mixed-martial-arts-jim

JIM WALLHEAD

‘Judo Jimmy’

14 Sept. 2006

It’s Thursday morning in Loughborough, England. Jim Wallhead has polished off his breakfast and he’s about to go for a run, when the phone rings for an interview. Generously, ‘Judo Jimmy’ stops tying the laces on his joggers and takes time out for a chat.

Jim casts his mind back to when he was just a grasshopper watching his favorite movie: “I watched The Karate Kid and I wanted to do karate, but at the age of seven, my dad took me to a judo lesson instead. I didn’t want to do judo, however Dad used to work with the coach, so I gave it a go and I never looked back,” says Wallhead.

Now at the ripe old age of 22 years, things haven’t changed too much in the life of Judo Jimmy: He’s still into the fighting arts and watching his favorite films. “I work as a part-time painter a few days a week, and I’m training so much, I just like to watch movies and relax with my girlfriend – we’re about to have a baby in four weeks. Really, just relaxing with my family is what I like to do most.”

After winning a number of under-twenty-one judo titles, Jim took time off when he was eighteen to “do the things most teenagers do.” Then he went to a Paul Daley fight in Nottingham, and Jim was introduced to a promoter there who offered him a fight as a heavyweight in MMA.

“I had six weeks’ notice, so I took the fight and won in 15 seconds. It was messy as hell: I came out and went absolutely crazy. The guy tried to shoot on me. I took his back, pushed him a couple of times and submitted him with a rear naked choke. It was good – it got me noticed quite quickly.

“I dropped to middleweight after that and won a couple more fights before losing the next two. At the time I was training in Leicester a few days a week – no jiu jitsu or MMA training, just a good strong judo background, and standing and trading as a normal guy on the street could.

“Then when I lost my second fight as a middleweight, I met Dan Hardy and he invited me to Rough House, and I’ve been there for the past year-and-a-half, and it’s just turned me into a well-rounded fighter. My stand-up skills are very good: I’ve had a couple of Thai fights and carried on with my MMA.

“I won my debut at welterweight, and then I got a British House of Pain title shot against Paul Jenkins, and I won that. I was victorious in my next five or six fights before getting caught in a submission by a German guy, Peter Angerer. I was actually beating him up and I got lazy, made a mistake and was caught in an arm triangle. Hopefully, I’ll have a rematch with Peter at the end of the year. That was my first loss at welterweight.”

Jim, how did you come to be on the English team competing at Too Hot To Handle (2H 2H) in Amsterdam?

“I got a phone call late one Friday night, asking if I wanted to go to Holland. The flight was leaving in 12 hours, and I had to compete at middleweight… But the prize was a fight in Japan.”

It sounds like the competition began before you arrived at the Sand Arena, with your transport being one hour late. Did that unnerve you guys?

“It did a bit. Dan Hardy was on first for the night and I was on second. By the time Dan got his hands wrapped, he didn’t get a chance to warm up or hit the pads. I just had time to loosen up, so it was a bit sudden. That was the first thing they pulled on us.”

Then you, Dan Hardy and Tengiz Tedoradze had your gloves stolen.

“I’m not sure what happened to our gloves, but when we eventually arrived at the venue, instead of having four-ounce MMA gloves, they presented us with gloves that were more like pillows. So they pulled that one on us. And I know we had to share the big gloves, because when I put them on, they were wet.”

Were you disappointed the fights only went for two 3-minute rounds?

“They were two 3-minute rounds in the semifinals, so we didn’t get as much chance to work. I think it was one 10-minute round for the final.”

Were you aware of the no-elbows rule before you arrived?

“Yeah, we heard about that. Then I was accused of elbowing Xander Nel in my second fight, which I definitely didn’t do as you can see if you look at the video. I think it was really bad refereeing: I was in Nel’s corner and you can hear his corner and the referee talking to each other. It was shady.

“What I did was I had my forearm across his throat to make him more uncomfortable while I struck him with my other hand, and they were calling it an elbow strike. That was in the final. Nel was a decent stand-up fighter, but Camara Bouna was a tougher opponent in the semifinal.”

Did you think it was a miracle when you won the decision against Camara Bouna?

“No, but I think if he’d been Dutch I would have been worried.”

It’s billed as The Road to Japan, with the winners to compete in Deep. When are you going there?

“Nothing’s really been confirmed. All I know is in the next six months I’ll definitely be fighting in Japan.”

With Deep being a feeder for PRIDE, do you see this as a great opportunity for you?

“Oh, an immense opportunity. And I’m going to make the most of it. I’m definitely not going to let this pass by.”

Since returning from Holland, you also defeated Jason Tan at Cage Gladiators II.

“When I got back they offered me a fight against Jason. He was undefeated and everyone was raving about him. He was ‘the next big thing’, and he’d beaten Alex Reid and Joey Van Rooij. I suffered an injury the week before, but I took the fight and won it on decision. It was another tough fight but I got the Cage Gladiators title, so I’ve got two belts on top of my tele now.”

When are you fighting next?

“At the World Free-Fight Challenge in Slovenia on September 30 against Vener Galiev.”

Jim, is there anything you’d like to add?

“Thank you to my fans; keep watching out for me; I’m going to get some more fights in this year, and I have a big year coming up in ’07; I know my best is yet to come; and thank you to Team Rough House. I’d also like to say a special thank you to my girlfriend, my family and friends.”

Your sponsors?

“Warrior Promotions and Cage Warriors.”