Miguel Bernard is one of the last minute replacements who stepped up at short notice to fill the places left by the withdrawal of Karlos Vemola and Neil Grove. He is a spanish native and a Muay Thai fighter with a 15-4-1 record. Currently training out of the House of Pain gym in Bournemouth under the tutelage of Andy Lawrence, Miguel has a big learning curve to get up to speed with the MMA game. But with his Muay Thai pedigree he will certainly pose an interesting problem for the rest of the fighters in the tournament.

With very little known about Miguel, we decided to track him down for an interview so UKMMA fans can get to know a little more about this fearless fighter who in 2 days time will be taking part in one of the most anticipated MMA events to take place in the UK:

• Hi Miguel, thanks for taking the time to talk to us and giving the UK fans the opportunity to get to know a little more about you. Not many people in the MMA fraternity will have heard of you, all we know is you are a Muay Thai fighter…so can tell us a bit more about your Martial Arts background and how you came to be entered into the tournament? ..

Ok, here goes…I’m Miguel Bernad, 26 year old Spanish native. At 7 years old my dad put me in Muay Thai classes so I would not be out on the street getting in fights all the time..That proved to kill two birds with one stone, I was not out on the street no more but spent most of my time in the gym training, and street fights were now called ‘competition’…I loved it. I started to compete in semi contact, full contact and kickboxing at the age of 12, and moved on to Muay Thai at 16…Continued with just Muay Thai till 21 and then added bodybuilding to the mix. Competed in several bodybuilding competitions and learned that the improvement in strength greatly contributed to my fighting skills and the self discipline that competitive bodybuilding requires also lifted my fight training to a whole new level.

I got involved in this tournament by a stroke of luck.I teach Muay Thai classes at the House of Pain gym in Bournemouth. The owner of House of Pain, Andy Lawrence, approached me a little over a week ago and told me that two fighters had pulled out of the upcoming MMA tournament, if I would be interested to fill one of the spots. Me??…fighting MMA in the UK??…in 9 days???…Kidding me??.. Hell yeah!…So I agreed immediately, and the next minute I was on the list to fight. That’s when the realisasion creeped up that I was about to enter the ring with highly experienced MMA fighters and that I had 9 days to prepare for it. That’s where we are now…in preparation…a lot!..

• Have you ever competed in MMA before?

No..never..Always wanted to though, therefore I’m so excited about this opportunity. I follow it religiously on television and sometimes while watching I found my mind wondering off thinking what it would be like if that was me in that ring. Hard to grasp that it will actually happen this saturday..I’m looking forward to it, to say the least…

• Coming from a muay-thai background as you do, I imagine the wrestling /ground game is a little more alien to you. What training have you been doing to sharpen up these areas of your game. Who have you been working/training with?

When MMA veteran Andy Lawrence approached me for this fight,he immediately added that he would train with me everyday till showday to shave off the rough edges and polish where needed. If it wasn’t for his dedication, expertise and believe in me as a fighter I don’t think I would have had the guts to jump off the deep end like this. We have been training like maniacs for the past 9 days and when tournament day rolls around I will be ready!…

• What is your typical training regime? Taking a fight at such short notice puts you at a disadvantage compared to those you have been in camp for 6 to 8 weeks…are you prepared for the possibility of taking three 15 minute fights in one night?

As ready as I ever will be…It’s hard to say, I’ve never fought one 15 minute MMA fight, let alone 3. All I know is that I’m in good physical shape, have been consistantly training for many, many years, strong as an ox and sheer determination gets you a long way my grandma used to say…Pray to God she is right!

• I understand that you are fairly light for a heavyweight. Does the size of the opponents in this tournament bother you? People like James Thompson and Rob Broughton will outweigh you by quite a lot I would imagine?

Not really..This opportunity was warped into my lap out of nowhere, I never dreamed of measuring myself in weight nor in skill with the likes of James and Rob, fighters that have my utmost respect…I find it an experience in itself to be at the same tournament with them. I don’t waste my time on contemplating the possible outcome of my fights on Saturday. I’ll go into the ring with the pledge that I will give it my all and some and see where that takes me. As they say…something comes down to nothing but a chance. My chance is here…and I’ll grab it with both hands.

• Is there anyone in the tournament you would like to fight more than any others, someone whose style you think fits yours better?

