Fighters v33i12

Bisping Look’s Unbeatable

BENNY ‘THE JET’ URQUIDEZ

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DUTCH DELIGHT

Chajmaa Bellekhal

Holland’s Top Female Fighter PLUS: SHOW REPORTS, PROFILES & A L L RANKINGS

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“If someone plays mean

I will be meaner!”

Chajmaa Bellakhal, one of Holland’s top female fighters Siam Gym’s Chajmaa Bellakhal is one of Holland’s top female fighters with over 30 fights to her name. Despite being lighter, she has gone the distance with Germaine De Randamie and last year drew with Krista Fleming who beat Rebecca Donnelly for the WMC European title. Bellakhal is coming to England to fight on Muaythai Legends on Saturday 16th August for the WMC world title against British Number 1 Bernise Alldis. Fighters magazine took the opportunity to find out more about this interesting and very easy to get a long with woman.

Your heritage is Moroccan?

Yes!! My parents are Moroccan so I was raised as a Moroccan but I was born in Holland and live here.

What’s your fight record now?

Let me think, I lost 12 fights!!! And that ís too many, 4 draws and won 22 fights. So altogether; 36 fights, 22 wins, 4 draws & 12 losses. Some of the losses were in heavier weight classes though.

Have you always trained with Siam Gym? No, I started with Geeraerts gym, trainer Loek Geraards and for the last two

CHAJMAA BELLAKHAL INTERVIEW Page 13

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and a half years I trained with Siam Gym trainer, Miki Bennazouz; he is more then a trainer for me, he’s like a second Dad and I have much respect for him. I made the switch because I wanted to see more and learn more! Loek Geeraerts made me a hard fighter and taught me the power to never give up in a fight and I will always be thankful to him for that because he made me mentally so strong that I can fight against the best!!

When was your first fight?

In 2001 against a girl called Kim, I’ve forgotten her last name, she was fighting for Siam Gym at that time.

Had you ever fought before that without head contact?

No

Did you ever train in Thailand or somewhere else outside Holland?

What was your first title fight?

No not in an official way. When I was on vacation in Morocco, I went to a local gym and trained there with a personal Moroccan trainer. This was because I had a fight scheduled for virtually straight after my vacation but I decided to go ahead with the vacation but still train hard to be ready for the fight!

My first title fight was in 2002 in Amsterdam. I was fighting Germaine Saruccu Pening! I lost that fight because I had to stop as I broke my own arm using a wrong technique!! I was really suffering but at that moment I told myself “I will fight here once again and I’m going to show who should have won”...

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Bernise had better be ready...

I am!

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27

Step Up preview

CAGE RAGE 27 - STEP UP PREVIEW Page 19

Neil “Goliath” Grove Vs Robert “Buzz” Berry Heavyweight War These two heavyweight sluggers have met in the past with the fight finishing in Neil Groves favour as Berry was unable to continue into the second round. Now the rematch is on and both fighters will be looking to come out blasting as both have heavy handed strikes that can finish a fight in an instant.

Robert “Buzz” Berry will enter this fight full of with confidence after his flawless victory over mixed martial arts legend Ken Shamrock. Robert Berry has matured over the years into a well rounded fighter with very heavy hands and we could see him using strategy rather than strength when he and Neil Grove meet.

Neil “Goliath” Grove became an instant fan favourite with a superb knockout victory over Pride veteran James Thompson and he has since gone on to notch up other excellent victories. Neil has only ever had his ground game exposed once and that was against his competitor Robert Berry. Neil looked a little out of his comfort zone, so it will be interesting to see if Neil looks to keep the fight upright where his heavy hands can do the maximum damage or go to ground where Berry may just have the upper hand.

Mustapha Al-Turk Vs James “Machine” McSweeney Vacant Heavyweight Title War This will be a great fight between two world class fighting veterans, in his last few fights Mustapha has shown maturity in his confidence as one of the top heavyweights in the UK and he will be up against a very tough K-1 veteran, James McSweeney is a very tough fighter with excellent striking ability and with a title on the line you can be sure that both these fighters will be in the best shapes of their lives as the cage door closes.

factor and Mustapha has plenty from many different combat sports.

Tom “Kong” Watson

James McSweeney is a hard hitting strategic fighter with the ability to stop his opponent in a heart beat James has fought and beaten some tough opposition but this will undoubtedly be his toughest fight to date.

Johnny Phillips Vs Tom “Kong” Watson Middleweight War Both these fighters come from boxing backgrounds, but both are now trained and experienced in mixed martial arts. Both fighters worked their way through the Contenders ranks to earn a shot on the big show and both now have the experience In competing at the highest level and we can see this being one of the most explosive fights of the night, as both fighters come too the centre of the cage and start to trade leather.

Johnny Phillips is a former ABA Cruiser Weight Champion with dynamite in his hands. Johnny has spent much time training with Team Trojan which has helped him develop a strong ground game, but his opposition is almost tailor made for a stand up war and Phillips may well take advantage of drawing his opponent into a boxing match.

Tom “Kong” Watson is a dedicated fighter spending much of his time training in the USA. Tom has also spent a lot of time learning the art of Muay Thai, so not only does he have strong hands, but he has also learned to use his feet knees and elbows which may see him take the advantage in the stand up. This has war written all over it, so let battle commence.

Mustapha Al-Turk is a true gentleman outside of the ring but when the cage door closes he is all business Mustapha has one of the strongest ground and pound games in the heavyweight division and is dangerous in every area I feel that experience could be a

Scott Jansen Vs Joe Mac Middleweight War This is another one of those fights that will be hard to predict as both love to stand and trade and have a proven track record as they worked their way through the Contenders ranks, defeating any opponent that stood in front of them. Now it is time to prove they belong on the big stage and see who will be the last man standing.

