women there to help melearn the technique, and particularly it wasnice to train with a smaller woman whounderstood and advocated the importance ofbody mechanics and survival. I learnt a lotfrom both of them but neither of them stayedwith the club. After that, there were just oneor two until MMA competitor and fitnessexpert LJ Adams joined at the club, we bothfound that having a female training partnerwith similar ideas about fighting and goalswas fundamentally important. Training withLJ and a couple of others made me realizehow important having female training part-ners was. Training with other women hasimproved my game tremendously.”

Caz Tweedy on The advantages oftraining in an all female class* Most women feel more comfortable

trying something new or breaking asweat with other women.

* You get a clearer picture of how youmatch up with women and womenof a similar size to you, which givesyou an idea of how you would han-dle competition.

* It is nice to train under someonewho you think could face similarobstacles to you.

* Training under a female coach canbe uplifting and empowering.

Caz Tweedy on benefits of training in a mixed classThe fact that women’s classes areimportant shouldn’t take anything awayfrom the mixed class environment. It isimportant to me to train with a mixedgroup as well as just women. Personally,I would never just train with womenbut I do seek out female training part-ners/groups and seminars for the pur-poses I have mentioned.

* The men really do push me hard, * The fact that I’m usually at a

strength disadvantage reallyencourages me to push mygame to the next level.

* I think that if you are reallyserious about improving atany sport you should alwaysbe seeking out more trainingpartners with different attrib-utes, skills and expertise, andmore knowledge.

* It is paramount to test yourskills against a wide range of peo-ple and body types.

Leicester Mixed Martial Arts Academyis located in Unit 22 (top floor), StMary’s Works, BurnmoorStreet, Leicester,UK, LE2 7JL

CAGE QUEEN - WITH ISOBEL CARNWATH

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A WINNING SMILE IS PRICELESS

A winning smile is

pricelessMartial artists constantly run the riskof facial damage and tooth loss.Interestingly the type of trauma thatcan affect the face and mouth variesenormously according to the kind ofobject that has caused it. For examplelet’s say someone trips up and hitstheir face on concrete, the trauma suf-fered is generally a fracture. This canvery easily be repaired, especially ifit’s above the gumline.

If a fist or a foot hits the face, which arecomparatively ‘softer’ then you can getsomething that’s called sublaxtation. Thisis where the tooth is intruded into thebone or even knocked out. If it’s knockedout, the first thing to do is put it back intoyour mouth so that your saliva keeps itmoist. To increase your chances of thetooth being successfully re-implanted,you then need to see your dentist imme-diately. If the tooth dries out, the very

delicate membranes that support thetooth and the bone can die, which maymean the tooth cannot be replaced.

If your tooth has suffered a simple frac-ture, a good dentist can build it upagain with composite materials. If how-ever you fracture the alveolus, which isthe bone that supports the teeth, thiswill require serious specialist work. If you’ve been hit and your tooth justfeels slightly wobbly that usually meansit has come away from the membranesupporting it. The first thing you needto do is get an x-ray so your dentist cancheck the membrane around the toothand the amount of space createdaround the bone. If there is a lot ofspace, your dentist will probably under-take vitality tests to check whether thetooth is still alive however this is notusually done until a few days after thex-ray. This time lapse allows the pain to

reduce a little so that the patient ismore comfortable and is able to bitedown without excessive pain.

If you’ve fractured your tooth and it’schipped at the tip or even cracked inhalf, this can easily be repaired withcomposite materials in the form of apaste. This paste is applied in stratifiedlayers of colour to build the tooth up asnaturally as possible. The results you canget often mean that you can’t actually tellthat the tooth has ever been fractured.

If your tooth has been knocked out andcan’t be re-implanted, then you stillhave some options. If you get treatmentquickly, you can get a bridge made,which is in effect a false tooth withmetal wings that go behind the tooth oneither side bonding it to your naturalteeth. It is important to seek treatmentquickly because when you lose a tooth,

In all walks of life physical presentation is becoming more important with a confident ‘winning’ smileconsidered a real asset. However for those who practice martial arts, there is the constant risk of facialinjury and in particular, severe damage to the teeth. Broken, chipped, knocked out or discoloured, damage to teeth can be as emotionally stressful as it is physically painful. Dr Saeid Sohrabi and DrJonathan Levy of London-based dental practice, Oral Aesthetics, are experts in the field of aestheticdentistry. Here they discuss some of the corrective techniques that can solve a myriad of problems

the bone that supports it shrinks.However if you can get a dummy toothor a portion of it into the socket quick-ly, with a minimal amount of bone loss,you can get excellent results.

If however you do lose a lot of boneand have a cavity, this can look prettyunsightly especially when you smile.Fortunately there are specific techniquesto address this problem. For examplethe gum can actually be built up,advanced and even plumped out andthe bone can be re-generated so thatthe bone levels are the same as theexisting teeth. This is critical to avoidan uneven appearance.

If one of your teeth looks really dis-coloured, it doesn’t necessarily meanyou have damaged or ‘killed’ it during afight. It could be that the gum has sim-ply shrunk back exposing some darkerareas of the tooth. The good news is thatthere are various ways of disguising thisproblem. The first thing to do is visityour dentist so he can check the status ofthe gums and teeth and then give them athorough cleaning, scaling and polishing.

This will reduce inflammation in thegums and the polishing will lighten theteeth. Your dentist will probably alsowant to check to see whether the toothor teeth have been heavily filled as itcould be that the discolouration is dueto dark fillings. If this is the case, youcould simply change the fillings.Alternatively you could brighten theteeth with various bleaching agents andthen replace the fillings to match thenew colour. These are all relatively sim-ple and non-invasive procedures.

Of course for really bad discolouration,a closer examination is necessary. Thiswill reveal whether the staining isintrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic staining ismore serious and can’t usually besolved with simple bleaching. Extrinsicbleaching can be treated with varyingstages of polishing in order to removethe stain followed by a strict hygieneregime. Depending on the severity ofthe discolouration, results can also beachieved with composites, adhesivebridges, permanent bridges andimplanted crowns.