Not really. I try not to zone in too much on the other fighters at this moment because I would drive myself crazy. Regardless of who I’m up against on saturday, I need to deliver..stand my ground to the best of my abilities, that’s all I’m focused on right now.

• So i assume you have no comment on any fighters you would like to avoid then?

Erm..All of them???…I’m kidding Seriously, this is such a new experience to me that it’s hard to say who I would like to fight against or who I would like to avoid. In principle I would like to say I don’t want to avoid anybody..it’s all part of a new journey and will add to my experience as a fighter and as a human being.

• Are you nervous to be taking part in such a huge event in UKMMA?

..Nah..piece of cake..;) haha….Of course I’m very nervous, but I seem to do well under pressure, it helps me focus..at the same time I’m very excited as well that I’m going to be a part of this awesome tournament, regardless of what the outcome may be.

• Win or lose, this tournament is going to bring you to the attention of UK MMA fans, will you pursue MMA now or continue to fight Muay Thai?

I would love to pursue MMA, I would never held possible that an opportunity like this would appear right in front of me…so first and foremost I’m excited to find out where the road may lead. I’m game for everything and anything that comes my way.

• Looking ahead, what are your long term goals for your fight career?

To be honest, I haven’t even thought that far. As you know I’m a Spanish native, and have been living in the UK for a little over 2 years. In Spain having a fighting “career” is next to impossible, a “career” there means teaching Muay Thai classes and that is what I’ve done for many years. With great joy I have to add. Fighting is my passion…it’s my hobby, it’s what I know and what I’ve done for most part of my life..Just the thought that this could be the dawning of what could grow out to a career in fighting makes my toes wiggle with anticipation.

• Finally Miguel are there any shout outs you’d like to give to anyone?

First and foremost to Andy Lawrence from House of Pain for creating this opportunity, his belief in my ability to do well and dedication to me as a fighter and MMA as a whole, without him all this would not have happened. To all the people in my surrounding who have been extremely supportive with me. To Sol Gilbert for organizing a tournament of this calibre and to all of you here at UKMMANews. Everything is really really appreciated.

• Miguel thanks once again for talking to us and all the best for the tournament. It’s great that you have stepped up and I hope everyone gets behind you in this event! Good luck.

Record 5 – 1 – 0
Wins: 5 (T)KOs ( 100 %)
Losses:
1 (T)KOs ( 100 %)

Weight 254lbs (115kg) , City: Doncaster, Gym: ??

Neil “Old Skool” Wain is a devastating striker with serious KO power. Of his 5 wins ALL have been first round T/KO’s. He took his first loss in his UFC debut after coming up against another powerhouse in Shane Carwin. He initially inked a 4 fight deal with the UFC but was unfortunately dropped after his loss to Carwin.

“Old Skool” will be looking to make a big impact in this tournament and show the UFC what they are missing out on by not having him in their marquee division. With another fight on Trojan MMA’s inaugural event on 27th feb already pencilled in, Wain is clearly intending to get active this year and make his way back to the big show.

Looking at the other fighters on the bill you can’t put him up there with the favourites and if I was a betting man I would have to put him down as one of the rank outsiders. That said with fists like his, he is ALWAYS in with a chance and the UFC obviously saw enough in him to give him a shot on the big show which is something none of the other fighters on the card claim.

* Visit Neils website

Weight: 242lbs (110kg), City: Barnsley, Gym: ???

Georgian born Tengiz Tedoradze is a bit of an old school UKMMA legend. He was arguably the best wrestler in the domestic heavyweight division, throwing opponents effortlessly and then mauling them with devastating ground and pound. Getting “Tengizzed” became forum-speak for opponents getting a beasting at the hands of world champion Greco Roman wrestler.

With 14 wins in his first 16 fights (both losses coming by way of triangle – one at the hands (or legs) of none other than strikeforce star fabricio werdum – he became a force to be reckoned with and gained a cult following in the UK. He had an unknown background which only added to his mystique and appeal to the avid followers of UKMMA at the time. Fans often debated whether he was georgian secret police, an ex-bodyguard to the georgian prime minister and whether he even trained MMA at all or just liked to get in the cage now and then and put the hurt on somebody!

As far as fellow tournament competitors go: He has wins over Rob Broughton and James Thompson but lost his most recent fight (back in 2008) to Martin “the ox” Thompson.