Grove vs Berry

Al Turk vs McSweeney

Joe Mac has spent lots of time working on his ground game as he felt it was the weakest part of his game, but he has proven that he likes to strike hard and fast. His last fight against Jason Barrett lasted only seconds as he quickly demolished Barrett with piston like shots. I feel that size and strength may be in his favour and it will be interesting to see how he will use it to his advantage.

Scott Jansen is a very tough cookie that has taken the sport very seriously. He has worked tirelessly to improve every aspect of his game and like Mac, Jansen is a brawler at heart and likes to get in the thick of it, trading strikes with his opponent. Scott may well fight smart and adopt a stick and move strategy and it could work in his favour against his heavy handed opposition.

“Death Wish” Dave Legeno Vs Kev “Cabbage” Sims Heavyweight War These two fighters have fought some very tough opposition and now at Cage Rage 27 they will face one another in an all out war that will see Cage Rage veteran Dave Legeno return to the Cage after a long lay off. Both fighters are well rounded and experienced making this fight one to watch.

“Death Wish” Dave Legeno returns to Cage Rage after some time spent filming the new Harry Potter movie, but he is back in the

Phillips vs Watson

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and has been involved in some exciting fights at Cage Rage, Ashleigh is a very good wrestler and submission fighter with good striking skills and in my book this one goes down as a featherweight chess match.

Robbie “The Flame” Olivier is the current British featherweight champion and a true warrior. Robbie has the skill and ability to beat anybody, anytime but as I said I can see this being a ground battle as both fighters showcase their ability.

gym and working hard to put in an excellent performance for the fans. Dave has fought some very tough opposition and won and I feel if he enters the ring in good shape it could be his night, as he has a distinct reach advantage in his favour.

Kev “Cabbage” Sims has not had much luck in recent fights, but that could change as he is training hard to get himself back to winning ways. Kev is a former professional American football player which means he has spent much of his life learning how to take people down and for Kev to fight a smart fight against Legeno, he will have to implement takedowns and his favoured ground and pound.

Ashleigh “Ash Cream man” Grimshaw Vs Robbie “The Flame” Olivier British Featherweight Title This will be an awesome battle as these two top featherweights go head to head. Robbie will be the defending champion looking to fend off any challenger who wants his belt.

Both fighters will be well prepared entering the cage with all the weapons needed to defeat the opposition and it will be just a case of who will be the smartest fighter on the day.

Dean Jones Vs Francis Heagney British Lightweight Title War Both these fighters come from reputable schools and both have similar fighting styles.

Francis Heagney has earned himself a shot at the title by beating everybody and anybody Cage Rage have put in front of him and he will have very tough opposition in front of him when Dean Jones steps in the cage. Dean is a formidable wrestler with excellent submission skills and this will be one of those great matches that will be left in the memories of those who see it.

Dean Jones is an excellent fighter that is good at all ranges, he comes to Cage rage with a reputation that proceeds him, so it will be interesting to see if he can live up to the hype and be crowned Cage Rage British Lightweight Champ Francis Heagney is a strong well rounded fighter who has beaten his last three opponents by submission. Francis will fight smart and look to take this fight to ground where his strength lies, this will truly be a battle of submissions and one for those that prefer the more technical side.

Tevi Say is from the Haute Tension Fightclub in France and has only ever fought in Japan.

She is a formidable striker with excellent submission skills and as with all fighters making their cage Rage Debut she will be out to earn herself some new fans.

Aisling Daley returns to the cage with a perfect record of 4 wins and it has been her ability to control and systematically destroy her opponents that has kept her record perfect. Aisling will be looking to take this fight to the ground early where you can expect her to try and force her will to possibly earn herself another victory Umidjon Mavlyanov Vs Rick “Just The Trick” Andrews Lightweight War Umidjon worked his way up by fighting at Contenders and in front of him is a veteran of many Cage Rage shows in the shape of Ricky Andrews, both these fighters are aggressive strikers that like to keep it upright. This one will have the crowd on its feet as these two come together in the centre of the cage.

Umidjon Mavlyanov had an impressive win recently at Contenders where he showed almost animal aggression in the speed and ferocity of his strikes. He will be confident coming into this fight and will be looking at Andrews as a scalp that can help move him onwards and upwards.

Ricky Andrews is a veteran of Cage Rage and has had a rollercoaster of a career, but now he has the opportunity to prove that he belongs on the bigger stage, I expect Ricky to come into this fight throwing some serious leather until somebody gets knocked out.

Ashleigh “Ash Cream Man” Grimshaw knows this is a big opportunity and is keen to take the belt from the champion.

Ashleigh has an incredible amount of skill

Tevi Say Vs Aisling “Ash The Bash” Daley Featherweight War These two women are true warriors in every aspect of the word, both have very similar records and both fight at a world class level.

Tevi is a hard hitting durable fighter, while Ash likes to push the pace of a fight. This is a big fight for both these ladies, so watch your head and let the leather fly

James Elson Vs Dave Van Gas Middleweight War James Elson is another one of those fighters that has earned himself a shot on the big stage after beating some very tough competition at Contenders and now his dream comes true as he gets to walk out in front of the fans at Wembley to face Cage Rage debut fighter Dave Van Gas from London shoot fighters, who is a well rounded fighter that will also be looking to cement his place on the big stage.

Sims vs Legeno

Grimshaw vs Olivier

Say vs Daley

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A Frank Question:

BRITISH BOXING’S BOOMING...

