Mixed martial Arts : danny wallace interview by Widge Milward

Danny Wallace : What can I tell you? This is going to take you a long time taping this y�know because I'll just talk a load of bollocks through it all. Ok, I started, I mean like most kids and that I went through all the various sports trying this and trying that and none of them really answered what I was looking for, none of them gave me what I was looking for in a sport. Then I met Danny Rushton and we started going to the gym, he was already doing martial arts and I was just going to the gym. He asked me to come and have a go at this, so I said OK, I think ive always fancied martial arts in some form or other, no specific style ever particularly appealed to me. I think I was just waiting for somebody to ask me to go along with them so the first person that asked me to go along to a class I went and ive trained ever since.

Widge : Who were your early influences in martial arts?

Danny Wallace : Well, I think ever since I was a kid I have always had a level of respect for martial arts. If anybody ever said they did martial arts I was always interested. You know kids at school or what ever; I was always taken by it. When I actually got going in martial arts I read all the magazines, all the books and everything. People like Terry O�Neill�s name props up. Who else was about when I first started? I don�t know anybody really; everybody who was involved was of interested. Everything interested me. I wasn�t like a Bruce Lee clone or anything; I was always taken by it all. It all impressed me. In the early days everything in martial arts impressed me. You�d ask me to do anything and I would think it was great.

Widge : When you were younger did you compete much?

Danny Wallace : I haven�t done much competition circuit, the reason for that was, because when I got the hunger to compete I was still training kickboxing and karate and stuff. There weren�t the open martial arts circuits we have now, it wasn�t available then. So rightly or wrongly I went into door work. Which, for the few years I did that, gave me what I was looking for from competition. It wasn�t really the right environment to do it in but I think you reach that point in your life where you do want to compete and test yourself. For me the fight circuit wasn�t available so I turned to door work. That gave me the challenges what I was looking for. After I did that for a few years it satisfied all my needs so I was no longer, I had no hunger to compete, going back however many years it was that hunger was very strong and I was looking for somewhere to feed that hunger. Which is why when anybody comes onto the competition circuit from the Collesseum and their competing and doing great, they cool off and are suddenly not bothered anymore, I appreciate that because ive been there and I know what they mean. The fact that you might be really, really dying to get in the ring and have a go with someone doesn�t mean that five years down the line you will still feel the same. Danny Rushton no longer competes because he seems to be satisfied with himself and that�s fine.

Widge : So what actually got you started in MMA? And what made you start up the colosseum?

Danny Wallace : Erm, I mean the original style I started doing was shukokai karate, was my official original style. Although it was taught by Dennis McColgan who gave it a somewhat of a Scottish taint shall we say. So I started of as a stand-up type fighter y�know karate, kickboxing type stuff. But I think I always had a natural leaning towards grappling. So I think I was a natural grappler doing stand-up. So I had the natural feelings towards it so it just seemed the obvious progression. The obvious thing to be doing, y�know.

After you�ve done four or five years of karate I went doing other stuff as well, but your level of development slows down a lot if your still doing stand up arts. So my next flood of interest was on groundwork. It was possibly the time when the UFC came around as well. So we seen the first couple of UFC�s and we was like, "right then where�s the nearest ju jitsu club" we went down, but me and Danny Rushton was teaching ourselves anyway. So we had a free reign and we just started doing stuff you know?, we started bringing in submissions we�d watch a submission on a UFC, y�know, re wind it, see how they done it, try it on each other, then discuss it, see how it hurt, see when it hurt and tried to teach it.

But when it was originally being taught in class it wasn�t like, we are now doing submissions as well. But we said do you normal kickboxing sparring but if you go to the floor, have a mess about and see where it goes. Don�t just stand straight back up; wait till you get a submission or till you get to a negative point where nothing is happening. So it was just a natural progression.

Also we had been doing stand-up martial arts for a while and none of the associations available to us satisfied our needs so we joined the British Combat Association, which is Geoff Thompson and Peter Constantine. One because we didn�t have a direction, where to go or what we wanted to do. So we got involved with them because they presented people with directions. It wasn�t so much that Geoff and Peter would give you the directions but they would bring in people to the club, like Neil Adams, Rick Young and the other one was Lee Hasdell.

Lee came down and did a seminar, me and Danny Rushton were there and we thought, yeah that�s what we want to do, and being involved with Geoff and Peter because it was just brilliant y�know. That was excellent, they presented us with Lee Hasdell who showed us what he did and that gave us the direction what we were looking for. From there we got involved with Lee and Total Fight Forum and then we were involved with MMA properly.

Widge : What do you think of the UK MMA scene at the moment?

Danny Wallace : I think it�s still very small. I think its still the same people and the handful of clubs, and we still have the traditional martial arts doing all their traditional stuff pretending this isn�t happening, its just not grown to the extent it should. We have the people just doing karate, just kung fu, just ju jitsu and still just doing their style. They have just stayed within their style, their area, they haven�t moved on, their still, y�know they haven�t moved on at all.

Widge : How do you think the UK scene can be improved?

Danny Wallace : I don�t know, because the problem is all the traditionalists their ignoring it, thinking it isn�t happening, their all standing there, their all saying they can do this and the other in all the magazines but, staying within their own clubs and their not prepared to put their style on the line.

Widge : What fighters on the UK circuit do you rate or even like to watch?

Danny Wallace : Mark Weir is brilliant, Michael Johnson is brilliant, and I like to watch any of the fighters I know, because with it being such a small circuit you get to know a lot of them. So there are people like Andy Cooper, I like watching Andy and seeing him do well. Anyone really. Its still so small so its good to watch any of them really but there is a couple of the guys there that are really special and their doing very well.

Widge : Do you think any of the fighters in the UK are good enough to test their skills in some of the larger MMA events abroad in the US for example?

Danny Wallace : Mark weir and Michael Johnson again, Erm, they spring to mind, there is a couple of the big lads now coming through. Jon Thorpe's doing well. I don�t wanna upset anybody by leaving them out or anything but I don�t remember any to well * laughs *

Widge : You're one of the coach�s at the colosseum, what attributes do you think makes a good coach? A coach?

Danny Wallace : Errm, he doesn�t necessarily have to be the best fighter in the club, but it help�s if he is pretty near, he has to be good within himself. Plenty of good coaches don�t fight to well though. He has to be able to learn quickly and easily and has to understand what works for one guy and what works for another. He has to see the strengths in a fighter and the weakness�, what they should be doing well and wheat they should be avoiding. So when they get into a fight they will be using the right tools for the job.

Widge : So what�s next for Danny Wallace and the fighters at the Colosseum in the upcoming year?

Danny Wallace : For me, I'll just carry on training and enjoying myself. I'm not looking for anything more, I've done what I wanted to do in regards to fighting, I'm very content within myself so there�s nothing there for me. I'm quite happy helping, training anyone that comes along. The lads in the club, if they want to fight , I'll do everything I can to help them fight. If they don�t want to fight and just want to come and train that�s fine too. I've got a very easy approach on it. I ain't bothered what they do. If they want to train and they want to go places like Holland and Russia I'll do everything in my power to help them. If not that�s fine by me.

Widge : Thanx for the interview Danny

Danny Wallace : Thank you,

The interview was originally taken in August 2001 - and posted on SFUK 14 February 2002