This is where the real fun begins. For those of you who weren’t all that satisfied with the UFC’s first foray onto network television in November, you will be hard-pressed to find anything to complain about when it comes to UFC on Fox 2: Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis.

Think of the Cain Velasquez-Junior Dos Santos bout as the UFC and Fox giving fans a treat, an opportunity for them to get acclimated with one another. The excitement leading up to November 12 was crazy and the feeling in the Honda center that night was completely electric. No matter how big of a fan you are you knew history was being made.

Now that the UFC and Fox have gotten their feet wet they are set to explode with Evans vs. Davis. As of right now there have been a total of 10 bouts announced with the top three scheduled to be televised on the Fox network and the balance shown on Fox’s sister network Fuel TV.

All three main card bouts have some sort of title implications attached to them. The night promises to not only offer some great match-ups, but it will hopefully clear up who will face the UFC’s light heavyweight champion and middleweight champion respectively. I say hopefully because as we all have come to understand far too well sometimes when certain fights are supposed to answer some questions they can sometimes lead to more confusion.

In the main event we have former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans facing the undefeated four time Division I All-American from Penn State “Mr. Wonderful” Phil Davis. Evans has had his share of trials and tribulations over the past year beginning with a knee injury that forced him to pull out of his UFC 128 contest with then light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

We all know what happened next, Suga’s Team Jackson teammate Jon Jones stepped in and defeated Rua pretty handily and has gone on to defend the title on two occasions. After defeating Rua and subsequently Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, the UFC brought Evans into the cage to promote the bout between Evans and Jones, but injuries to both men put a halt to those contests each time...

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When the UFC MADE its network television debut on November 12th, there was a very familiar face taking his rightful spot inside the Octagon. No, it’s wasn’t UFC President Dana White nor was it UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos.

The man that has become just as recognizable and almost as popular as any mixed martial artist to have ever fought in the UFC is referee “Big” John McCarthy. Known for his trademark, “Let’s Get it On,” call that he bellows before the beginning of every fight he officiates, McCarthy was chosen by the California State Athletic Commission to act as the third man in the most important fight in the organizations history.

Ever since his career as a referee begun back in 1993, McCarthy has been witness to some of the most grueling, competitive and important fights the sport has ever seen. So it was only natural that he got the call to work the bout from the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. His popularity has transcended throughout the lean years of the sport and remains clearly evident as the sport has grown.

It comes as no surprise to many that his name conjures up emotions from many of the hardcore fans who remember McCarthy just as well they remember any fighter who has stepped inside the cage over the years. He routinely receives just as loud if not louder ovations the very fighters he is in charge of. Ask anyone familiar with McCarthy and they will tell you it is well deserved.

McCarthy along with Loretta Hunt put together a book based upon his experiences inside and outside of the Octagon. Appropriately entitled, “Let’s Get It On- The Making of MMA and its Ultimate Referee,” was released on September 1st and is a must read for any mixed martial arts fan, especially the newer ones who are interested in learning about the early days of the UFC.

“The book starts off with how I grew up and how I went into certain directions,” McCarthy told Bleacher Report. “There are a few chapters on my life, the LAPD, how I got involved with Rorion Gracie and how MMA began. How the Gracies tried to integrate their teachings from Brazil into the US...

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Cornwall’s Julie Kitchen has continued her tournament success by winning her second fight in the Muaythai Premier League in Holland on Sunday 6th November.

Representing the UK in the MPL Julie, 13 x World Muaythai Boxing Champion, won on a unanimous points decision over Canadian fighter Sandra Bastian in The Hague which puts Julie at the top of her league with 4 points claimed so far from her wins.
The MPL event puts the world’s best fighters against each other in round-robin action, with Kitchen fighting in the Super Lightweight division.

Kitchen’s next fight will be in France against Tainara Lisboa from Brazil in February 2012...

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Dr Lucy Goldby PhD MCSP  is Director of Spinal Care at Balance Performance. She has over twenty five years experience in clinical spinal disorders and is a renowned back pain specialist. She has lectured nationally and internationally, and unusually for an academic continued as a full time clinician.

 Lucy has spent years researching the best treatment approaches for lower back pain management.  She finds that the only real long term solutions emerge from ongoing commitment to rehabilitation and exercise and consequently in tandem with her other directors established Balance Performance Physiotherapy in order to provide her clients with the environment to combat spinal pain.

What is your name, age and profession?

LUCY GOLBY: Dr Lucy Goldby, 44 (and a ½ - very important in my house with three children) and I’m a spinal and sports rehabilitation physiotherapist

How long have you been a sports and spinal physiotherapist?

