Thanks to Legends Gym for attending as guest competitors. We sincerely hope that this will be the first of many sessions together. A great bunch!

Congratulations to our winners (names posted later) and to all that “put their money where their mouth is” and turned up to participate on the day. Awesome!

Join the forum discussion on this post - (7) Posts

Shane was very much looking forward to challenging for the title on Saturday and is certainly disappointed. However, he’s more concerned for Kevin’s health and wishes Kevin a speedy recovery. Walker has assured Shane that Carney vs. Thomas will happen at the next available opportunity.

It seems that Carney vs. Thomas may well be a jinxed fight. They’ve missed each other due to injury and schedule conflicts for over two years at this stage.

We’re disappointed that the fight is not to be on Saturday and know that the scores of Kokoro members who bought tickets are going to be disappointed too. Right now though, our thoughts are with Kevin and we hope he’ll be back to full health soon.

Kokoro members that have purchased a show ticket solely to watch this title fight can return their ticket to Kokoro Gym for a full refund. Of course, all purchased tickets are still valid and it promises to be a great show. We hope those that have bought a ticket will choose to support the national MMA scene by attending the show despite the cancellation of this match!

The show will boast a solid card of pro fights and is touted to be on of the highlights of this years MMA calendar.

The full interview is 30 minutes long and is available here.

The event will now take place in Ballymena on the same day. As soon as tickets become available we’ll let everyone know. There’s a solid card planned for the event, with an all pro line-up, including several title fights. No doubt the Kokoro army will be there in force as Shane Thomas makes his bid for the Irish Featherweight Title.

Spartan 5 “Resurrection” will take place on Saturday June 26th in the Leighinmorhr House Hotel in Ballymena.

Take 30 guys, tell them they’ll need to spend the next three hours sparring, then sit back and watch the magic unfold. That’s how it was at today’s level assessment.

Not to disrespect those that have gone before but WOW! This was hands down the best display of technical awareness we’ve experienced during a Kokoro Level Assessment. We implemented our Starter Concepts Programme about 6 months ago. We held the belief that slowing down in the short term – and building a solid foundation from which to grow – would pay dividends in the long term. Today we were proven correct.

To those that participated today, you deserve 100% respect for your performance and I can’t wait to spend more and more time sparring with you on the mats over the months and years to come.

1. How long have u been involved in MMA?

I’ve been involved in martial arts since I was eight years old (I’m 35 now) and MMA since around 2000. I got started with MMA in Germany and we referred to the sport as “Free Fight” or “Mix Fight”.

2. When was the first time you heard about MMA?

When I moved to Germany, I took up a form of all round fighting that combined Kickboxing, Full Contact Karate and Judo. At the time, I was a huge fan of K1 and was desperate to find a form of competition that allowed for both full contact striking and grappling – it seemed to fit the bill. Through my training I was more heavily exposed to the Japanese sporting scene so I discovered Pride FC and was a huge fan of both Wanderlei and Fedor.

Sure, like everybody else, I’d seen the odd UFC way back when, but it hadn’t evolved into the martial arts competition that we now know and love – it didn’t appeal to me at all and I don’t really think of those shows as MMA. Pride was another matter altogether. Trained athletes, of varying skill sets, fighting for Pride. It was great stuff. I was hooked instantly and have been MMA obsessed ever since I laid eyes on it.

3. In hindsight how do you rate your ability when you were fighting?

I had a terrible career as an amateur. I fought anybody that was anybody and lost to them all! From British Cage Champions to European and World Kickboxing Champions – I was willing to fight anyone and ready for none of them! My amateur days were, to my mind, the only real “training” that I could get at the time. I’d enter the ring just to test myself and “get some training in”. I was a naive idiot really and wasn’t at all focused on “winning”. I was just happy to be fighting and training in some form. Foolish when you think about it really.

Back then, most ridiculed me for coming back for more, over and over, and told me I’d get nowhere. They’ve since come to learn though that I don’t really understand what quiting means. I just kept training, learning, fighting and improving.

We’re so much further down the line now. My amateur days are a distant memory and have served their purpose – they were an educational experience and the lessons were well learned. These days, Kokoro MMA (our gym) has developed into one of Ireland’s largest gyms and in many ways I now have the opportunity to take things a little more seriously. Since turning Pro, I’m happy enough with my performances. I don’t train or fight anywhere near as often as I would like due to coaching commitments and managing the gym. I’m still around though – fighting away from time to time. It’s been the best learning curve of my life and I’m enjoying the ride.

