Run by Andy Walker, senior instructor of Poole JiuJitsu, the UKMMA League is going from strength to strength and is doing a great job providing aspiring MMA fighters with competition experience without having to go into “full-pro” rules. Andy is a veteran of the UK MMA Scene and has fought on many UK shows, facing among others UFC veteran Jess Liaudin and UFC Welterweight contender Dan Hardy. With the league well into it’s second full season and with an event this saturday, we caught up with Andy to talk about how it all came to be, the big finals at the SENI show in May and the state of the Amateur MMA scene in the UK.
- For those readers who don’t know much about you, can you tell us a little bit about your background in Martial Arts?
- My background is traditional Ju-jitsu mainly, currently a 3 Dan club instructor, at Poole ju-jitsu club, and Poole Cage academy, in Dorset. I’ve been training about 22 yrs in different martial arts, Judo, Bjj, Kick & Thai boxing, Sambo and am a British & United Nations Ju-Jitsu champion. Obviously I’ve been around the cage in Pro-MMA a bit too!
- So how did the UKMMA League come about?
- The league is now well into its second full season, after debuting in Poole in 2007 and then officially being unveiled at the SENI in 2008. Getting that level of exposure at somewhere like SENI must have been a great boost to the competitions popularity…how many competitors do you have this year?
- Unlike some of the other popular Amateur MMA competitions in the UK, the MMA league moves from venue to venue giving more people the chance to enter, do you find though that this means you don’t get the same people turning up to each round of the event?
- What do you say to those people who comment that having No head-shots allowed makes this more a form of “combat grappling” than actual MMA?
- I understand you have introduced semi-pro rules which allow head shots standing. Is this working as a separate league or do the amateur league competitors agree to fight under these rules beforehand?
- You’ve been around the MMA scene a while now. Do you think as a whole the UK MMA scene could do with more “grass-roots” Amateur MMA shows or is amateur MMA well-represented in this country?
- You are obviously an advocate for people wanting to get into MMA to start with Amateur competitions. With the ever increasing popularity of MMA helped by the UFC’s explosion over the last few years, do you think too many people are in a hurry to “get in the cage” rather than working their way up through the amateur shows?
- The next round is in Banbury this Saturday before the big final at Seni in May. Who gets to fight in the finals? Is it the top few positions in the league of each division?
- What are your plans for the future of the MMA league? Will we be seeing regional amateur leagues starting up with the winners of each region facing off in a grand final?
- Thanks for talking to us Andy, before you go, are there any shout outs you’d like to give to anyone?
- Cheers Andy, all the best with the League and we hope it continues to grow and be successful!
Truthfully, I was watching the American League in Bed at around 1 am, and thought why has no-one kicked off this in the UK. I thought about when I was fighting, and how people were matched up with anyone who wanted to fight on a pro-show, sometimes changing opponent an hour before the fight. I then realised that for the Uk to compete on the world stage , like the UFC, Pride, Elite XC we had to try and bring through amateur fighters in this country. We tested the league off in our home town of Poole, and realised that this should have being happening a long time ago. So we officially launched at Seni 2008 and the rest as they say is history.
The League is going from Strength to strength, and Seni has definitely helped lift our profile. Our first season, we averaged about 50/70 competitors, but season 2, its around 100 guys now, with little advertising, and that’s set to increase. With sponsors declaring interest in the League we are setting the foundation for a youth league to kick off later this year, and the league Pro-shows also. So we are really busy and forecasting how far we can take the league globally.
Yes, we travel around the country, advertising local gyms like Warriors MMA, the fighting fit gym in Banbury and Caged Steel in Yorkshire. Many of the competitors are regulars like Matt Maguire from Andy Nugent’s JKD, who regularly support our events and have been to everyone so far. South coast submissions, from Gosport, are again another regular at all our events. Another young mma gym making headway is East Lancashire Predators, (formally Accrington Shootju-jitsu) who are currently the top MMA gym this season. The Top gym award is coveted by all the gyms taking part, because they want to prove themselves in MMA. One of the main aims of the league is to advertise the MMA gyms around the country highlighting the talent from each gym.
A “no head shot” fight game, give’s the confidence to the amateur fighter, experience in the cage and a grounding in fight control. What I have seen is the rise in more confidant fighters turning pro, people who have solid amateur backgrounds. When I was fighting in MMA in the mid nineties a lot of fighters came and went. What the League is about is giving amateur fighters solid base in mma fight experience before turning pro. This also helps the coaches become better at honing their fighters pre-event. Hopefully with more access to Amateur competitions like these, us Brits can compete against the rest of the world and provide better turned out fighters, and be recognised as a country with quality guys. We are seeing this start to happen with guys like Bisping and Hardy.
The Semi-pro league is just kicking off, and again it’s a stepping stone for fighters to raise their game, each fighter learns at different speeds, so when they feel they are ready and want to compete with head shots, then the semi-pro league is for them.
Yes, MMA is still in its infancy, been only around in this country from the early to mid nineties. What I have seen is many a promoter wanting to jump on the band wagon, put on a pro show to earn some fast cash, but all that did was leave a big hole in the amateur ranks. The League is foremost for amateur fighters only, but we do get a couple of pro fighters, who need to improve on a part of the fight plan, and again, both fighters are fighting under the same amateur rules, so a pro fighter does not have the advantage. I believe that the amateur ranks are even more important than the pro ranks.
Yes, watching MMA shows on TV, guys and even ladies think, “Yes i’ll give that a go!” Seeing pro-fighters who have made it with the big purse, attracts new fighters, but many fall at the first hurdle. A strong grounding in the basics and training hard at a reputable Gym is the only way you are going to become the next Bisping or Hardy.
The finals are open entry and take place at the impressive ExCel centre in London’s Dockland’s in Mays Seni show. Seni have helped us from day one. The guys with the most wins in each weight division over the season become the League Champion in their weight division. Being crowned in front of around two thousand fans at Seni, hopefully gives these fighters inspiration to progress and try to make a name for themselves. We are expecting some big names to hand out the trophies at Seni, we are still in talks, but some of the biggest names will be there, the League have the cage at Seni, and that’s where you’ll find these guys.
Our plans for taking the League to the next level will be to get that “TV deal”, with so many fighters in all the weight categories, our format can run each week on TV, showing more fighters, highlighting more gyms, and improving MMA in this country. I have spoken with the Irish MMA League, and we did talk about running an international show, where the champions from each country fight it out, but we are still talking about the logistics, so watch this space. As the League is getting bigger, we plan to hold regional leg’s with North Vs South. There are definitely big plans for the future!
I’d like to say a big thank you to all the competitors and gym’s around the country. A big thank you to Fighters Only, Martial arts Illustrated, MMA Universe, and Fighters Inc. Lastly my family, for putting up with me going to events each week, training most nights and working late on promoting the league, I love you guys.
The next leg of the UK MMA League takes place tomorrow at Warriors MMA in Banbury Oxford. This is followed by the finals at the Seni show on the 29th and 30th of May in London. The first 300 people to buy spectator tickets for this event will be given a free copy of Cage Talk by Jim Page (author not to be confused with Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin as Amazon seems to have done 
).
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