BUT IS THE BUBBLE SET TO BURST? Boxing Column with Joe Holroyd

ritish Boxing is Booming, but with Hatton getting the laugh on the ‘Fatton’ critics - but not the knockouts - and Calzaghe’s close-call against Hopkins, Joe Holroyd wonders if the Bubble is set to Burst.

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Ricky Hatton is a great event. No doubt about it. On Saturday the 24th of May I found myself in the home-ground of his beloved Manchester City FC and the 60,000 strong crowd of Hatton fanatics were, frankly, overwhelming in their support.

Queuing-up for a beer during the warm-up bouts I lost count of the number of chants of ‘There’s only one Ricky Hatton....’ that just erupted from nowhere. The fans were, for the most part, fairly oblivious to the - generally very high-quality - warm-up bouts that were being screened throughout the stadium. Apart from the occasional obligatory chant of ‘Who are ya?’ as Hatton’s next challenger Paulie Malignaggi appeared, the only thing that really captured the crowd’s interest was any kind of reference to their champion himself. And then they were off again... ‘There’s only one Ricky Hatton...’

The excitement started building as first Juan Lazcano, Hatton’s challenger, made his way to the ring. It notched up to a fever pitch as Hatton himself appeared - playing the critics at their own game in a zip-up ‘fat-suit’ to the tune of a ‘High-ho Silver...’ re-jig: ‘They say he’s never had a salad... he likes his pies and pasties... Hi-ho Ricky Hatton!’ And then, as the lights dimmed, and Michael

Buffer gave his trademark ‘Let’s get ready to ruuuuuuuuummmmble!’... the place went absolutely crazy!

chew in Mayweather robbed the Hitman of his firepower? Is his career on a downward spiral? Is the bubble about to burst?

What then proceeded, if not quite dampening the crowd’s appetite for destruction, certainly gave some food (and no mere salads!) for thought. Hatton clearly won the fight... but he was clearly not at his best. The durable and skilled but hardly hard-hitting Lazcano was supposed to be a confidence-building exercise after Hatton’s destruction by pound-forpound king Floyd Mayweather in his last fight. The only person who is likely to have gained real confidence from the tough 12rounds that followed - where Ricky looked to be in serious trouble at one point - is Malignaggi. Against Mayweather, Hatton had - if nothing else - looked inhumanly tough.

His performance against Lazcano showed not only that he is still wide-open to timely counters as he lunges in with his trademark hooks and uppercuts, but also that his conditioning and chin are not perhaps all they were.

Not for my money. To be honest with you, irrespective of the true condition of Hatton as a fighter, as long as he makes it past Malignaggi his boxing career will remain untouched. But why is this?

Rocked in the eighth by body-shots, Hatton nonetheless rallied and came back strong in the championship rounds, completely dominating his opponent in the 12th and showing the temperament that makes him such a well-loved champion.

But it takes more than mere temperament to hold-onto one’s place at the very top of the fight game, and Hatton’s candid comments at the end of the night showed his own doubts. Admitting to having been incredibly nervous before this homecoming bout, Hatton stated that he was glad to have ‘got it out of the way’.

Hatton should not have to struggle too hard in his next one against Malignaggi: although relatively skillful a mover, the American would have difficulty punching his way out of a paper-bag. Then again, Lazcano was supposed to be an easy win. Has the combination of too many pints of Guiness, too many pies and biting-off-more-than-he-could-

Because Hatton can fill the Manchester City stadium with 60,000 paying fans, thus producing the biggest EVER fight on British soil. And he’ll do it again against Malignaggi.

And then, in the inevitable Mayweather rematch, you could probably double that figure. And as for the pay-per-view takings... It doesn’t matter that Hatton is more likely to become a tee-totaling Buddhist and retreat to a remote temple for a life of abstinence and prayer, than to beat Mayweather. The crowds will still flock to see him.

Hatton, like Calzaghe, brings the fight.

There’s no hiding behind the jab; little sticking and moving. Tactically, there probably should be a little more of these, as we saw in Calzaghe’s contested win over Bernard Hopkins, and as Hatton himself conceded after his fight with Lazcano: ‘ It’s not like

BOXING COLUMN WITH JOE HOLROYD Page 25

me to jab and move, though I know I should. But’, the pride of Manchester continues, ‘that is what people love about me.’

It certainly is what people love about him.

Ricky Hatton, relatively irrespective of his performance, will remain a great event for quite some time. Likewise, the prospect of

Calzaghe’s clash with a well-past-his-prime Roy Jones-Junior should a great event... if not quite the real challenge a Hopkins rematch would be.

So is the bubble about to burst? Not likely.

Quite apart from the likes of David Haye and Carl Froch breaking through with a

fight-the-best-to-be-the-best mentality, Hatton and Calzaghe make - if not quite perfect boxers - perfect champions. A frank question to which only a Frank can best answer - just ask Warren or Maloney - when they’re filling stadiums with 60,000 paying fans, champions like that are not going anywhere in a hurry.

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The quiet

Man of Muay Thai David Pacquette KO Gym’s David Pacquette is one of England’s less talked about fighters on the forum’s and such but is certainly one of England’s best ones. A seasoned A class fighter he is the consummate quiet professional, always focusing on the task in hand.

Pacquette has been in the ring with the likes of Samkor and Steven Wakeling and holds wins over Moussa Konate, Tim Thomas, Michael Wakeling, Richard Fenwick and Thappaya Sit’ Or. On top of that Pacquette got to represent England in Contender Asia, the muaythai reality show that is currently making waves worldwide.

