gym review aug13.qxd
Transcription
gym review aug13.qxd
gym review aug13.qxd 10/07/2013 14:24 Page 2 TILLERY COMBAT IS A GROWING FORCE ON THE UK MMA SCENE. SITUATED IN BLAINA, GWENT, SOUTH WALES, THE GYM, OWNED BY HEAD COACH RICHARD SHORE, IS HOME TO NO FEWER THAN 17 ACTIVE PRO FIGHTERS AND 25 ACTIVE COMPETING AMATEURS. NESTLED IN A VALLEY ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF BLAINA, THE GYM ATTRACTS OVER 90 MEMBERS AND WITH TRAINING TAKING PLACE 6 DAYS A WEEK PEOPLE COME AS FAR AS CARDIFF AND RHONDDA SOME 25 MILES AWAY TO BE PART OF WHAT RICHARD SHORE DESCRIBES AS ‘ONE BIG SOCIAL FAMILY.’ T he original team started training in a celler under a nightclub in a small town called Abertillery. They couldn’t decide on a name so went for the easy option and called it Tillery Combat MMA Academy. Now the gym is housed in its own facility and has a large main class area fully matted with a large selection of heavy bags and pads, a separate weights and cardio room and a fight training room which consists of a boxing ring and and a caged area for MMA sparring. Training takes place six days a week, Monday to Saturday. Richard Shore is head coach and has many years of combat sports and martial arts experience, training in MMA and Jiujitsu for the last 13 years and prior to that Karate and Judo. Richard is a BJJ Brown Belt under Dave Coles and has been competing in MMA and grappling competitions since 2002. THE REST OF THE COACHES INCLUDE: BJJ COACHES – Dave Coles (Black Belt), Steve Jayne (Purple Belt) and Darrell James (Purple Belt) BOXING/STRIKING – Gavin Rees (Former World and European Champion) Jack Marshman (MMA and Boxing Champion) 9 6 | M M A U N C AG E D WRESTLING/JUDO – Anthony Johnson (Former British Junior and Senior Champion, Commonwealth Bronze Medallist, AMMA Pro MMA Champion) Training takes place Monday to Saturday and breaks mixing separate striking, BJJ and MMA sessions as follows: MONDAY – NO GI. TUESDAY – BOXING/KICKBOXING WEDNESDAY – BJJ THURSDAY – MMA/WRESTLING FRIDAY – BJJ/KICKBOXING SATURDAY – BOXING Richard now has a really strong young team. The guys at the moment who are leading from the front are Jack Marshman, Martin Mcdonough, Kris Edwards, Ashley Beaumont and Joe Orrey. They are all established pros fighting on Europe’s best shows. Other guys to watch out for who have had good starts to their pro careers are Owain Parry, Timur Mercanoglu, Chris Tetley, Leon Rosser, Lee Russel and Kyle Prosser. “I have a load of amateurs who are gonna break into the Pro ranks by the end of the year,” states Richard and it’s hard to disagree that the future talent pool at Tillery Combat is looking very promising. Competition plays a massive part in the club’s activities. As a head coach Richard Shore spends approx 3 weekends out of 4 on the road. The gym’s very busy BJJ and MMA team means there are members constantly competing. “I’m probably doing close to 20000 miles a year but the success we have at competition makes it all worthwhile.” The Fight Team has now amassed a number of achievements in both BJJ and MMA competition. In MMA their main achievements are: MARTIN ‘MR PINK’ MCDONOUGH - VOK BW Champion, Pain Pit BW Champion and will be fighting for the Cage Warriors Bantamweight world title in September in Cardiff. JACK MARSHMAN - Shock N Awe MW Champion, BAMMA British Champion, GWC UK v USA Belt Winner. KRIS EDWARDS – AMMA BW Champion, VOK BW Champion, Pain Pit BW Champion. ASHLEY BEAUMONT - Ultimate Impact WW Champion, Pain Pit WW Champion. In BJJ, Richard himself has won the British BJJ Championships in 2013 and 2011, The British No Gi Championships 2011, Seni Invitational 2010, and has won the Welsh and Hereford Opens a few times over the past years Jack Shore has won the Juvenile British BJJ Championships in 2011, The British No Gi Championships 2010. The BJJ team have taken Gold medals at every competition they have travelled to since the club was formed. Currently Tillery Combat has one competing female, Kaitlyn Jefferies. She joined Richard’s team when she