Having been around combat sport for over two decades, my passion for MMA and Boxing just grows and grows. I am a former columnist for MMA Uncaged Magazine and currently contribute to Fighters Only and other leading MMA sites.
This interview was conducted back in June 2016 and featured in the July/August issue of MMA Uncaged Magazine.
“Age is just a number. I will be in the UFC by the end of the year”
London, 2002 and the UFC held its first event outside of the United States for UFC 38. ‘Brawl at the Hall’ was held inside the iconic Royal Albert Hall. Headlined by UFC Hall of Fame veteran Matt Hughes and Carlos Newton. Also on the main card was a 36-year-old Ian Freeman who faced and beat a 23-year-old Frank Mir by TKO, proving that ‘age is just a number’.
Fast forward to April 15, 2016, when European Promotion Cage Warriors returned home to London and held its 75th event. Making his debut for the promotion was 38-year-old Scott ‘The Priest’ Clist facing 25-year-old Brad ‘The Crazy Kid’ Wheeler. Clist was the heavy underdog and after weathering an early storm where it looked like Wheeler was going to submit him in the opening minutes, Clist gained control of the fight (with 30 seconds to go) landing a head kick followed by a right hook which knocked Wheeler to the canvas against the cage and began to unleash a barrage of punches (16) only for the klaxon to sound the end of the round.
It was in-between rounds that Wheeler’s corner retired him from the fight as he had taken too much damage, declaring Clist victorious by way of TKO at the end of round one. Proving yet again ‘age is just a number’.
“Age is just a number. I will be in the UFC by the end of the year”
Born and raised in Bridgwater, Somerset but now residing in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, the nightclub manager first started out in the world of Martial Arts at the tender age of 5.
“My dad would get me and my brother to throw punches and box train with him. He would show us how to twist our hips with the punches and lead with a jab” Clist recalls of his fond childhood memories. After briefly flirting with Karate, Clist settled on Kickboxing where he would start his Martial Arts career and held British titles in kickboxing and full contact Tae kwon do.
Clist was first introduced to Mixed Martial Arts by a colleague whilst he was working in Swindon as a barman at the age of 19. A doorman he knew lent him 3 video’s called “UFC” and after watching them decided he wanted to give MMA a try.
“After watching the ‘UFC’ video’s I attended my first MMA class which was also run by the same doorman who gave me the video’s. ‘Oz’, Michael Osbourne at ‘SVT’ Swindon Vale Tudo. Although I really enjoyed the class due to my working schedule at the time I couldn’t commit to it.”
After spending some time training in different Martial Arts and balancing a full time job, Clist found classes run by Tony Childs who was teaching San Shou, JKD, Combat Submission Wrestling and Escrima to add to his Kickboxing and Tae kwon do background.
Finally, after experiencing success in teaching kickboxing, Clist decided it was time to open up his own gym. In March 2008 The Revolution Gym in Trowbridge was born, all the while still competing as an amateur mixed martial artist himself from 2006 – 2009. In 2010 Clist turned pro finishing his first five opponents within two rounds. Although picking up his first pro MMA loss in 2013 to Dan Rushworth, that fight earned him fight of the night honours. Winning his next fight Clist then entered an 8-man tournament.
“I had no emotion in the lead up to the event and was spending a large amount of time teaching instead of focusing on my own training. Ali Maclean tapped my out with a north and south choke 4:34 seconds into the first round. It was the only time I had been stopped as a pro fighter. I was gutted.”
“It was after this fight that I realised I needed to focus on my own training so I shut down my gym and moved over to Dragonslair MMA in Melksham home to UFC athlete Bradley Scott.”
Photo Credit Adrenalin Fight Night
Now [10-2] as a pro and with the help and guidance of Head Coach Stu Pike at Dragonslair MMA, Clist is currently on a three fight win streak after winning his last fight against Brad Wheeler at Cage Warriors 75 where he was very much the underdog on that card.
“I kept the fight standing for a while and me and Brad traded some shots until I threw a kick and he caught it. Brad got the takedown but I managed to get back to my feet only for brad to get a deep double leg and take me down again, his ju jitsu is sleek and he managed to get my back and sink in the body lock quickly. I went into autopilot and 2 on 1 defence. I had done this so many times in the gym that I was never really worried about getting tapped, I just had to get the lock off. I tried putting pressure on Brad’s ankle but that didn’t work so I had to defend and try to turn into him but like I said Brad’s BJJ is something else and trying to get someone as good as he is off you is not the easiest thing.