4. What’s the furthest u have travelled to fight?

Hmm… Croatia (I think!). I’ve travelled and fought all over Europe. Geography isn’t my strong suit though.

5. Who do u think are the main players in Irish MMA today?

I think I’ll always see Davy Patterson as my role model here in Ireland.

Truth be told, our national MMA is in a great place. When I arrived in 2005(?) there were a couple of big fishes in a very small pond – some less humble than others. Since then, so many gyms and promotions have thrown their hats into the cage – each enjoying their own levels of success – that no single gym stands out nor does any one promotion.

I really hope that any single discipline martial artists out there, that are thinking about MMA, will continue to get involved regardless of their experience level in Mixed Martial Arts. Sure, there’s talk from from certain elitists that these guys have no right getting into the sport or that they’re only in it for the money but I’d pay no attention.

Whatever the motive, it’s fine by me! I don’t care why they get involved. The more the merrier! If they don’t make the change to sport specific training they’ll be found out in the ring (as was I) and this may spur them to progress as martial artists (as did I). I well remember what it was to be the black sheep (pun intended) and we put in the effort to develop and become one of Ireland’s core gyms. So, who’s to say that “single disciplined traditionalists” have no right to get involved? Evolution is for everybody.

Maybe our own story will motivate a few to throw their hats into the cage. I arrived in Dublin with my Irish wife and we only set up Kokoro as a means to continue the training I’d started in Germany. I guess I was hoping I could get a group of sparring partners together. That didn’t really work out and I was teaching from day one. We had no equipment of any kind and couldn’t do a great deal of ground work. A couple of us would grapple on the concrete but that’s not for the faint of heart!

Due to lack of experience and no means to develop our grappling skills, I didn’t perform well and our efforts were systematically derided by the majority of the “players” of the time. We got through it and came out the other side all the stronger for it. Fortunately for us, Davy Patterson kept an open mind, and allowed us to grow through his show. He never once picked me or my guys an easy fight and we learned so much from our wins and more so from our defeats. We benefited from the baptism of fire. That’s what being a martial artist is all about.

Now is hands down the best time for people “outside” of the MMA community to get involved in the sport and I sincerely hope we see more and more people jumping on the bandwagon. It’s a perfect time to get started.

The playing field has been levelled out and thankfully there are no real big fishes anymore. There are six or seven top quality shows and nine or ten quality gyms in the country and I’m proud that we stand to be counted as one of them. MMA in Ireland is now ultra competative and that can only be good for the development of our athletes.

6. What is your martial arts back ground?

I’ve a few black belts in full contact striking and grappling arts. I suppose I’m thought of as a striker but only by those that haven’t rolled with me.

7. How would you describe your club/teaching style?

I’m a wierdo. There’s no avoiding that! The gym is my life though. Everyone that visits us says there’s something special about the atmosphere in our place. We’re a family. All be it a bloody big one!

In terms of training practises? Over the years we’ve merged the skills, techniques and training methods from my own background, with the methods of those I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with (from grappling world champions to the ranks of the K1 elite), and a number of all new practises that are specific to the sport of MMA. We’ve spent the last five years or so developing both our technical syllabus and training methods.

All Kokoro MMA gyms, in Ireland and abroad, are now 100% sport specific and all of our training is geared towards MMA. If it’s not useful in the ring or cage – we don’t train it. We’ve spent years breaking down the components of Mixed Martial Arts combat and come up with a defined training method and development path that’s proving insanely effective.

As for my personal teaching style; I’m a bit of a schizophrenic! We’ve a number of training groups at the gym, each geared toward the level and goals of the participants. In some training sessions you’ll find me on the mats enjoying the craic with a bunch of 50 or so lads ‘n lasses. During others, I’m a Drill Sergeant that will have you wishing you were never born. Those session are usually a lot smaller though! One thing’s for sure; I’m not the kind of guy that stands in the corner and points. I’m a permanent fixture on the mats and I love getting involved in our training – I wish I could train more.

I like to try to find the balance between fun, camaraderie and a serious focus on the task at hand. That’s not an easy balance to strike but I hope we’re getting it right. We seem to be growing exponentially in scale and technical ability, inside and outside of Ireland, so something must be working. The plan is to maintain a self critical view and keep on evolving.

8. How do you see Irish MMA evolving in the next few years?

The lack of a governing body (or a voluntary association for the purpose of a unified rule set) has been done to death at this stage so there’s little point my heading down that road. I’d like to see unified rules happen as a matter of urgency and as the smaller shows die out a unified rule set seems achievable.

