Issue 199
August 2023
Dagenham-based featherweight Jimmy Quinn may not be a household name in MMA, but he’s already performed on the big stage, albeit in a very different discipline. Simon Head chatted with him during training camp in California and learned about the young Englishman's unique path to professional MMA.
Jimmy Quinn is a 1-1 UK prospect who has been training as part of the MMA Fight Academy, a special team of young prospects who have made it through international tryouts to form a new collective of fighters from around the world who live and train together in San Diego, California. Along with his new teammates, Quinn’s journey has been featured international sports channel Mola TV.
It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any young aspiring fighter, and Quinn said he feels privileged to be able to transition to the professional ranks via this initiative.
“It’s everything,” he told Fighters Only.
“For my pro debut, to be living a professional fighter’s life, without the worries of money, without the worries of prepping your food, where to train. Cage Warriors and Mola TV are covering everything, and I’m very grateful for that. They’re doing something good.”
Quinn is one of 20 prospects in the team, who have been sharpening each other's skills in California ahead of their respective bouts. But, while every fighter has their own tale to tell about their journey in the sport so far, Quinn’s is a path less traveled. In fact, his is pretty unique.
It was only a few years ago that Quinn was pursuing a very different path, as a professional dancer. He was part of the dance troupe “Diversity,” who won “Britain’s Got Talent” in 2009 and became a national phenomenon in the process.
But, while things were all progressing well in his dancing career, Quinn watched a video of MMA’s biggest star and everything changed.
“I was with Diversity every single day, and in the lead-up to Mayweather-McGregor, not too long ago, I came across a video on Facebook. It was a Conor McGregor motivational video, and I was just drawn to it and taken by it. I started getting up and shadowboxing a bit!
“I knew I couldn’t fight. And I don’t know why, but something clicked. I had a vision and I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to drop everything and do this!’ It was strange, because I literally couldn’t fight!
“I had no experience – literally none, other than a bit of judo as a kid. I was maybe about 10 or 11, and I did it for about a year. I didn’t really take anything in other than dancing, because that’s all I cared about. It’s similar to now – all I care about now is MMA. It’s all I think about from the moment I wake up. I’m obsessed with it.”
Once he realized what he wanted to do, he had to tell his friends in Diversity, and a phone call with the troupe’s leader Ashley Banjo brought an unexpected response.
“Do you know what? They were all very supportive of it,” he said.
“They’re all good people. They’ve all got positive energy and great vibes. I remember Ashley (Banjo) ringing me up because I hadn’t turned up to the studio for about six weeks. He was like, ‘What’s going on? Are you OK?’ and I told him that I wanted to fight.
“He was like, ‘Are you sure?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah. I’m going to do fighting. I want to be an MMA fighter.’ And he was like, ‘Best of luck! The door is always open,’ and he was very supportive, which was a real surprise, you know?”
Determined to make a success of his new direction, Quinn hit the gym and started to bulk up his frame, while watching McGregor videos to help give him the fighter mindset he thought he needed. But, when he walked into an MMA gym for the first time, any thoughts of him billi-strutting his way through his training partners was soon brought down to earth in a hurry.
“From watching those McGregor videos, I sort of tried to carry a familiar persona,” he laughed.
“Everyone goes into the gym and they think they’re the man at first, but I was humbled real quick! I was going to the gym, so I started to put on a bit of muscle and I thought was going to be strong. But coach Mike Russell put me in my first jiu-jitsu lesson and put me with a skinny white belt. I think he had two stripes.
“I remember thinking, ‘I’m going to throw this guy about. Why did they put me with him?’ and I got humbled very quickly! I got tapped about eight times! It humbled me, and I thought, ‘You know what? This is serious business. You need to not overlook anyone.’”
From that moment, Quinn was completely hooked, and he’s dedicated his life to learning on the mats and sharpening his skills before taking on his first bout as an amateur in July 2019, a fight he won via arm-triangle choke in the second round.
Quinn then followed up that success two more stoppage victories, a first-round TKO, followed by a second-round guillotine choke, as he made a flying start to his amateur career. Things then went to a new level when he captured his first title, the Cage Warriors Academy South East bantamweight title, with a first-round TKO in early 2022.
His title reign lasted just one fight as he was submitted in his very next fight, but he regained championship gold in three months later when he knocked out 6-2 prospect Kashaan Khan with a spinning heel kick to capture the interim title last October.
He then went to the tryouts for the MMA Fight Academy and impressed Cage Warriors president Graham Boylan, plus coaches Marc Fiore and Jake Buracker, to earn a spot on the team in San Diego. Since then, it’s been non-stop training and development, with three sessions a day, five days a week. It’s a dream come true for Quinn, who is both excited and determined in equal measure as he gets ready for his professional debut on July 1.
“People work to get to this spot. To have my professional debut (on Cage Warriors) is unreal,” he enthused.
“I’m ready to showcase my ability, too. It’s the best platform in Europe, and I know there’s some big stars and big names that have come from here, but yeah, I’m ready for it all. This is my art and I’m ready to paint on that professional canvas.”
And, when the moment comes to make the walk for his professional debut, Quinn will be ready to do something he’s gotten used to doing over the years, entertain the crowd.
“I love performing in front of people. From back in the day, in Diversity, you get the adrenaline and the feeling of it,” he said.
“With fighting, to knock someone out and for everyone see that, and to know you’ve got a highlight reel moment, that’s what it’s about. I love that.
“For my professional debut, I’m gonna bring a bit of flavor, spice things up, and put on a show and a dominant performance. I want to be out of there quick, to be honest. I want to get a nice little flashy knockout, I’m gonna throw a few flashy things. Everyone should be prepared for that. All of my supporters back home know I’m the guy to do that flashy stuff, so I’ll pull something out of the bag.
“My dream debut would be to just get a good finish, because it’s early stages. At this level you should be putting people away. At this stage of my career, in the first couple of fights I should be making a statement and making it clear that I’m serious.”
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