localpeople Baughan to Win


Words and portrait photograph by John Allen Main image of Mark by kind permission of Rich at Ellis Imagery


For this month’s interview I was somewhat outside


my comfort


zone! So far in my life I’ve managed to steer clear of violence – even the antics of Sooty and Sweep would make me cringe as a child. So when I arranged to meet Mark Baughan for the fi rst time, and he mentioned such phrases as ‘mixed martial arts’ and ‘cage fi ghting’ I wasn’t sure what to expect. But it turned out that Mark was a quietly spoken, unassuming guy with a passion for his sport.


I met him at his Newhall home.


Some countries – for example Norway – don’t allow their people to fi ght in cages, and so they will fi ght in an open room on mats. But a lot of the fi ghting is against the sides of the cage or on the fl oor, and in an ordinary boxing ring you would run the risk of falling out of the ring. So the cage keeps you in; strange as it may seem, the cage is in fact a safety feature. It’s there to protect the fi ghters.


What was it that attracted you to MMA? I’ve always been interested in fi tness and fi tness training, and I work at the Mark Hall Gymnasium on the Old London Road. But this is the fi rst contact sport that I have got involved in and I have never taken part in any of the individual Martial Arts that we use in MMA.


I was on holiday when I fi rst saw the sport on TV - it was similar to Kick Boxing. I started to watch the UFC – the Ultimate Fighting Championship – and there was one fi ghter I particularly liked, a guy called Chuck Liddell. So I followed him and got so interested that I decided to fi nd a club and have a go at the sport myself.


Mark, tell me about MMA and cage fi ghting.


MMA – or Mixed Martial Arts – is a full contact combat sport that allows the fi ghter to use techniques and skills from different


Martial


Arts. The fi ghts take place inside what we call a cage. It’s a bit like a boxing ring, but instead of ropes the fi ght area is surrounded by a high wire mesh fence about 7 or 8 feet high. The fl oor of the ring is padded as are the all of the posts that support the cage.


8


So which club did you join? The club is called the TSGMMA – Team Sure Grip Mixed Martial Arts. The Harlow club is part of a larger group, part of which is in Southend- on-Sea and part in Thurrock. The club meets at the Body Active Gym near Harlow Mill and they have training sessions every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. The Harlow Club started as a Ju Jitsu club run by Sensei Earl Walker and which is still going strong; but now there is


To advertise call 01279 410345


a TSGMMA side of the club run by Will Murley.


Is there a lot of interest in the sport? MMA started in Japan and America. It really took off following a reality TV show in America which had eighteen fi ghters living in a house together. From that, it does seem to be one of the fastest growing sports in England. The American governing body for MMA is the UFC – the Ultimate Fighting Championship; but it also organises big shows in places like the O2 Arena in Greenwich.


Clubs are springing up everywhere. At last night’s training session at the TSGMMA there were about twenty people. The club has members with ages ranging from 16 up to the late 40s and there are also two or three girls in the group. But for anyone who wants to join, you don’t need any previous experience. The trainers and the coaches will take you through every thing you need to know – right from the basics.


Before I joined, I thought I was pretty fi t, but this was totally different. When I started I trained once a week, and I would just about stop aching in time to go to the next training session.


The TSGMMA head coach is Will Murley although Chris Richardson – a professional cage fi ghter – and Sensei Earl will sometimes take some of the classes.


And you’ve already had your fi rst fi ght? That’s right. Earl and Will from the club promoted an event for novices that took place in November at


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