Pacquette first taste of the martial arts was when he went along to a kickboxing class that a friend of his went to with Cobra Gym, purely for fitness reasons. He actually thought people were mad punching and kicking each other and that it wasn’t for him! However he enjoyed it so much and after seeing a kickboxing show at York Hall he found himself a more local club in KO Gym at Bethnal Green and started training regularly.

“My first fight was around 7 years ago, with KO Gym. I started at the very bottom working with interclubs etc and worked my way up.” It was the buzz of the show that initially attracted Pacquette to fighting. “Everyone was screaming and shouting when the fights

were on and I was with a group of people that were friends with one of the fighters and it seemed fun and I fancied giving it a go. To this day I thought I never would have wanted to be hit, I used to play rugby and I got kicked in the eye playing rugby and I thought to myself woah and that was from one of my own teammates and I thought I ain’t going to play rugby anymore it’s too violent!! It’s just a funny thing I found myself doing thaiboxing, went to the classes, I worked with MAster Bill and he gave me the insight on how to fight and how to defend myself and I loved the buzz. He gave me opportunities to fight at interclub level and then I worked my way up from there.”

Though everyone is an individual and different things work for different people.

Pacquette does feel that the approach taken for him with BIll Judd starting with interclubs first is the right one. “Throwing someone straight into a C class fight and seeing if they sink or swim can be quite dangerous in today’s modern day society. I think safety is sometimes forgotten. The most important thing is thaiboxing is supposed to be fun, at the end of the day that’s why we all do it, because we enjoy it. If it works for other people though it works for them.”

Pacquette’s first fight was a great experience for him. He gets butterflies just like everyone else but doesn’t really suffer from nerves at

all, as long as he performs well. “I don’t get scared of fighting, I’m a fighter it’s what I do !It’s fun! First ever fight was at York Hall and it was great to have my hometown crowd in front of me as I walked out. It was a great buzz and everyone was shouting my name. I walked out and was like oh oh this is it and I enjoyed it. The fight was against a Minotaurs fighter. and I haven’t looked back since.”

It wasn’t long until Pacquette was fighting for several titles. The first of which was against Mike Lancaster from Eagles, Bedford. “I fought Lancaster once before in the amateurs and he beat me as he had a lot of experience then. Then we got the opportunity for a rematch, I trained hard for it and I beat him for a title. “ Despite fighting in the amateurs in the past Pacquette though is only focused now on professional fights, he says he likes using his elbows too much!

Pacquette has also fought K1 rules, He won a 4 man tournament in Italy stopping a Czech opponent in the semi-final’s third round and then beating the hometown favourite in the final...

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THE QUIET MAN OF MUAY THAI Page 27

Photos by Ruth Ashdown

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I don’t get scared fighting; it’s what i do!

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85

Bisping vs Day

pictures copyright

UFC 85 - BEDLAM! Page 33

FC 85: Bedlam broadcast live from London’s O2 Arena on Saturday June 7th in spite of some serious problems before ever any fighter stepped into the cage!

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Werdum vs Vera

Main fight of the night was originally scheduled to be a top-liner between former lightheavyweight champion Chuck (‘The Iceman’) Liddell and Mauricio (‘Shogun’) Rua but Rua’s recent knee surgery forced him to withdraw. Next in line to face Liddell was Rashad Evans - but Liddell tore a hamstring! Plan B! Wheel in James ‘The Sandman’ Irvin... except that Irvin broke a foot..... OK then - how about Chris ‘The Crippler’ Leben? No, sorry, he’s in jail for a parole violation. So Rashad Evans was removed from the card too.

NAIL BITER With the arena almost sold out and with all the advertisers in place, the frantic organisers made phone calls to the likes of Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin. Silva had recently undergone an operation and wasn’t ready to fight yet. St. Pierre declined because his hands were still injured after his match against Serra. But all was not totally lost when Hughes stepped up to the plate and got the main event of the night against Thiago Alves in this 11-match nail-biter.

Slightly less terrifying, perhaps, Jonathan Goulet cited lack of training time for ducking out of his match against Paul Kelly, only to have Kelly withdraw even before a replacement could be found. Completing the ‘change your partners’ routine, Ryo Chonan was replaced by Kevin Burns and Eddie Sanchez replaced Neil Wain.

First match of main card brought middleweights Brandon Vera and Fabricio Werdum face to face. They began cautiously enough but then closed and jolted each other with short punches before moving into a clinch, where Vera slammed in some effective knees.

Werdum retaliated by taking the fight to the mat and started in on some ground-and-pound using his elbows to Vera’s body and head.

NO FOOL Vera was having none of that and used his legs to thrust Werdum away. Werdum grabbed one of Vera’s legs but got smacked in the face for his trouble. Moving on, Vera’s hard left punch clearly hurt Werdum but more so did the following elbow strike.

No fool, Werdum closed quickly and took Vera to the ground again.

Moving into a mount position, Werdum began to punch Vera who covered up to try

and avoid serious damage. The referee stopped the bout and, much against Vera’s loud protests, awarded that first match to Werdum. A rematch is clearly needed here!

Middleweights Nate Marquardt and Thales Leites came face-to-face for one of the best encounters of the evening - a fact that was far from apparent at the outset!

The fight took time to get under way before Marquardt surged forward on the attack only to run into a hard right punch that dropped him to the mat. Ooops! Losing no time, Leites dropped and went for the mount but Marquardt fought his way back to half-guard and from there, to his feet.

Once up, he decided to give some back and Leites’ knees clearly buckled after a hard right uppercut.