Whatever the problem with your teeth,it’s never too late to correct unsightlyor damaged teeth. The dental treat-ments available today offer all mannerof solutions: crooked teeth can bereshaped or covered with porcelainveneers; overly long teeth can be short-ened (up to half a millimetre) and teeththat are too small can even be built upand yet still natural.

Of course, nothing is forever, and whileadvances in dental techniques and tech-nology mean that results achieved canbe very long-lasting, you do need to fol-low a strict hygiene regime and see ahygienist on a three monthly basis.

A WINNING SMILE IS PRICELESS



Cris works tirelessly behind the scenes24-7 and is also very actively involvedin teaching seminars and coaching atthe highest level all over the World inthe many disciplines he teaches and hastrained in for over 35 years.

As Cris is the National Coach and GBTeam selector for WAKO GB andPresident of WAKO Pro GB he is morethan well versed in all WAKORingsports and one which is receivingmuch attention at the moment is WAKOK1 Rules. (This is not to be confused orcompared with any other format).

What is nice to see is that there aremany ladies coming into the game andwhat a tough breed they are. WAKOK1 rules has been a massive hit withthe men for several years now andthere were very few females takingpart in this demanding and heavy dutydiscipline but it’s stepping up now andthe standard of the ladies is superb.Cris stated recently “On my latest allfemale seminar I had a large group ofladies turn up all happy and jolly andsome looked nothing like fighters atfirst glance, however what was tocome was truly amazing. I was work-

ing with rough and tough fighters whohad a hunger and passion for thesport, this made the seminar evenmore productive”.

WAKO K1 Rules is full of action andmakes sure that the fight continues evenat the closest of ranges when clinchwork comes into play and that the fight-ers are then allowed to turn and kneetheir opponent into the head, body orlegs in a working clinch.

Spinning backfists keep every fighterattentive at all times and this techniqueis a regular addition to most fightersarmoury and very dangerous, a greatKO technique!

Along with all the basic boxing andkickboxing techniques the low leg kicksare truly devastating and many a fight isstopped through these alone with fight-ers just not being able to continuebecause of the systematic beating theirlegs have endured over the long threeminute rounds. Catching and turning ofkicks is allowed and again provides forfurther entertainment and showcasingof skills by the exponent.

The courses run by Cris vary in lengthand cover many aspects. To take theinformation in fully Cris usually returnsto cover different aspects at a later datebut does give an idea of the full systemon the 1st seminar so students can seewhat is to be gained by further visits.

ONE FOR THE LADIES - WAKO K-1 RULES

One for theLadiesA Masterclass in WAKO K1 Rules by Master Cris Janson-Piers

Master Cris Janson-Piers is certainly no stranger to this magazine however it’s usually because he is writingabout someone else or taking high quality show or article photographs as Sub Editor to the publication.

This involves all the basic stance andfootwork drills as these vary slightlyfrom mainstream kickboxing because ofthe angle of attack and the different dis-tances, corner work, which againinvolves the clinch on the ropes and inthe corner and how to apply or get outof them also. Changing of distance andangle is a main area because in WAKOK1 Rules it is more of a coming for-ward style and this means the fightersstay in range more, so by changing theangles they can learn to hit and not behit as frequently.

Cris also does an in the ring refereesand judges perspective of the fight tohelp the fighters get the best out of theirefforts, he says why work at somethingand burn energy when it is not going toregister or impress the judges.

A special area on fighting for the clinch,maintaining the clinch and clinch domi-nance can take some time to cover butthen teamed with the correct use of theknees from the clinch makes for a veryexciting lesson.

Cris regularly uses his two top expo-nents in WAKO K1 Rules to show clearand precise scenarios in Leif Taggartand Kerry-Louise. They all train togeth-er every day and their technical exper-tise is awesome and that’s why the sem-inars are so popular. The proof is in thepie as they say with Leif winning theGold medal at the WAKO Europeansand Kerry winning the silver at theWAKO Worlds, albeit it after a veryquestionable decision. Leif is to fightout in Holland very shortly followed byKerry-Louise who will vie for theWAKO Pro Intercontinental title inDecember.

WAKO K1 rules is sitting strong in thetop fight styles and another advantage isit can even prepare the MMA fightersin having one of the best stand upgames in the business. Cris excelled inhis early years as a Kick Jutsu fighterand represented his country, so coveringthe area from stand up to take down sfrom this position proves no difficulty tohim. In his own clubs Cris has his ownspecialist MMA coaches who take overwhen it comes to groundwork and thenew era of MMA fighters. It has alreadyproven to be a great recipe for success...

ONE FOR THE LADIES - WAKO K-1 RULES

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Firstly, thank you for taking the time out of your hecticschedule to speak to us.

MICK FOLEY: Ohh you’re welcome.

You are over here promoting your new book, Countdown ToLockdown, which I have to say, as someone who isn’t nor-mally a big book reader, I have really enjoyed and I wouldrecommend to anyone who is a fan.

MICK FOLEY: Well I appreciate that. The book has reallybeen well reviewed, even by literary magazines in the U.S.who have gone out of their way to recommend it to peoplewho are not wrestling fans. Publishers Weekly said they actu-ally thought the wrestling part was the weakest, and that thechapter that weren’t about wrestling were really touching.

I like the way you have included the ‘wrestlemetre’ in thebook to warn fans how much wrestling content is in eachchapter.

MICK FOLEY: (laughs) There were wrestling fans that werenot pleased that I have other interests (outside of wrestling),so I put a little wrestlmetre on it, that way if they read achapter that ranks a two on the wrestlemetre they have no-one but themselves to blame (laughs).

I know you have also been promoting the anti bullying cam-paign you are involved in, Eliminate The Hate, and I think it ishighly commendable that a role model like yourself wouldtake the time to get involved in that.

MICK FOLEY: This was a campaign started by seriousradio, satellite radio in the U.S., the Out Q station that catersto the gay community, because gay kids and those thought tobe gay take the worst of the abuse when it comes to bullyingand there have actually been several instances in the U.S.where kids have actually committed suicide due to the bully-ing. And they thought that unlikely allies such as wrestlersand UFC fighters might be able to reach an audience thattraditional gay role models would not.