LUCY GOLBY: 23 years

What was your PhD on and do you have an area you specialise in?

LUCY GOLBY: My interest area is clinical efficacy of conservative interventions for low back disorders. In a nut shell it means what is the most effective intervention for the given diagnosis for the spine in front of me, or in front of you. It was a clinical (as opposed to lab based) PhD and all of my research has been clinically based, so I have continued to practice through out all of my academic research, which is very important, as it is very useful to critically analyse techniques when you see the effect there and then.

Within the research we looked at rehabilitating the muscles involved in spinal stability (commonly called core stability). We looked at the reasons why having back pain causes these muscles to stop working and then worked out the best ways to re-engage the muscles.

Was the research well received?..

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Saturday 10th December was one of the most memorable nights in ufc history. ufc 140 had almost everything, from a 7 second knock out (no that’s not a type error), to one of the most brutal submissions you will likely ever see, oh, and one of the best choke out submissions this side of 2012.

The main event saw Jon Jones defend his Light Heavyweight title for the second time against former champ Lyoto Machida. We mentioned in last month’s article that Machida would prove Jones’ toughest test to date and he didn’t dissapoint.

Straight from the first bell Machida was his usual calm, calculated self, moving round the octagon like a predator stalking his prey waiting for Jones to shoot in, which he did, giving Machida the chance to counter with frightening speed and acuracy.

That was the story of the first round, Jones would shoot in, usually missing his opponent and Machida would counter landing some hard punches to the head. We also saw the Karate background of Machida’s fighting with some awesome blitzing as he fired flurries of fast punches at Jones trying to overawe and confuse the champ.

At the end of the first round Jones was visibly worried by what he had encountered but after receiving advice from Greg Jackson in his corner Jones came out for the second round with a seemingly different game plan.

Jones started to almost take the same plan as Machida, a much more calmer, measured approach abandoning his efforts to overwhelm Machida and instead wait for his oppenings and boy did it work. He started catching Machida with a few good, solid punches and then when his chance arrose took Machida to the ground. On the ground Jones showed just how good he is utilising his long arms and caught Machida with a number of vicious elbows, the last of which opened up a nasty cut on Lyoto’s forehead...

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Dana White at the Oxford Union Society; it’s certainly a curious juxtaposition. It’s akin to seeing Joe Pesci live from the Natural History Museum but Dana’s speech had a very clear message. It was good to see him avoid his usual profane approach and talk clearly and passionately about the sport that he devotes his waking hours to. 

As you might imagine the speech was a vitriolic salute about the trials and tribulations of the Zuffa campaign, in which White told the Cinderella story of just how the UFC went from the doghouse to the penthouse.

One of his opening statements, however, was maybe one of the most insightful of his public speaking career.

Fighting works everywhere. I don’t care what colour you are, what language you speak or what country you come from. We’re all human beings and fighting’s in our DNA. We get it and we like it. – Dana White
Dana’s words, as per usual, were meant to energize and involve the listening ears of the world’s media but his argument is certainly an interesting one. If we look at the most popular sports around, none of them compare to the finality of any combat disciplines.

A tennis player who loses an important match can blame all kinds of variables on his loss but, inside, he surely must know that his sense of pride has not been truly defeated; his natural fighting instincts have not been quenched. He may have lost a game of tennis, he still has the knowledge in his head that no harm has come to him, and he was not physically dominated.

A fighter in a similar situation is not afforded a similar luxury.

He isn’t able to look up at the lights and claw back comfort from the fact that, he may have been soundly thrashed but there’s no way that his conqueror would beat him at badminton. Fighting is the denominator behind all sporting competitions, all athletes who compete want to prove that they are the best. All athletes want to prove that they have the ability to dominate anyone who steps in front of them and to leave no doubt who was victorious. 

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The concept of Total Leadership is concerned with developing the leader from within. Total Leadership is about ensuring the qualities of balance, creativity and personal drive are captured within a comprehensive training framework. Great leaders walk the talk, and do not talk the talk. Total Leadership is about change, development and transformation of the individual from within.

Sometimes there is an assumption that leaders are born. This assumption should be challenged as development and learning are critical to the evolution of leadership. In addition, recent research into neuroscience has discovered that the brain is neuroplastic, suggesting that it can evolve through training. Very rarely will you find a leader that has not made mistakes. Fear, and the management of fear, is probably the biggest block to leadership development. In the past, people had little, or less, to lose and experimentation was essential for progress. However, in modern and wealthy times, people assume they have much more to lose. They live in a very comfortable style and lack the desire and will to change and improve themselves, creating an uncomfortable status quo, which slows down the personal development of individuals.