Leites vs Marquardt

Round two began with a clinch that Marquardt turned to his advantage, taking Leites to the ground and kneeing him in the head as he tried to get back up. One of Leites’ knees was on the mat as he took the knee, so Marquardt lost a point while Leites gained a much needed 5-minute rest.

RAGING BULL Obviously angry at this, Marquardt came out like a raging bull, taking Leites to the mat and mashing his nose in a fearsome ground-and-pound. He followed this with a hard right but against all odds, Leites managed to get back to his feet...

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IMPROVE YOUR GAME part two By James Watling o here we are, pt 2 of how to improve your ‘game’. Last month the topic was improving power with the use of technique as part of a ‘power equation’ which is speed x strength = power + (technique).

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Let’s now look at the ‘strength ‘part and how to improve this!

When we say strength this doesn’t just mean improving the size of the muscle, which is certainly no way to mark person’s actual strength (let alone power!!). Body builders as an example may look incredibly strong but this is not always the case!

So we need to improve ‘active’ muscle size combined with tendon and ligament strength, which is a product of correct resistance train-

ing. I believe that when you train to lift weights, in order to increase strength, your focus should be primarily on just that and not necessarily on speed of movement, which will be the topic of next month’s article.

What is the most effective way of increasing your body strength?

It is my opinion that a correct resistance or weight training programme is potentially not only just the most effective but also the most productive method too!

What we’re trying to achieve is to improve strength without the addition of ‘unusable muscle’, that is to say unwanted ‘bulk’. Let’s take a professional bodybuilder’s physique as an example of extreme muscle mass on a human body. I think it’s fair to say that with

all that extra muscle pro bodybuilders may not be the most athletic of athletes and certainly all that excess would not help you with the martial arts! On the other hand what of those who may think that lifting weights will lead to excess bulk, that will hamper their martial arts, and worry about the classic fear of becoming ‘muscle-bound’.

Well here are the only two ways you’re going to get that way!

Firstly, genetics, you were already born with the ability to gain large amounts of muscle, including higher than normal testosterone levels, excellent recovery ability, and high percentage of the right types of muscle fibres, long muscle bellies, naturally wide shoulders with a small waist and the list goes on!

Lat Pulldowns

JAMES WATLING COLUMN Page 41

Secondly, pharmaceuticals, that old chestnut... steroids! (including drugs such as insulin, testosterone, etc. See Combat magazine this month for the low down on steroid use) The fact is even someone with inferior genetics will dramatically increase their muscle size and strength with the use of these drugs at a potential cost to their health, leaving out the legal and moral issues.

That being said, anyone can increase lean muscle size and decrease body fat thereby potentially increasing athletic performance.

The next step is to now to design a correct muscle/strength programme. Before we look at this, however, I would like to add that too much resistance (weight training when done in conjunction with other exercises such as running, cycling, boxing and of course mixed martial arts, may lead to overtraining resulting in a loss of strength, the complete opposite of what you’re trying to achieve. It is for this reason that only two days a week should be dedicated to ‘resistance ‘ work which should be reduced down to one if you find the two days too much (For a complete guide to recovery from exercise see ‘fighters’ issue- May 2008)

WEIGHTS PROGRAMME For a complete guide as to how to perform exercises see future issues of fighters.

Day 1: Chest/Back/Abs CHEST Incline Barbell bench-press 3 sets of 1215reps Chest dips 3 sets of 12-15 reps Press ups 2 sets to failure!

BACK Dumbbell Rows 3 sets of 12-15 reps Lateral pull downs 3 sets of 12-15 reps Close-grip chins 2 sets to failure ABDOMINALS Crunches 2 sets of 25-50 reps Reverse crunches 2 sets of 25-50 reps DAY 2 Legs/Arms/Shoulders/Legs Squats 3 sets of 15-20 Leg extensions 2 sets of 15-20reps Leg-curls 2 sets of 15-20 reps Calf raises 3 sets of 15-20 reps ARMS Barbell Curls 2 sets of 12-15 reps Triceps dips 2 sets of Max Reps!

SHOULDERS Barbell presses 2 sets of 12-15 reps Upright rows 2 sets of 12-15 reps

Try to perform the last set of each exercise to maximum intensity pushing to use a higher weight but with perfect form! It is no use lifting too heavy weights only for an injury to occur -so lift carefully!

Straight arm pushdowns

SUPPLEMENTS! Here is a list of some essential sports supplements to assist in building strength and improving recovery.

When used correctly supplements are of tremendous benefit to the martial artist - to increase strength and recovery - here is a list of what to use and how to use them!

Iso whey protein /weight gainer - whey protein is the most easily absorbed protein’form ‘and is also used in high quality weight gainers which also include carbohydrates.

These will give you the required ‘building blocks ‘to repair and strengthen damaged muscle tissue from exercise.

Use- one serving twice daily morning and after workout Creatine monohydrate/ creatine transport systemCreatine monohydrate is what I call a ‘power’ supplement in that it allows your muscles to contract more effectively and efficiently thereby allowing you to perform more repetitions with potentially greater weights, thereby increasing lean muscle mass.Sometimes the creatine may be mixed together with simple carbohydrates and alpha lipoic acid to improve absorption.

Use- 10gramns (usually 2 heaped teaspoons) daily for first 2 weeks -then maintain 5gramns daily for 6weeks thereafter.

Z.M.A /Tribulus Zma is a form of vitamin/mineral compound combining with a form of amino acids, which leads to muscle recovery, and strength gains- tribulus is a natural herb that allows the body to naturally release testosterone therefore increasing lean muscle tissue and potentially reducing body fat.