I personally find it very refreshing that someone in the lime-light would use that limelight for other people and not justthemselves.

MICK FOLEY: I feel very good about this book, partiallybecause I’m not going to make any money from it (laughs). Idonated my advance to two different groups that work withvictims of sexual assault and rape, and now that I’ve seen thebooks sales; I realize the advance will be all the proceeds!I know we are going to talk about wrestling and fightingsoon, but I appreciate you giving me the chance to talk aboutthe serious stuff too.

Well, getting back to the wrestling side of Mick Foley then. Ihave been a massive fan of yours for the past 15+ years,right from when your original Cactus Jack persona startedmaking headlines, but I wanted to ask, what where yourbiggest influences in getting into wrestling to begin with?

MICK FOLEY: I was a big fan of the WWF (now WWE),when I was growing up. I was a huge Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snukafan and attended a match at Madison Square Garden in1983, and he came off the top of a cage on to Don Muracoand I remember the reaction of the crowd, and I rememberspecifically wishing that I could one day make people feelhow I felt that night at the Garden.

You have wrestled all the top stars over the years, and hadsome extraordinary matches with the likes of Terry Funk andRic Flair for example, but is there any one guy that sticks inyour head as being your favourite to wrestle?..

MICK FOLEY - BY TEDDY G

Mick Foley11/11/10 was a day of remembrance, and certainly a day I will remember for a long time as I wasfortunate enough to catch up with the Hardcore Legend that is Mick Foley as he was in the UKpromoting his new book....

MICK FOLEY - BY TEDDY G

By Teddy G

TToo rreeaadd tthhee rreesstt ooff tthhiiss aarrttiicclleettaakkee oouutt aa ssuubbssccrriippttiioonn,, vviissiittwwwwww..ffiigghhtteerrssmmaagg..ccoo..uukk//ssuubbssccrriibbee

WARTIME WITH MARK CARLING

Hello MMA fans what an exciting time it has been over the last couple of months I have been blessedwith another beautiful baby girl And we decided to called her Nancy Carling ( because of the pistols ofcourse! ). I had my second fight on the biggest show in Europe UCMMA against Antony Liles, I wasdefeated but that’s Part of MMA and I love MMA so it’s all good! I have also just launched a weekly webshow with the legend Dave O’Donnell and the rest of the WARTIME gang all about the UK scene andhow damn good it is now! We are going to give a better stage for UK talent than it has ever had before,with the likes of Nick Chapman, Jamaine Facey and his next opponent John Maguire these world classathletes are here and causing such a storm that soon they will be destroying the Americans!

WARTIME WITH MARK CARLING

Talking about our American cousins Icaught up with former UFC heavy-weight champion Ricco Rodriguez andhe told me how he feels that theUnited Kingdom is second only to thestates in fighters ability. Now somemight say that’s a bold statement buthe lives and breathes MMA in a waythat even I find amazing!

A good personal friend of ours PeterMercer from Kurgan K1 also sweettalked him into holding a MMA semi-nar, the WARTIME team all wentdown and had a great time as Ricco notonly taught great technique but laiddown some truly inspirational words ofwisdom to his lucky audience.

This just shows how it takes so muchmore than just physical technique to bea champion, it takes heart, dedicationand most importantly the ability tobelieve in your self against all odds.

So if any of you out there ever get achance to go to a seminar with a cham-pion whether it be BJJ or MMA take itas you nearly always leave with morethan just a new submission, you leavewith a tiny piece of the magic that willstay with you for years.

In other exciting news Coalition FightMusic have produced a track for us andwe are filming the music video forAmerican MTV at the moment, youcan also down load the track fromiTunes right now, so get a move on andgo to wartime-world.com

We have also teamed up with awesomefight wear label Big Dogz to create theWARTIME range, so you can now get

your hands on some real high end clobber and look sharp in and out of the gym.



Joining Diesel in February 2009, she threw herself in thedeep end from day one and immersed herself in training. Shehas already fought in four major competitions - includingMuay Thai Legends and Fast and Furious in Penzance, whereshe fought on the same bill as Julie Kitchen - and now hastwo belts under her, belt; the IKBF British title at 61.5kg andthe IKF English 63kg title. During that time she’s trained forand run the New York marathon too (in a respectable 3h46m). She also trains in MMA, and puts her own studentsthrough their paces at the gym’s Diesel Chicks women’sclass. Oh, and that’s along with holding down a day jobcrunching serious numbers along with all the alpha males inthe City of London. ‘Game’ doesn’t even come close.

Nicknamed ‘the Chali-nator’ by fellow Diesel students, herpowerhouse fighting style could give even ArnoldSchwarzenegger’s indestructible T-101 a run for its money.Her trainer, Cliff Bura confirms, ‘Chali is an amazing athlete,an inspirational competitor and a success story that everyoneknows will continue to heady heights. I have seen many tal-ented fighters in my years as a trainer, and I have also seenfighters with immense dedication to their training; but Chalihas both traits in awe-inspiring amounts.’

It was a challenge pinning Chali down for a chat in betweenher nightly double muay Thai/MMA session, but somehowwe managed it...

Chali, you’ve picked up Muay Thai like a natural. Did you par-ticipate in any martial arts as a kid?

CHALINENE BASSINAH: No, I wasn’t into any martialarts, but I was only friends with boys, and we’d always endup fighting for some reason! I was introduced to Muay Thaiby a friend.

Can you remember anything that stands out about your earlylessons?

CHALINENE BASSINAH: I realised I enjoyed it prettymuch straight away. I was aching everywhere after everysession but I was still coming back for more. I met friendlypeople who made me feel like I was at home. I also remem-

I SEE A TARGET I HIT IT - CHALI BASSINAH

‘I see a target, I hit it’Diesel Gym’s hottest new fighter, Chalinene Bassinah, is taking women’s Muay Thai by storm

Written by Sarah Maybank Sub Edited by Cris Janson-Piers

Chalinene Bassinah bakes a mean cherry pie and amazing fudge brownies. When she’s on a Diesel Gymgirls’ night out, she cuts a dash in cheeky hotpants teamed with high-heeled shoes decorated with pinkroses. With her second-to-none baking skills and girly clothes, there’s no denying that Parisienne Chali isa real lady. But ‘feminine’ lies abandoned in the changing room along with the flowery high heels whenshe steps into the gym. Chali, 29, is Diesel’s shooting star. Powerful, dedicated and blessed with relent-less energy, she has transformed herself from novice to national champion in the space of just over 18months, a well-deserved reward for her all-consuming work ethic.