In terms of progression on the international stage; we need more gyms to realise that the “old school” of BJJ + Muay Thai = MMA is no longer the evolved approach. Sure, people from those backgrounds still do well but it’s the gyms that focus on MMA as a newly evolved sport that seem to be making an impact on the world stage. Even world champions of these disciplines realise that you’ve got to take a sports specific approach to MMA. They’ll all agree privately and that’s exactly how they train for MMA in their own gyms. Hopefully, more and more gyms here in Ireland and the UK will pick up on the sport specific approach. If they do; there no reason why we can’t perform internationally.

I’m hugely impressed by the “fighting spirit” here in Ireland. When you consider the population, MMA is about as “massive” as we could wish it to be. I do think we’ll see more of the serious gyms paying far less attention toward mediocre brawlers trying to appear as local heroes on poorly produced amateur shows. A good few gyms seems to be focusing their efforts on professional training plans that develop fighters toward a longer term goal – that’s only going to be a good thing. If gyms stop throwing people into the rings and cages early, just to get their names out there, albeit under the thin veil of “getting some experience”, it’ll do wonders for the development of the sport.

We’ve all learned so much as promoters and gyms in the last decade that I can only hope we’ll see more and more pro fighters on the scene. Sadly, most people don’t have what it takes to get through the years of self development and effort that it takes to grow into a truly complete fighter. So, who knows? I’m looking forward to seeing how things develop on a national level.

If there’s one thing I’d like to see; it’s a true structure for Amateur MMA that doesn’t throw people in at the deep end too soon (mismatched C-Class fights to large crowds) and also doesn’t turn the rule set into a parody of MMA (D-Class for sure and in some respects C-Class). Maybe take the continental and american approach? Let’s allow headshots at C-Class but with greater protection (gloves, guards) and take measures to hold these not as “spectator shows” rather as amateur events held for experience only (where the fighter pays to participate).

Only the cream of the amateurs or those that are about to make the move to Pro should be put into the carded spectator shows. US fighters that visit us stare in blank amazement when they find out that there’s “MMA without headshots?”. Can of worms anyone?

9. Your funniest memory in Irish MMA?

I know it’s been mentioned before but I really will never forget poor Peter coming out to “Do you really want to hurt me?”. Alan’s face was equally a picture. Davy P has a lot to answer for! There was another incident for which Davy is entirely responsible; I’d got myself nice and psyched to fight in Dublin. Davy P walked his fighter to the ring, who then handed me an inflatable sheep (yes, I’m Welsh) in the middle of the ring. I couldn’t concentrate for love nor money after that. I was still laughing when we touched gloves. It got worse when I took it home and my daughter mistook it for a kids toy. She rode around the house on the thing then asked, “Daddy, what’s the hole for in the back of the sheep?”

10. We ask everyone to leave us with one bit of scandal!!! What u got for us?

Scandal? I’m going to do my best to steer well away!

SOURCE: www.fight.ie

In the meantime; thanks to the lads for doing us proud!

K-1 : 90.0kg : Daragh Kennedy (Kokoro) v. Robert Miskow (Top Pro Kilkenny) – Win RD1
MMA: 70.0kg : Patrick Sheridan (Kokoro) v. Levi Keogh (Total Submission Fighters) – Win RD1
MMA: 73.0kg : Felim Burke (Kokoro) v. Carl Holmes (Total Submission Fighters) – Loss RD1
MMA: 77.0kg : Josh Coughlan (Kokoro) v. Bartosz Miskow (Total Submission Fighters) – Win RD2

We’ve received nothing but glowing feedback from fighters, promoters, fans and reporters. They all seem to be singing the same tune. The lads put on the finest technical displays of the evening and we’re delighted with their performance.

Thanks to the ever present Kokoro Army for showing up and supporting our lads. At one point; the Kokoro Crowd were cheering so loudly they managed to drown out the local crowd.

Great Stuff. Well done lads!

STRIKERS will maintain their strong striking skillset whilst aquiring a solid grappling base.

GRAPPLERS will continue to grapple regularly and put their skills to use against active striking opponents, all the while developing their own striking skillset.

ATHLETES may well already have a head start in this exciting combat sport since strength and conditioning is a significant element of success. Athletes know what it means to dedicate themelves to a goal and the long road of self development.

Give us a call to discuss your options (087) 792 8363.

