Issue 091
August 2012
British gypsy John Maguire spent six years and 21 fights becoming an overnight UFC sensation – should we ever have doubted him? He is known as ‘The One’...
Twitter has become an integral part of mixed martial arts. Following the UFC’s announcement at the start of 2011 that they’d be rewarding fighters for their social networking prowess with cash bonuses, smart phones worldwide have been alive and kicking with trash talk, call-outs, breaking news and even event ticket giveaways. And, for the uninitiated, when something gets repeated over and over again on Twitter the words will ‘trend’ as one of the hottest topics in society.
Flash back to April’s UFC on Fuel TV card in Sweden, then, and one phrase started trending even before the man who fashioned it stepped into the Octagon… #gypsyjiujitsu.
John Maguire, 18-3, is the grandmaster of gypsy jiu-jitsu. A genuine traveler, who after what feels like a lifetime plying his trade on the domestic UK circuit, debuted in the UFC with devastating results against Justin Edwards at UFC 138 in November and DaMarques Johnson in Stockholm.
“Before the fight I was waiting to go out backstage and I had a quick look on Facebook and Twitter and they both just blew up, I was getting hundreds of messages of support, and I just thought, ‘I cannot lose this.’ It just wasn’t happening,” reveals Maguire, when Fighters Only traveled to his home on a caravan site in England.
So what exactly is GJJ? “Gypsy jiu-jitsu is me, my brother, it’s our style. I could probably count the number of times I’ve worn a gi on one hand, I just train no-gi. And because I am a gypsy, a traveler, that’s where the name came from. And there are a lot of fakers out there in the UK, who say they are gypsies but aren’t, but I’m the real deal. I live on a site with my family and that’s me. It’s who I am.
“As regards to my grappling, I just have really good coaches and it’s always been something that I’ve enjoyed doing. It all started when I tapped a well-known black belt in a no-gi competition and from there gypsy jiu-jitsu was born. But I have no belts or anything like that. In fact, when people ask, I just say I have a pink belt in gypsy jiu-jitsu, as I like to wear pink when I fight.”
He adds: “I just have a natural talent for ground fighting. I’ve got a long record but I’ve actually only been fighting since 2006. I only started training in 2005 and, in fact, for my first four or five fights, up at middleweight, I was only training once a week. I didn’t run, ‘cos I hate running and still do now, I just went to one class a week, doing ground, and I just started winning. I was slamming guys and everything and it just clicked with me.
“Then some American wrestling guys came into my grappling gym in Cambridge and I was outwrestling these guys too. I was sweeping them and taking them down, former college wrestlers, and that got me thinking I just had a natural ground fighting style.
“Next thing I know I am tapping out jiu-jitsu black belts and everything. Suddenly on the grappling circuit in the UK I was being dubbed the BJ Penn of England, which was cool, but that’s all I did and it worked.
"I beat like 10 guys up at middleweight doing nothing but grappling. Then I ran into Tom Watson, who I gave a really good fight to until I broke my forearm. But yeah, I’ve always just loved to wrestle and been really comfortable doing it as well.
“Nowadays, of course, I do everything else as well. You can’t just be a one-trick pony, not when you’re with the UFC, so I box every week now too and I work on my kicking and everything. I go boxing with Steve Whitwell, from St Ives Boxing Academy, he’s a really good coach. Rob Olivier, of course. Jack Mason and my brother Tommy Maguire – those three guys are always in my corner.”
Maguire’s unanimous decision success against Edwards on his UFC debut, was topped only by his brilliant comment to commentator Joe Rogan in the Octagon after his arm was raised. “Are you real?” he asked the grizzly voiced UFC co-anchor, while sporting the type of grin mostly fashioned by one famous Cheshire cat. It was clearly the realization of a dream to be standing, victorious inside the world’s most competitive cage, and it seemingly hit Maguire like a ton of bricks once Rogan stepped to him with his microphone.
The Tsunami Gym fighter admits: “I never allowed myself to enjoy the thought of signing for the UFC, even in the build-up. It wasn’t until after the fight, the victory, that I accepted I was now a UFC fighter. I had to have that first fight first, and now it’s still kind of surreal – that I am fighting for the organization I’ve watched and loved for so long.
“I’ve seen every single UFC event. I mean, I am like a super-fan. I watch and read everything there is about UFC. Me and my brother, back on the site, we’ll stay up until all hours waiting and jumping around when the fights start. It was so surreal to be a part of it, even the weigh-in.
“And I think that showed when I got in there, that was actually the problem. People were saying I didn’t look it, but I was so nervous. I was shaking like a leaf and before I walked out I actually thought I was going to have a heart attack. Then, after he dropped me, it woke me up. Oh man, it would have been horrible if I would have lost. It would have killed me and I know I would have literally cried for six months, but I am just so glad I got the win and I am still here.”
Gypsy celebrations are the stuff of legend, if you believe to the dramatization of movies like Snatch at least, so were there a few drinks enjoyed back at Maguire’s traveler site when he finally made it home from his debut? “Yeah, we had a little celebration, but nothing too crazy,”
he offers.
“To be honest, I am just so proud to be the first UK gypsy ever to fight in the UFC. I kind of wanted to give some of the travelers out there the finger afterwards, let them doubters and critics know that I made it despite them, but I am too classy for that.
“But it was a good celebration. My caravan is surrounded by my close family. I’ve got one brother, a sister, and my mother is next door; my auntie is on the next plot over, and my sister the one after that.
“Then my uncle and auntie are on another plot, my other uncle and auntie on the one after that – pretty much all my relations live on my site. Then in town I have a ton more relatives too. But that’s just part of who I am. That family bond, it’s part of my upbringing and it’s my biggest value. I was brought up watching fighting, too, and I’ve always been a student of the game.”
And as for the future of gypsy jiu-jitsu, Maguire adds: “Well we’ll have to see, but I have high hopes. Before my last fight, I was backstage watching the monitors and I remember hearing Joe Rogan comment on how easily a lot of the British guys were being taken down. He was saying English guys can’t wrestle and will always struggle in the UFC and I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to show these guys.’ And even my corner team too were like, ‘Come on then, show them we can wrestle.’
“I knew Johnson had good stand-up, and his jiu-jitsu is really strong too – he’s got a nice belt to show for it. But once we were on the ground out there I was so comfortable. I always am on the ground. We both went for different finishes, he had really good hips if I’m honest, he was really attacking. But once he went for the kimura – my favorite move – and I let him have my arm. He fell for my trap. He tried to tighten it up, but I had him! I transitioned into an armbar, and he couldn’t tap quick enough.” Perhaps it’s time for the rest of the UK’s MMA scene to sign up to some gypsy jiu-jitsu.
IN JOE ROGAN'S WORDS
“The story of this fight was the excellent submission attempts and the excellent grappling control of John Maguire”
– After Maguire defeated Justin Edwards at UFC 138
