Club Facelift, the continued evolution

As 2009 gets underway, my efforts to develop the club continue to grow. The syllabus is taking shape and plans to hone the club identity are underway to give students a real team spirit.

Starting on Wednesday 18th March 2009, the club will move location to 'The Venue' in Park Hall giving a larger training area and more facilities including a gym, restaurant and bar!

Training sessions will be 7pm to 8.30pm on Sundays and Wednesdays with occasional extra Friday sessions.

Prices will be £30 a month for new members or £5 a session for pay-as-you-go students. This will allow for greater investmant in training equipment which is sorely needed!

Another year of MMA

Well that rounds off another year of Oswestry Freefighters. It's been a great year for the club with it's regular membership growing and a good show on the competition scene. Thank you all for your support!

The interclub grappling contest was fantastic and ran smoothly raising over £160 for the air ambulance. A special thanks to Geoff Moore for organising it and putting in a lot of his own time.

We start training again on Monday 5th January so come and work off that christmas dinner!

Wishing you all a Merry Xmas and a fantastic New Year!!

Interclub Challenge - Sunday 14th December 2008

Oswestry Freefighters and Elite Martial Arts are holding an interclub grappling contest to give students an enjoyable experience and raise some money for charity. £5 entrance fee will get everyone 2 fights at their weight and possibly more at openweight if time allows. Starting from knees with amateur MMA type rules but no striking.

AMMA - Birmingham - 30th November 2008

Morgan Nunns took on team Supreme's Richard Hall for the vacant lightweight belt.

This was a one round grappling match with Morgan mostly in top position after getting the takedown and Richard attacking for kneebars and toe-holds. Morgan regained position and went for an achilles lock which ended up with Richard getting top position to north-south and then twisting around into mount with a shoulder choke. He re-adjusted into side control tightening up the shoulder choke to get the tap with less than a minute to go. A good match up with HALL proving the better fighter on the day.

Kyushinkai MMA event - Saturday 15th November, Telford

Peter Richardson steps up and fights at this exciting local event in Telford under class C pro rules. Come and show your support. Doors open 5.30pm and tickets can be reserved via this websites email if you're quick for £20!

Directions to venue can be found at www.kyushinkai.com

RESULT - A very disappointing setup from Kyushinkai which saw very poor reffing. Despite the organisers' repeatedly stating that it was a show for amateur fighters who train twice a week to get some experience, it would appear to be a feeding ground for up and coming fighters to beat up some local amateurs. This might well prove entertaining for spectators but fighters beware!

Peter lost on decision after a display of poor sportsmanship by Daniel James who not only struck Peter after the ref had called a stop but dropped him with two blatant illegal knees to the head. The rounds also were conveniently short (about 2.5 mins instead of the supposed 4 mins) suiting the ground and pound game of JAMES ending it before he got tired and susceptible to Pete's excellent submission skills.

Andrew also got shafted after dominating his match they tried to disqualify him for a neck crank he had specifically been told was allowed in the rules meeting! His opponent refused to come out for round 2 after Andrew totally outclassed him in striking and grappling.

Well done to Pete and Andrew for their efforts, they both did well despite the unfair results.

'Gladiator School' 2nd November 2008 - Chester Racecourse

Morgan Nunns, Kev Tinsley and Chris Humphries have so far had opponents confirmed for this exciting MMA event in Chester. This is a high class event featuring up and coming fighters from the region and is a feeder event for the established 'Cage Gladiator' shows in Liverpool.

RESULT: A great performance by Team Freefighters made us all proud. After less than 6 months training Chris faced experienced grappler and intimidating figure of heavyweight Andy Melling. Andy was obviously psyched up and came at Chris with a barrage of punches and knees. Chris absorbed them all without being fazed and looked to be setting up a guillotine choke when he got taken down into mount. Andy rained down punches as Chris worked to escape. Seeing an opening Andy spun into an armbar which it appeared at first that Chris was working his way out of but it was locked in and the tap followed. A fantastic debut for Chris showing a true fighting spirit and tenacity which will take him far.