CChhaallii && TTeeaamm DDiieesseell

ber picking it up quickly. That’s mainly due to the fact Iconnect pretty well with Cliff (Bura, Diesel’s owner).Whenever he explains something, I just remember it, inte-grate it and digest it. He knows how to find the best way toexplain the techniques.

Eighteen months training andyou’re already a veteran of fourbig competitions. What was yourtoughest fight?

CHALINENE BASSINAH: Myfirst pro fight, at Muay ThaiLegends in December 2009. Thatwas the most prestigious venueI’ve fought at and I wasn’t relaxedat all, although it didn’t reallyshow looking back at the DVD. But I was exhausted, I wasreally sick after that.

What made it so hard?

CHALINENE BASSINAH: I wasn’t breathing and relaxedenough, so the adrenaline rush hit me hard. I was tired afterthe third round and couldn’t fight to my game plan. I learnt alot from it though. It taught me to relax more and to not tryto count points while I’m fighting.

Have you had any bad injuries - or inflicted them on others?

CHALINENE BASSINAH: I broke my right hand frompunching too hard and I broke a toe kicking my sparringpartner’s knee! I’ve had sore ribs too... I haven’t inflictedreally bad injuries on anyone (touch wood!). I did sometimes

hurt people when I was a beginnerand I had difficulty controlling mypower, but now it’s getting better.

What do you think are the bestaspects of your technique and fightstyle, and what needs working on?

CHALINENE BASSINAH: Idon’t really have a style, I adapt tomy opponent. I work more by

instinct and anticipation: I see a target, I hit it. I always try tomix things up. I try to be technical, to have good technique.

You train six times a week, you fight in competitions and youteach. What has martial arts taught you about yourself?

CHALINENE BASSINAH: I’ve learnt how to be more incontrol of my body and my mind. This is a way of life! Ihave gained self-control, confidence. I have learned thatfighting can be a dangerous game. I also learned by teachingthat you can’t push people too hard. You have to find a waythe push them hard without them knowing it...

I SEE A TARGET I HIT IT - CHALI BASSINAH

‘‘

‘‘I don’t really have a style, I adapt to

my opponent

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KEITH HACKNEY - THE GIANT KILLER

KeithHackneyThe Giant Killer

By Ben Cartlidge

Of all the stories from this timethere is one man who seems to havebeen involved in more than oneeventful octagon war. The man wasKeith Hackney; the fighter that thefans christened The Giant Killer.

Hackney had been a good athlete asa child but he when he began totrain boxing and wrestling at theage of 14 it was clear that he hadfound his calling. The youngHackney was a ferocious workerand soon began looking to other

disciplines to develop his skills. Hetrained a variety of styles and hecame to fight, as most of the fightersdid, as an unknown at UFC 3: TheAmerican Dream.

Hackney was one of the smallercompetitors at this show at 5”11 and200lb and, as a result of this he wasexpecting to fight bigger opponents.He would not be disappointed withhis first match in the bracket as hewas drawn against 616lb sumochampion Emmanuel Yarborough.

It was such an iconic fight for sever-al reasons, but mostly because isembodied the question that theUFC looked to solve. It was a trueDavid vs. Goliath contest, and it fas-cinated both fans and critics alike.

The fight started with Hackneymoving laterally and trying to throwkicks at his massive opponent butthese didn’t seem to be having anyeffect. The colossal Yarboroughcame ploughing forward andHackney quickly had to back upand change his attack. Hackney’seyes were ablaze as he stood backand threw a looping palm strike thatseemed more at home on the tenniscourts than in the Octagon.

Yarborough walked straight into theoncoming strike and was sent reel-ing to the floor. The whole buildingseemed to shake as the sumowrestler hit the canvas and theentire audience jumped out of theirseats. Hackney, eager to defeat thegiant, went in for the finish. In clos-ing the distance, however, heallowed his foe to grab hold of him

Back in the early days of the UFC, the promotion was a lot more spectacle than sport. Any seri-ous mixed martial arts fan can name you a plethora of bouts from the early days which arebeyond belief by today’s standards.

KEITH HACKNEY - THE GIANT KILLER

and in the struggle for positionHackney was flung through thecage door.

The fight was restarted andHackney went back to throwingleg kicks as his massive foe contin-ued to walk him down. More andmore kicks began to land but itwasn’t until Yarborough caughtone of these kicks that Hackneywas able to land some decisivepunches. Hackney did well toavoid being taken down and stoodabove Yarborough landing a seem-ingly endless stream of punchesand hammerfists.

It was enough to warrant a stoppagefrom Big John McCarthy(refereeing only his secondUFC) and earn Hackney ahistoric victory and hismoniker of The GiantKiller. His victory provedto be bittersweet, however,as he had severely dam-aged his hand with thebarrage of strikes that helanded. He was forced out of UFC3, but the impact that he made inthat tournament and his part in thatera defining fight will live forever inthe history of mixed martial arts.

After such a memorable fight it washard to see where Hackney couldgo next but he came back for UFC4 and was paired up with the eccen-tric Joe Son. In yet another memo-rable performance, Hackney wasable to survive the early scare fromJoe Son who scored a quick take-down. Keith managed to get backto his feet and initialize a takedownof his own and once he moved toside control he was able to finishthe fight.

Hackney landed a series of six pun-ishing groin strikes, which were per-fectly legal under the rules, beforechoking Joe son out with a rudimen-tary palm choke submission. He was2-0 in the UFC and he wouldn’thave to wait long before his nextchallenge; an unassuming Brazilianby the name of Royce Gracie.

Gracie has famously said that theearly UFC competitions were “aninfomercial for Gracie Jiu Jitsu.” Astatement which seems to be noexaggeration when you look at theseries of victories the slenderBrazilian was able to amass.Gracie’s strategy would be nosecret, he came to take his foe to theground and secure a painful submis-sion as fast as he could.

