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Ian Butlin With
a record of 6-2 in MMA with 5 submission wins, Ian "M16" Butlin is quickly
representing the archetypical modern MMA fighter due to his extensive cross training
and fitness background. With a BSc in Sports Science and 18 years training in
various Martial Arts, this 25 year old is becoming one of the UK’s most recognisable
MMA figures and in many ways is leading the way to true professionalism by quitting
his day job, training full time and setting up his own Gym (in conjunction with
his brothers Andy and Dave). As
previously mentioned Butlin has an extensive martial arts/combat sports background
with 3 years judo, 6 years Thai boxing and was teaching kickboxing before he took
up MMA full time in 2002 after seeing early UFC shows and thinking that he can
do that too. However
Butlin is most famous for his amateur boxing background which most noticeably
includes 16 senior bouts with a 12-4 record. Highlights of this include a British
University Gold at 63.5 kilos (light welterweight) in 2000, internationals in
both Cyprus and the Seychelles, (where he had a win and a loss) and winning the
Yorkshire title in 2003. However Butlin was robbed of a chance to appear in the
National Championships finals after having to box for both the Yorkshire and North
East titles on the same night and was ultimately stopped in the latter fight because
of a cut with 30 seconds of the final round. It was this disappointment that made
Butlin switch to MMA. Hailing
from Huddersfield, he comes from a fighting family with brothers Andy (a top amateur
boxer, who’s recently turned professional) and Dave who fights in both kickboxing
and MMA style matches. All 3 Butlin’s belong to Team Quannum and the Northern
Cartel. (Which is joint venture made up of a group of gyms in the local area who
share knowledge, information and train together and are subsequently becoming
a formidable force in UK MMA) Butlin
recently scored a noticeable coup in getting both the long time UK star and former
UFC, AFC and Hook n Shoot veteran Leigh Remedios to relocate up north and join
Team Quannum www.quannumfitness.co.uk
to train and take classes at their gym and also to have the Jean-Jacques Machado
black belt Eddie "The Twister" Bravo conduct seminars on the
17th and 18th September 2004 at the Quannum gym Having
failed to take the Cagewarriors Featherweight title at Cagewarriors 7 in Barnsley
on the 9th of May when he was submitted by the unbeaten French BJJ
Black Belt Emmanuel Fernandez after 4.59 of round 1. Ian has refocused and now
turns his attention to the Cage Rage Featherweight Crown as he takes on the dangerous
Muay Thai and Gracie Jiu Jitsu fighter Peter Tiarks in a long awaited duel in
London on September 11th at Cage Rage 8: Knights of the Octagon. Cagewarriors.com
caught up with Ian Butlin at the Royal Beach Hotel in Southsea, Portsmouth on
the day after Full Contact Fight Night 2. Here is the edited version which includes
Ian’s views on his Featherweight Title Showdown in September, the state of
the UK MMA scene and future plans. Me
— Okay, 4 weeks away, Peter Tiarks, Wembley conference centre. (Cage Rage
9) Ian Butlin
— Yeah it seems like a long time coming, it’s a fight I’ve always
wanted, I was suppose to fight him back in February for the Cage Rage Title but
for various reasons he couldn’t fight, then my other opponent couldn’t
fight, so I ended up fighting Chin (Weerasinghe) in a title eliminator. 6 months
down the line and I finally got that shot at the title. This
is the chance I’ve needed really I wanna prove I’m the best featherweight
in the world (embarrassed laugh) I mean the UK, and now I think I got that opportunity,
I’ll fight peter who is a very good fighter, I think our styles match up
very well to make a very exciting fight. He’s an experienced Thai boxer,
a good ju jitsu guy, he’s good in the clinch. I’ve got a lot of stand-up
background, my groundwork is pretty good, and I’ve got some decent wrestling,
I think it can only match up as a good fight. After
that, I’ve won the cage rage title and I proved I’m the best fighter
in the UK, hopefully I’ll get the chance to avenge my loss against Emmanuel
Fernandez, who in my opinion is proved he’s the best fighter currently active
in the UK. I think I made a couple of mistakes and I lost, I think I’m the
better fighter, I just think on that day he beat me. Me
— And it’s eaten away at you hasn’t it Ian
— Everyday, it bugs me every day that the way I fought, taking nothing away
from Emmanuel, I think he’s a very very good fighter, I just think I made
a few mistake, that I will not make again. I know for a fact that he cannot beat
me again. Me
— Is it the fact that you cut so much weight, on the internet everyone says,
you know, this is crazy what they do, they lose 10, 11, 12 kg I mean is it the
weight that affects you, that affects your performance or was it just the fact
that at the end of the day, it just didn’t happen? Ian
— The weight cutting isn’t an issue in my opinion, you can push it too
far but we do it safely, I’ve been doing it a while. The mistake against
Fernandez was different. I think I got it bang on in February. I fought a very
