team colosseum - mixed martial arts training

Tucked away in a small room in city centre Manchester, next to Van Dang’s martial arts centre, across the hall from Steve Powell’s academy, lies the headquarters of Manchester Ground and Pound. When the rest of us are slogging away in our nine to five’s, Ozzy and his band merry MMA men hit the mats mid afternoon, drilling and honing their fighting techniques, before teaching classes in the evenings.

Ozzy Haluk is one of the UK’s top lightweights with 5 pro fights to his name; not one to back down from a fight, Haluk has faced some tough opposition, most notably against Paul Sutherland at Ultimate Combat. In addition to his pro fights, the 68K fighter has two semi pro fight wins under his belt; four amateur fights and is a regular face at the Submission League. Ozzy has also fought on Cagewarriors events and is now taking time out from a heavy year of fighting.

By far the largest guy in the gym at 85K, Rob Mitchell is one of the club’s most prolific fighters; already a National Thai Boxing champion, Mitchell is soaking up the submissions like a sponge, culminating in a triangle win over Ross Pettiffer at Cagewarriors North earlier last month. Mitchell has also fought semi pro and holds two gold medals in the Submission League and has also fought BJJ matches in London. Mitchell also holds wins over Glen Appleby in CW4 and Paul Daley at Ground and Pound 3.

Two other stand out fighters at the gym include Danny Rogerson, victorious at UC 5 with an arm bar win over Team Colleseum fighter Matt Thorpe and Neil Barber who also fought at UC against Dave Waters and is now in hard training in preparation for 2004. Rogerson has also fought in Kettering, with two pro fights on the day and has been with the team just over a year.

Roberto Teaching

The fighters class is held every weekday at 2pm, so I took myself along, accompanied by the Brazilian reprobate Roberto Atalla; after a quick warm up, we were soon down to the nitty gritty of rolling and after rolling with all the guys, Roberto took us through some nifty guard passes and a few subs thrown in for good measure, rounding off a sharp two hour session. Manchester Ground and Pound are a team of dedicated professionals, always eager to take on new ideas and welcome outside instructors and are great bunch of guys to boot.

Classes are held Monday through to Friday, 6.30 — 7.30pm, three pounds fifty sterling. For more info promoters and individuals can call Ozzy on 07900 238480 or email kippa37@hotmail.com.

Carl Fisher — Northern Cartel Press Officer