From the outset, Hackney looked tokeep the fight stood up and tried touse his kicks to wear out Gracie butonce the Brazilian was able to closethe distance it was hard to see howKeith could survive.

Hackney showed a lot of heart androcked Gracie a few times withpunches but he was unable to pre-vent Gracie securing a tight armbarat 5:34 of the first round. Hackneywas noble in defeat and would goon to praise the skills of Gracie,

declaring it an honour to have com-peted against him.

Keith Hackney would go on tomake one more appear-ance in the UFC, a submis-sion loss to Vale Tudo leg-end Marco Ruas atUltimate Ultimate 95, buteven in defeat he was stillrespected and admired bythe newly forming mmacommunity...

‘‘‘‘I want to work to a point

where I can take a fightteam around the world

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Mr Van Dam, A real pleasure...

ROB VAN DAMME: Likewise...

You are over here in the UK with TNA on their EuropeanTour, where have been your favourite places to wrestle onthe tour so far?

ROB VAN DAMME: Well, you know it’s not just thevenue; it’s the crowd of course. That’s what I’m gonna judgethis by, and last night in Scotland... Off the charts! That wasmy favourite of the towns so far, that and Dublin. Just a littlemore passion and energy. They have been great crowdseverywhere so far, but there is just a little difference fromtown to town to town so far, and I must say the fans fromScotland and the fans from Dublin had so much loud,screaming energy, it was just like back in the original ECWdays for me so I felt very much at home.

As you say, you are formerly of ECW, WWE and just abouteverywhere, but can you tell the fans just how you got intothe sport to begin with?

ROB VAN DAMME: Yeah, well I was just perusing a dream.A 15 years old kid, average size, never met anybody famous.But I had this love, this passion, to be a pro wrestler when Igrew up so I just focused on that. I learnt that there’s wrestlingschools that you pay tuition and go through much like anyother trade school... so I did all my research, compared all theschools, you know the tuition (fees), duration, the credibilityand who have they trained, all of this was important. In 1989which was the same year I graduated high school, I startedwith the original Sheik, who fortunalty lived only 45 minutesfrom my parents’ house and was amongst the fairest of thetuition prices and had more credibility than any other school Ichecked out. The original Sheik had trained everybody. Youknow, at one time or another every wrestler had passed thoughhis wrestling promotion and he had helped groom (future stars)and had helped a lot of the guys careers. This is not of courseto be confused with the Iron Sheik; this was back in the ‘50’s.

Oh I have certainly seen plenty of tapes of the originalSheik’s matches from back then and most of his matchesended in a blood bath!

ROB VAN DAMME: Right, which is why a lot of peopleare surprised that my style is so much different to his. Butwhat I brought to the ring in terms of my martial arts and mykicks and my acrobatics and all my flips and stuff I alreadyhad that before I met the Sheik, and I was learning all that tofollow my dream.

As our magazine covers all forms of martial arts as well ascombat sports, can you give our fans an insight as toyour martial arts background and what you learnt?

ROB VAN DAMME: Yeah, it’s kind of a funnypath, starting as a kid and as a fan of martialarts movies; I was always imitating every-thing I saw; running up trees, doing backflips and all that. When I got intowrestling, me and my buddies wouldslam each other onto the living roomfloor on Monday nights. We’d take thecushions off the couch and beat eachother up. Then we found out therewas a person in town that had anactual ring and we just had to meetthis guy. We had to meet the guyand tell him what we did and whatwe where gonna do when we grewup and so he took interest in us. But tolet us use his ring we first had to turn upat his kick boxing classes. Turns out this guyisn’t only a kick boxer but is also a promoter. Heruns shows, he fights, he’s the middleweight champi-on, and so it was just like a dream come true for us.

I started out paying ‘dues’, way before I got into profes-sional wrestling. I was about 15 or 16, somewhere aroundthere years of age, and we would drive and show up at thisguy’s house on a Wednesday. We would have to go throughall of his classes, his stretching, his drills, and even sparringwith his kick boxers, and once the kick boxers where tiredand went home, that’s when the wrestlers could have the ringwith whatever energy we had left. That’s how I started get-ting into kickboxing, and I found that I really enjoyed it andI was really good at it! I was knocking everybody out, evenhis, Kit Lykins, my first trainer, even his students who had...

ROB VAN DAM - INTERVIEW BY TEDDY G

Rob Van Dam may be the coolest guy in professional wrestling, but after catching up with himprior to his match at Manchester’s M.E.N. Arena on January 28th I also feel he is one of bright-est and most dedicated too. Having previously been on the cover of our sister magazine Combatmag, RVD was keen to catch up with his UK fans and share his thoughts with them...

Rob Van

ROB VAN DAM - INTERVIEW BY TEDDY G

DamTToo rreeaadd tthhee rreesstt ooff tthhiiss aarrttiiccllee

ttaakkee oouutt aa ssuubbssccrriippttiioonn,, vviissiittwwwwww..ffiigghhtteerrssmmaagg..ccoo..uukk//ssuubbssccrriibbee

JULIE KITCHEN’S TV DEBUT

Jul

Julie Kitchen will be one of fourcoaches on the 2011 TV series‘Quest for Honor’ , training andworking with one of the four teamtowards an ultimate final battle ofskill and strength to decide who willbe crowned the TV series champi-on. The filming for the show willtake place early next year, with anadded twist of a fight tournamentbetween the four coaches at the endof the series which will also befilmed. The training and filming willtake place in Thailand.

“Quest for Honor”, the next instal-ment of Martial Arts ProductionEurope (MAPE), will focus on the95 kilo max division. Enfusion haveset about the task of searching forthe best up and coming athletesfrom various countries. Talent fromaround the globe will demonstratetheir skills to the world to showtheir level of skill and dedication tothe Oriental Rules Tournament. Thechosen athletes will meet in theproving grounds of Superpro Samuitraining camp in Koh Samui,Thailand, where they will be testedand eliminated until four end up inthe finals of Enfusion’s Quest forHonor, with their eyes and mindfirmly set on the prize money.Spectators and fans alike will be infor a real treat as the 95 kilo maxdivision is rarely focused on, andthe selected athletes will be provinghow much action, drama and excite-ment comes in this competitiveweight class.

