Richmond Academy Of Martial Arts

Saturday March 7th 2009 Leeds Cage hosted Testing ground 2, a small show with big aspirations!

Many fighters were up to fight that day one of which was Mr W Lucas of Richmond Martial arts academy.

We managed to grab a few moments with Mr Lucas the day after the bout:

MH: Good afternoon Wez how are you feeling after your fight?

WL: Tired! (laughs) but pretty good glad i did it!

MH: How did it feel to be competing not only in a full contact fight but a Mixed martial arts bout?

WL: I was very nervous warming up with our mixed martial arts coach Miss Martin. She is a real task master and warming up in front of my opponents home crowd was a strange experience. The full contact element was not an issue for me as i knew i had done all the prep i needed for it.

The MMA rules were modified as it was not a pro bout so no knees or elbows were allowed. I love mma and have been training in it for a while.

Miss Martin Brought a few new drills back from her squad in Chicago (none other than Matt Hughes' HIT Squad of UFC fame) which we had been working on fo a few weeks.I felt prepared but not perfect.
 
MH: Could this mark a permanent switch from kickboxing to MMA?

WL: (Laughs) No no, I love kickboxing and i can compete everyweek if i want in semi and light con. MMA I think one a month would be more than enough! I love MMA but i will always do kickboxing i think its such a good training ground! and i cant go into the academy on a monday with a new black eye! lol

MH:How did the weight cutting effect you?

WL: I dont think it did personally, i didnt feel as strong as usual but i think that was just adrenaline.

MH:Well that is good news! Talk us through the fight,

WL: I went in to the cage with the mind set that this was going to be a bit of a war!
Liam Ridley hasnt had many fights but is trained by Mr Paul Lynch (multi world kickboxing champion)of Leeds martial arts college and has worked with many of todays top coaches.

I knew his stiking would be on form, which my face today shows (Laughs). He is a very strong opponent with great hands. My plan was to take him down and gradually chip away at his conditioning, being a striker and some what taller than me I knew he would come out swinging and want to end it early.

As we all know you can only keep that pace up for a cirtain amount of time, and lets face it 3mins with somone fighting you back is exhausting no matter how fit you are. My plan was to close him down with low shots and clinch work, take him to the floor for ground n pound and repeat until he either gassed or tapped out.

MHid everying go according to plan?

WL: To a point...(laughs) I took way too many shots!
I did managed to break his fitness down by clinching early, the power of his shots eventually lessened, his sheer work rate did make it a little easier to take him down though as when his shots missed it was a good opportunity to clinch and work.
 
His ground game was alot stronger than i gave him credit for, he defended on the floor well and was relentless when he was in guard/mount it was alot of work for me to keep safe.

MH:It looked like you were in trouble a couple of times during the first round what happened?

WL: yeah he rocked me with a big shot quite early,i  just didnt see it! as we all know its the ones you dont see that hurt the most! Also he rolled my mount and i had to quickly pull guard as he was throwing punches down at me! He caught me with a brutal right as i was trying to pull an arm bar, i stupidly reached in with my guarding hand to gain more leaverage, and got clocked for it! LOL

MH:We were all a little surpised to see you enforce a ground game as opposed to striking, what made you change your style?

WL: (laughs) if i am honest i preferr the ground in mma! it hurts alot less, he was too tall to strike with, i think if we had been alowed to use knees i would have done alot more work, but i guess i just wanted to use different skills, show my ground game, work for submission. I kickbox all year round so i thought it would be a nice change .

MH:We did see some of those incredible kicking skills of yours come out, care to elaborate?

WL: I did get the kicks out ay! Looking back i wish i had used them more as they were working for me very well. Next time!

MH:How did you feel about the way he fight ended?
WL: Well i was as dissapointed as anyone, i could feel him getting more and more tired, i knew i had one more round in me i am not sure he did, one thing i did find out was i have a good chin and i was tougher than he is fit! (laughs) Once i had him against the cage for the last time i could see he was exhausted, my plan was to get him on his back and work my way up his body from guard to mount or side control and ground and pound him until he either gave me a submission or tapped, as he hit the floor the ref told me it was over i was a little confused as i though to myself "hang on that was hardly a rampage slam!!!"  As it turns out he had hurt himself a little earlier.

MH: We heard he had hurt his neck....?
WL: I am unsure of the details but i think he fell awkwardly on the mats, the medical team did a great job of getting him out of there though, one of my wrestling coaches Keith Pavlick (former usa Division one competitior) said once "your conditioning keeps you safe, that is why i can be such an a***ole sometimes!" I guess he was right!

MH: Many thanks for your time Wez, any final thoughts?

WL: I hope Mr Ridley is ok and will be back to training soon. Big thanks to everyone who came to support.And my corner team. I will be stepping into the cage again June 6th for our rematch, my scedual allowing! Train hard guys n gals!