Blog – Five Rounds with Emma

5 Fighters To Look Out For In the last quarter of 2022

Nearing the end of 2022, we’ve had exciting fight cards, we’ve had some big knockouts, and we’ve had some big upsets. The UFC has a massive roster and is home to some of the greatest mixed martial artists. In my opinion, I have come up with 5 fighters that we should watch out for in the last part of 2022.

Paddy Pimblett is a British UFC Lightweight fighter who’s burst onto the scene and taken the division by storm with all 3 of his fights resulting in finishes in the early rounds. Within a short time, ‘Paddy the Baddy’ has picked up a massive following, some even suggesting it mirrors Mcgregor’s starting UFC featherweight run. He holds a record of 19 wins and 3 losses, with almost half of his wins coming via Submission, which clearly reflects his 1st-degree black belt achievement. His dominating arrival in the division has seen him awarded Performance of the Night in each fight in the UFC. He also has taken a stand on promoting mental health awareness, as it is something he holds close to his heart, and upholding a “teenage” aesthetic to appeal to and essentially influence the younger generation. He has displayed great skill in his fights. He has overcome a lot of adversity in the fight world, with his ability to drop and gain weight, weighing as much as 205lbs almost a month after his last fight, gaining notoriety and attracting trolls. Paddy has a strong friendship with Molly McCann, also a British UFC fighter in the Women’s Flyweight division, and they are admired massively by the UK UFC scene.

My next fighter is Jiri Prochazka, a Czech Light Heavyweight UFC fighter, and after a win against former LHW Champion Glover Texeira, Jiri is now the current LHW champion. Jiri has a record of 29-3-1 and has dominated all his MMA fights, with 81% of his wins coming from the 1st round. He currently sits on an 11 fight win streak in MMA and dominates his first two UFC fights against two warriors, Dominick Reyes and Volkan Oezdemir, winning by KO in the 2nd round on both occasions. He has won Performance of the Night twice in both UFC fights and Fight of the Night against Reyes. He has had 25 KO’s to his name and 3 submission victories throughout his career. His main fight style is Muay Thai, and he highlights this massively as a creative fighter within the Octagon, and his record precedes him with numerous KO victories.

Following on from Prochazka, we move to Swedish UFC welterweight fighter Khamzat Chimaev 12-0, a wrestler who has amazingly burst onto the scene. Firstly, winning 3 fights in 66 days earned him his first award in the UFC; secondly, within his first 4 UFC fights, he showed the world how dominant and skilled he was as a fighter, as he threw 254 strikes and only absorbed two. He knocked out Gerald Meerschaert in 17 seconds. He won numerous breakthrough fighter awards in 2020 from different fight reporters. He also won the award for quickest consecutive wins in modern UFC history, set at 10 days. Chimaev was scheduled to fight Nate Diaz at UFC 279 on September 10th 2022; however, come weigh-in day, chimaev came in 7lbs overweight, so his fight with Diaz was scrapped, and Kevin Holland took Nate Diaz’s place. Chimaev went on to win in dominant fashion finishing Holland via a D’Arce Choke at two minutes thirteen seconds in the first round. His previous fight against Gilbert Burns, that is what set the standard for fans watching to see how Chimaev deals with pressure during a fight. Khamzat delivered perfectly, winning via unanimous decision against Burns, scoring 29-28. He trains alongside Gustafsson in Stockholm, where Gustafsson has stated that he hasn’t met such a tough fighter as Chimaev. Most recently, Chimaev has paired up with Darren Till, which was a big shock to the MMA world, but from what it seems, they are both trainings well and learning from each other.

The next fighter is none other than Islam Makhachev. This Russian lightweight UFC fighter has annihilated his competition, holding a 10-fight win streak, with most of the fights lasting going into the later rounds, proving his durability and having 10 submission victories in total. Training with Khabib and the Dagestani team, they all prove their durability through their intense training methods up in the mountains. Islam trains at AKA, with notable fighters such as Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier and Khabib. Overall in his UFC fights and in UFC history, he has the least absorbed significant strike rate per minute at 0.77, meaning his defence and skillset is top level, and the next lowest rate is 1.04 per minute. He has won Submission of the Month twice and won Fight of the Night once. He is the potential next contender for a title fight, facing Charles Oliveira. However, Dana White wants Islam to face Beneil Dariush to cement his confidence in giving him the title shot. [Although Islam Makhachev vs Charles Oliveria has been slated for October 22nd 2022, at UFC 280].