Great leaders are not born, but are nurtured by learning from their responses to the challenges presented to them. As the challenges become more intense and difficult, people either stop putting themselves in those situations, protecting themselves from failure, or they become stronger and better leaders learning from the mistakes and successes of their responses to those challenges.

The development of Total Leadership is based on individuals putting themselves in situations that challenge their assumptions and take them outside their comfort zone. This is where combat sport has a major role to play in the development of leaders. Combat sport can place people in situations, which stretch their capabilities, and also pushes their limits to levels not previously possible. These situations are very tangible in the sporting environment and variety is purely limited by the imagination...

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Toxic Relationships in the Training Camp

Toxic relationships contain abusive patterns of behavior. Toxic aspects of relationships can drag anyone down, affect self-esteem, and leave a person feeling angry, sad, or frustrated. Toxic relationships can exist in one’s personal and professional life. For the fighter, this can spell trouble in the ring, especially when there is conflict in the fighter’s corner team. How does a fighter know when he or she is in a toxic relationship, and what can the fighter do to improve the chances for success?

Toxic people are people who don’t feel good about themselves and are jealous of your success in the ring and will subconsciously try to sabotage your success in training, or even worse, sabotage your match.

Toxic relationships can exist inside the gym. Working with trainers, other fighters, and sparring partners that are toxic in any way can be very draining on your energy, both mentally and emotionally.
If you leave the gym feeling guilty, tired, angry and very stressed out after long workouts, chances are you have people in your training team that are not helping you productively and in a positive manner, which will hurt your overall experience in your training.
Some behaviors you might experience from toxic people are:
•    Put downs and insults
•    Sarcasm
•    Backhanded comments, such as insulting a person then calling it a joke
•    Constant complaining
•    Gossip (yes, it happens in gyms too)
•    Backstabbing and two-faced, such as being nice to your face then putting you down when you’re gone
•    Personality clashes

Even if these behaviors are present in the smallest of ways at first, over time, all of those undermining behaviors end up taking a toll on your training sessions and your matches. This can be devastating if you are engaged in one of the hardest fights of your life or if you are on the comeback trail. Think of a pipe with a very small leak. Those small, slow drops of water might seem insignificant at first. Over time, all of those little drops of water fill a bucket...

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One of the hardest things to accept when learning martial arts is that you will never be perfect at every technique you learn. It is just not possible, for any human to learn the amount of skill necessary to be the best in every area and dominate the sport to such an extent that wherever their opponents take the fight - They will be able to prevail.

Therefore at some point the fighter will have to decide where his skills are most destructive, and dedicate the training towards improving this way of fighting to further improve their chances of winning. A lot of the time this is not even the fighter’s choice to make, rather they will end up on their back a lot, due to lack of stand up skills and then the ground becomes their home. Obviously the ground training relies on a lot of different techniques to stand up. But all the throws, clinches, strikes and dirty tricks in between have to be covered also.

The best way to find out what kind of fighter you are is to start experimenting early, by trying various clubs and coaches from the beginning. I personally rely on my hands a lot, because although my arms are short, it suits the way I fight and after going through the initial panic. I found that I could stop opponents easier when fighting close in. The fighter who experiments early will undoubtedly have to experience some sparring also and this testing ground will be an acid test for all those drills.

The coach will be able to tell you where you are going wrong and if something ‘feels’ right or wrong, then by asking the particularly hard opponent or someone who you train with that you trust will be helpful for getting an opinion on where your best areas to focus on are.

Setting realistic goals for each of these such as a competition may also help you discover what inspires you when competing. Therefore leading onto what will become your passion to learn and shape the way you fight. Trying out a multitude of different competitions is a sure fire way of seeing where your strengths and weaknesses really lie. There are always grappling contests, white collar boxing shows etc. who accept fighters from all backgrounds to give you a chance of experiencing the competitive environment...

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It was an 8 man tournament format that the UFC debuted with back in 1993. This December the UK’s  UCC promotion are trying to recreate their own version of an old school tournament format with an 8 man one night middleweight show to be held in the prestigious Manchester Velodrome.

Featuring a mix of fighters from all around the country and a generous £10,000 prize the event is already gathering a lot of interest on the UK scene. One of the entrants is undefeated Danny Roberts fighting out of the Next Generation facility in Liverpool. Switching over to MMA from boxing, Roberts is a fighter that looks set to make big waves.