Whilst he remains a firm favourite one could argue that the numbers are against Tengiz in this tournament. He is easily the oldest combatant at 43 years of age. He hasn’t fought in nearly 2 years and MMA has moved on a LOT since his heyday with everyone being much more skilled in all ranges of the game.

For me personally, the jury is out on Tengiz doing well in this tourney, but the old school fan in me would love to see him rampage through this tournament with his trademark slams and viscious G’N'P. If he is anything like the Tengiz of old then the other fighters still have a lot to fear from the “Barnsley Gladiator”.

*for a blast from the past.. check out this old 2003 interview from SFUK:*

There are more Brits than ever before signed up to the big shows and people are starting to sit up and take notice that the Brits are for real and we have some QUALITY fighters.

We have seen the UK team make it all the way to the semi-finals in the M1 Global Challenge. No mean feat when you consider that they did this with very little faith being placed in the team by a large number of “so-called” UK fans on the forums. They had to cope with team changes, injuries, and the logistical nightmare of getting guys – who in some cases still hold down full-time jobs – together from all over the country to train as a squad. All the fighters who gave their all, the coaches and UKMMA kingpin Ian Dean all deserve BIG respect for what they achieved. Onwards and upwards! Let’s hope we can improve on the semi-finals next time out.

There was the first all UK Team in the house for the Ultimate Fighter reality series. They proved to be more dedicated, less whiney and ultimately (and most importantly) superior Mixed Martial Artists to the US team in the house, with the series winners in both weight categories coming from our side. Spare a thought as well for the UK talent that didn’t make it to the show. Che Mills and Jimmy Wallhead particularly stick in the mind and were conspicuous by their absence (more on them later in this article).

Team Roughouse have emerged as a contender to rival AKA’s position as “the” team in the UFC’s welterweight division. Roughhouse standouts Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy and Paul “Semtex” Daley have arrived with a bang: Semtex KO-ing one of the previous contenders for that elusive title shot in Martin Kampmann with some fierce striking in the first round of his UFC debut. Dan Hardy – riding the momentum of blasting through his last few opponents in the Octagon – despatched the other former contender for the shot, Mike Swick, with an excellent decision win and in the process becoming the first british fighter to get a UFC title shot.

A shout-out must go to Brad Pickett who became the first Brit to make it into the (zuffa owned) *thanks MMAlien* WEC and he is sure to make big waves there. This will hopefully pave the way for the other outstanding UK fighters who compete at the lighter weights to make it on the big shows. I fully expect Mark Adams (ok thats a shameless plug for a mate, but tell me I’m wrong!! ) and hopefully one of my favourite UK-based fighters: Paul McVeigh to follow him there sometime in 2010 / 2011 as well as some other promising UK talent.

Although he isn’t British, we can adopt him as one of our own and no-one can deny the British influence provided by his team on Marius Zaromskis, who has been kicking peoples heads off their shoulders in Dream to win the Welterweight grand-prix title. The london-shoot trained Lithuanian striking machine will now try his hand in strikeforce before the UFC no doubt come knocking to add him to their already stacked welterweight rosta.

Domestically we have seen some awesome matchups. Jim Wallhead has cleaned out the UK and european WW’s and needs big international fights, Marshall Zelasnik has previously stated he has his eye on Jimmy and after taking a decision win against Che Mills recently, ‘Judo Jim’ has surely done enough to make Joe Silva and Dana White sit up and take notice and add him to the growing list of Team RoughHouse WW fighters currently on a march in the UFC.

Paul Sass dispatched Rob Sinclair to stake a claim as the best UK lightweight out there right now and surely some bigger european and UK fights beckon for him.

Cage Rage successor Ultimate Challenge have raised their game and recently put on one of their best cards since the glory days of Cage Rage. Jackson MMA trained Tom Watson proved he is the number one UK Middleweight outside the UFC by beating a game Denniston Sutherland and again some bigger matchups will surely come for him. There are plenty of other shows are cropping up and putting on some quality domestic and european match-ups and UK Fans are spoiled for choice with events to go to. Which is a nice change from only a few years ago when there weren’t too many shows at all.

