3 months on and I’ve finally finished ‘The Masterpiece’.
The longest post I’ve ever written and the most honest piece of writing I’ve ever written myself about my first MMA fight and what I went through from the moment I took the fight right through to how I felt afterwards.
Hopefully it’ll help people out there realise how much is involved in taking a fight and how it’s not all roses and easygoings. Life isn’t a box of chocolates.
Very little has been seen or heard of Matt Inman since his loss to top UK standout Eugene Fadiora in July 2010 but come 28th November in Birmingham, he will be facing Fadiora’s tough, durable and veteran team-mate, Stuart Barrs.
Under the cover of privacy and quietly backing his fellow team mates, Inman continues to train, work and coach – proving that he’s still around and still a threat. Capturing the European title at Strike and Submit 14 in May, it is evident that he posessess all the tools necessary to compete at the higher levels so facing UK MMA veteran Barrs will come quite comfortably.
Barrs is a veteran of the industry having made his MMA debut in 2001 and facing top opposition in UFC’s Dan Hardy and tough legendary journeymen Lee Doski and Paul Jenkins. Coming from a tough team, Barrs is expected to come into the bout all guns blazing as he looks to knock Inman off the Top 20 spot in the UK but will be facing a very game and prepared Matt Inman.
…for the lack of updates everyone. On top of recovering from the fight and man flu I’ve managed to come down with, I’ve started training again as Matt Inman is fighting for the AMMA Pro Welterweight title against Stuart Barrs of Pure MMA in Birmingham on 28th November. Rest assured I’ll be back as soon as possible to update you on all things boring. In the meantime, feast your eyes on THIS!
It’s amazing to see a friend and training partner get the recognition they deserve. Get the fights that they deserve and look to progress their fight careers even further.
Stunning his opponent inside 3 minutes of the first round with a brutal and pinpoint knee to the jaw, Inman went on the ground and pound his opponent and won convincingly via TKO.
But it wasn’t this fight I was looking forward to. Not to say Matt or anybody was looking past James Mair but I’ve simply not had the experience and don’t have the same amount of UK MMA knowledge as others so the match up isn’t as excitable. Eugene Fadiora on the other hand…
Unbeaten in his Semi Pro and Pro MMA career, Fadiora has been making waves in UK MMA. A karate stylist with an underrated ground game, Fadiora handed Danny Mitchell his first loss by way of Ground & Pound not too long ago. Mitchell has awesome BJJ and very neat stand up but Fadiora was relentless. And the thing that excites me about this match up?
Inman has all the tools to beat Fadiora. Matt isn’t a slouch on the ground and his wrestling isn’t to be brushed off either and although Fadiora has moved to world-famous gym, Kaobon. Inman has recently made a major move in training with Danny Mitchell, Jason Tan and the brilliant, Karl Tanswell.
With pinpoint striking and an ever evolving arsenal of submissions – Inman may look like the underdog in terms of exposure… but the die-hard UK MMA fans know how much of a war it’s going to be.
Last night, Manchester finally held it’s first ever domestic MMA show… Ultimate Cage Championships‘ ‘Blitz at The Ritz’.
I was thrilled to be a part of this event and was given the responsibility of being head judge for the 13 bouts which took place under Semi Pro, B class Pro and Pro rules.
Now I observe most MMA fights from behind a screen like most normal people but more recently I’ve been behind the scenes with the likes of up and coming Welterweight, Matt Inman and doing my share in helping him warm up before fighting. On many other occasions, I’ve been sat 5 feet away from the fence, watching the fights and writing my reports. I’ve even been so far as to step into the ring myself and duke it out like men do but there’s something about sitting a foot away from the cage and watching 2 men hit each other with no mercy.
Legendary journeyman Shaun Lomas
I watched the legendary journeyman, Shaun Lomas take on Tony Moran in a brilliant rematch in which Lomas won via guillotine choke in the final 4 seconds of the bout but also witnessed how brutal the sport can truly be. In a hyped up, blood thirsty way.
The same happened in the bout between Lee Johnson and Andy Evans.
In the second round of the above fight, Andy Evans had Lee Johnson stacked against the cage (12 inches from my face), sat inside Johnson’s open guard and proceeded to land punch after punch to the face of Johnson. He managed to scramble to his feet and shoot for a takedown which Evans sprawled on and stuffed… it was at that point where I noticed Johnson coming round. Under the sprawl of Andy Evans, on his knees – Lee Johnson tried to shake the cobwebs from his head and realised at that particular moment he didn’t want to be there.
Andy Evans taking the W
Shaun Lomas on the other hand was a different animal. Inside his guard, he had the heavy hitting, former cruiserweight boxing contender, Moran, unloading right hand after right hand on the bridge of his nose. And he didn’t flinch. The shots weren’t light, every punch had cruel intentions and the sound of each thud burnt itself into my brain – the image of Lomas looking up, almost snarling at Moran will also be in my mind forever.
The lesson to all this? Being stuck in bottom mount, stacked up with your head against the fence, getting punched in the face is too late to decide you don’t want to fight.