Starting out as a promising boxer Robert’s looked destined for a career in the ring having over 30 wins as an amateur and 4 wins as a pro. However Roberts became disillusioned with politics outside of the ring and found regular bouts increasingly hard to come by. It was at this point that fate would lead him into the world of mma. Training boxing in the same building that the Next Generation facility is located, an initially reluctant Roberts was eventually persuaded to try MMA by the passing head coach of Next Gen Paul Rimmer. A new hobby quickly turned into a potential career and, with five stoppage wins in a row, the future looks bright for the young Liverpool based prospect. Roberts himself believes that his background in boxing has brought many advantages:

“Obviously having a background in boxing has given me a great advantage in my stand up and my experience within the sport is definitely something I take into the cage. It also holds a benefit as it’s allowed me to really explore the variety of what’s available in MMA, I’ve been able to concentrate on improving my ground game and my all over performance.”

Roberts improvement in grappling has been clear to see with his last two victories coming via submission.  I asked Roberts if he felt happy with how his ground game was progressing?..

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Saturday 10th december was the date for BAMMA 8 and arguably the organisations biggest fight card yet. the main event was the bamma debut of ucmma light heavyweight champ jimi manuwa as he took on anthony rea.

In the co-main event of the night ‘Judo’ Jim Walhead was coming off a huge win at BAMMA 7 after defeating UFC veteran Frank Trigg on points. His fight tonight didn’t look any easier either as he faced another American veteran in the form of Joey Villasenor.

The fight started off cagey with both fighters trying to get the measure of one another before BOOM, Villasenor shot in and Walhead countered with a short, sharp right to the head of Villasenor dropping him. Walhead swarmed on top of Vilasenor reigning punches until his opponent was out cold and the ref jumped in to call an end to a very short fight.

This was a huge win for Walhead and put back to back with his win against Trigg, this put’s him right in contention for a shot at the Welterweight title and Nate Marquardt.
In the night’s main event we saw Jimi Manuwa make his BAMMA debut after dominating the Light Heavyweight division over at Cage Rage UK/UCMMA.

Manuwa’s opponent was the French veteran Anthony Rea, himself coming off of a 4 fight winning streak dating back to 2009.

Many saw this as the first big test for Manuwa who has turned down the opportunity of fighting in the UFC to concentrate on honing his skills and gaining more experience before making that jump.

This one started off with both fighters exchanging punches before a nice left caught Manuwa and visibly shook the unbeaten 31 year old.

Manuwa did well to stay up and got Rea in a clinch giving him enough time to shake it off and regain his composure. Manuwa kept working well in the clinch landing some nice knees but also took some from Rea...

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Everything has to start somewhere, and everybody has to be bold enough to make that first step. Mixed martial arts has now become the antithesis, in many respects ,of what it once stood for. This isn’t a bad thing by any means as the sport has gained mainstream popularity but, more importantly, mainstream respect.

Watching the SEG incarnation of the UFC reminds us all just how far the sport has come, and just what marketing power that Zuffa has shown; by taking a spectacle that visceral and turning it into the fastest growing combat sport in the world.

Looking at the genesis of the UFC it seemed that every other fighter seemed to be a larger than life character; a caricature cross between Bruce Lee and Superman. Back then it didn’t matter what your martial arts background was, if you had one, or what titles were on your résumé. All you were required to do was bring your fight to the Octagon.
Some martial artists struggled to adjust to the ferocity of the UFC, petrified with fear as they quickly learned that their forms and stances did not hold up in legitimate confrontation.

Conversely, some fighters with little martial arts training excelled as they were able to unleash their previously shackled brutality with no fear of criminal repercussions. Of all of these fighters, none delivered more devastating results or captured the public imagination more than David “Tank” Abbott.

David Abbott came into the UFC following a prison sentence for seriously assaulting the son of a police officer. He’d always been a fighter in one form or another, his style was listed by the UFC as Pit Fighting, presumably because they couldn’t fit grievous bodily harm on the signs.

Tank had been fighting bare knuckle for a long time so the idea of doing it on television and getting paid for it seemed like a dream come true. On his first meeting with the UFC, his statements to the management set the tone perfectly.

I said I just got out of jail for beating somebody up, in fact, a cop’s son. Isn’t this supposed to be about fighting? And they said, yeah, but you’ve got to have some kind of a black belt or something. And I said that’s not what I’m about. I’m about fighting in the streets...

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MMA legend Frank Shamrock has just about seen and done it all in the sport of mixed martial arts. He has beaten a who’s who of the sports top fighters and developed himself into a brand rather than just a fighter. He is a true pioneer and goes back to a time when there were no rules, no multi-million dollar television contracts and there was a constant threat of the sport going dark.

