Martial arts arrives at Harvey Hadden
The ripped Russians from St Petersburg's Red Devils might draw a few glances.
Fans will also want to check out the bevy of international stars including Italy's Matteo "the Brutal"Minonzio.
But if Nottingham MMA fans are looking for fighters to support at the Bilborough centre, they need not look to such exotic climes.
Flying the flag for Britain and Nottingham will be men like fighter and future reality television star Jimmy Wallhead, and former boxing champ Wayne Buck.
Out of the ring, Jimmy's an affable bloke who laughs as he talks about Georgia, his two-year-old daughter.
But in the ring the laugh leaves, the gaze turns to anger and there's suddenly an air of menace around the fighter with the blond mohican and tattoo-covered, pain-bringing left arm.
Like most top mixed martial arts fighters, MMA's a full-time job for Jimmy, and he describes it as a 24/7 obligation. It rules his diet, his strict training regimen, and entire lifestyle.
In fact, it rules it all to the point that he was recently filmed for a Channel Five entertainment documentary about "high-maintenance partners".
Set to air some time next year, "Help, I've Got A..." will feature the long-suffering spouses and significant others of people whose careers or lifestyles can make them difficult to live with. Jimmy laughs and shrugs his shoulders when asked how he and Georgia's mum got roped into this.
He admits that the programme probably won't show him in the ideal light, but mixed martial arts needs the publicity and he wants to show people what sort of sacrifices MMA fighters make.
"It's not just turn up, go into the cage and throw down," he said. "We're athletes. People need to know what goes into it."
If you really want to know what goes into it – and if you've got the stomach for it – check out pictures of Wayne Buck's last fight in July.
To Nottingham boxing fans, Wayne needs no introduction. As a heavyweight boxer, he was Midlands champion. Then he switched to cruiserweight and went undefeated there. When he hung up his gloves a few years ago, it looked like the last time that anyone would get to see him in a ring.
But nobody had ever considered a cage.
Three years ago, Wayne met a few men from mixed martial arts. He hadn't done anything martial arts-related for years, though as a boy he'd been a judo champion. Now, he got back into a different style of fighting. Some of it went against what he'd spent years training for in boxing – the "groundwork" that owes more to wrestling or Thai-style fighting than boxing – but Wayne loved it.
"I basically took like a duck to water, really," he said of his move into mixed martial arts.
"The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn."
He worked his way through regional and British competitions, looking for more high-profile matches and tougher fighters. He won his first five fights, and none of his opponents made it out of the first round.
Then came his match against Minonzio on July 12 of this year. With a Nottingham crowd loudly in his corner, Buck fought the European-circuit veteran down almost to the final bell. Then came the gutting denouement.
"The end was a bit controversial last time," Wayne said, displaying some understatement.
As the match ground to an end and with the fight in the balance, the fighters butted heads. Wayne ended up with a gory cut eye. The match was stopped.
The experience left him with some fairly clear goals for the rematch.
"I just want revenge, to be fair. I want basically to smash his head in."
restaurantMixed martial arts – or MMA – is a sport that brings together a number of different martial arts disciplines to form a diverse combat sport.
Fighters come from many different martial arts backgrounds – boxing, kickboxing, and judo are just some of the disciplines used to varying degrees in the sport.
The rules allow for boxing-style upright fighting and more wrestling-oriented grappling, fights can often be determined. Fighters are allowed to kick as well as punch, and typically wear fingerless gloves that are much smaller than those used for boxing. The sport has no international sanctioning body and rules often vary, although practices such as eye-gouging and shots to the groin essentially have a universal ban.
Doors for the M-1 Challenge, 7th Edition open at 5.30pm tomorrow. There will also be a seminar in the afternoon. For more information, visit www.cagewarriors.com/m1challenge.htm
erik.petersen@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk
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