Talking of Oliveira, he is my last fighter to keep an eye on in 2022. Charles Oliveira, a Brazilian Lightweight fighter, has just come off a big submission victory over Justin Gaethje; however, it didn’t come without controversy, as Charles missed weight and relinquished the belt. However, he remains in the championship picture as the No1 contender. He holds a 33-8, with an 11-fight win streak. He has the record for the most submissions in UFC at 16 victories via Submission. He also has numerous other records, such as the most finishes set at 19, the 3rd longest LW winning streak set at 11 fights, and he holds 12 Performance of the Night awards, and the list continues. His last 3 fights have been against the top 3 LW ranked fighters, and they have grandly dominated them, submitting two and winning via TKO with the other. However, he shows great determination as he recovers quickly from knockdowns or wobbles and manages to clutch the win. He fights out of Chute Boxe in Curitiba, with previous notable fighters such as Anderson Silva, Cris Cyborg and Mauricio Rua, who will go down in the history books. His next fight has been confirmed against Islam Makhachev on October 22nd 2022, at UFC 280.

This concludes my article, and we shall see how the rest of 2022 plays out and see if any of the hype continues.

What is your thought?

georgegough999

The rise of the ‘Killa Bee’ 2.0 – Bryony Tyrell

Bryony Tyrell - BELLATOR weigh-in - Credit: Bellator — Bryony Tyrell – Bellator weigh-In Credit: Bellator

First released 21st June 2019

On Saturday, June 22^nd, 2019, Bellator MMA will be making their return to the SSE Arena in London.

Making her debut for the promotion will be U.K’s Bryony Tyrell, and if you had told her six years ago that she would be on one of the world’s largest MMA promotions and competing in front of her home crowd, I’m pretty sure she’d be laughing at just the thought.

Born and raised in Sevenoaks, Kent, Bryony has always enjoyed the thrill and excitement of extreme sports; from BASE jumping, Bungee jumping, and sky diving, to testing herself in mixed martial arts.

Holding a Masters Degree in nursing and a Degree in Molecular Cell Biology, the critical care nurse now based in Southampton has always had a passion for martial arts.

Starting in Kickboxing and Kung Fu 19 years ago, Bryony quickly fell in love with all aspects of martial arts so much, that, she added in Krav Maga, Japanese jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai before finally concentrating on Wrestling and Brazilian Jiujitsu, forming the mixed martial arts career she has today. “Martial arts are my passion in life. I love the contrast that they can be beautiful and deadly at the same time” Bryony said. “Anyone that practices a martial art to a high level knows that it involves incredible dedication and discipline, and also pushes your body and mind to the limits of endurance.”

Originally part of U.K MMA pioneer (and ex UFC athlete) Rosi Sexton’s mentoring scheme, Bryony went about taking Rosi’s advice on training, nutrition, competing and training with Rosi. “I was very privileged to be on a mentorship scheme with Rosi. I gained invaluable advice at the beginning of my amateur career” said Bryony.

The 18th of May 2013 is a day that Bryony will forever have as a fond memory. It was when she made her amateur debut and found out exactly what she is capable of in the cage. “I think the only way to truly know how good you are at fighting is to compete. Being locked in a cage with another trained fighter who can use pretty much any style or technique against you is the ultimate test”, Bryony said when recalling the first time she stepped into the cage.

Not only content with competing in amateur MMA bouts, but Bryony also tested her skills by competing in white-collar boxing bouts, Muay Thai bouts, and grappling matches to gain invaluable experience before turning pro in November 2015.

Holding a current professional record of 4 wins 3 losses and 1 draw, with all 3 of those losses coming from title fights with two of those athletes currently competing in the UFC and Bellator, Bryony is no stranger to adversity in the MMA industry.

Having started in her MMA career aged 33, Bryony was considered by some promotions and coaches to be ‘too old’ to be competing in the sport. Once Bryony turned pro at the age of 35 and started to win, it was only then that she began to believe in herself more and knew that ‘age was just a number’. At least, to her anyway, and she set about proving just that.

