MY JOURNEY

My journey into Martial Arts began in 1994 in a small private gym that belonged to Mark Weir. As a child i had grown up with movies such as Rocky, Enter the Dragon and various other fighting films and i had always had a interest in combat sports. Due to a back injury as a teenager i was told i could never do any contact sports and had to give up my love at the time which was Rugby. Several years later i was working with Mark's girlfriend, now his lovely wife Michelle, and it was her who introduced me to Mark. I knew of Mark as a local doorman and Martial Arts expert but that was it, so Michelle brought him to the video shop i worked at part time and he invited me to go and train with him.

                                                  Click here for rare mid 90's footage

I overcame my nerves and went to my first session with a close friend of mine for abit of support. I was shown the basics and I was hooked almost immediately. I was invited back to watch an advanced session that Mark did with some local fighters and doormen. I sat and watched as Mark stood in the middle of the gym and fought each student one after the other, big tough guys who I knew from local pubs and clubs. There I was witnessing a man who looked like he should be modelling menswear for Next, beating fighter after fighter with ease and really not breaking a sweat or being out of breath. I was amazed and knew that this was for me.

As part of a team of students under Mark, I trained with Mark leading up to his first MMA fight in the Euram in 1996 at Bracknell Leisure Centre, where he defeated Buster Reeves. I then travelled the country with Mark when he was competing in Grapple & Strike shows, Battle of the Celts tournament and then the more popular Millenium Brawl shows at High Wycombe judo club. It was at this event that I first cornered Mark when he fought Ben Earwood. Mark believed in having those closest to him work his corner and to me this was a great honour. Little did I know that this would be the start of myself being a regular figure in Mark's corner.

The next big thing was of course the UFC coming to London, UFC 38 'Brawl at the Hall.' Being at the hotel with the likes of Tito Ortiz, Pat Miletich, Matt Hughes and Big John McCarthy was very overwhelming for someone who was a huge fan of MMA. It was important to stay grounded as I was there to do a job for Mark but I must admit I had to get some photos. I was at this event that I first met Larry Landless. I was watching a Miletich/Hughes training session and he walked up to me introducing himself and we got on really well. He asked me if I had been to the arena yet and when I replied no he invited me to go with him and some other UFC staff such as Lisa Fairclough and Josh Hedges. I felt rather privileged getting a behind the scenes look at the UFC set up. Mark did the business that night and UFC 40 was to be Mark's next outing.

During this time I had started taking my Range Fighting gradings and achieved an A grade pass at each level which included my balck belt grading in April 2002. This was my personal biggest achievement to date. During this time I had the pleasure of working and cornering Matt Ewin as he dominated the British MMA scene. Apart from Matt's first fight where I was officiating and his fight in Russia at the M1 tournament, I have worked the corner for all of his fights, which I feel very privileged to have done.

It was during this period that I had to have an operation on my shoulder which put me out of training for nearly 9 months. It was impossible for me to go from training everyday to doing nothing and so I would go training and keep time and monitor the guys and assess training principles.I would spend alot of time analysing tapes and fight footage and this led to me actually running sessions for Mark at his club. Mark gave me the title of 'Coach' which for me was quite overwhelming. A top international fighter allowing me to help train fighters and be identified as a coach. I still get referred to as coach now, which I still find very humbling as I see myself as someone who helps with training the fighters and acts as a personal assistant to Mark, when he is fighting.

UFC 40 saw the Range Fighting team travel to the fight capital of the world, Las Vegas. This was huge. Meeting and chatting with Ken Shamrock, Pedro Rizzo, Matt Lindland, Guy Mezger, Tank Abbott, BJ Penn, Rampage Jackson (and believe me the list goes on!) was an incredible experience. Some of the guys that travelled over with us were not too keen on bothering these fighters but I made a point of speaking to as many as possible and having my picture taken with as many as I could..I became an MMA anorak for several days. This culminated in Ken Shamrock introducing us to the Lion's Den fighters and allowing us to watch his fight entrance rehersals.

The next big event was UFC 42 in Miami. Spending time at the pool getting to know fighters like Robbie Lawler, Matt Hughes, Rich Franklin and Chuck Liddell was again a great experience. It was nice to be around fighters who were willing to casually chat with you. To accompany Mark to his third UFC and be listed as his head cornerman was a great honour and meant more than travelling to these destinations and meeting all these world class athletes.

I was also fortunate enough to accompany Mark to Las Vegas for UFC 47 where Mark's friend Chuck Liddell was fighting Tito Ortiz. We stayed with Chuck's close friend and training partners and after the fight I was able to go to the post fight press conference and meet Mark Coleman and Randy Couture, 2 fighters I respect a great deal and so it was a huge occasion for me personally. This was an opportunity that not everyone gets to I was very lucky and appreciative.

After Mark's appearances in the UFC he began to compete in Cage Rage back in England. It was again a great honour to be asked to work Mark's corner for all his fights for this organisation. As I mentioned above Mark uses those closest to him and his training as his corners and I never became complacent that this would automatically be me. Cage Rage with its connections to Japan opened a door for Mark to fight in Pride, so we travelled to Tokyo to fight in Pride Bushido 10.

This was the icing on the cake of what I had been fortunate to experience so far in MMA. Martial Arts is so popular over there and the level of respect is so high that as a cornerman or trainer you are treated very well and held in high regard. This was something I had never experienced before. Being able to have a one on one training session with Mark in the official Pride Dojo overlooked by the managing director of Pride and the Dojo master was something that I will never forget. Being in the same training facility as Dan Henderson, Takanori Gomo and the Chute Boxe team was an experience that I know alot of Martial Artists would dream of. This trip saw me shadow Mark for a day of photo shoots, interviews, press conferences and official rules meetings. It also allowed me to be present when Takada presented Gomi and Henderson with their tournament belts.

Cage Rage also provided me with the opportunity of doing some refereeing. I refereed my first tournament in 2002 at XFC and did the XFC 2 which was my first opportunity to work alongside Grant Waterman. From here I was approached by Charlie Joseph from Trojan Freefighters and was asked to referee on both of his Urban Destruction shows. It was on the second show that Andy Geer was a judge and showed an interest in me refereeing to assist Cage Rage head referee Grant Waterman. For someone who does not like the limelight and prefers sitting in a quiet corner this was a huge opportunity as well as a nerve racking one. Mark was the person who put me forward for refereeing in the first place back in 2002 and when it comes to fighting he knows what he is on about and he gave me confidence in myself and persuaded me to do it. I have now refereed on Cage Rage shows, the latest show being broadcast across the world via internet. This also enabled me to referee on Angrr Management event in Cardiff. To be aware of how big Cage Rage is and being able to referee on the promotion is a huge honour.

This is a brief overview of my journey in MMA so far. It has had its highs and lows, but the highs have been far greater than the lows. People often question where my motives are, I train 6 days a week yet do not fight. My response is that a team is like a watch, each member being a valuable cog, remove one cog and the watch does not work. In the Range Fighting team, I am a cog, I help train others as I see more of a potential in them than I do in myself. I help train others not because i am better than them but I believe I can help them better themselves. And when I am asked what are my rewards then as I go through a lot of pain being bashed by world class fighters, I just tell them what I have written above.

YEAR 2006