Shamrock would leave the sport back in 2000 because no one was offering the opportunities that are presented to fighters today. Shamrock had a family to think of and at the time there was more money to be made outside of the sport than there was inside of it. Thankfully Shamrock made his way back to the cage in 2003 and not only created opportunities for himself to make money, but for other fighters as well.

Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Frank about just how far the sport has come. With UFC on Fox 1, I felt it was important to dig into the darker days of MMA. With the sport getting bigger and bigger everyday, why not get the opinion of someone who has had so much impact on mixed martial arts as a whole. For that, there is no better man than Frank Shamrock.

What are some of your very first memories of the UFC back in the beginning? If you can tell the readers about the differences in how the sport was covered, governed and how the fighters were treated.

FRANK SHAMROCK: Back then we really didn’t have any commissions to oversee the sport like we do today. There was a doctor who would handle your physical and go over all of your medicals. Fighters took care of their own stuff for the most part. We didn’t have locker rooms like the fighters do today, there were 8 guys bunched into one room and because of the tournament style you never knew who you were fighting.

What was the media like back then? I would imagine you didn’t have the elaborate press conferences that are held today...

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Saturday 3rd december was the date for cage rage/ucmma to hold their most recent event at the troxy, london. the fight card was packed full of mouth watering match-ups and some of the biggest names on the uk mma and k-1 scene.

In the first big fight of the night rising Heavyweight star Iain Martell was up against the very experienced Earl Brown. Martell had promised fireworks for this one and although it didn’t happen standing up as Martell had predicted it did happen when martell took his opponent straight to the ground and pounded on him untill ref Leon Roberts stepped in and called an end to the fight.

Martell called out Nick Chapman after the fight but as Chapman is currently injured his next opponent at CRUK 26 on February 4th is yet to be confirmed.

Next up was Big Ben Smith, or as he is now known, medium Ben Smith,  fighting for the first time at Light Heavyweight after dropping down from Heavyweight.

He was up against Ricky Campbell in what looked like a mismatch in size and that difference showed as Smith took Campbell straight to the floor in round one and pounded on his opponent for almost all of the round.

Round two began just as round one had finished with Smith taking his opponent straight to the floor again and continuing to reign down punches until Campbell gave up his back and Smith sunk in a tight rear naked choke forcing Campbell to tap.

An impressive first outing for Smith at this weight and we look forward to seeing him in action again.

There was alot of excitment and anticipation surrounding the next fight as up and coming middleweight star Louis King (who we featured in last month’s issue) was fighting Cage Rage veteran Mark ‘The Wizard’ Weir for the UK-1 Middleweight title...

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Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling is proud to announce its return to the United Kingdom for the “2012 MAXIMUM IMPACT IV” Tour.

Wrestling legends Sting and Kurt Angle head up the roster of stars from TNA’s flagship television programme IMPACT WRESTLING coming to Nottingham, Manchester and London’s Wembley Arena on January 26-28. IMPACT WRESTLING recently set a record rating on Challenge TV, where it airs every Tuesday night.

TNA World Heavyweight Champion Sting will be making his first wrestling appearance in the UK for almost a decade, while Olympic Gold Medallist Kurt Angle will shortly be arriving in Britain to speak to media and fans about the Tour.

Also starring at the events will be “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles, “Samoan Submission Machine” Samoa Joe, TNA Knockout Velvet Sky, Mr. Anderson, Matt Morgan, Bully Ray, Mexican America and many more to be confirmed over the coming months.

Sting says: “It has been too long since I’ve been back to the UK. I promise you there will be MAXIMUM IMPACT in January 2012. It’s going to be Showtime!

“Fans will see lots of bodies flying through the air, broken tables, chairs everywhere. We call it professional wrestling. We call it IMPACT WRESTLING.”

Tickets for the three shows go on sale at 10am on Friday June 3. An exclusive pre-sale for members of TNA’s UK Facebook page (www.facebook.com/tnawrestlinguk) will begin at 9am on the same day.

Tickets can be bought from www.gigsandtours.com / 0844 811 0051 or www.ticketmaster.co.uk / 0844 826 2826. Full details of the UK events are:

Thursday 26 January Nottingham Capital FM Arena 0844 412 4624

Friday 27 January Manchester MEN Arena 0844 847 8000

Saturday 28 January London Wembley Arena 0844 815 0815

There will be an “Official TNA Coach Travel” package on offer at www.seetickets.com for fans in other UK cities – including Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham, Coventry, Bristol and Southampton – to travel to their nearest event.

Further European dates on the “2012 MAXIMUM IMPACT” Tour will be announced soon.