Having gone 4-3-1 in her pro career, taking short notice fights and a title fight in a weight class above her usual weight division, Bryony felt that her current gym, Exile, had let her down. “I felt like the industry had written me off for being too old, and some of the coaches at my gym had said I was too old and slow after I lost the Cage Warriors title fight against Molly McCann. When they wrote me off because of that loss, I didn’t think that was fair. It was quite demoralizing for me. The whole experience was quite demoralizing, and I just stopped the enjoyment of the sport.

On top of that, Cage Warriors wouldn’t give me a fight at strawweight, and I felt I was not valued as a fighter, and not being given significant opportunities. It just wasn’t worth the sacrifice anymore. So, I decided to retire in July 2018.”

Since retiring from competitive MMA, Bryony thought that she’d feel better because of the less stress involved and would have more time to spend with her husband and two children. However, she felt like there was a massive hole in her life and felt very down, having nothing to work towards with the Adrenalin rush that she always knew she had. “Having just a normal life is not good enough for me. I know it is quite a selfish attitude to have especially the fact that I have got young children and an amazing husband and a stressful job. I need that buzz to make me happy.”

Looking to replace that ‘buzz’ Bryony decided she would concentrate on achieving the top levels in grappling. After taking home silver at the IBJFF and silver at the UK ADCC, she didn’t have the same drive for grappling as she did in MMA, stating that “I didn’t put 100% in because I just didn’t have that kind of fear factor that someone is going to smash your face in if you don’t train properly, and it wasn’t dangerous for me.”

On May 30^th, 2019 it was officially announced that Bryony had come out of retirement and will be competing on the Bellator London card on June 22^nd at the SSE Arena, where she will face the current kickboxing champion Denise Kielholtz in a flyweight MMA bout. A fight that has been over a year in the making, as Bryony initially accepted a short notice (1 week) fight against Denise back in February 2018 but had to withdraw due to being medically suspended after her fight with Molly McCann. It was suggested to Bryony that Denise wasn’t matched up for the London card and did she fancy another fight. It was at that point that Bryony messaged her managers, who then contacted Bellator, and they came back with a yes straight away.

With ten weeks to prepare for the bout, Bryony went to Cross Face gym in Watford, training with head coach Dave Lee and Charlie Leary who is also on the London card. For the final two weeks of her training camp, Bryony flew out to Thailand to train at UFC athlete Johnny Walker and Leo Gosling’s new gym Chokchai Muay Thai. “While Johnny and Leo were here in Southampton, I trained with them, so it made sense for me to go out and spend two weeks over at there new gym in Thailand. They have a few UFC athletes training there, and Jorge Kanella who is also on the London card. Being surrounded by world-class coaches and fighters, this fight camp has been on a different level to any other I’ve had. They treat me as an equal, and I’m keeping up with these guys who are top-level pro fighters, so it’s been a massive confidence boost to come back to fighting after people had written you off. I’ve got some amazing people around me that believe in me, and I know I can win this fight.”

With the advantage of having 16 MMA fights compared to Denise’s 4 MMA fights, and factoring in that Denise is Bellator’s kickboxing champion and has had numerous kickboxing bouts, Bryony realises that Denise is a superb striker, having watched a lot of her fights just purely to learn from her and improve her own striking. She is also a classy athlete and represents the sport incredibly well.

Feeling that this is a good match-up and an opportunity Bryony had been asking for throughout her MMA career, she now thinks that having dedicated her life to MMA and competing for the last five years, come June 22^nd it will have paid off.

With the fact that Denise is a world champion kick-boxer, Bryony knows that it is unrealistic to think she could beat a multiple world champion striker on her feet, and therefore feels Denise will probably think that Bryony will want to get her to the ground as that is where she tends to do best. “She will be physically stronger than me and be powerful so it will be down to see who can implement their fight game, as always in MMA.

“It’s going to be a fair fight as we both have had a good preparation for this bout. I think I am probably going in there as the underdog and that’s fine with me as that’s normal, but the nice thing for me is she may well be a top striker in Bellator and the promotion, but we are fighting in London in front of my home crowd, which is nice for me because it’s rare that I get to fight in front of a home crowd. It is going to be amazing to have support there, and I’m also fighting on the same card as good friends of mine, Kate Jackson, Charlie Leary and Jorge Kanella, and Johnny and Leo are also going to be there. It is going to be amazing.”

