Fighters Only

Issue 019

November 2006

The Olympia, Liverpool

September 3^rd 2006

Written and photographed by Hywel Teague

One very notable MMA team currently dominates the UK welterweight scene. The Nottingham collective known as Team Rough House hold and have held no less than four welterweight titles between them, being champions in every major promotion in the country. So just what is it (apart from a bulging trophy cabinet) that Paul Daley, Dan Hardy and Jim Wallhead have got? A team with a great work ethic, quality fulltime facilities and desire, that’s what.

But they aren’t the only team out there making waves. The Liverpool based Next Generation (yes, they’re affiliated with UFC and PRIDE veteran Chris Brennan) have been building up a solid team for some time now, and this show is something of a proving ground for their young fighters. The local promoters get these ticket sellers in and match them up with opponents from across Europe. The two fighters to have enjoyed the most success on this event are Jason Tan and Terry Etim, two of the brightest prospects in UK MMA.

A welterweight war!

In the most exciting welterweight fight I have seen all year, local boy Jason Tan went toe-to-toe with the tough Jim Wallhead for a full three rounds. Neither fighter gave an inch in this terrific clash, leaving the crowd absolutely blown away by the display of skill and determination.

Looking lean and athletic at 77kgs (he has previously fought at higher weights) Tan is known as a submission fighter. His jiu-jitsu skills have won him more than a few matches, but his stand up skills shouldn’t be overlooked. Training out of one of Liverpool’s (if not the country’s) top Thai gyms, he has the total skillset required to compete at the highest level.

Wallhead, a former British-level judo player, has a reputation as a beast, bashing opponents with his improving striking skills on his feet, and mauling them on the mat with his ferocious ground and pound and gnarly submissions.

Pre-fight picks from insiders and fans were evenly balanced, and I decided to sit clearly on the fence on this one. I had a feeling it was going to be too close to call. I was right.

There was to be no feeling out process in this fight – within 30 seconds the first of what was to be many exchanges had passed. Tan was looking to land his big overhand right, a punch he has had much success with, while Wallhead showed great composure and a much improved boxing game by returning every punch with three or four of his own. The combinations were clean, crisp and effective enough to give Tan second thoughts about trading with a man considered to be a grappler.

Switching strategy, Tan started attacking the heavily strapped left leg of Wallhead with some vicious low kicks. Prepared for such an assault, Wallhead would fire a straight right every time a kick came his way, one of which unbalanced Tan and put him on his rear. Was it a knockdown? Hard to say – Tan’s chin is good enough that it could have been no more than swat from a kitten, but there was real venom behind Wallhead’s punches and my thoughts were fixedly on how the hell Tan got back up.

Wallhead stuffed the first of many shoots with ease, and began to drop the bombs he is so noted for, but Wallhead was back out and on his feet in no time. Aware of Tan’s submission skills, he wasn’t prepared to sit in the guard and wait to get triangled. Forcing Tan up, he made it clear he wanted this fight on his terms.

And so it went, for three rounds, with hardly a break in the action. Tan would shoot over and over again, but kept having his takedowns denied. Wallhead would fire off a salvo of shots that would rattle Tan’s noggin, Tan would return with punches and kicks, and so on. The only moments of respite would be in the brief moments in clinch. Late in the third round Tan was on bottom and was hunting for triangles, three or four of which seemed close to the mark, but Wallhead’s impeccable defence kept him out of trouble and ahead on the scorecards. A split decision gave it to Wallhead, though in my notes I scored it 10-9 to Wallhead in each round. Another welterweight title goes back to Nottingham, and Wallhead goes off to Europe later this year (he will be competing in Slovenia in October before fighting again in December in the UK). A point of interest is that Tan later claims he blew his knee out attempting his very first takedown. He faces three month’s rehab and training before fighting again.

Etim tested but stays on top

Undefeated lightweight Terry Etim faced his first real test in plucky Northern Irish fighter Greg Loughran. The Scouser Etim has been tearing his way through the ranks of late, and had the dubious honour of having one of his fights refereed by Mike Tyson. To be honest though, we’ve never really seen him put under pressure, with only one of his fights to date having gone past the first round (it was his debut). Loughran, a experienced competitor with 10 fights over a four-year career proved to be just the test Etim needed.

Etim passed with flying colours. Letting his razor sharp striking go in the first round, Etim kicked Loughran from one side of the cage to the other, making it look like a blatant mismatch. The Irishman was assaulted by a mixture of strikes both high and low, until he managed to get Etim on his back. Some strong ground and pound frustrated Etim and marked up his face, and for the first time in his short career Etim looked like he was actually in a fight.

A stern talking to from his corner between rounds got Etim back on track, and within no time he had taken Loughran down, mounted him and transitioned to the back. A rear naked choke forced a tap, and took Etim to 6-0-0, all finished inside the distance.

Lightweights punching above their weight

In some excellent action among the lighter weights, Ronnie Mann (70kg, 6-0-1) stopped the game Lithuanian Dennis Benavicious in the first round with strikes from mount. Dominating every range, he took out his foe with a level of skill testament to his training at the highly rated Trojan Freefighters.

Featherweight Vaughn Harvey, also of the Trojan association but from a different camp, blew away the bewildered Rob Molyneux with a barrage of strikes, while lightweight fighter Peter Irving, back in the country after being deported from the USA, took on the massive middleweight Kev Axworthy on ultra-late notice and submitted him with a textbook display of jiu-jitsu.