Robbie Olivier mixed martial arts fighter interview

Bio: Started out in martial arts with Judo at the age of 6, my coach is old school and is very good on the ground, so most of my 18 years of judo was spent doing ground work with a little bit of stand up at the end of each session, therefore I became confident with my ground positioning. It wasn'[t until later on that I started to really work submissions (as in the BJA subs are illegal for -16 yrs) but I had some really good seniors around me that made me work hard at it. I entered many Comps in Judo and Sombo a did well and once I reached Black Belt I started to lose motivation and needed a new challenge, which came in the form of a UFC video which my training partner (Mark Day) lent me. From that day myself and Mark would separate ourselves from the rest of the judo club and would have full on (early UFC style) fights in a corner of the Judo mat, both thinking we were the next Royce Gracie in our blood stained Gi's. We would fight for ages we would usually stop when one of us was bleeding too much.

We both really wanted to fight in NHB, but we weren't aware that there were any shows in the UK (Bearing in mind we've only just got gas here in the Fens let alone the internet. Lol) Then 'our breakthrough' once we eventually had web access we found a site called SFUK which pointed us in the direction of Cambridge Free Fight home of Thai boxing and UK Vale Tudo champ Gerard Coville a veteran of Hasdell and Jardines shows (Gez is going to hate me for this build up, he's a bit shy!!) So with the intention to improve (actually starting from scratch) our stand up striking we Joined CFF, and the rest was history! Gez had a lot of contacts with promoters and got us both our first fights.

Training Routine : Being the Fire service doing shift work I find it hard to make all 5 club sessions a week so I have to train by my self in my spare time, I've trained some of the Firefighters on my watch to wrestle and there are a couple of boxers on station so I train with them during the day. It's difficult as there arenÕt any full time gyms in and around Cambridge so it's difficult to find guys to spar with, so if there is any who wants to train HARD during the day in Cambridge give me a shout!

My attitudes towards training have changed recently after training with August Wallen, he's really given me some direction and how to make my time training more efficient.

Every morning I either run 4 miles (including sprints) or do weights (usually alternating.)

Club Sessions are: Monday Judo Tuesday Muay Thai Wednesday Circuit Training Thursday Judo (50/50 Gi / no gi) Saturday Muay Thai / Sub Wrestling

I don't follow a strict diet, but generally eat healthy with plenty of protein and carbs and I try to have little fat, but my vice is chocolate. I drink a lot of water and hardly ever drink alcohol (except on special occasions, when I get wasted on Guinness) I supplement my diet with good quality whey protein and some times creatine depending on what weight I'm fighting at.

SFUK : Gez Coville - Tell usmore about him. I remember his fights way back on Hasdell's events - does he still fight MMA? He was a decent grappler too - what's his training background?

Robbie Olivier: Gez Coville as anyone who knows him will tell you he is a very modest guy with some serious stand up and ground skills, His background originally was Judo and Muay Thai, he is a former British Muay Thai champ and has fought an beat some of the best fighters in the country, including Frankie Hudders, Wayne Moore, Julian Howell. Then he started fighting MMA, he fought on Hasdells Night of the Samurai events, he won Jardines UK Vale tudo Challenge, beating Lee Rusha and Gaz Roriston, he even went to Italy a fought in a 'real Vale Tudo' Cage fight where head buts were allowed and no gloves were used, but he lost by a eye gouge, now that's what I call hardcore lol. Gez also competed at the ADCC trials and had a very tough fight with Shooto #1 Joachim Hansen.

Gez is talking about making a comeback especially after recently choking Roberto Atalla unconscious at Ksbo, so watch this space!!

SFUK : Please elaborate more on your training with August Wallen - how has he helped you improve?

Robbie Olivier : My training attitudes have changed a lot since training with August, eg. When we last spoke I gave you my training schedule, where I was doing say judo one night muay thai the next etc, but now I tend to due MMA specifics each training session, August taught me to use my time more effectively and he helps guide me in the right direction. but if I feel there is something I need to work on leading up to a fight, I will concentrate on that area of the game.

SFUK : Post Extreme Force - how do you think the fight went? :

Robbie Olivier : After EF I felt very upbeat, it was a great opportunity so that's why I took it on short notice. Silva is a great fighter very exciting with huge skills, but I didn't feel outclassed in fact I was very comfortable in there, so with more prep who knows what the result could have been. I was more disappointed with the result at Cagewarriors 4 were I lost to another BJJ brown belt to another triangle, this will not happen again, as again August has advised me what I can do to improve my defence against them.

SFUK : congrats on your win last weekend at UKMMAC 5.

Robbie Olivier : My Fight on Sunday was great, I Knew that like all French fighters my opponent was well rounded, fit and strong, but I wanted to show that I have a stand up game as well as the ground. And as we have just had a visit from Murilo Ninja, I thought I'd try some new stuff out, ie flying knee J . Johnny had a very good wrestling base and controlled most of the fight from in my guard on in the stand up clinch, but in the 1st rd I could feel him breathing heavily and as it was a title defence it was 5 rounds so I knew I was better conditioned and just waited for the right opportunity to strike. So at the end of the 3rd I took him down gained mount and worked the G n P. It was cool to win the title for the 3rd time as I got to keep the cool belt for good.

What's next for you? Or rather, who's next? :

Robbie Olivier : Regarding what next for me well I'll see what comes my way, I hope to fight in Scandinavia soon and I want to do more submission comps in the future.

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