Use- 1 serving zma/ 1 serving tribulus(500mg)taken last thing before bed L-glutamine L-glutamine reduces stress on the bodies nervous system and may also act as a ‘cell volumanator’, similar to creatine, meaning it may help to push fluid into the muscle tissue. Also l-glutamine may also naturally increase the body’s growth -hormone levels again leading to increased lean muscle growth and body fat reduction.

Use- 3-5gramns taken last thing before bed.

TO SUMMARISE By putting all of the above together you can expect to see an increase in body strength and lean muscle tissue, a reduction in body-fat leading to an increase in athletic performance.

In a future article I am going to discuss injury prevention and recovery from an injury with the use of supplements.

James Watling- NCFE/BNCA - sports nutritionist/ full contact fighter - for more information on supplements visit www.sport-sense.co.uk Next month’s column- how to improve speed.

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BENNY ‘THE JET’ URQUIDEZ Page 43

Benny ‘The Jet’

Urquidez

By Cris Janson-Piers

I have interviewed many a great sportsperson during my time in being involved within the media but Sunday 25th of May 2008 out in New Mills near Manchester will be one which will remain in my memories for a long time for many reasons.

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The ones that are in the arts come to see and learn the different lifestyles within the arts. Others that have already been In the arts come to me for their dream, which is to take it on the screen, so I have stunt guys to take it further and do stunt work with me, but what I actually teach is stunt acting, because stunt men and women are a “dime a dozen”, you know everybody is a stunt man or woman, there are so many of them. So I say to be unique if you are going to study under me I will teach you to be a stunt actor, doing your own stunts and that way they are unique, because a good stunt person who can act is a diamond, so when they do follow me they are very serious and they want to make a living out of it, so because of this they will come to me from all over the world.

Tell us more about the famous “Jet Centre”

elow is an interview conducted with the great Benny “The Jet” Urquidez in which he had me totally entranced and the enthusiasm and belief he had he radiated so strongly he has to be one of the greatest inspirations to any martial artist whatever their style.

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Hiya Benny it’s great to have you here in the UK along with your wife Sara and daughter Monique who I remember as a little girl training with you on your fundamental videos of many years ago! It’s a great honour for me to be conducting this interview.

We are moving the Jet centre, we are working on the internal side of the arts as I said, my wife and I have been working internally for quite some years now and we are breaking away from the centre.

The Jet centre was designed to build the sport of kickboxing, it was designed for warriors from around the world to come and learn kickboxing and it became the hub. There was really only one place to learn a system, because most people don’t teach in a system, because they don’t understand the system they go out a kick a bag and go out there with sheer love only.

But I teach a system, now we have come to a point where to me the Jet centre is in the past and we concentrate on internal training this is about how you deal with your emotions, your anger, your fears, your anxiety and how you deal with them when you are being attacked and when the moment your being threatened and how you deal with it, internal training is about going deeper, different levels different frequencies and how you feel about it.

Thank you its great to be here and it’s a pleasure!

I believe you are over here in the UK conducting a series of seminars, do you have personal students within Great Britain also, do people follow you on a personal basis?

Lee Charles is the man that I have been working with pretty closely and there are some others that come from the UK to my gym in the States to work out, but they only come to learn certain parts of Ukidokan and then they take off and you don’t see them again, they take what they want and leave what they don’t want, but Lee was the only one that followed me and followed my internal training and how it works.

So does he teach along side the system or does he teach your system solely within this country?

No he actually trains with me and he collects knowledge. When he first came over to the States he had a chance to see a different understanding, because you see there are outer ways, inner ways and middle ways of doing the same technique, whilst he has been working outer (external), for a long time with his instructors, he came to me and I was teaching Ukidokan which means the way of life teaching the internal, so he had a chance to see exactly what me and my wife were teaching and he had a chance to find it was a little bit different and see that this was a different approach to the art, and from that point on he had a chance to follow and he came back to the UK and brought me over. I have a big following out here from when I actually competed in the UK and so every time some one knows I’m over here they come back to see me, train and move on with the times.

Being not only a great martial artist but also a film star and stunt man do you get people come over just for martial arts or do you get them coming over for film and stunt training also? Is that something you cater for within your centres?

We are working on something at the moment but I can’t really talk about it right now but it’s going to be a centre where people can come to learn, it’s almost like everyone is on a journey to find themselves and this is what the centre will be.

You have mentioned your wife, do you work together or are there things that your wife deals with of which you do not?

We both work internal training but, my wife Sara “Eagle Woman” Urquidez comes from a linage of healers and is descended from Geronimo and Geronimos sister being Saras great, great grandmother.

Because we are both from a Native American background that is why we teach a lot internally, so we would say Sara would be a medicine woman and does shamanic healing she also does psychic surgery. I am a re-programmer its almost like your mind and body has memories of every person that cheated you, hurt you, lied to you in some way, what I do is re-programme what you call your internal line up, mentally physically and spiritually. If you don’t like the way you feel change the way you think. A bit like your lap top, if it messes up, turn it of and back on again and it resets itself. So we do work hand in hand in the arts, so if you really what to say what my wife and I do it is teach the art of war, mental warfare, physical warfare spiritual warfare, character warfare, all dealing with the frequencies of energies.

So with that being said are you also a religious person?

No I am not religious, my wife and I are spiritual, religion has been killing each other for centuries and every time you mention religion and politics it is very sensitive and people are ready to die for it. We are not about religion we are about teaching people the spiritual walk that’s an awaking to what your doing here on Earth...

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Julie Kitchen & Kerry Louise The Rivalry is only in the Ring!

