My First MMA Fight

 

Team SBG - Picture courtesy of MMAPics.com

I took the fight on just over 8 weeks notice after seeing that Controlled Aggression needed somebody at Lightweight (70kgs) at Semi Pro rules. For the uninitiated, Semi Pro rules is where although there are headshots when stood up, none are allowed once your opponent is grounded. This means no strikes to the head if there are 3 points touching the ground. Since nobody can levitate that automatically means both your feet and another point ie your hand, a knee or your torso. No headshots on the ground means you don’t get to see those spectacular knock outs via Ground & Pound that you take for granted when watch UFC. Elbows are only allowed to the body.

Now 8 weeks may seem a long time and under normal circumstances – it is. In two months it  takes you past the New Year into 2011. In two months, you could have a one night stand, get somebody/yourself pregnant and decide to keep the baby. In two months you could go through something life changing. If you booked a holiday to fly out to an exotic island in 2 months, it would seem like a lifetime. But two months isn’t enough in this sport.

Physically, 8 weeks is enough to get you into the shape of your life – presuming you’re already in decent shape already. 8 weeks is enough for you to lose up to 15kgs of weight to step into the ring/cage and face your opponent. It’s enough for Georges St Pierre to work his wrestling so hard that he can take down anybody in his weight class and keep them there. It’s enough for Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua to go from losing a controversial split decision to winning the title by knocking out an opponent who has never been knocked out before – in the first round. But again, 2 months isn’t enough in this sport.

I was already in good shape as I had been training for K1 rules fight scheduled on 31st July in Sheffield for the last 6 weeks but it had fallen through due to numerous opponents pulling out. I had already obtained sponsorship for supplements from Proteins4U and Strength & Conditioning from Primal Fitness Manchester and was pretty much in the best shape I’d been all year so by the time fight day arrived, I had trained for close to 14 weeks.

The first thing I did was look for video footage of my opponent. First through YouTube, then Google which came up with no results. I’d already been told by the promoter that he’d fought and won once before so was convinced there’d be some sort of media information about him. There’s always somebody somewhere who records the fight, which there was. Grainy, amateur footage of his first MMA fight and an amateur Muay Thai fight was found and watched countless times. He was aggressive, strong and more importantly, a southpaw. His first fight taught me that he wasn’t afraid to throw his left hand which is the southpaw’s main tool. He also like to come forward and bang – both videos confirmed this. He’d won his MMA fight via mounted guillotine choke after his opponent scored a sloppy takedown – no takedown defence. He grabbed a hold of his head and tried to rip it off – it’s what most MMA guys call ‘mong strength’ with no disrespect to Jordan.

He won the MMA fight in the first round which consisted of him bombing his opponent with the left hand then backing out as his opponent’s back hit the fence. His opponent rushed to take him down and succeeded. A scramble and Jordan was on top with a guillotine then a tap.

His amateur Thai fight was won via Unanimous Decision as he overpowered his opponent with an onslaught of punches and kicks. Hyper aggressive.

I sent the videos round to my team mates, my coaches and my older brother (who also happens to be my coach) to form a gameplan on how to fight this monster.

So here I was. Sat at my PC after taking the fight, watching my opponent’s fight videos thinking this was the worst possible fight I could ever take for my debut and this was confirmed (later) by my fellow team mates and coaches but not to scare me – to prepare me. Alot of people will think “Why did his friends tell him it was a bad fight to take? Surely they should be helping him think positively during the fight camp?” and it did. It’s truth, they weren’t lying, everybody could see he was strong. Everybody could see that he was aggressive and it was going to be a tough fight, a strong aggressive southpaw who didn’t hold back when throwing bombs. On top of this he looked massive in his pictures. But it’s reality, the sooner I came to terms with it – the better I’ll perform. I’d be preparing to fight a mini beast – not a walkover.

First things first, I needed help. Professional help. And not what you think… actually it probably is. I went to see a psychologist. Sports Psychologist. James Barraclough had worked with a few people I trained with in the past as well as a few football players and I was intrigued. Whenever I competed, I always felt really nervous – never performing to my potential then one day Anna talked me through visualisation. The act of ‘coaching’ your brain into getting used to the sounds, smells, feeling and time by just thinking about it so when the day finally comes – you’d have gone through it in your head countless times so it’s no longer as big of a shock. Training your brain.