Aiming for a submission win, Bryony has one last thing to say. “Last year my fire went out, this year it’s back with a vengeance! I am incredibly honoured and grateful for this opportunity on the world stage against such an impressive opponent. I got written off as a fighter. This year, I’m training alongside Bellator and UFC athletes treated as equal. Don’t let anyone crush your dreams if you surround yourself with the right people you will succeed!”

Who will be The Baddest Motherf*cker – Diaz vs Masvidal UFC 244?

On Friday, November 2, 2019, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will be making their 500^th live event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York for UFC 244.

Headlining the event will be a welterweight bout between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz for the newly created ‘Baddest Motherf*cker’ in the game belt.

After a three-year hiatus, Nate Diaz returned on August 17^th, 2019 at UFC 241, with a winning performance over Anthony Pettis reminding us (those that needed reminding), why he is regarded already as one of the ‘Baddest Motherf*ckers’ in this sport by hardcore fans.

Watching cage side was Jorge Masvidal, who by all accounts wasn’t that impressed with Nate’s performance, so when Nate called out Jorge, it was music to his ears.

Coming off a five-second win via knockout of Ben Askren, Jorge Masvidal has of late been surging through the welterweight division this year with back to back violent knockout wins, and in the process, gaining more casual MMA fans due to his aggressive winning style.

The fans and the whole MMA community were begging for this matchup to be made, and to everyone’s delight, it was confirmed that Nate Diaz would face Jorge Masvidal for the Baddest Motherf*cker belt on November 2^nd, 2019 at Madison Square Garden.

With both men having similar losing records Diaz (20 wins), 11 losses, one knockout, one submission, nine decisions, and Masvidal (34 wins) 13 losses, one knockout, two submissions and ten decisions, it comes down to who is the real BMF in this sport.

Although some fans will see this fight as a submission artist in Diaz, having had 11 of his wins come via submission, and knockout artist Masvidal having had 15 of wins come via knockout – a grappler vs striker fight, this couldn’t be further than what it seems on paper.

With official early betting odds coming in as Jorge Masvidal being the favourite over Nate Diaz, with odds ranging from -165 to -179, as stated by Sascha P from Sports Betting Dime, it was only fair that I asked a few other people who they thought would win the BMF belt.

“The American Psycho” Stephan Bonnar – TUF 1 finalist and UFC Hall of Famer says:

“I’m leaning on Masvidal because he’s been wrecking guys.”

Matt Bailey – The MMA Bible and superfan says:

“Masvidal has shown explosive skills recently, however, I feel Diaz will be all too familiar with this, opting to keep distance early on but will close the distance as the fight goes on. I expect this to be a stand-up affair but feel that Diaz will look to turn to his grappling in the latter stages of the fight, and it may well hit the canvas. I’m expecting a lot of clinching and cage work in this fight with Diaz getting the better of Masvidal in these exchanges. Both fighters have exceptional stand-up skills in which I see it being a very fast-paced chess match style. With all of the above said my official prediction is – Nate Diaz via decision.”

Mark Baldwin of FightPost says:

“It’s a difficult fight to pick a winner. Masvidal, after a career slump, is riding into this fight after highlight-reel knockouts of Darren Till and Ben Askren. Masvidal is on the verge of a title shot. A win over Diaz should give him that chance sometime in 2020. The odds slightly favour Masvidal, and that’s the way I see it also. There is every chance Diaz could be too busy, and for me, he has more ways to win. But I think Masvidal gets it done, probably on points, although a late stoppage in his favour can’t be ruled out.”

And as for me, well, if Masvidal can get it done within three rounds he can win, otherwise, as Nate is known as a slow starter and comes alive more as the rounds go on, I see Nate taking it over the five rounds and wins via decision.

Here’s to 2014……

It’s a New Year and with every New Year comes a new start – or so they say!

Well for me I will be seeing what it is this year has install for me, I mean I didnt extactly plan for any of last year, so i’m just going to go with the flow, and ‘what will be will be’!