Adopt, Adapt, Improve. It’s not just for Boy Scouts.

As an experienced fighter, you may be wondering how to get involved in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Would you like to test yourself in MMA competition? Now’s the time to give us a call. We’ll help you tailor existing strengths to the sport of MMA.

Last August I reported on Clan Wars 2 and was overly impressed by the display of MMA I witnessed that night. The next in the series, Clan Wars 3, on the 12th Feb 2010 at the new Sense Nightclub at the Glenavon House Hotel in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, certainly had a lot to live up to.

I knew Clan Wars 3 was going to be an improvement to the last show and speaking to Paul Mc Laughlin and Chris Tweed the Clan Wars promoters I knew they had put in a lot of time and effort into planning. Yet again the Clan Wars team comes up trumps on the professionalism and quality of the show, it’s no wonder they are getting the recognition with many of the top flight UK MMA magazines and have guys from all over Europe looking to get involved with this top event.

I will firstly start on the venue. The Glenavon House Hotel has done a great job on the refurbishment of the old nightclub. They have opened two levels and installed a top of the range sound and lighting system and have fully modernized the club. The new open levels makes the nightclub a perfect venue for MMA event as it has a cauldron effect with spectators looking onto the cage watching the competitors do battle. The venue have also installed a large state of the art LED screen over the dance floor which had a live mix from the four video cameras positioned around the cage operated by the professional P4TV filming crew who where flown in from England to record the show for the airing on LA muscle TV, sky Channel 281 where you will see some of the best MMA events on their Monday and Thursday Fight Night features from 9pm.

The large screen and professional mixing looked fantastic coupled with the fighters walk way which had the walk in arch, lights, smokes machines and flame effect blowers which wouldn’t have looked out of place on any of the bigger shows in the USA, the quality and small details Clan Wars put into their shows is what makes the show so special and its no surprise they have been approached by some of the UK’s top MMA magazines and fighters from all over Europe looking to compete at the show.

As well as the filming crew the Clan Wars promoters invited over the UK’s leading sports photography team Fighterpics headed by Sean Keating. Sean spends most of his time traveling to shows up and down the country covering the professional photo shoots for some of the UK ’s biggest events. He has also been to America to cover shows in Madison Square Gardens, MGM Arena and many of the UFC shows. He is freshly home from his tour with no other than Mike Tyson to whom he was doing the photography for in November 2009. I got a chance at the show to speak to Sean and ask him what he thought of the show, he replied ‘Marc to be honest I am speechless about the high standard I have witnessed here tonight, I have covered hundreds of MMA, Boxing and Muay Thai events in my time but this is one of the best shows I have ever had the privilege of working on, very few shows leave me gob smacked or lost for words but these guys have put on a hell of a show! From the excellently matched fights to the productions value and to the down to earth attitude of the promoters these guys are going to go far!” This is a huge complement for the Clan Wars team coming from one of the most respected figures in the UK’s MMA / Muay Thai /Boxing scene!

The fights themselves where fantastic, it was good to see some of the amateurs getting a run out at the start of the night to get the chance to fight in front of a capacity crowd. The headline Amateur fight was for the featherweight ISKA Amateur Irish Title between Joe Fry from the IFS gym in Antrim and Ryan Martin from the IMMA gym in Ballymena run by Rodney Moore. Ryan had done his homework and knew Joe was a fast submission fighter so tied the fight up well, Joe was unable to show his submission skills but put his Judo and wrestling to good use by controlling the fight in a dominant position and racking up the points with striking from side control.

Also invited as special guests to the show was the multiple BJJ World Champion Leo Negao and head instructor of the Urban Krav Maga street defence system and Senior BCA instructor Stewart Mc Gill. Leo and Stewart were called to the cage to present the title belt to Joe Fry with a load eruption of applause and cheering, the fans definitely appreciated the achievements of these two Martial Artists.

The C-class fights seen a step up in action with some excellent battles that went back and forward with excellent displays of well rounded MMA from good striking to great submissions.

After the C-class fights it was the chance for the Pro fighters to step up to the cage and show their skills, the Pro fighters were fighting with full pro rules which includes elbows on the ground. The first fight was the semi-final for the welterweight title between Richard Gorey from Kilkenny Top Pro and Mike Reid from Gracie Barra in Belfast. Richard Gorey was the favorite for this fight and probably the favorite to take the ISKA Pro Welterweight title with a perfect 4-0 record. This fight turned out to be fight of the night with it going back and forward with both striking and grappling, Mike Reid pulled off one of the best armbar reversals seen in a long time and managed to get back to his feet. This was a true battle although in the end Mike was able to capitalize from the mount and finish Gorey with Ground and pound!

