Issue 024
April 2007
Our postbag and our inbox have been pretty full, more so than they have been for a while. We received letters and emails from around the world, but unfortunately could only publish the following three due to space issues!
LETTER OF THE MONTH
Dear Fighters Only,
First off I just want to say thank you for bringing this magazine out. It has brought so much pleasure to me inside this prison cell. The reason I write apart from saying thank you is I have taken so much from the magazine. I’ve been in prison now for nearly 3 yrs and have often thought about what I am going to do on release, and now I know and it is going to be something constructive, my mate has offered me a job in his boxing gym – but I also want something to get my teeth stuck into. And this sort of fighting is going to be it. I’m from Stoke-on-Trent and would like to know if you can give me some information on any clubs in my area? (Please). They say being in prison is about change. To be honest it doesn’t do anything in that way of things, so I have to make my own choices now. If you could take time to reply to this letter I would be very grateful. I am 29 and stand at 5ft 11 and weigh 15st 6 pound, I have a healthy outlook towards life and a very athletic build to go with it. This is my last chance to try and do something with my life. I have had a shady past due to the path I have chose, but now my future has to be different. Well thank you very much for taking time out to read this letter.
All my best. And once again thank you.
Tommy Welch, HMP Everthorpe, East Yorkshire
P.S. Any info you could send would go a long way. I have told so many lads about this mag and it has gone down well.
Tommy, thanks for the letter and wow, what we can say? It has been said MMA can turn around someone’s life, and it looks like you could be proof of that one day. If you’re going back to Stoke then check out Ross ‘The Gladiator’ Pointon’s gym on Station Road in Longport, Stoke. You can find details at www.gladiatormma.co.uk. Good luck, and let us know when you get out, we’ll send you a FO t-shirt.
Dear Fighters Only,
The article in March’s issue about grappling as a way of life was fantastic. So much of it had me smiling with recognition. I’ve only been training in Jiu Jitsu for 6 months with Cliff Pollard in Middlesbrough, but like the article said… It just takes over haha. My friend was always saying to me “yeah we’ll go this night, we’ll go that night” and we never went. Anyhow I went alone one Sunday morning and that was it, hooked completely. I hardly miss a session (maybe 3 or 4 in 6 months) and if I do I’m wondering what they’re learning that I’m not.
There was also a mention about the girlfriend getting the hump about wanting to roll around the floor for hours with fellas, well she has mentioned that too haha. As for changing your life, my life quality is so much better, I don’t drink the night before I train. My missus lives in the next street to the gym, so we are getting on better and I lost a stone and a half of fat. So all in all I loved that article. I couldn’t see who wrote it though. So if you could just pass on the compliments to the writer. Absolutely fantastic mag, cover to cover.
Cheers
Mally Day, Middlesbrough via email
Dear Fighters Only,
I am a Chicago police officer and lover of MMA. I came across your magazine in a Borders book store some time back and have completely fallen in love with it, reading it cover to cover. Fighters Only is the only publication that covers all aspects of the MMA scene, and as usual if you want to know what’s going on in the rest of the world, ya have to look to the Brits to deliver!
Thanks for your time,
Sean Crotty, via email
FROM THE FORUMS
So I met GSP at GNC today and he freaking was flirting with my girlfriend! I was a lil pissed but at the same time a lil happy, because that meant my girlfriend must be pretty hot. Everybody got to talk to him for like two seconds but she was talking to him for like 5 minutes! WTF am I going to do beat him up?
Posted by Headkicker84
[About Randy Couture] He is doing exactly what Ken Shamrock did when it came down to his last two fights with Tito........only reason for the fights were to increase the size of his bank account. This is exactly what Randy is doing, saying screw it when it comes to his legacy and saying “yes” to the money! Breaks my heart to see him SELL OUT!!!!
Posted by Stoneish
Atheist fighters? I’ve noted before on this forum the number of excellent Christian MMA fighters out there. Can anyone think of any atheist fighters instead? The only one I know of is Khalib Starnes and no one much cares about him.
Posted by Faith Fighter
Which MMA fighters are ‘genetic freaks’ and what does this generally mean? And which fighters have done well despite having shitty genetics? Tim Sylvia for sure. How important are genetics and natural athleticism in the top level of MMA?
Posted by Re-Animator