I still have ‘Season One Interviews’ for you all to be catching up on, there are another five more to be uploaded from last year, that much I am sure about, the rest is ‘a work in progress’.

Happy New Year

Last post for 2013 – A lot of Thank You’s and some pictures :)

It’s been a challenging year for me but I wouldn’t change it for one second, after all I got to do what so many of you still want to do and I have achieved all of it in the six months that I started this harsh challenge – which fell into my lap purely by coincidence (you will have to refer back to my very first blog read about that one)!

I will however give a big shout out to the person who got me started not only in writing my own blog but who introduced me to what I currently do, and that is Jonathan Millard, for whom I am forever grateful to.

What alot of people, more than likely do not know about me, is that I have been in the ‘combat sport industry’ for just over 20 years now, so I have legitmately worked my way up the ladder – although, it’s fine for you to believe whatever you choose to believe, I personally don’t give a shit, again those that really know me, know that also!

I got to cover local grass root shows, which to me I have always been a great fan of and will always take time out of my schedule to go cover them as much as I can, I covered Pain Pit 3 times, Ultimate Impact, Into The Cage, Neilson Promotions White Collar Boxing then I also covered Cage Warriors, BAMMA and UFC Manchester, not bad even if I do say so myself!

Then a great event happend for UKMMA – The UKMMA Expo in Manchester and I got to be part of the only Media Team that had Access All Areas and when I say that, I truly mean that; not like all the other Media people that came in, the team I was with we were set up in the ‘Green Room’ with all our equipment and at one point their was one great surreal moment that I for one will never ever forget 🙂

It was a great run event by Darren Sherlock and Paul Crossley and of course Darren’s wife Michelle, all timed perefectly for when Michael Bisping would be in the UK, Manchester as it happens (his own town) and just after being announced he would be facing Mark Munoz, here also in Manchester in October (unfortuntaly due to Michael needing eye surgery he was forced to withdraw from the bout and Lyoto Machida replaced him)!

There were UFC athletes, Guest athletes, Guest speakers, Seminars to train with some of the Guest athletes and stalls for the MMA community to come together and show there products of to the public; also there was the stall for SAFE MMA – for which I personally went over to Izzy Carnwath and spoke to her to see SAFE MMA was all about, how promotions could get involved and WHY they should. I had such a better understanding afterwards.

Here is mine and Izzy’s SAFE MMA interview we also talk BAMMA 13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBGFMXpvdHE

There was also a big NoGi BJJ competiton on, running throughout the Sunday which was awesome and six females took part amongst the hundreds of men.

At the show I managed to Video Interview (yes that was a very first for me) The Legend Ian ‘The Machine’ Freeman straight after his MMA Seminar – let me tell you know this guy is 100% gentleman when talking to him, Ian made my first video interview effortless (well I thought) 🙂

Here is mine and Ian’s interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLO5WYrGcCM

I would however like to say a very big thank you to all the athlete’s I have worked with (so far) without you giving up your time I would not of had your stories/journeys to write about and some very memorable moments to say the least, so in list of when they were interviewed here they all are:

Leigh Remedios

Alexei Roberts

Mario Saeed

War Machine

‘Rowdy’ Bec Hyatt

Ian ‘The Machine’ Freeman

Hector Lombard

Colin ‘Freakshow’ Fletcher

Bryony Tyrell

Aaron ‘Smackwell’ Blackwell

Jack ‘The Hammer’ Marshman

Lew Long

Jorge ‘Michelan’ Bezerra

Rosi Sexton

Faisel Ghazghazi

Mark ‘The hand of’ Godbeer

Lauren Murphy

And of course it would not be me, if I did not add in afew pictures of me with some of the athletes I had met 🙂

Have a great New Year.

Emma

PS I’ve kept all my boxing ones out of this one but look out for it next year 🙂

Catch up Season One…. Commence…..Hector Lombard

As of late I have neglated my own wordsite, where in reality all the ‘interviews’ I gain should really be on here first then onto the appropriate site I am working with at that moment in time, and I feel it is now time to change the ‘ball game’ so to speak back to me having control of the ball, and it will resume in this way, from now! But firstly before I jump ahead of the ‘season’ I will indulduge you in re-visiting all my previous work I have done in my short six months of writing, gaining exclusive access to exclusive interviews of UFC fighters, Bellator Fighters, Cage Warriors Fighters, Bamma Fighters, Invicta Fighters and Fighters on the Grass roots scene; Plus some of the events I had been invited too, as press for their event so they get the full coverage of the promotion and a full write up of the nights action.