The second semi-finals was between Mervyn Muholland from Juku Ryu Ju Jitsu in Larne against Mark Gibson from Elite 400 in Craigavon. This fight had all the markings for another war with the two fighters well up for it. The fight started with a flying knee from Mervyn to which Mark was able to dodge and secure a good takedown. Mark is a well-conditioned fighter and has strong wrestling but Mervyn is a strong grappler with slick submissions and caught Mark In an armbar to secure his place in the welterweight finals.

The final bout of the night seen the rematch between light weight fighters Alan Hannon from Combat Sports Centre Limerick against Darren Hughes from Sudden Impact in Magherafelt, this was a rematch for these two lads after a previous war a few years ago so both fighters were hungry for the win. This fight lived up to expectations also with it going back and forward with some awesome striking and ground skills, both guys were battered and bruised by the end of the contest. Darren Hughes hailed victor with a unanimous decision.

I mentioned before in the Clan Wars 2 report about the professionalism and high quality of the shows and asked Paul Mc Laughlin about this to which he replied “ We want to provide a professionally run event to promote Irish and UK MMA. We wanted to take it a step further and offer the highest standards in safety and quality, which we found through the ISKA. The ISKA have been doing Martial Arts events for decades and are world recognized. They have extremely tight health and safety regulations put in place for the safety of the fighters and for the quality of their shows – this is the major factor that made us want to work along with the ISKA and the partnership has been working fantastic!’

The Clan Wars MMA event seems to have fantastic momentum and drive to keep improving and each event just keeps getting bigger and better. I’m looking forward to Clan Wars 4 already– something tells me its going to be the best so far!!

Tony Souza is a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu directly under Ralph Gracie. He’s a long history of working as both coach and fighter with Team Ralph Gracie and we’re delighted to announce that Tony has now officially joined the coaching team at Kokoro MMA, Dublin. We made Tony’s arrival official, with a BJJ for MMA workshop, this morning and we had a blast!

We’ll post pictures, a short run down of the workshop and confirm the times of our new No-Gi BJJ programme later today. We just wanted to make this short announcement to quickly thank Tony for his time today and we’re DELIGHTED to have the highest ranked BJJ instructor in Ireland come on board at Kokoro MMA!

If you’d like to continue training No-Gi BJJ for MMA under Tony Souza, he will now be coaching every Tuesday & Wednesday evening from 18:00-19:00 at the Dublin gym.

Kokoro MMA Members: 5€ per session
Non MMA Members: 10€ per session

Let’s hope that the Kokoro Army will be out in full swing to support our guys as they put their respective K-1 Kickboxing and MMA skills to the test;

27th February, 2010
TOP PRO CAGE SHOW
Whites Hotel, Wexford.

K-1 : 90.0kg : Daragh Kennedy (Kokoro) v. Robert Miskow (Top Pro Kilkenny)
C CLASS MMA: 70.0kg : Patrick Sheridan (Kokoro) v. Levi Keogh (Total Submission Fighters)
C CLASS MMA: 73.0kg : Felim Burke (Kokoro) v. Carl Holmes (Total Submission Fighters)
C CLASS MMA: 77.0kg : Josh Coughlan (Kokoro) v. Bartosz Miskow (Total Submission Fighters)

27th March, 2010
RUMBLE IN RUSH 3

C CLASS MMA: 73.0kg : Jonny Origan (Kokoro) v. Lee Metcalfe (Rush Fight Academy)

There are also a couple of national and international submission tournaments that we’ll be competing in during Q1. So, busy, busy, busy….!

Our Starter Concepts courses (aka. Group 1) and Core Concepts courses (aka. Group 2) have been revised and improved upon. We’ve a plan for every session through 2010 and we’re certain that we can expect gains over and above the incredible results we experienced last year. We’re always looking to improve on our methods so we’re really looking forward to the introduction of our revised programmes.

We’ll get started with our Quater 1 programme in 2 or 3 weeks time. Stand by for lift off!

Take a look at our schedule below. Regardless of your experience level (from new starter to experienced fighter) you’ll find something for you. Head down to “MMA 1″ on Monday night and you can train for free to see if Kokoro is what you’re looking for. Please, no spectators, just get stuck in and see if it’s for you. All our training is progressive so you’ll be training at a level of intensity that suits your current level of experience and fitness.

