Jess Liaudin

Jess (bottom) at KOTC

By Gary Olive, 13 July 2003

Gary Olive : Jess can you me who you are and how you got into this sport and discipline?

Jess Liaudin: I am Jess Liaudin, 5-9, 84kg; I started training in martial arts at about 8 years of age, and am now 29. I have bee fighting since I was 16 in different full contact styles around the world. In MMA & NHB I have 10 fights - 6W, 3L, 0D 1 no contest. I fight in different types of MMA such as pancrase, ring, vale tudo etc ...I also had the privilege to fight in the 1st cage fight in the UK

How did you discover MMA?

Jess Liaudin:I was fighting in Houston Texas for the south east kickboxing title (which I won) that was in November 93, this was right when the 1st UFC came out. When I saw the fights I was blown away, and when I came back and told my friend what I had seen, nobody wanted to believe me. For me it reinforced my belief to cross train in different styles, which I then did. when I was living in the US, I did my first mma fight in 95 , it was one of those dojo type's of vale tudo fighting, a lot of people where doing that at the time. I won the first fight and drew the second after 40 minutes, it was pretty s***, the guys I fought where bums. My 1st pro fight was in 2000 at Fred Rado's pancrase show.

How did you end up in the uk ?

Jess Liaudin: Well, I come from a working class back ground, I had my first job when I was 14 and at the time I was living in a church ,so at a very young age I had a drive to do something with my self and not to become like the people I was saw every day around me in my neighborhood so I decided to travel and to find my path in life .I've been around Europe/Far East and I lived in America before I came to the uk to settle down.

Are you fighting for France or UK?

Jess Liaudin : Well, I was born in France so that makes me French, but I haven't been living in my country for nearly 10 years so it feels strange to fight for France. I have been in the uk for over 7 years and I like my fry up on the weekend and a fish & chips with salt and vinegar and mushy peas as a treat, does that tell you something (ah!ah!ah!) but really I just fight for myself

How do you feel about tonights result? (at Cage Rage 2)

Jess Liaudin : Some people say that the fight against Paul Taylor was a bit controversial no?? you know when a fight is going to a decision that there is always going to be some sort of controversy, Paul did a good job and a gave a great fight, now some people see the fight from a striker's point of view, others see it from grappler's point of view. Me, I should have come more prepared, and shouldn't have under estimated Paul. The only thing I am not happy about was the fouls in the fight, the heel kick when I was doing the arm-bare and the spiking, which really f***** up my neck big time. Besides that I say well done to Taylor and wish him good luck for his future, and if he keeps doing well we will be fighting each other again and this time I will come prepared and I will beat him down......

What do you mean prepared?

Jess Liaudin : aren't you supposed to come prepared for every fight as a pro fighter ? ah!ah! you've got me there, you know it's been very difficult for me to prepare for fight, I used to go to Peacocks with Kamal, John and all the crew back in the days, but now that I live in West London it's very difficult to get there, also Kamal is retired now and John is having a break, so I don't have training partners, I have also been working a lot as I have to pay the bills. I know it's not really an excuse but I guess I've been lazy, and I keep competing because I love it really. I was offered to fight Denni "the wildman" Thomas at kotc and Marios also approached me at the semi to fight in EF1, but I had to say no, because right now I can't prepare my self for a fight. but that's all going to change soon

Have you found new training partners?

Jess Liaudin : No, not really. I decided to stop f****** about. I left my job, took the money I had in saving, booked a plane ticket on the credit card and am going to Japan and try to make it up there.

Japan? For training or fighting?

Jess Liaudin : Both

Are you going to fight in big promotion?

Jess Liaudin : I am going to start with small promotions and if I do a good job will see what happens, I don't want to go too fast, at the end of the day I know where I belong, I have never beaten an A class fighter yet, don't get me wrong I have fought some tough son of a b****** with skill but I haven't beaten a top fighter for the moment.

Why do you thing you are so unknown in the UK?

Jess Liaudin : Because I don't have a bunch of people bragging about me on the net, but also some people don't like me, I guess also because I often speak my mind and not just behind a computer, so they like to talk s.... about me when I am not around. But I've only got 1 thing to say to these people, do what I've done and then you can start talking s*** about me . At the end of the day, top fighter's and promoters know who I am and respect me and that's the most important thing for me.

Youâre not a big fan of MMA forum then??

Jess Liaudin : Oh yes, don't get me wrong, I love it, it's great to be able to talk about training/fighting etc with some other guy from the other side of the world. The only one I don't go on the underground forum (mma.tv) I think with out the net MMA won't be what it is now. The only problem is that there is too many frustrated teenagers going on the forum and talking a lot of s*** and they think they know every thing because they been doing bjj for a couple of years (classes that mummy and daddy pay for by the way) training and fighting are two different things.

How's Pancrase London going?

Jess Liaudin : Very well, Paul (Hines) and I are pretty busy with the class's and we've got a good mix of different people, also we've got a few fighters coming up, what I like about it is that they pretty much have never done any combat sports before, they are pancrase London pure breed we have taught them every thing: take downs, submission, striking, and they've been doing pretty well so far.

Which fighter do you think we should look for?

Jess Liaudin : Suley Mahmoud, Ashley Greenshaw, Paul McVeigh and Sol Gilbert, there is a lot of talented fighters coming up in the UK at the moment, and some hype up one too. But don't worry; we've got some of those in France too. Also don't miss the murray vs pele, day vs taylor, bendy vs mcleod and jenkin vs gaz 2 fights, they are going to be great

Any last word?

Jess Liaudin : I would like to thank all the people who have supported me which includes fighters, a couple of promoters and the few people that scream they encouragement when I fight, thanks guys

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