Kev Tinsley also had a monster of an opponent in Gary Waters who not only weighed in at 1.5Kg over but looked more like a middleweight than a lighweight. Unfazed, Kev neutralised his attacks starting with a straight knee and then tying him up in his guard. Kev continued to frustrate and dominate Gary into the second round finally finishing him off with a slick (and painful looking) omaplata. Fantastic effort!!

Morgan managed a unaninmous decision victory over the long legged Next Generation fighter Danny Sweeney. Despite his dangerous and very flexible legs and excellent guard, Morgan repeatedly took him down and controlled top position. Danny frustrated all attempts to finish with excellent defence and guard attacks.

For videos got to www.p4tv.com and go to Fight TV and MMA channel. You can then see all the fights in quality video!

No Gi Grappling competition 28th Sep '08- Hereford

Congrtatulations to all who fought on Sunday from Oswestry Freefighters and Oswestry Elite. With 11 competitors representing Oswestry, a great effort was made by all. Well done! Of particular note were Geoff Moore getting bronze in the u65Kg, Tom Steadman on good form for his competition debut and Mike Feeley pulling off some top crowd pleasing submission attempts!

Eddie Bravo Seminar 2

Train with the rubber guard master in Wolverhampton. Taking place from 10am - 3pm 18th October. Tickets £40. Email me to book.

Change of class times

Wednesday sessions are now running from 7.30pm to 9pm starting on the 1st Wednesday of september. More training value!

Class fees remain at £25 a month by standing order. The pay-as-you-go rate is going up to £4.50 a session.

10th Planet Vids

T  

Rabbit Hutch Wrexham

The legendary Rabbit Hutch MMA Club in Wrexham is now up and running again, which is fantastic news! Training is Mondays and Thursdays in Wrexham Rugby Club. I'll post more details as I get them. The training is excellent and tough, essential if you are serious about MMA! Plans are to have joint training sessions in Bradley on Sundays, watch this space!

Eddie Bravo Seminar - Sat 7th June 2008

The Master of the Rubber Guard Eddie Bravo is taking a seminar in Wolverhampton in a rare visit to the UK on Saturday 7th June 2008. The seminar is 10am to 2pm at the University of Wolverhampton, Walsall Campus Sports Centre. It's £40 in advance and can be booked through me or directly with the organiser Lacky Singh (lackysingh@googlemail.com).

Confirmation of regular guest trainer

Paul "Chuck" Wilson (aka Willow) now takes every second Monday session bringing his vast martial arts experience to Oswestry! He has a strong Thai Boxing and Brazillian Ju Jitsu background and has competed at all levels of Mixed Martial Arts.

10th Planet Ju-Jitsu is here!

Wednesday sessions are currently dedicated to the development of Eddie Bravo's 10th Planet Ju-jitsu system.

This includes the infamous Rubber Guard and Twister and is the next step in the evolution of the ground game in MMA.

Printing kit -

The printing machine is now up and running so if you want any kit marking up with your name and club logo etc then bring it in with what you want written down or emailed to me.

Combat Sports Nationnal Championships 2007 -
Hereford Leisure - Centre Sunday 4th November

Morgan Nunns fights for the Combat Sports lightweight belt in the longest running amateur event in the country. Morgan last made te championships in 2005 when he suffered a crushing 28 second defeat to contest favorite Spencer Dummer. This won't happen again and he is hungry for the belt!

RESULT - A very disppointed Morgan did not fight due to a nasty stomach bug outting him to bed for four days. He did manage to lose 2Kg though without any effort! Mark Adams took the belt on the day.