Athletes from Armenia, Turkey,Czech Republic, Finland, Australia,Congo, Poland, Surinam, Holland,USA, Belgium, France, GreatBritain, Canada, Russia, Mexico,Indonesia and Korea will be com-peting in the TV series.Julie Kitchen will be joined byHanna Mjoberg (Sweden), AleideLawant (Holland) and MariaBastasin (Canada) as coaches for the2011 show.

Go to www.facebook.com/JulieKitchenUK and ‘like’ Julie’spage for further updates on the showor visit www.breatheunity.com/profile/julie-kitchen for furtherdetails about Julie.

Julie is proudly sponsored by Touch-gloves Gym, Fightstuff, Top King andBreathe Unity Athlete Management.

Julie Kitchen’s fight record 50 fights - 42 wins - 8 losses

Height: 5ft 11””Weight: 59kg—67kg

Julie fights in 5 different weight cat-egories under Muay Thai, Kickbox-ing and K1 style oriental rules.

Julie has fought and is renowned inThailand, Jamaica, New York andAmsterdam. She has also foughtno1 opponents from Spain, Italy,New Zealand, Australia, Finland,Portugal, Turkey, Holland andAmerica and has beaten them all.

Julie is recognised as ‘the most suc-cessful female fighter ever to hailfrom the united kingdom’ and haswon various awards including ‘ISKAfighter of the year’ for the 2nd yearrunning and ‘2009 female fighter ofthe year’ in Japan to name just themost recent ones.

Apart from being a skillful fighterJulie is a trainer for private andgroup tuition, charity supporter,school talks motivator for kids beingactive in sport, and mother of twingirls aged 11. She is an ambassadorfor sports in general, especiallyencouraging women to get involvedand achieve their goals even whenfacing adversity, as well as beinginvolved in anti-bullying campaignsand weight loss programmes.

Julie is an amazing tribute to whatcan be achieved through dedication,hard work and a passion to inspireothers through sport.

Titles held : Backstreet Brawler Top King worldtitle @63.5kgWorld I.S.K.A muaythai title@67kgWorld I.S.K.A muaythai title @64kgWorld I.S.K.A muaythai title @67kg...

JULIE KITCHEN’S TV DEBUT

TV debut as coach on Enfusion ie Kitchen’s

UK Muay Thai legend and World Number 1 Julie Kitchen has confirmed her TV debut withEnfusion TV for 2011. Kitchen, who can claim 50 fights, 12 World Titles and 22 belts to hername, fights in 5 different weight categories and is renowned and respected worldwide, is lookingforward to a slightly different challenge.

To read the rest of this article whynot order a back issue, visit

www.fightersmag.co.uk/backissue

PETER DAVIES - MAN BEHIND THE SYSTEM

Peter DaviesThe man behind the system

By CrisJanson-Piers

The mans speed was amazing and hedemonstrated so many different areas ofexpertise. He was warmly accepted intoour organisation and has remained withus since as a loyal member. (This kindof commitment in todays changing mar-tial arts society is something to behailed on its own!).

Peter Davies returned on the 4thSeptember 2010 to continue his plight.This time attempting his 5th Dan.(Which at this level is awarded if theperson can show they have still beenactively involved in martial arts andtheir actions and input have benefitedthe organisation and members). Peterdid more than this and physically grad-ed alongside his own student ColinMaggs who was to take his second Danon the same day.

Passing with distinction Peter was laterawarded his Masters Degree by myself.He had developed a system which hasbeen followed for many years, not let-ting it be watered down or changing itto suit others. His loyalty to his ownstyle and students was outstanding andthis marked the pinnacle of his life longambition.

Peter had to write a thesis as part of hisMasters and I am sharing some of thiswith you all as it forms quiet a nicebackground story to his life and thedevelopment of his style.

Master Peter Davies you are a true mar-tial artist and I am proud to have you asa friend. CJP.

Peter Davies writes:

My RootsMy first introduction to the Martial Artsstarted with me partaking in judo at theage of 13, I was a quiet kid who grew upon a rough housing estate that had a rep-utation which was known country wide.

I had two older sisters and no Fatherinfluence as he left when I was at thegrand old age of two, and then he justflittered in and out of my life for a num-ber of years until he started a new familyand all his time were spent with them.

I was a slight weak looking child withvery thick National Health glasses and abad homemade haircut. I did not enjoymy school years as I mainly have mem-ories of being bullied, my two older sis-ter’s being my only source of protection,often getting into fights to protect me.

At 13 I started going to a local boxinggym to try and toughen up, much to myMothers dismay as she didn’t want her“little boy getting hurt” my late grandfa-ther was the main committee man at theSocial Club where the boxing classeswere held so I never had to pay, thisenabled me to train as often as i could.Although I enjoyed the classes with thesweating and friendships I gained afterwe punched each other in the face allnight, I felt there was something missingbut did not have enough experiences tounderstand what that was.

1st Introduction to Martial ArtsWithin a few months I moved on to alocal school which taught Judo in theevenings, I loved it, close contact fight-

Over 14 years ago I met a man who came to my gym in Sheffield to show myself and my fellowinstructors what he had to offer to martial arts. He believed in a system he had developed himselfof which he called the “Creative Fighting System”. I personally took an interest in this style as itwas very practical and coming from a military, security and close protection background I wasalways attracted to anything combative that was quick and efficient.

PETER DAVIES - MAN BEHIND THE SYSTEM

ing bigger people than myself and tak-ing them to the floor in a well executedthrow also I enjoyed the feeling ofbeing part of a family. I thought I hadfound the missing piece to what I want-ed to do within the training arena, so Isettled down to a long life in Judo.Then in true life fashion, one eveningwhile walking home from class, threemales attacked me and I had a coupleof day stay in my local hospital.