was 12 years old. She is now 16 and has competed as often as anyone else on the team in BJJ. She has recently won Gold medals in the Welsh Open and Hereford Open at adult level. According to Shore she works as hard as any of the men at the club is a pleasure to work with. With such a large, strong, hungry team, Richard now believes they are able to compete with any gym in the UK. “When you consider we have no funding and live in the poorest region in the UK where unemployment is at an all time high, what we have already achieved is incredible. I believe that we don’t get the recognition we deserve because of where we are based. If we were based in a major city, I believe our profile would be much higher.” Indeed, when you look out the front door of the gym and see hills and valleys it does feel isolated, away from the bright lights and big cities most successful gyms are surrounded by. It’s a testament to quality and dedication of gym review aug13.qxd 10/07/2013 14:28 Page 3 LEFT: WITH HIS SIGNATURE PINK MOHAWK, MCDONOUGH ALWAYS BRINGS EXCITING FIGHTS TO THE CAGE. MARTIN COMPETES FOR THE CAGE WARRIORS BANTAMWEIGHT WORLD TITLE IN CARDIFF IN SEPTEMBER OPPOSITE: NESTLED IN THE VALLEYS OF SOUTH WALES, TILLERY COMBAT LOCATED IN BLAINA, GWENT BELOW LEFT: ASHELY BEAUMONT – WELTERWEIGHT STAND OUT MMA FIGHTER, HAS WON ALL 4 PRO FIGHTS IN THE FIRST ROUND. CAN THIS BE THE FIRST WELSHMAN IN THE UFC? people who travel big distances to get here. Up and coming pro fighter Joe Orrey has travelled from Barry to train with Richard 4 times a week for the past 2 years. That is a 100 mile round trip each training session. Fortunately he is moving to the area in the next few weeks which should cut down on his fuel bills. “On the Welsh scene ourselves and the Chris Rees academy are definitely the two leading MMA gyms in the country,” adds Shore who states that the team are like one big family who train together and are all very close socially. “Everyone wants their team mates to do well. There are no egos and I can honestly say that everyone gets on well.” HEAD COACH AND OWNER RICHARD SHORE IS BUILDING A TEAM OF CHAMPIONS would like to see them continue to gain rank and take more British titles. “On a personal level I still have a full time job outside of the gym due to financial restraints. Hopefully I can go full time as a coach in the not so distant future. If any wealthy business men out there would like to offer financial help so that I can realise the dream, please get in touch,” he laughs. The gym is growing in numbers every year and this is something Richard has already spoken about to the owner of the building. “He has told me that If It gets to the point that the building is not big enough for the size of the team then we will restructure the 2 flats above. He is a huge MMA fan and has been very supportive to the club over the past 4 years. In the past I told him I needed a bigger place and he just said ‘No probs I will build you an extension!’ Not many landlords out there are as good as him, I can tell you, so I think that the fact he has told me this means we will always be at our current premises.” This cohesive unit is obviously very important to Shore as he adds, “If I have someone join and I think their attitude and ego is going to disrupt the atmosphere that we have created, then I have no worries about asking them to train elsewhere”. Martin ‘Mr Pink’ McDonough competes on Cage Warriors 59 in the Bantamweight 4 Man Title Tournament for the Cage Warriors World Title at the Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena, Saturday 14th September 2013. See www.fightshop.com/blog for more details. When asked about his long term plans or goals as an MMA coach and gym owner, Richard simply breaks it down as follows; “For the team, hopefully we will get a fighter into the UFC, and see many more of the pro team competing on Cage Warriors shows. As for our BJJ team, I FOLLOW ON TWITTER @TILLERYCOMBAT @MR_PINK_MMA PHOTOS BY @FIGHTPICS WWW.ADAMCROWTHERPHOTOGRAPHY. CO.UK M M A U N C AG E D | 9 7