There’s more to it of course. James built a profile on me, asking me and my coaches where I’d felt strongest in my training and where I felt I’d need work and then put together exercises for me to ‘coach’ my brain and fire myself up for the fight. After a couple of sessions, I left with the adequate amount of exercises to train my brain for the upcoming fight.

Initially I started training at a different gym across town and as great a facility it was, the sparring didn’t fit what the sparring SHOULD be like in preparation for a fight. Although it had some very talented people training there, it was still missing something; MORE talented people. And that’s where Evolve came into the picture as a facility.

Evolve Manchester is based in a small warehouse located approximately 3 miles from the Northern Quarter. By car it was easy and quick; get to Regents Road where the Casino, KFC and McDonalds is and hit a left at the McDonalds, another left turn after Lamba Court and you were there. But by foot… it wasn’t the easiest. Waking to Deansgate, right onto Castlefield straight down then under the bridge, a little further then you’re on Regents Road at the Casino – then follow the directions of the car until one day you feel confident enough to walk alongside the river on the footpath down the side of the Casino itself. Actually – walking wasn’t that bad come to think about it… anyway…

Here I was at Evolve Manchester, back with my friend, team mate and coach Matt Inman. David Garvey was the right hand man – a stocky, super strong machine who preys on young Indie girls was to be my southpaw sparring partner. John Joe O’Regan, the Ultimate Writer became the person who liked to repeatedly kick and punch me in the face whilst telling people he’s not that good when in actual fact – he is (the filthy liar). Chris Coltrane – the Jiu Jitsu Genius. Coltrane is like a stoner Einstein of Jiu Jitsu…. he just KNEW stuff. He’d roll with me, toy with me, smash me, and then play on his guitar, drink gin and fall asleep. In the mornings Glyn Powditch showed me the way to actually APPLY Jiu Jitsu…

I’ve been rolling for just over a couple of years and have tapped people, been tapped, competed, been smashed but Glyn showed me how to lock everything together and hurt people – and it made more sense. I grew more confident in my game and started attacking for submissions. I gave up just trying to survive after a few weeks and thought “…if I’m going to get smashed, I might as well get smashed whilst attacking for something…”. Casey Jones was the other one. Through some sort of cosmic imbalance, Casey is now closer to my weight – 75kgs. This isn’t good. He was scary at 80 odd kgs never mind 75. Everything Casey did hurt, he toyed with me but I have to admit, I picked up my open guard game off him a couple of years back and even though it’s not that hot yet – Casey made me think about switching things up. Jon Bond is a beast. There’s not much else to say. He’s a personal trainer with a back the size of a wall, who could outbox you, outwrestle you and grind you into the floor. He’s a mountain.

So there are my friends and training partners. Inman, Garvey, JJ, Coltrane, Glyn, Casey and Jon Bond. Oh and my brother Jon (the Yoda of Jiu Jitsu and MMA, a 5 foot 4 unassuming brown belt monster on the mat – when he wasnt sleeping). And the owners of Evolve, Phil Hanna and Dan Fisher.

Yoda and Garvey

For the first few weeks I had my evenings doing strength and conditioning (S&C) with my sponsors at Primal Fitness Manchester as well as making my way across town to Evolve. It worked, for the time being until around the 4 week mark. In 4 weeks, Primal Fitness got me more explosive, my stamina up and my strength functional. Now I needed to get my sparring in for specific conditioning. All the chin ups, burpees, squats and whatnot are great but in a fight you need to switch things up.

All my evenings ended up at Evolve hitting pads, sparring, takedowns, technique, technique, technique. Keeping my right hand up to block his strong left hook. Circling away from his power hand by keeping my lead foot on the outside of his, use my reach and jab. I spent my whole training camp throwing jabs and crosses – not that I minded, I love jabs and crosses. A straight line would beat a curved line to the same spot every time.

I spent alot of time with my back against the fence, alot of time getting up from the bottom using the fence – I spent alot of time just emptying everything I THOUGHT I knew and just taking on all this seemingly brand new information. I already knew all this stuff but I didn’t apply it often, I suddenly found myself diving for underhooks instinctively and found myself saying “head position” when in clinch. It was weird.

There was no specific gameplan as such to fight my opponent, I simply trained in every area. I stayed sharp in where I was strongest by hitting pads, rolling and sparring but improved the weakest aspects of my game through drills and light sparring to integrate the techniques I’d just awoken in my brain. In the whole 9 weeks of training I realised I already KNEW how to do all the things I was seemingly being taught – it was just a matter of activating everything. Pushing the buttons to get these techniques to work when they mattered most.