“After a few mins spent on the defensive I felt the lock loosen so I stepped over his leg to avoid him getting it locked back in, I turned quickly and we got back to our feet.
“I threw a good uppercut to the body and Brad backed off. I saw my opportunity and threw the head kick followed by the right hook.
I saw brad fall and started throwing down some serious ground and pound. I could hear his corner shouting “10 seconds, hold on Brad”. I kept throwing punches thinking the ref has got to stop it but he didn’t and the buzzer sounded for the end of the round. Brad’s corner retired him in between rounds which gave me a TKO win coming at 5 mins of round one.”
The fight Clist had with Wheeler was originally scheduled for a lightweight bout but got changed to a catch weight bout a few days before. So will we be seeing Clist again in the lightweight division?
“I would like to fight against top 10 opponents. A fight with Chris Fishgold would be interesting and a fight against Andre Ward would make for a great fight. I aim to Keep growing as a fighter and I am in the right place and working with the right people to do that and keep winning. I want to be a successful UFC fighter. I don’t just want to make it into the UFC, I will make it into the UFC and get some good wins.”
With a nickname ‘The Priest’ I did however wonder how it came about.
“My first sponsor gave me that name. I told him he could pick my ring name. He had just watched The Davinci Code on dvd and decided I looked like the psycho killer from the film (blonde hair, white skin) so he said it was great to call me The Priest. I kept it because it caught on after my first fight.”
As with any interview, I ask if Scott has anyone he would like to thank.
“Firstly, my wife and daughter as they put up with me missing time spent with them, being tired from training and weight cutting etc. I would like to thank my coaches Stu Pike, Bradley Scott for making me a better fighter. My boxing and s+c coaches Mark Kent and Smudger at contender gym. My teammates who let me learn and let me be part of their learning. Stu Mourant for making a massive difference and opening doors. My sponsors for helping me with fuelling my body, BadBoy Supplements (kalv Singh) and financially Nacho Cheese, Richard Henley (Heating and plumbing), Darryl Moore (Carpentry) and a massive thank you goes out to all my friends and supporters”.
You can follow Scott Clist’s journey on the following media sites.
LFA 6 came live from the Cowboys Dancehall in San Antonio, Texas last night where Rivaldo Junior took on Ray Rodriguez in the headline bout.
Brazilian Jui-Jitsu specialist Mackenzie Dern was making her third pro outing in her Mixed Martial Arts career. Dern could not make the contracted weight for 115lbs, so the bout was changed to a Catchweight of 120lbs just before she took to the scales and weighed in on target on the second attempt. Her opponent Katherine Roy will receive 20% of her fight purse.
Full Results
Main Card
Ray Rodriguez def Rivaldo Junior via split decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Eryk Anders def Jon Kirk via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:35
Mackenzie Dern def Katherine Roy via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Richard Odoms def Willian Hoffman via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:25
Gleidson Cutis def Dimitre Ivy via submission (grapevine leg lock) – Round 1, 2:38
Anthony Ivy def Arthur Ashton via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:04
Prelim Card – Amateur Bouts
Damian Alfaro def William Walker via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1
Jonathan Gomez def Patrick Ferguson via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 3
Marcell Mickens def Tomas Suarez via TKO (strikes) – Round 2
Cage Warriors Academy Wales came live from The Newport Centre, Wales tonight March 4th.
Boasting a fight card with 18 fights, including twelve amateur undercard fights and six professional main card fights, it was the fans who were in for a treat this evening.
Main Card Professional Results
Aaron Khalid defeated Phil Wells via Submission (Guillotine Choke) :56 round 2
Jack Shore defeated Alexandros Gerolimatos via Submission (Rear-naked Choke) 2:03 round 1
Richard Williams defeated Gracjan Bak via KO :59 round 1
Damo Weeden defeated Joe Orrey via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) :39 round 1
Josh Ellis defeated Daniel Hodor via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) 4:05 round 2
Ethan Charlesworth defeated Nathan Ford via Submission (Triangle) 1:53 round 1
Undercard – Amateur MMA
Josh Hudson defeated Jack Tucker via Unanimous Decision
Michael Corston defeated Christopher Radcliffe via Majority Decision
Pedro Cardosa defeated Tom Karpinski via Unanimous Decision
Rob Bennett defeated Marcus Stevens via Split Decision
James Amos defeated Sami Hashim via Unanimous Decision
Christian Duncan defeated James McClean via TKO 1:25 round 1
Chris Smith defeated Keiron Bennet via Submission (Rear-naked Choke) 2:50 round 2
Oban Elliot defeated Callum Hanman via KO (head kick) :46 round 1
Ben Ellis defeated Franco Tenaglia via TKO 2:05 round 3
Jamie Boyle defeated Ragine White via Submission (head and arm choke) :58 round 2
Alun Yhnell defeated Karl Redding via KO :59 of round 1
Joel Collins defeated Chris Mardon via Split Decision
Cage Warriors 81 came live from the 3Arena in Dublin tonight, March 4th for the vacant Light-Heavyweight title between Karl Moore who faced Josh Clark.
