THE MARTIAL ARTS MONTHLY COLUMN

I’d like to thank you for your feedback on the first column. We were inundated with fan mail (nine emails), three of which were from the same bloke (cheers Neil) and two I wrote myself under the pseudonyms Craig Van Damme and Jean Claude Lyus. Both asked for signed photos. Weirdos.

As MAM continues to flourish, we’re spreading our wings into the social networking community. We have just launched a Facebook page (SA Martial Arts Monthly) and I will be providing regular Twitter updates (@SA_MartialArts) because one dose of martial arts a month just isn’t enough. I spoil you really.

As well as the latest local news I’ll be sharing my thoughts on international events and generally airing my inner demons and personal problems in a public forum.

We have a couple of followers already, one of which is none other than the only Brit to fight for a UFC title - Dan ‘The Outlaw’ Hardy. For the uninitiated that’s him pictured above right. Don’t let the red mohawk and general air of menace fool you - he’s a nice boy really and listens to classical music while doing the housework.

One of our other early devotees is a young lady named Brandie Pickles. She’s from New Jersey and is a bartender at a nudist resort, apparently. Just the demographic the column is aimed at.

She clearly has a passing interest in martial arts in Swindon and the surrounding villages so I have decided to make her our official MAM mascot, welcome aboard, Brandie.

So join our little Twitter party. If it’s good enough for The Outlaw and Ms Pickles, it’s good enough for you.

• WILTSHIRE'S MMA TRAILBLAZER REMEDIOS CALLS IT QUITS

  WILTSHIRE’S most decorated mixed martial artist has stepped out of the cage for the last time - and is adamant he won’t be tempted back in.

Leigh ‘The Bulldog’ Remedios was the first Briton to fight in North America when the sport was unsanctioned in the 90s. He is a former HOOKnSHOOT champion and took part in the UFC’s first UK card - the Brawl at The Hall back in 2002.

Now 35, Remedios has decided to hang up the gloves after losing to James Saville on the Island Rumble card in Jersey last month.

He said: “I was getting cracked and realised I just didn’t want to be in there anymore.

“I don’t want to be disrespectful but I’m better than that guy - I’m just not hungry like these young lads anymore.

“I don’t feel any slower or weaker as I’ve gotten older but one thing you do get with age is the shots really ring through you when they hit you.

“Apart from that I’ve got a family now to consider and I don’t need the money. It’s not like I’m going to be challenging for a UFC title now so what’s the point in fighting young, hungry guys for a few hundred quid? I don’t need it anymore.”

The bantamweight fought UFC stars such as Dennis Hallman and former WEC king Mike Thomas Brown during a glittering career and now coaches the new generation of Brits from his VT Jiu Jitsu club in Chippenham.

Retaining that day-to-day involvement in the sport can help him avoid the pitfalls of being lured back into competitive action.

“I get tempted to come back every day because I’m a competitive person,” said Remedios, who gained 13 of his 17 career wins by submission.

“My ego wants to go out and finish on a high but I’m pragmatic and I know it’s not worth it.

“I’m still training and coaching the guys so I can live vicariously through them now and I’m still getting cracked by them every day to remind me why I’m not fighting anymore.”

Remedios (picture two) has shared card space with some of the all-time greats, but he rates one above all others on the pound-for-pound list. The long-time UFC middleweight king.

“It has to be Anderson Silva,” he said. “I fought on the same Cage Rage card when he fought Leigh Murray and we were in the sauna together and I had a chat with him in what broken English he could speak.

“I remember watching him knockout Tony Frykland with that spinning elbow. I was sat with (UFC welterweight contender) Dan Hardy and we just lokked at each other and said ‘wow’.”

While Hardy and fellow Englishman Michael Bisping enjoy growing fame and fortune in the States, the likes of Remedios and Ian Freeman were the original Britpack MMA trailblazers, not that The Bulldog would thank you for saying it.

He added: “I was just a kid who grew up on a rough council estate who liked having scraps and I would have ended up in prison if it wasn’t for MMA.

“I was just happy to fight and if someone wanted to give me a couple of hundred quid to do it ion a cage I just thought ‘awesome’.