After a couple of weeks of the usualpuppy dog eyes and the true manly traitof feeling sorry for myself, I decided topick myself up and continue on thepath of enlightenment (didn’t knowwhat that meant at the time but soundsgood now). What I was sure of was thatJudo alone was not the answer.

I started hanging round with differentpeople, usual teen trying to be part ofsomething and gain the feeling ofbelonging. I started to build up a closefriendship with one person in particular,a thin gangly boy who liked to scrapstreet style. I very quickly started torealise that if someone hits you, I couldhit them back and the majority of thetime they didn’t like it!

My Foundation - KarateThe boy to which I grew a close bondwith started talking about the Karateclasses he had been taking for the pasttwelve months, I liked the sound of itand enrolled in the next session.

Over time we both developed a goodrelationship with the main Instructor(with whom I am still extremely closewith today). Because of this bond ourSensei invited us to extra weekend train-ing that was only offered to a select few,I entered as many tournaments as possi-ble and loved the fighting side of thetraining, I could never get the true mean-ing behind Kata, so always tried to getthrough that part of the lesson quickly.

Self AnalysisA number of years past and I had wona number of individual and teamevents, But yet again that little naggingvoice started to question why your feethad to be at a certain angle, why youhad to keep your hand chambered onyour hip before you punched? Whycould I not kick off my lead leg when itwas obviously faster than rear leg, somany questions and always the sameanswer was given “Tradition”

My close friend and I trained togetherin my small family garage nearly everyday , we would train on bank holidays,Sundays and even Christmas day, wewould gather information on variousarts and experiment with different tech-niques, our families talked about us as ifwe were a couple!

We would spar using motor bike hel-mets in order to pressure test certainmoves, we would throw elbows andhead butts, all non traditional but func-tional techniques, this went on for acouple of years, we would take theopportunity to train with anyone whohad some form of knowledge, whetherit was from a system or a street perspec-tive as long as they would spar with uswe would embrace the opportunity withboth hands.

The Garage was situated in a back alleyclose to the local shops, the area was ano go place after dark! On a number ofoccasions we would have bangs on thegarage door! There would be a numberof boys who would challenge us tofight, we took it as a sparring session,constantly learning from the outcomeand questioning techniques.

My Karate training continued for eightyears and I became very apt andgained a high grade, the nagging littlevoice was still there, we decided to lookfor another martial Art to try and fillthe void and frustration that we bothfelt, whilst still studying Shotokan welooked at Wing Chun, Aikido and Aki

Jujutsu to name but a few and enrolledin some of the classes, but the samething came up we had to start from thebasics and study for a number of yearsbefore we got to the “juicy bits”

During this time I had a number of con-frontations with My Shotokan instructorwho frowned upon the fact I was look-ing and partaking in different arts (crosstraining and personal development wasfrowned upon twenty years ago)...



ULTIMATE CHALLENGE 19 - LIGHTS OUT

WHO: UCMMA 19 LIGHTS OUTWHERE: The Troxy, 490 Commercial Road,

Shadwell, London E1 0HXWHEN: 26th March 2011

WHAT: 14 professional fights including 3 title fightsTICKET PRICE: £25 (standard tickets)

through to £150 (cage side).INFO: http://www.ucmma.com

Article By Graham Finney

THE FIGHT CARD“Well, Dyson Roberts Vs Colin French is abit of a grudge match as they came to blowsat the last event,” recalls O’Donnell.“There is the Iain Martell Vs RafikBenziada fight which I know will be explo-sive as Rafik will go toe to toe with anybody.You’ve also got the Oli Thompson Vs BenSmith title fight. People aren’t sure whichway that one will go but both guys knowthey can knock the other out and are promis-ing not only a title fight but a title war.”

BE IN YOUR SEAT FOR...Oli Thompson Vs Ben SmithThis mouth-watering heavyweight titlefight has been a long time coming forfans of UCMMA but, as Ben Smithexplains, it wasn’t for the want of trying.“This fight was supposed to happen last yearbut, two weeks before the fight, I got head-butted in training. The cut needed fifteenstitches which meant that, despite me stillwanting to fight, there was no chance of thecut healing in time.” Left at the mercy ofthe internet forums, Smith now viewsthe fight as not only a way of confirminghis position but also as a way of silenc-ing the haters. “You wouldn’t believe the

amount of people talking bullshit on internetforums about me,” laughs Smith, “peoplesay I’ve been ducking this fight with Oli but,I’m more than ready to defend my title.”

“Honestly though, I don’t think I rightfullydeserve the title until I’ve defended it,”explains Ben, “so if Oli thinks he can justcome in and take it off me, he’ll find he’s gota fight on his hands. I’m as happy tradingpunches as I am going to ground and will gowith whatever Oli throws my way...

ULTIMATE CHALLENGE 19 - LIGHTS OUT

UCMMA 19 Lights Out

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“The fans know they’re getting value for money,” explains UCMMA mainman Dave O’Donnell.“They come to our shows knowing the fighters will go toe to toe with whoever they are upagainst. These guys aren’t going to climb into the cage and start hugging each other, they’re thereto knock each other out.”


If that wasn’t enough to get a fight-er’s juices flowing the chorus ofboos rained down upon Silva dur-ing his entrance to the octagonhad to open his eyes and dealt ablow to his ego. No matter what afighter says it is impossible to com-pletely ignore almost 17,000 peo-ple showing a man who hasaccomplished what Silva hasabsolutely no respect.

Is Silva completely blameless in allof this? Absolutely not, beginningwith Patrick Cote at UFC 90, con-tinuing with Thales Leites at UFC97, and culminating with the disre-spect and blatant disregard for thefans and Demian Maia at UFC 112,Silva had been vilified for hisbehavior. In what seemed like an

attempt to punish the UFC formatching him up with opponentsthat were not on his level, Silvaacted like a spoiled brat who tookhis ball home when he didn’t gethis way.

Even after suffering a non-stopassault both physically and verballyduring his match-up with Sonnen,Silva could not seem to get the fansback on his side. Even after showinga tremendous amount of heart and atrue warriors spirit by submittingSonnen with a last minute triangleafter being battered for over 22minutes, Silva was still made out tobe the villain. It just goes to showyou that we live in a what have youdone for me lately society.