Also on the card saw the return of Catherine Costigan who faced hard-hitting Wendy McKenna in an Atomweight bout.
Full Results – Main Card
[Light-Heavyweight Title] Karl Moore* defeated Josh Clark via Unanimous Decision (49-45,50-44,50-42)
*NEW LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION
[Atomweight] Catherine Costigan defeated Wendy McKenna via Split Decision (29-28,29-28,28-29)
[Lightweight] Arnold Quero defeated Joel McColgan via SD (30-27,29-28,29-28)
Bellator 174 took place Friday, March 3 at Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla. The main card aired on Spike TV.
Headlining the event was former Strikeforce champion, Marloes Coenen facing Julia Budd for the inaugural women’s featherweight title. It was, however, to be Julia Budd’s night after stopping Coenen in the fourth round to become the new featherweight champion.
Coenen then took the time to thank Scott Coker and Bellator before announcing her retirement from the sport.
“I have dreamt about this moment forever. When I was 21 and first started kickboxing, I dreamt about being a champion, and I didn’t make it, I lost.” Budd said. “So, this is my dream come true. The moment I signed with Bellator, I saw all the champions up there on the banners, and I said to myself that I want to be up there with them some day. Now it feels like everything has come together.”
“There’s only one message that I want to give out to all the fighters out there, and that is, please listen to your body. I am very proud of all the women in MMA, and I am very grateful for Bellator,” Coenen said. “This company picked me up when I was in a dark place, and Scott Coker has given me so many opportunities throughout my career. Bellator MMA will always be my home.”
Julia Budd (10-2) defeated Marloes Coenen (23-8) via TKO (punches) at 2:42 of round four to become the new inaugural women’s featherweight champion.
ACB 54 is live from Manchester, England tonight where it will be a European Middleweight showdown as Luke Barnatt takes on Mamed Khalidov in the main event.
With 23 fights to get through, the action started at 5 pm (BST) with the main event around 10.30pm (BST).
For the live stream of the event, click on the above live link.
Full Results:
Mamed Khalidov def. Luke Barnett – KO : 21 R1 Brendan Loughnane def. Mike Wilkinson – KO 2:30 R1
Asambek Saidov def. Ion Pascu – unanimous decision (30-27, 30-28, 29-28) Aurel Pirtea def. Saul Rogers – Sub (guillotine) 0:53 R2 Ali Bagov def. Bubba Jenkins – Sub (Triangle choke) 4:01 R2 Joshua Aveles def. Amirkhan Adaev– Split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-29) Batraz Agnaev def. Max Nunes – KO 2:57 R1 Rakhman Dzhanaev def. Adam Zajac – TKO (Dr Stoppage) 2:15 R2 Andrew DeVent def. Danny Mitchell – KO :31 R1 Murad Kalamov def. Niko Gjoka – Sub (Triangle Choke):50 R2 Kane Mousah def. Lewis Monarch – unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) Dean Garnett def. Michael Tobin – TKO (strikes) :31 R2 Ibrahim Chuzhigaev def. David Mitchell – TKO :55 R3 Rob Whiteford def. Nam Phan FW – Sub :21 (Guillotine Choke) R1 Mukhumat Vakhaev def. Tanner Boser – Split decision (29-28, 30-29, 28-29) Shoaib Yousaf def. Javonne Morrison – TKO 3:24 R1 Ashley Reece def. James Lewis – TKO 2:43 (Punches) R2 Chris Bungard def. Iain Feenan – Sub 2:41 (Triangle-choke) R1 Azi Thomas def. Eden Newton – TKO 4:46 (Punches) R1 Aaron Aby def. Coner Hignet – split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-29) Gaz Corran def. Shaun Hampton – unanimous decision Jenaid Ebanks def. Marcin Prostko – Sub 1:22 (Rear-naked choke) R2 Cal Ellenor def. Declan Williams – Sub 4:16 (Rear-naked choke) R2
Five Rounds with Emma 
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