By Cris Janson-Piers

It may seem quiet strange to see The two top contenders in the same weight category in the independent British Kickboxing rankings not only stood next to each other but both wearing the shorts of just 1 gym, namely Touch Gloves of Penzance, however there is more than 1 reason for this.

World Champions Julie Kitchen of Touch Gloves Penzance and Kerry-Louise of Falcon Fight Academy Sheffield are ranked No 1 and Number 2 respectively in Britain had arranged this training session after Kerry-Louise had gained more muscular mass during 2007, which now places her officially in the next weight category above Julie.

Kerry-Louise has already made the challenge to Racheal Ealy who holds the number 1 spot in the rankings in the weight above who she has beaten on a previous outing.

Julie at a good five foot 10 resembles Rachel Ealys height, should she take the fight and with Kerry-Louise at just five foot three the practice for this rangy fighter will be perfect.

Julies next opponent Dutch girl, Germaine De Randamie is one of the strongest pound for pound fighters at World level, this fight is to be hosted in Jamaica, but Julie is unfased by that and that is where KerryLouise comes in as she is also undoubtedly also a very strong all rounder and she too is in preparation for her next WAKO Pro World title fight against the Maori Georgie Tutaki, the WAKO New Zealand Champion.

Coaches Nathan Kitchen and Cris JansonPiers spoke about the possibility of the Girls training together for the mutual benefits and it was decided this was a really good idea and Kerry-Louise was invited down to Penzance for 4 days solid training. Nathan Kitchen has worked really hard over the last year developing not only his fight camp but has also built “Ultimate Goals” a state of the art gymnasium attached to Touch Gloves.

With all the facilities including free weights, machines, sauna and even a full size fight cage. The well equipped fight studio with endless rows of bags and a nice sized ring was going to provide all the training the girls needed.

Nathan teaches mainly Thai boxing at Touch Gloves but also produces some excellent kickboxers such as Sean Bowman and Mike Nudd to just name a couple.

Again another reason why the mutual interest was there as Kerry-Louise is looking at going into K1 shortly and with Julie being a World Champion within the K1 format also she couldn’t receive any better training and tuition.

So the training days were carefully structured as not to waist any valuable time and were split between rigorous sparring sessions which included the top hitting guys also and much fitness and stamina work on the pads and bags.

The first day the girls sparred was very strange as the difference in styles was so evident, however this was a really good thing as both had to think on their feet and adapt

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Training together has produced mutual benefits for all Cris Janson-Piers

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KEEPING BAD COMPANY meets richard smith

bad company supremo s any reader that’s seen my previous articles will know, I’ve been looking at the way that the various striking arts use impact training to increase the efficiency of techniques. This search has brought me to a refurbished former Cinema in Leeds, which is now the home of Bad Company, probably the most successful Thai Boxing gym in the UK. I’ve come here to see how the Muay Thai exponents train. but of course, there’s no way that I could pass up a chance to have a chat with the gym owner and chief instructor at Bad Company, Richard Smith.

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I arrived early. The main class hadn’t even started, but as soon as I walked through the doors, I could hear the relentless pounding of powerful blows being delivered against something. Someone was doing some serious impact training. I followed the sound of the blows to an anteroom and came upon a group of Thai Boxers taking their turn at training with the Thai pads. The focus and determination was impressive, to say the least. What also struck me (and continued to do so throughout my visit), was the friendliness and openness of everyone present. Within seconds of talking to the first person who had a moment to

spare, I was made welcome, introduced to the person who was overseeing the session and invited to watch the training until Richard arrived.

When he did arrive, he led me to a quieter area of the gym where we could talk. I’d never met the man before, but straight away I was made to feel comfortable with the corny old Dictaphone joke. (“Richard, do you mind if I use my Dictaphone?” “No, use your finger like everyone else does!”)

Richard, how and when did you first become interested in Muay Thai?

RICHARD SMITH: Well, when I first started, I didn’t really know what Muay Thai was. In about 1986 I had a friend who did what he just called Kickboxing. He had a punch bag in his back garden and he used to show me bits of stuff. We’d train on it until our knuckles bled, but we didn’t really know what we were doing. Then I saw an advert for a club that had opened near where I lived in Chesterfield that said something about: “The devastating art of Thai Boxing.” I just thought

By Richard Hinchliffe

www.badcompany.co.uk

KEEPING BAD COMPANY Page 55

‘I’ll go and have a look at that!’ From the first session, I just loved it straight away and never missed a session for about two years.

So, how long has Bad Company been going and can you tell us a bit about the history of the gym?

RICHARD SMITH: I started the gym in about 1992. I’d been training in Chesterfield with Mike Zamates, and had started travelling over to Manchester to train at Master Toddy’s gym under him and his brother, Master A. Then I moved up to Leeds because of work commitments. There was just nowhere to train at the time. I started going to a boxing gym, but what I really wanted was to find somewhere for Thai boxing. I couldn’t find anywhere, so I just started my own gym. At the time, we were just in a church hall two nights a week. I didn’t get this place until about ten years ago.

Can you tell us about some of your fighter’s achievements, past and present?

RICHARD SMITH: Well, we’ve always been a fighting gym and we’ve produced some well-known fighters. My first sort of batch of fighters included Lisa Houghton, who’s now my wife, Lisa Houghton-Smith. Lisa was my first World champion. She’s won two World titles. I won a European, a Commonwealth and three British titles.

Lisa and I have fought all over the world. We’ve been to Canada, Croatia, Russia and Japan. We’ve fought in Thailand lots of times, and have had lots of really good experiences through Thai boxing.