I’m going to start with the ‘Exclusive Hector Lombard’ Interview I did with him [Hector] earlier this year, when I first heard he was ‘made’ to drop down in weight to Welterweight, so I reached out to him and we set up a telephone Interview and here is the final outcome;

You can read that ‘Exclusive‘ INTERVIEW I did with Hector Lombard here

“Although I’m currently at Welterweight Bisping is NOT out of the question”

In the run up to Hector Lombard’s return to the Octagon where he meets the heavy hitting Nate Marquardt on October 19th at UFC 166 in Houston, Texas I spoke with Hector in this exclusive interview.

EB: Your move down to Welterweight, how did this come about? Was it you who suggested it or did Joe Silva speak with you about this?

HL: Joe Silva wanted me to fight at welterweight, it was a decision for both parties.

EB: Do you feel it came out of the blue?

HL: It came out of the blue for me, not for him, they run the business, you got to do what the boss wants you to do.

EB: What are your personal thoughts on being, I guess, kind of ‘told’ to move down to Welterweight, when you yourself are happy at Middleweight?

HL: It was a long decision to make, it wasn’t made overnight, I thought long and hard about it. But now I am making the move it is going well.

EB: What do you think the logic is behind the move as your only other two losses prior to the UFC came when you were at Welterweight?

HL: That for me is hard to answer as they are the bosses and they say to me what to do.

EB: Are you feeling any pressure to impress Dana White, considering how vocal he has been about your performances since being with the UFC?

HL: There is always a pressure no matter what where you are going to be fighting, if you don’t perform there going to cut you no matter what weight you are fighting at, it’s part of the game, we are here to perform and we are here to entertain the fans, If you don’t do that, the fans don’t want to see you anymore, it goes with part of the territory.

EB: Are you finding that you have to drop muscle mass for the new weight division or is it just a change in diet or both?

HL: I have to drop muscle mass, remember I used to be all muscle before, I didn’t have any fat, I’ve learned that when you change your diet, your muscles begin eating up anyway regardless. I used to eat a lot of protein before, a lot of steak and stuff like that which will build your muscles, now I don’t eat steak or any red meat, so my muscles can stay smaller.

EB: I read that you maybe enlisting the help of Mike Dolce, is this true?

HL: I would of liked to have worked with Mike, but he is a very busy person so that has not happened, at the moment I am just gaining advice from my Team Mates and also Freshmealplan.com for helping me a lot with my healthy eating.

EB: Usually it is you that is doing the ‘calling out’ for your fights, how did you feel when Nate Marquardt ‘called’ you out?

HL: To be honest I was pretty happy with that, I have always wanted to fight Nate all my life, I’m glad that he actually reached out to me and called me out. I wish that Michael Bisping and the rest of the other fighters would do the same thing it would be a lot easier.

EB: There’s a bit of history with you and Nate Marquardt, you were due to fight on another promotion a few years ago, what was the story behind this?

HL: We were supposed to fight 2 years ago, I was calling him a ‘cheat’ and stuff like that, and he got upset, it did not happen, and I was very disappointed at the time, but 2 years on here we are!

EB: Are you worried that you will lose any of your explosive power, quickness or cardio going down to Welterweight?

HL: No my cardio will increase, usually when people lose weight you don’t have to carry an initial 20lbs that you had to carry before, I already feel I am a lot faster and a lot quicker and have a lot more strength, he (Nate) thinks that I am weak, that is why he has just challenged me, but I will prove him wrong.

EB: What can we expect from the new you, in the Welterweight division?

HL: I have to go back to my old days, just go back and rush in, knock people out, be the old Hector, they know I have the knock out power so there running away from me, its straight in and try to be crazy. It won’t be a technical fight, that won’t happen, they will run away, try to score points, and take the fight by decision, I don’t want to take it to the Judges, Judges don’t like me, probably because of the way I look

EB:Now that you’re in the Welterweight division are you disappointed that you won’t get to face Michael Bisping at all; as you were scheduled to meet him on your first outing for UFC for which Tim Boetsch replaced and you did later call out Bisping after your fight with Okami?