In my spare time I sent messages out and Facebook status updates informing people I was fighting and whether they’d like a ticket to watch. After alot of maybes, 14 people bought tickets. All family members. Great I was going to get beat up in front of my cousins.

2 – 3 times a week I’d roll out of bed and hit the light switch then proceed to get dressed immediately. I’d boil the kettle, brush my teeth, wash my face, grab some fruit, a black coffee, grabbed my stuff and head straight out of the door. I’d be out of the door at 6.15am with my work clothes on heading to the gym.

From 7am until after 8.30am I’d be rolling, training Jiu Jitsu with little to no instruction. The days that we got instruction were the days we spent the first 20 minutes trying to escape bad positions. Everybody on the mat was better and heavier than me. 2 blue belts, 3 purple belts and a brown belt and every single one had competition experience, 3 had MMA experience with 2 of them being heavily supported in the MMA community. Morning sessions were never easy – I’d leave every session in high spirits just knowing I could have gotten crushed but didn’t.

Every evening except weekends, I’d be sparring or hitting pads before or after technique classes. 2 days a week I’d be put through hard sparring and with Garvey running at you – you had little option but to run away from most things he threw. Inman would punish me every other day with technical striking, I would get outwrestled by Garvey, out-Jitsed by Coltrane and outclassed by everybody. Slowly but surely the negative thoughts crept in.

Most people who compete get the adrenaline dumps. The ‘fight or flight’ feeling where you don’t know whether to face something head first or run away kicking up dust behind you and I wasn’t an exception. Before every competition and fight, I’d be nervous. I don’t think I was any more or less nervous than the average person but I definitely knew it was something I had to address if I ever fought MMA – hence the visit the James Barraclough.

The techniques and exercises he had given me to combat the feeling of helplessness had worked but now I’d hit a wall. 3 weeks out from the fight I was freaking out. After a particularly unsuccessful training session I’d gone home to wallow in self pity and it hit me. I was going to be locked in a cage and get punched in the face. The competing in front of people wasn’t the thing that bothered me – it was the feeling of nothing whatsoever being in my control. My opponent was going to be running at me to take my head off and there’s nothing I’m going to be able to do – I’m not going to be able to control the way my opponent fights. And that’s a humbling self realisation of how human you are.

I made a phone call to Garvey out of sheer desperation of wanting to talk to somebody about it who had been in the same boat. I’d have called Inman but with 10 fights under his belt, the dump of adrenaline he still gets would be alot different from the one of a first time fighter. After 20 minutes, I put the phone down and felt 3 million times better.

Although you know that people will feel nerves on the run up to a fight, you never fully know how that really feels until you’re in that position. I knew it was a natural reaction but hearing from a fellow team mate that he wanted to bail on his first fight made it click into place. “My opponent was late to the weigh in and all I could think when he didn’t turn up was “Thank God, now I don’t have to fight…” but then he turned up like 5 minutes later and all the feelings came back….” said Garvey. “As soon as I started warming up – all the feelings went away, I started feeling it and I knew I was OK…”.

The next 3 weeks dragged. Every single day went by slower and slower. My colleagues at worked asked me how I felt and I replied honestly – “I feel good”. Each training session now had a purpose but then I suddenly felt like I hadn’t had enough time to prepare. I felt tired in training sessions, “You’re not gassing – you’re just tired, it’s not your gas. You’re 3 weeks out, of course you’re gonna feel like you’re not fit enough – it’s the nerves….” said Inman.

I threw the same combinations over and over again. I used my jab. I kicked very little. I wrestled. I drilled takedowns against the cage, I sparred getting up using the cage but I still felt like it wasn’t enough. I felt weak… then it hit me…

Wednesday evening I came home from training and felt cold. I was freezing. I’d already had a shower at the gym and I was now in clean clothes with layers on so it wasn’t that I had just stepped out of the shower. I switched on my fan heater, put more layers and took some painkillers – my head was banging and the next morning I found out why.

A small lump the size of half an egg cut lengthways appeared next to my shin.. “Oh no…”. I found it difficult to walk and was burning up. I took some paracetamol, some ibuprofen, took a picture and sent it to Garvey and Inman. I then called in sick to work and made my way to the hospital to get my cellulitis treated. 10 days out from the fight and I have a bacterial infection in my leg. By midday the swelling had gotten worse and I was now struggling to walk without shooting pains in my left leg. Inman and Garvey asked if I was OK. A little relief settled in my heart as I dabbled with the thought of pulling out of the fight – it was a genuine reason.