Sadly every silver-lining has a cloud and it has been a shame to see the demise of CageWarriors as a fight promotion. This is the show I “grew up” with in MMA and the first show I ever went to. Hopefully they will be back bigger and better sometime soon but meanwhile they continue to try to drive UKMMA forwards with their Warrior Promotions brand and the tireless work of Ian Dean and the team on behalf of UK fighters.

But the biggest exclamation mark to emphasise the fact that UKMMA is up there with the best in the world is undoubtedly the most recent UFC event, UFC 105, held in Manchester.

What a night for the British Fighters and what a brilliant two-finger gesture to all the haters on t’interweb the world over who said that most if not all the Brits would get killed on that show. I especially love the fact that after saying this on record, Matt Riddle got his face punched in by Nick Osipczak. Awesome!

Ross Pearson proved he really is “The Real Deal” with his destruction of veteran Aaron Riley, who had no answer for the intensity of Pearsons muay thai assault. He looked a real contender that night and proved that he has what it takes to hang with the big boys of the UFC’s lightweight division.

Mike Bisping laid a few demons to rest with his GnP obliteration of a hapless Denis Kang – a BJJ BlackBelt who could not figure out Bispings guard, had no answer to his takedowns and folded under his relentless ground assault in round 2.

Dan Hardy is now the first UK fighter to get a title shot in the UFC (I know I’ve said this once already, but its HUGE so I’ll say it twice!) after outstriking Mike Swick – a feat which many doubters said was impossible but UK fans knew all along. Hardy did eat a few shots but shook them off and rocked Swick with his power several times. I personally felt he should have KO’d swick by going after him when he was shaken but he had a clear gameplan and it paid off. That’s why I’m just an armchair fan and he’s in the cage beating people up.

In the only Brit vs Brit fight of the night, John Hathaway kept his undefeated record intact and proved in the process that he is one of the best wrestlers in UKMMA….who said Brits can’t wrestle!!

Despite their losses on the show Paul Kelly and James Wilks gave a good account of themselves in tough fights against Denis Siver and Matt Brown respectively.

Terry Etim got his second sub of the night bonus in as many fights with his 2nd round Guillotine win and Andre Winner had a good shout for KO of the night with a vicious overhand right that put Roli Delgado out before he even hit the floor. Sure he followed up with a couple of unnecessary shots but the ref was too far from the action to pull him off and in fairness to Dre, Delgado got up from the first one so he had to be sure.

Speaking of Refs – we also had the best UK ref in the game (and one of the best in the UFC right now) Marc Goddard refereeing a UFC main event. A huge honour for him and proof that it isnt just the fighters from the UK who are excelling in the sport right now.

So how do we top this year? Well Dan Hardy winning the Welterweight strap would be a great way to do that – but that is a pretty tall order as I’m sure he is only too well aware. I’m not writing off his chances and he is the rightful challenger – if he can keep it standing who knows what could happen. No-one has truly tested GSP’s chin out, apart from Matt Serra and we all know what happened there. It is fair to say that Dan Hardy is a LOT better on the feet than Serra so this match is certainly not a complete whitewash for GSP, especially when you consider his absence through injury recently and how active Dan has been.

No doubt Dan is spending everyday in the gym concentrating on getting that belt and he knows what he has to do to win. The whole of the UK is behind him.

Starting off 2010 strongly is the EPIC ZT Fight Night – the Tournament. A one night, 8 man, winner takes all, old school tournament for the right to be crowned the no1 UK Heavyweight and take a tidy £15k home in the process. That one will start the year off with a bang for sure.

Finally (and look out for a future article on this) UKMMA legend Ian Freeman has stated his desire to return to the cage and this looks likely for 2010. Will we see him back in the bigshow? I certainly hope so and if the UFC have any sense they’d put any fight he was in on a UK UFC – it would be even bigger than UFC 105 (which incidentally broke all european records for an MMA show).

Many people are saying he should leave his legacy as it is instead of chasing an elusive dream, I say why the hell should he. No-one knows Freeman better than Freeman and he has definitely had his share of comebacks. I don’t think he can hang with the LHW elite in the UFC and to be fair I don’t think he thinks he can judging by this (thanks Aaron and MMA Hitpit), but there are a few great potential matches out there for him, let’s hope they get made and we get a chance to see the Machine ripping it up in the cage once more.

The message to MMA fans over here is simple: The futures bright people, and the future is UKMMA!!