HL: Well look what has just happened, I was supposed to fight Nate Marquardt 2 years ago and were fighting in the UFC, anything can happen in the future and I’m sure that if its meant to happen, me and him will sort out all the bad things he has been saying, disappointed No, it will happen one day hopefully.

EB: On paper you and Nate are very similar, you both have fought Phalares and Okami; how do you see this fight for you being played out?

HL: Firstly my stand up is better, I believe I am a better fighter than him, but I have to prove it, come October 19th you will get to see my knock out power.

EB: Anyone you would like to thank?

HL: American Top Team, http://www.freshmealplan.com for helping me with my diet, my fans for keeping the faith and keeping me strong and The Lord Jesus Christ.

FAN QUESTIONS

As a fighter what would your normal walk around weight be?

2yrs ago I would walk around at about 205lbs but after my last fight I was walking around at 225lb!

During your training camp what weight would you get down too before your final weight cut?

Around 20lbs.

How much Kgs of water weight do you cut when in training for a fight?
Each fight is different my last fight was difficult and was 15lbs, so I won’t be doing that again!

If you were to have a dinner party which 3 guests, past or present would you invite and why?

My Family, they are everything to me.

Still fighting to catch up with my own back log!!!

May 23rd saw my 2nd Interview published for Front Row MMA on Alexei Roberts, if you missed it you can read it here:

http://frontrowmma.com/news/2013/5/23/alexi-roberts-if-i-make-my-fans-enjoy-the-fight-then-that-excited-me-to-do-it-again

June 1st I was off to Newport for Pain Pit which is a event that I always look forward to attending, and this one was no different, they just keep getting better each time, if you missed my event review you can catch that here:

http://frontrowmma.com/event-reports/2013/6/4/painpit-collision-saturday-1st-june-newport-centre

It’s been awhile……Quick Update

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated this site but I’ve been far from quiet (not that I know how to be quiet).

I’ve been working with several different people, all of whom I will get around to putting into my blog, once I figure out where to start, knowing me not the beginning, it will just be random as that is just me all over, plus its more fun that way.

Just to name a few I attended Neilson’s Heavyweight Boxing Tournament, Gained a couple of Sponsorship deals for a Female MMA Fighter that Made the GB Team for Fighters Source/ Battle Arena, Played a Major role in adding a Great UK Veteran of MMA to a Upcoming Fight Card,Getting a Interview with Leigh Remedios, Working with Front Row MMA, Working with Into The Cage and Event Reporting at Cage Warriors 54 in Cardiff!

It may not sound much, there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes lets say, but hey since when did I start to worry about what others ‘Think’ and ‘Say’ about me, If your talking about me then I’m doing something right 🙂

Till next time…..

My First Ever WordPress Blog… MMA/BOXING/TRAINING….So Bare With Me

This is My First Ever WordPress Blog, well Blog in General, it has been a good 8 months in the making – yeah I know one of these does not take that long to set up, but since it was my good friends Idea for me to do a Blog between his work schedule and my own, getting the right mix of the things I wanted and how I wanted it too look has been lets just say trying, and as I still get to grips with this Blog I will be adding more features & designs, so please bare with me.

Since this is my first ever Blog it is really only a Tester blog as such to see where I need to move things around, add things etc but also a good time to make everyone know that My Blog is now live.

Primarily set up as I was attending so many MMA and Boxing events my friend thought I should write about them, but aswell as having my views on the events I have attended, My Blog will also consist of all things MMA related, Boxing since Froch v Kessler has now revived the long dead scene in my eyes! General views on Daily Life and Martial Training, Dealing With The Kids, but more importantly I think, I will be #KeepingItReal throughout, Saying it how it is, #HardHitting, These are all my own views and any of you that know me or have spoken to me on Twitter or Facebook know that I Say It How It is…. You Wont Like Wot I Have To Say More Than Likely Most Of The Time, but to be honest i’m only saying what most people are thinking and just dont wont admit to it….

UFC 158

GSP V DIAZ

Dont Be Scared Homie

ONLY 16 DAYS 2 GO!!!

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