Cellulitis at 24 Hours

24 hours after going to the hospital and the swelling started to seep pus through it, it got more painful. 46 hours after the hospital and the swelling started to die down and on Monday evening I was back in the gym with only 3 days worth of training left so I hit it like a demon.

My final session consisted of a hard sparring session with a new opponent every minute (sharktanking) and after the short hard session I was due to rest for a few days until the fight. I sat around and watched others around me finish off. This was it.

I went to work as normal during the day and I worked my last night on the doors before the fight on the Friday, leaving Saturday night free for me to rest and cut a little weight. Colleagues and friends wished me luck as I switched my phone off on the Saturday night and enjoyed the company of my younger brother Nathan who I’d asked to come round to distract me from overthinking the fight.

I did very little on Saturday. I watched comedy DVDs, I packed my kit bag. Burnt my entrance music onto CD. Got some snacks ready for just after the weight in and planned in my head what I was to do the next day from the moment I woke up. I shadow boxed loosely for a few rounds and went through the exercises James had given me – knowing that I’d not done enough over the course of the 9 weeks.

Fight Day – AM

I woke up having slept enough. I spent most of the night before in bed just relaxing so I was well rested come 10am on Sunday 26th September. I picked Inman up from a friends, headed over to the gym then over to my mum’s house for a SatNav.

Fight Day – Weigh Ins

We got to the venue a little after 12pm which was when the weigh ins were scheduled to be but was left waiting until around 1pm as people rolled in. It was the first time I’d seen the cage. The fence hadn’t been put in yet and they were only just laying the mats down but it looked huge. I sat on the cage and looked around, greeting familiar faces and friends who were also fighting that night.

I spied my opponent across the room and instantly recognised him. He had a Pride FC beanie hat on which I found pretty cool. I was/am a massive Pride fan and followed it from the early days all the way up until the UFC bought them out. Anybody who is down with Pride is down with me. I felt a little nervous and found myself not being able to look him in his face.

After a mix up on a set of faulty scales, I weighed in at way under the weight limit. The cut off for my weight was 70.8kgs. I weighed in at a little over 69kgs and my opponent even lighter than that. We headed upstairs for the ‘face off’ pictures and I quietly refused to face him, choosing instead to face the camera with my top on with my hands on my hips with my opponent awkwardly facing me wondering why I wasn’t looking at him.

I noticed he was shorter. Considerably shorter. I knew I was to have a height advantage but this was a little more than expected. He also didn’t look as big in real life. In his pictures and videos he looked huge for 70kgs. He looked stocky and strong, in real life… he wasn’t the biggest person I’d ever seen.Not even close.

Inman and I made our way to Nandos for a post weigh in feed, to rehydrate and to relax before the fight. We made small talk, drank coffee and made fun of the locals. I’d actually like to take this time to thank Inman for helping me through the whole process. He only said what needed to be said on the day and didn’t clutter up my brain with useless and mindless drivel. He kept me positive. Cheers bro.

Close to Fight Time

Arriving back at the venue for around 3pm, I had a medical which consisted of my blood pressure being taken and routine questions, did I feel fit, any ongoing injuries etc. Apart from the obvious butterflies – I was fine. I filled in and signed some forms then made my into the changing rooms to take over a corner of the room with my stuff.

I watched from over the balcony where the changing rooms were situated and watched as the venue started to fill up with close to 300 people. I spotted my cousins and a few team mates and gave them a wave. I wasn’t in the mood to talk. This wasn’t helped by the fact that I was told that my entrance music didn’t work as the DJ’s decks didn’t support the format I’d burnt my CD in. I managed to grab another copy out of good old Garvey’s car before making my way back to the changing rooms.

I started warming up at around 6pm. I was the 5th fight on and was warming up pretty much as soon as the fights started. A few people asked why I was warming up so early and dropped things like “Are you not scared you’re going to get tired?” and I remembered something Inman said a while back – if you’re scared of warming up because you’re scared of getting tired – you need to work your stamina. I was fine. Everything was loose and in bursts if 2 minutes at a time with rest in between. I got my hands wrapped and chilled out so it wasn’t a full 45 minute warm up. I understand now it was to break me in. I hadn’t trained for a few days and going straight into a normal warm up wasn’t good. I received a text from my friend and coach Karl Tanswell saying “You can do this, listen to Matt and everything will be fine…” or something along those lines. And it lifted my spirits even more.

