Right, this is my first Blog post and you lot are way behind on what’s been happening, so I'm going to do an update of 2009.... Pay attention as there is likely to be a test at some point!
It's in no particular order... I am way to punch drunk to put things in a chronological order!
M1 Challenge Team England
Well we put a team together, Ian Butlin, Si Philips, Matt Thorpe, Tom Blackledge and Rob Broughton. We trained together a few times, went to Japan and smashed Team Japan to pieces! Superb, That's was my birthday too... Rampage came over to support "Pretty Boy" Blackledge, so we went out partying with the team and Rampage. Best night of my life.
Tom's get's injured and can't fight in Kansas, Team has Danny Giblin in his place. Kansas was an awesome trip, maybe we got to complacent, cause France handed us our asses on a silver platter... with some garlic butter and a glass of wine! Only Robbie saved face, we beat their guy by intimidation! When we come back there's a lot of concern over the loss, it's screwed up the points and meant that the face off with Spain is a must win situation.
Picked up some great sponsors for the Team. Caged Steel, who are supplying all the clothing. They have been cool, Jamie Thwaites worked his nuts off for the team. Sci-Mentor nutrition. They sponsor the Warrior Promotions guys, so by proxy Team England. Richard and the guys have been great. Finally Simon Crowther at www.fightshop.com has sponsored us with loads of Sandee gear... cool!
Next fight is 15th August, against Team Spain. We've lost Robbie, cause he is fighting on Affliction Trilogy.. go on! Ian Butlin has a broken jaw... in several places, so he needs replacing too. Problem is, not many fighters have made themselves available for the team, so not many to choose from! Team Spain appears to be playing games. Their fighters all appear to have 2-3 names, so you never know what the record of the opponent is.
5th and 16th are the last Pool A fights, back to back. So by the end of the 16th we will know if we are going to Russia or not. Nervous times.
We've got Ian "The Machine" Freeman doing Team Training on 18th/19th July, should be awesome and great for the whole team. We are running it like a seminar, so might be some potential Team England fighters on show... who knows?
Team Colosseum
Been a busy year. We have pciked up some new guys who are keen to fight, which is awesome. Chris "Tommo" Thompson has really become part of the team, he's fought twice this year. Unfortunately both losses, but he's got the skills and he will be getting the wins soon. Matt's training hard. M1 has got him focused. He's also taking the mental training seriously, so that's great.
Widge came back for a while, had a fight. He's backed off from training again, but it would be good to get him back, he's part of the foundations of the gym. I'm supposed to be designing a new logo for the gym, but never get the time. Danny R has been on my case about it!
Next fights for the guys are AMMA in September, we should have 3-4 guys on the show.
Pyjama fighting
Yeah, I've taken up BJJ. Rolling in PJs! Spenna has leant me a gi, I look badass, like one of the fat Karate guys in Martial art Illustrated! I'm training with Steve Campbell at Manchester BJJ. Matt's coming along and the level is good. As it's been hot though, we are doing No Gi!
That's it... clearly more has happened this year, but I can't remember it all... just bring you up to speed. Next Blog will be a bit more detailed and hopefully have some inside info on M1 Team England for you.