We’ve produced some good and well known domestic fighters as well. In the last 5 years or so, we’ve produced another batch of champions: Liam Harrison has got three World titles, Richard Caddon has a World title and Andy Howson holds a couple of Intercontinental titles. Although I say it myself, we’ve probably got the best stable of fighters in the UK at the moment. Not many people would disagree with that.

When I first became interested in Martial Arts, most towns had a choice of Karate, Judo or very occasionally, Kung Fu. Why do you think there’s been such an explosion in the popularity of Muay Thai over the last ten years or so?

RICHARD SMITH: Well, when I first started Muay Thai, practically nobody had ever heard of it. If you told someone that you did Thai boxing, you had to explain to them what it was. Of course everyone knows what it is now but you still don’t get to see much of it on TV or whatever. Media-wise, it’s still not that big yet, but at grass roots level, as you say, there’s four or five gyms in every major city. It’s certainly more popular in terms of actual numbers of participants than boxing.

I think that it’s so popular because it’s such a good way of keeping fit. It attacks it from every angle: cardio-vascular fitness, strength, flexibility and co-ordination, in fact every aspect of fitness. From a spectator’s point of view, it’s a relatively simple style and it’s quite easy to see what exponents are doing to one another. It’s fairly easy to get quite good at, though very, very difficult to get very good at.

If you give somebody six months to a year’s training, they can kind of get it.

Not all bad company students want to fight Thai rules In many martial arts, certainly most of the clubs that I’ve taught, most people that come through the door come with self-defence in mind. From what I’ve seen of it, Muay Thai is a very practical martial art as well as being a popular sport. What reason do most people cite for wanting to learn Muay Thai?

RICHARD SMITH: The majority of people come because they want to keep fit. I don’t think they really come for self-defence. I certainly don’t even use the words ‘self-defence’ when I teach. It can be very dangerous if you start telling people they can use it on the street. You’ll either get people going out abusing it or you get people thinking that they can look after themselves even if they can’t. If somebody rings me and says that they want to do some kind of self-defence, I make a point of saying that we don’t teach self-defence. I’ll teach you something that might have some side benefits in that area, but if you want to do something that’s specifically self-defence, go find yourself a self-defence class.

Yeah, I noticed that you don’t advertise in that way, whereas a lot of Karate and Judo clubs actually use self-defence on their posters as their main selling point.

RICHARD SMITH: Well, I have to say that if I was going to learn something for self-defence, it would probably be something like Judo or Jiu Jitsu. If you’re standing in the middle of a pub or in the street, it’s alright being able to kick and punch, but when there’s fifty people crammed in around you and you’re facing somebody with an ashtray in his hand and he’s going to hit you in the face with it, well, Muay Thai might help...

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OLYMPIA

DREAM.2 Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 1st Round

Success for Sakuraba in Saitama

Written by Monty DiPietro.

Photos courtesy of FEG

Sakuraba vs Andrews

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AITAMA, April 29, 2008 — Veteran mixed martial arts fighter Sakuraba weathered an early challenge then rallied to beat Andrews Nakahara by submission tonight at the DREAM.2 Middleweight Grand Prix 1st Round.

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Kang vs Mousasi

Held at the Saitama Super Arena, the event opened this year’s DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix series.

Fourteen of the world’s top mixed martial arts fighters battled for the right to advance to a final elimination tournament on June 15 and a chance for a spot in September’s DREAM Middleweight GP Final. Bouts were conducted under Official DREAM Rules, (1stR x 10 min, 2ndR x 5min) in an 84 kg/185 lbs weight class.

SAKURABA VS NAKAHARA The Main Event featured Japanese living legend Kazushi Sakuraba, who took on Brazilian Andrews Nakahara, a kyokushin fighter 14 years his junior.

From the start, Sakuraba threw a couple of kicks then dove in, looking for in the leg takedown. Nakahara however was determined to remain on his feet, and managed to do so with some fancy footwork. Sakuraba made further takedown attempts soon afterward, but again and again was unsuccessful. Nakahara meanwhile was scoring points with kicks.

Finally, Sakuraba got the fight onto the mat, where he assumed a side mount.

The veteran threw in punches and knees to the body and head before twisting round for a rear mount. Sakuraba now brought the arm round for the rear naked choke and the win by submission.

“I’m exhausted,” said Sakuraba afterward. “Nakahara has good balance, and he’s still young, with a bit more practice of sure he’ll be a great fighter. I’m glad it could beat him today, before he gets a lot better!”

KANG VS MOUSASI Popular Canadian fighter Denis Kang met Dutch boxer Gegard Mousasi in the card’s highly-anticipated penultimate bout.

An aggressive Kang threw the first punches, connecting with a left, before diving in for the leg takedown and side mount. The Canadian could not get

much going and soon was back on his feet, where he passed Mousasi’s bicycle kicks with punches. The Dutch fighter, however, got hold of an arm and pulled Kang’s head down, brought up the legs and in no time had a triangle choke and the tapout win.

“My game plan was not to be on my back, so it was dangerous,” said Mousasi in his post-bout interview, “but if there’s one submission I’m good at its the triangle choke, and luckily I was able to get it.”

TAMURA VS FUNAKI Japanese pro-wrestlers Kiyoshi Tamura and Masakatsu Funaki went at it hard.

Tamura vs Funaki

Nothing but strikes in this one, Tamura on the receiving end of a hard kick to the chin before delivering some payback with his fists. Tamura belted Funaki soundly several times to put him in serious trouble, then knocked the wobbly fighter to the canvas, leapt atop and began to hammer at the face. A halfdozen blows went unanswered before Tamura turned and looked at the referee, who came in to stop the beating...

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