“I was the first Brit to fight in North America but I never wanted to be a pioneer - I just liked scrapping.”

Meanwhile, Remedios'camp were unbeaten at Knuckle Up’s New Breed 6 event in Bath.

Grant Clark defeated George Yourseff via armbar in round two and Swindon’s own Sean Purcell fought Craig Bale to a draw.

Also on the card Phil Wells of Swindon Vale Tudo stopped Lloyd Paris via second-round ground and pound, while clubmate Alex Brunnen produced the goods on his pro debut in Bristol to make Joe Orrey tap to a triangle choke in the first round.

• MEET ERIN - BRITAIN'S YOUNGEST BLACKBELT

  IN MY first column I stated that we did not have room to print all of your belt graduations unless they were something out of the ordinary.

That was like a red rag to a bull...step forward Erin Parfoot (picture three), Britain’s youngest blackbelt at the tender age of four.

Mum Sarah said: “Myself and my other three children are all first degree black belts. Erin saw us doing it and wanted to get involved as soon as she could. We’ve got footage of her in a nappy punching and kicking - she just loves it.”

The grading has been met with grumbles from some martial arts purists, frustrated that a belt representing the pinnacle of the sport can be obtained by one so young, but instructor Gareth Davies of Success Martial Arts in Stratton, said: “It shouldn’t be judged the same way as a 30-year-old who has trained six years to get his blackbelt. The two would be judged very differently.

“We teach a mixed style - freestyle you could say, it’s essentially kickboxing with a little Tae Kwon Do thrown in.

“We have several master instructors who come and oversee us from all over the country and they make their own assessments so it’s not just me judging the students.”

• MARTIAL ARTIST OF THE MONTH NO 2 - ROYCE GRACIE, THE ORIGINAL ULTIMATE FIGHTER

  FIGHTING STYLE: Jiu-Jitsu

  BORN: December 12, 1966

  EARLY LIFE: A member of the famous fighting Gracie family, Royce is the son of Hélio Gracie. He spent his childhood in Rio de Janeiro and learned Jiu-Jitsu as a toddler. He began competing at the age of eight.

FIGHTING CAREER: IN 1993 Rorion Gracie and Art Davie introduced the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) - an eight-man elimination tournament that would award $50,000 to the winner.

The premise was to find out how different styles of martial arts would fare against each other.

Royce was selected to represent Jiu-Jitsu and the Gracie family.

In his first match, Gracie defeated boxer Art Jimmerson by submission. In his second fight he choked out pancrase fighter Ken Shamrock, before another rear choke on Savate World Champion Gerard Gordeau secured the inaugural UFC crown.

Gracie went on to win the UFC 2 and 4 tournaments, beating 18-stone giants Patrick Smith and Dan Severn along the way, despite giving away up to 100 pounds in weight.

QUOTE: “There wouldn’t be any legacy, no UFC, if it wasn’t for my father’s efforts to prove that Jiu-Jitsu is the most efficient martial art of the world”.

• SANCHEZ STEPS UP AND SHINES

  THE Swindon Martial Arts trophy cabinet is bulging after the club reigned at the Alan Carter Gloucester Open kickboxing tournament.

Novice Alex Sanchez stepped up to the boys’ black belt 160cm division, and stunned his seasoned rivals to win the category after three victories.

Kate Reeves also claimed gold against more senior opposition.

There were also winners’ trophies for Andy Dunn (x2), Alex Sanchez, Warren Baldwin (first in open weight challenge, second in lightweight division), Wez Poole and Dave Herron.

Thomas Banks picked up two second places and there were runners-up prizes for Lucas Dancey and Dean Barnett, while Gavin Welch collected a bronze finish.

Toothill's Total Martial Arts enjoyed success at a WUMA and UK MASDA sanctioned event at The Marconi Club in Chelmsford.

The venue hosted a Filipino stick fighting competition in which TMA’s Nicolas Fabri fought to a draw.

Nicolas Fabri beat Alex Cohen and Tom Enstone won against Deano Abi-Nar in two all-TMA bouts, while Alan Tomanski suffered defeat and Phil Daniels fought in an exhibition bout.

Daniels, Sarah Finch and Jack Mason also took part in Muay Thai bouts.