Warm Up

I hit the pads and looking back, Garvey was right. As soon as everything started connecting I felt fine. I suddenly felt like everything was coming together – that I was peaking. I personally felt like every shot I threw was better than anything I’d thrown before – and my adrenaline was going too. I rolled and drilled escapes with Inman. My older brother Jonathan watched and gave little tips. Nothing confusing – just pointers. All the work had been done, there was very little point showing me new techniques.

Fight Time

This was it. I’d been called by the runner and was putting on my trainers and putting on my entrance t shirt with my sponsors on. I made my way downstairs just in time to give Mike Berry his congratulations for winning his fight which was on right before mine. I waited in the wings as my opponent made his way out.

“You’ve trained hard for this. He hasn’t trained anywhere near as hard as you. His training partners aren’t as good. He hasn’t been getting up at 6am and training first thing in the morning…” Inman whispered in my ear. “Be first, don’t give him anything.” my older brother said. “Let’s go Ste…” Garvey said. And before I knew it, my song was on and I was walking out.

I remember getting my gloves taped up. I remember turning and hugging my brother, Inman and Garvey. I remember walking up the steps leading to the cage, touching the floor, running round to get the feel of the floor, touching the fence, shaking my opponents hand then going back to my corner and running my back along the cage. ‘Activation’. Doing something on the lead up to competition which is familiar can help. Before every sparring session I’d run my back on the cage, feeling the fence dig into my back so when I did it come fight day – it was familiar and I knew it was time.

I turned and faced my corner. I had very little need to look at my opponent. I wanted to hear what my corner wanted to say just before it kicked off. Then my name was announced. I turned, acknowledged the announcement and then we were off.

I remember getting caught, grabbing a Thai clinch and scoring with knees. I remember landing a clean headkick and his gumshield coming out. I remember JUST missing with a ill intentioned headkick and I remember him trying to take me down but not being able to. I remember reversing him and attacking for a sub and the most crucial thing… taking him down at the buzzer at the end of the 3rd round.

I remember almost breaking down in the corner between rounds and complaining I was tired but I was reassured “If you were that tired, you wouldn’t be able to speak…”.. Oh yeah. “Look at him, LOOK AT HIM! He’s done, he’s gassed!” said Inman and my brother. “Get out there and do what you just did.”.

At the end of the fight Inman told me to raise my hands. I reluctantly raised them. More out of having to battle exhaustion more than anything. I stepped into the middle of the cage and waited for the decision and when they called “the red corner” I looked down at my gloves which were cuffed with black tape… “Ste Li!”. I’d won.

I threw my hands up and threw my head back in relief. I didn’t run and jump onto the top of the fence. I hadn’t won via knockout or a cool submission, it was a war. We were both done. I thanked my opponent and headed into the crowd to thank my cousins who had been screaming for me during the fight.

I made my way upstairs, took some ibuprofen, packed my gear. Made a few phone calls and headed back to Manchester for food to end the night… but not before picking up a ‘Fight of The Night’ award. Pretty sweet for my MMA debut!

Looking Back

Looking back to 26th September even 3 months later I still get butterflies. I’m proud. When I got back to Manchester that night I headed straight round to my mum’s and she was almost in tears, not because I’d won but because of the state of my face. The bumps and bruises didn’t bother me – I’d won. They bothered my mum. She knew I’d trained and competed in grappling tournaments. She knew I’d been to Thailand and trained. But she never knew I’d be fighting. The last thing she expected on a Sunday night was for her 24 year old son to walk through the door with his face covered in bruises. And she asked why…

“It’s the only thing I’ve ever been good at. I’ve always been OK at things. Football, basketball, video games. I didn’t do that great in school. And everything I did tonight beats everything that happened to me when I was younger. The bullying in school. The d*ckheads in Padiham when we lived there. I won… I’m good at something…”.

I have people asking me when I’m fighting next and although I like the IDEA of fighting again, the whole slog of training and putting up with the mental aspect of the game is exhausting. I tell people the same thing everytime, “I think I need to wait until the old ego deflates. it’s dangerous taking fights when you’ve just come off a win. You think you’re king of the world and can beat anybody. I need to go back to the gym and get beaten up some more but most importantly – take a long hard look at the mistakes I made during the fight…”.