very good fight against Leon Howell (at Pride and glory 1 on the 1st
February) and everything went perfectly to plan then I fought Chin 2 weeks later
and it was too close between fights for me to do the preparation I have to do
to make weight. I then fought Emmanuel (at Cagewarriors 7) and tried something
different and it didn’t work. Me-
(Laughing) So you gonna be revising your blood loss technique? Ian
— (also laughing) that’s right, I got the blood taken the wrong part
of my body….my brain. Me
— So you have Tiarks who you get on with really well with, so that must be
very difficult. Ian
— Yeah it is difficult I do get on really well with Peter, he’s on of
the guys in the UK scene that I probably get on the best with he’s a really
nice guy and its good that we had a chat about it, we are open about the fact
that it was going to happen we were quite aware that we would end up fighting
each other, so there will be no hard feelings and I think he’s gonna buy
the first drink afterwards. Me
— A few more questions…we talk about this a lot, the state of the UK
scene. What other sport is there where a guy like you, who has a record like you
have, isn’t even ranked in the top 10 of some UK promotions, to the fact
that you’re ignored? Ian
— Yeah well I think the problem is those certain UK promotions that don’t
have me ranked in the top 10, I’ve actually been matched up for title fights
earlier this year. This is something that me and yourself have talked about a
lot, because I was very very pissed off that insofar as I was matched up for title
fights for most of the top UK promotions and then I get pulled of them cos they
can’t match me up, or fighters pull out and I get punished for it. Now
to me that’s out of order any promotion who will not have the best fighter
or a fighter who they can’t match. If they can’t match a fighter and
won’t put him on their show, then their show is a 2nd rate promotion,
if they are willing to have 2 lesser guys fight for the title then their 2nd
division as far as I’m concerned and I will only stick to fighting on 1st
division shows and I’ll make sure that the guys on our team will only fight
on 1st division shows. Why do I wanna fight 2nd division? Me
— I think the argument is as well…where’s the uniformity in the
UK scene? As there is none. Ian
— There isn’t and this is what we need, we need some sort of unified
ranking system, if I’m being sort after to get a title shot or someone else
to get a title shot, then you can work your way up the rankings, if there’s
no ranking system and none of the promotions are working together with the rankings
or they are trying to make their own little rankings for people who fight on their
show, then its not gonna work, because if their all having 2nd rate
guys fight on their show and people look at their UK top 10, then it’s gonna
be a load of for want of a better word "bums". Do you know whata mean.
To me it’s
ridiculous; the state of the scene in the UK is ridiculous, there is a few people
out there at the moment, a few of the promoters out there who are trying to do
something about it, but there are others who just want to make money for themselves. Me
— So what are your future plans, you have Tiarks, you have Fernandez, you
have called out a lot of guys and they’ve not wanted you, what now, what’s
for 2005. Do you have a message for the rest of the UK scene? Ian
— To be honest I’m willing to smash up any of them, I’ve got Pete
Tiarks who in my opinion is the best other fighter in the UK who I can fight,
then Emmanuel Fernandez hopefully for the re-match, after that I can’t see
anyone out there really to fight. I know my stablemate Leigh (Remedios) fights
the same weight as me (Featherweight) but he’s going to fight a lot of fights
at Lightweight for the very same reason. We can’t fight either other and
in my opinion we are the best two fighters in the UK at the weight. Me
— Would you go up to Lightweight if you have to, domestically at least? Ian
— that’s probably the most likely thing, I think there are some good
fights out there at lightweight domestically, so for the new year I’m taking
3 months off where I’m going to do some work at the gym, set up some interclubs
and stuff and try and help the grass roots level of the sport. We got some new
guys coming through who i wanna get experience for and then maybe then I think
if I beat these guys and I got no one about to fight, fight domestically at lightweight. Me
— and then if you can, then get international fights Ian
— Yeah then try and get some international fights, I’ll fight anybody,
anyone who can make 145lbs I think I can beat them. Me
- And to contact Ian Butlin? Ian
- ianbutlin@hotmail.com Me
— Best of luck Ian Ian
— Thank you very much, and thank you to my sponsors ‘Aquatech Hydroponics’
and Ultimat.co.uk for their ongoing support. For
more info on the Quannum Gym go to www.quannumfitness.co.uk or check out the Northern
Cartel Forum at www.cagewarriors.com/forums Interview
conducted by Ian Dean: Cagewarriors.com Media/News manager — For more information
and/or feedback about what we do e-mail me at iandean@cagewarriors.com 15
August 2004
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