British Octagon Amateur Campionship
Liverpool -1st September 2007

Morgan Nunns faced the experienced Mike Beckett who is unbeaten at semi-pro level and fights out of the McGovern Academy in Stoke. Both fighters took the bout on short notice of only 2 weeks. The event is the 2nd put on by BOAC taking place in Liverpool with a full size cage. Putting on one of the most exciting bouts of the night, it was a standup war between Beckett and Nunns with punches aplenty from both.
Morgan knocked down Beckett twice in the first round stunning him the second time with a three punch combo. When it got to the floor Morgan kept top position with Beckett holding position and doing little else. Both fighters were exhausted by the end of the first round suffering from the short notice and fast pace. There was plenty of blood around from Beckett's nose which had burst early on.
The referee appeared nervous of the fercocity of the combat compared to the other bouts of the event. This nervousness showed itself in the second round after Morgan attempted a kneebar which Beckett successfully defended and in the process got mount. As Morgan turned Beckett caught him with a shoulder choke. Morgan defended getting his chin in so he was in no danger. The ref saw his chance to end the fight and told him to tap several times and when he didn't called a stop to it giving the decision to Beckett.
This was a great fight that should not have ended when it did.
Possibly a rematch in the future? Watch this space!

Watch the fight here :

Combat Open Trials - Hereford - Sunday 12th August 2007

Kev Tinsley, Danny Dey and Miggs all made their MMA debuts with style at the 3rd leg of this years amateur trials.

RESULT - Danny 'Faceman' Dey worked hard in his two fights showing sharp striking, several top escapes and nice aggression. He got caught in the first with a well applied armbar forcinh him to tap. In the second bout a recent rib injury reoccured in the standup war causing Danny great pain. Despite fighting on through two direct strikes to the injured side in a bloody minded battle of will power, he unfortunately had tp bow out before the injury got any worse.
A debut to be proud of showing skills and willpower that will carry him to victory in the future!

Miggs 'The Mauler' confused his opponents with his display of unorthodox striking skills in his two light-heavyweight bouts. A newcomer to the groundgame he suffered a keylock loss to the experienced and powerful Charlie Hellawell.
In his second bout he dominated and confused Oliver Osborne in the standup game with crazy strikes from all angles! Osborne was at a loss at what to do until Miggs went for the clinch and left an opening for the guillotine which Osborne capitalised on immediately getting the win at 3:42 mins.

Kev Tinsley had a difficult first opponent in the immensley strong Andrew Rose whose unusual body shape makes him disproportionately strong for a lightweight! Kev took the fight to him anyway keeping up a good work rate. Rose managed a very impressive looking pickup and slam but Kev showed not to notice. Rose got top position and aimed a bodyshot which actually landed as an elbow to the top of Kevs head. The ref intervened and stood them up asking if Kev was ok to continue. Very dazed he said 'yes' and was immediately taken down, mounted and armbarred by Rose.
With his head clear for the second bout, Kev unleashed his fury on Andrew Page who had submitted team mate Danny Dey in their first bout. With the last bout of the day by an Oswestry Freefighter Kev set out to make a statement which he did with relentless attacks standing and on the ground. After 2:46 min of punishment Page was given his way out by means of an armbar giving Kev his first win of what I'm sure will be many to come!

Team coach Morgan Nunns had his two bouts against Lucan King and Lee Bishop who both fought very well but did not stand long against Morgan's greater experience. Victory was secured in less than a minute in each bout securing Morgan a place in the finals on 4th November for the 2007 lightweight Combat Sports Championship belt.

Grapple & Strike 12 - Saturday 2nd June 2007 in Ebbw Vale, Gwent

Cardiff based fighter Tariq Williams stepped in as a late replacement for Kevin Cox against Morgan Nunns in this lightweight semi-pro bout.

RESULT - After initial confusion over the rules set in play, this bout started at a fast pace with exchanges of blows that saw Williams pushed up against the fence. After absorbing a few bodyshots he made his way back to the centre of the cage where he went for the clinch. Dropping his head to close the distance, Williams walked straight into a left kick from Nunns.
Williams' face took the shin and he went down causing the ref to call an end to the match at around 30 seconds of round 1 by TKO.