Planet Loud is again proud to be associated with the FX3 MMA Extreme Cage Fighting this weekend and, ahead of the contest, we caught up with Jeremy Bailey, one of the UK’s leading MMA fighters to find out more about this brutal world.
Planet Loud – Jeremy, our readers may not know much about you or FX3, who are you?
Jeremy Bailey – “Well, us, we’re one of the top MMA promoters in the UK. We’re based in Reading and it started about 3 years ago because the shows were either in London or up North and, as we were always involved in either fighting or training the fighters, it was nice to do something for our home crowd. It was Paul and his brother Simon who started it putting on kickboxing shows. I knew them as a fighter and eventually we got closer and closer and now I co-promote with Paul.”
Planet Loud – How did you get involved in Martial Arts?
Jeremy Bailey – “I started doing Judo when I was five so I’ve been involved in Martial Arts for about twenty-seven, twenty-eight years. I’ve fought for my country over the years. I tried a number of different martial arts but they never quite gave me what I wanted as they were all about throws and holds and stuff. I’ve always been that kind of extreme person and have always been looking for that next challenge to conquer or to conquer me whichever. I went on to Karate, close-quarter Kung-Fu, freestyle Karate which I was pretty crap at. It wasn’t for me. I didn’t feel under pressure and it didn’t hurt. I changed to full-contact kick-boxing where everyone said I would get slaughtered and I was self-taught. A year and a half or so later I won a professional World Title. I went on to get seven world titles and have a record of 68 professional fights, 67 wins and 64 by ko.”
Planet Loud – Some people may be confused by the different disciplines…
Jeremy Bailey – “Well, kick-boxing is the discipline and, along with thai-boxing, it’s about as real as it gets. Some people may use the word brutal and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea which I’m fine about. The thing is that, when I started, people were driving around racetracks at 200mph sponsored by tobacco companies which I didn’t think was particularly clever but it’s horses for courses I guess. I appreciate what people do but I’m not the sort of person to sit behind a desk all day. I need to be out there and doing something. I need to be punched or be punching or kicking somebody.. either way, it’s fine by me.”
Interview by Graham Finney