Belfort has always been a fanfavorite; he burst on to the sceneback in 1997. Utilizing speed andstrength hardly ever seen held byone man, Belfort ran roughshodover his competition by winningfive of his first six UFC bouts inthe first round needing just 15:55.He ended his first UFC run with adazzling, awe inspiring knockoutover Wanderlei Silva that took allof 44 seconds. Nicknamed thePhenom, Belfort proved very wor-thy of his nickname.

Belfort was brought back to theUFC after a 4 1/2 year absence withthe sole intention of challengingSilva for his middleweight title.After defeating former UFCMiddleweight Champion RichFranklin at UFC 103 in Septembervia 1st round TKO he was on hisway. Unfortunately injuries kepthim on the sidelines for over 16months before last night’s title shot.Even though he would be comingoff such a long layoff there weremany who believed he still hadwhat it took to defeat Silva.

It took Silva less than 3 1/2 minutesto prove that he was no closer to los-ing his skills than Belfort was readyto dethrone him and take away thechampionship he has held sinceOctober of 2006, a reign that hasseen him defend his title a UFCrecord eight times. There is a reason

UFC 126 - SILVA VS BELFORT

Silva vs. BeThe Kick Heard Round The OctagonUFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva had to hear the rumblings, he must have been madeaware of all the talk that he hasn’t been the same fighter, and that the beating he took at the hands ofChael Sonnen was just the beginning. Many pundits were talking about how the decline in a fightersskills comes seemingly overnight without a warning, how the speed and reflexes are the first to go.

why UFCPresident DanaWhite calls Silvathe top pound forpound fighter in theworld. Combiningspeed, strength, anddynamic footwork withextremely unorthodoxstriking Silva showedthat he is far from finished.

Fans grew restless and nei-ther man made any attemptsto engage the other for the firsttwo minutes, it seemed as thoughwe may be witnessing another Silvafight in which he was bored anduninspired. Silva began to get frus-trated around the three minute markas he implored Belfort to make amove. As the chants for Vitor grewlouder, Silva was content to dancein front of Belfort. Randy Couturecould be heard shouting instructionsfrom Belfort’s corner...

UFC 126 - SILVA VS BELFORT

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BATTLE ARENA - SHUDAN MMA

Battle ArenaShudan MMA

Saturday 27 November 2010, wasthe first birthday off the MMA bat-tle arena and what an event it was.There was 12 MMA fights sched-uled for the show, with 3 ISKAmidland area title fights one ofwhich was a professional title fight.

Shudan MMA fromWellingborough had 5 fighters onthe show with 3 off them fightingfor the titles. The first Shudanfighter to make an appearance wasSteven Singleton, fighting an oppo-nent from Storm MMA. This wasa very close contest thought over 3

x 3 minute rounds and it ended ina draw.

The next fighter from Shudan wasDylan D’Cruz, having his first fight,his opponent was from the BSTgym based in Northampton. Againthis was a really good hard andevenly fought fight which went thedistance. Unfortunately for Dylanhis opponent got the decision in thisreally close fought contest.

The next fight was for the ISKAMidlands area 79kg title. TomKenny from Shudan was fighting a

very game opponent from the BSTgym. This fight lived up to thebilling, as before the fight both fight-ers said they were going to K Otheir opponent. The fight startedvery quickly with Tom’s opponentdrawing first blood, with some pow-erful punches which blooded hisnose. Tom came back strongly alsohurting his opponent with heavyattacks, standing and on the ground.By the end of the explosive firstround both men were bleeding andlooking tired. At the start of the sec-ond Tom took some heavy kicks tohis legs but then came back with

Shudan kickboxing was founded 8 years ago by Jeff Gonsalves, a enthusiastic Martial Artist whohas trained in many styles including; Taekwondo, Kung fu, kicking-boxing, boxing, judo, ju jitsu,shoot fighting, self-defence and JKD. When Jeff started the club, he wanted to mix all the martialarts he had learnt over the years. Jeff attended many seminars with many of the world’s top mar-tial artist and fighters. After UFC 1 exploded onto the scene the martial arts world changed, mostsay in a positive way. Jeff decided that was the way forward and the way he would run his club.Jeff developed his syllabus to encompass, realistic techniques which would work in any environ-ment, the street or the ring (cage), so this is the way of Shudan. Recently the club has been havingmajor success in MMA competitions especially the local battle arena, as is illustrated below.

some heavy strikes of his own. Bynow Tom’s opponent was very tiredand Tom just kept the pressure onuntil he hammered his opponentuntil the referee stopped the fight byTKO midway through round 2. SoTom took the title with a very hardbut exiting fight.

The next fight was for the ISKA70kg midlands area title. TierBlundell from Shudan, fightinganother tough BST opponent. Thisfight was another classic. Both fight-ers started well landed good strikesin the early exchanges. The Tier set-tled down and started landing themore telling blows. By the end ofthe first round he was well aheadand was controlling the fight. At thestart of round 2 his opponent camestraight in for a take-down, trying tochange the course of the fight. Butthis tactic did not work because Tieris a very accomplished ground fight-er and was soon in control on theground. When the fight got back tostanding Tier started to land heavyhand and foot techniques, kickinghis opponent to the head a fewtimes. After some excellent workfrom both fighters Tier’s techniqueand stamina came through by stop-ping his opponent with some excel-lent strikes to win the fight by TKO.

The final fight of the evening was aprofessional ISKA 70 kg Midlandsarea title fight. Martin Sheridanfrom Shudan was fighting a Profighter from Storm MMA. Martincame out very fast hitting his oppo-nent with some heavy punches, andkicks. He then took his opponentdown and straight away took hisback and went into ground andpound. Martin was in control of thefight and finished his opponent witha rear naked choke about 3 minutesinto the fight. It was a brilliant winand a good way to end the show.

This was the best battle arena showever, especially for the Shudanfighters who had won all the titlefights. The main thing was the sup-porters saw some great fights, theywere all well matched up which is acredit to the promoters, especiallyJames Price who does most of thematch making and organising ofthe show...

BATTLE ARENA - SHUDAN MMA


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fighters magazine - april 2011

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