For more extensive information; just take a look at our complete schedule.

Technical progression is constantly and consistently put to the test in all Kokoro Gyms. Dublin continues to lead the way with the final event of 2009. Congratulations to all involved in todays Level Assessment!

Each participant was evaluated during Mixed Martial Arts sparring. We were looking into posture, posititioning and various strategic concepts applied accross the five components of Kokoro Mixed Martial Arts;

1 – Striking
2 – Dirty Boxing
3 – Takedowns
4 – Submission Wrestling
5 – Ground & Pound

Toping off a truly incredible year; the sea of white shirts continues to grow and Kokoro takes a great leap in its history. On this day, not only did we award our first ever blue shirt, but they were earned by TWO of the cornerstones of Kokoro Dublin. Well done to Jonny Origan and Johnny Bowden on making this a historic day for Kokoro

Congratulations to everyone involved.

Yet another day to be proud of all that Kokoro has become!

CLICK HERE TO CONTACT US AND START TRAINING!

The Kokoro Mixed Martial Arts Winter Submission Tournament for Beginners went down a storm this weekend. Forty members of Kokoro MMA Dublin, across five weight categories, got themselves a taste for tournament format submission wrestling on our competition surface. And we had a blast!

Congratulations to all that took part. We were particularly delighted to see so many first timers. Some of the guys that got stuck in have been training less than a month! Fair play!

The atomosphere was superb and thanks to all that made the day a success. In particular; thanks to our core referees: Derek Coleman, Paddy Coleman, Johnny Bowden, Jonny Origan.

Visit the HIGHLIGHTS section to watch the video.

MEDALISTS:

Heavy Feckers;
Gold: Rob Adam
Silver: Daragh Kennedy

Fairly Heavy Feckers;
Gold: Johnny Bowden
Silver: Stephen Webb

Mid Life Crisis;
Gold: Josh Coughlan
Silver: Louis Smith

Eat More Pies;
Gold: Jonny Origan
Silver: Aaron Douglas

Midget Tossers;
Gold: Keith Roddy
Silver: David McCormack

- The weighin takes place at 10am SHARP and closes at 10:20 SHARP.

- The rules meeting is at 10:35.

- First match at 10:45.

- Anyone that misses the weighin window cannot weigh in late and will not be able to participate (since the brackets will be completed immediately after the weighins).

- Following the weighin, weight categories will be decided upon based on the numbers in attendance.

- Whilst this is a submission wrestling exercise; we’ll be working on the basis of MMA judging criteria (effort to finish, control, effective grappling in judges opinion etc).

- There’ll be one referee/judge for each heat match. The semi-final and final-matches will have three judges (including the referee).

- Additional rules, for the safety of all participants, will be covered in full on the day.

- This is a training exercise, please use the level of common sense and safety considerations that you would use in a typical training session.

- We’ll be doing our best to ensure that your first match is with someone of similar experience.

- The tournament will run for as long as it takes to reach a final in all weight categories.

- We’ll aim to use a tournament format that ensure’s at least two matches for each participant.

- Even if you’re knocked out early, it’s courteous to stick around for the whole event and support those that are still in.

- Ensure that you bring enough water and food (sandwiches, fruit) to keep you going throughout the day.

- It’s WINTER; so bring a few changes of training clothes and change into something warm and dry before/between matches.

- We’ll be using the wrestling surface and competition grappling surface, please remember that no food/drink is to be brought onto the mats!

We’re expecting around 50 participants – so this should be a blast! I’m sure we’ll have earned a few beers at the Christmas Party at 20:30 on the same night!

Hard work pays off. Period. Just a few days ago, Johnny wasn’t sure that he would be fighting at Ultimate Conflict V, following the withdrawl of his opponent. It’s testimony to his mindset though, that he stayed 100% focused on being prepared to fight, training with fingers crossed!

Fortunately for Johnny, Fra McCaffery found himself without an opponent too and a quick match up was arranged. Fra fights out of Progressive Combat Belfast, one of Ireland’s strongest camps, so we knew this was going to be a great fight.

McCaffery was bigger, stronger and very tough, but ultimately Bowden was the more skilled fighter on the night and dominated in all technical aspects of MMA (striking, clinch, takedowns, grappling) and scoring criteria (control, agression, effort to finish etc). After three rounds, each a display of rock solid technique, Bowden was awarded a well deserved win.

Congrats Johnny!

CLICK HERE TO CONTACT US AND START TRAINING!