Taking place at Portsmouth’s Mountbatten Centre on March.29, Brett ‘Lil Ninja’ Caswell (4-0) – one of the UK’s most exciting flyweight prospects – will challenge for the Shock N’ Awe Flyweight Championship against 10-year fight veteran Steve ‘Taz’ McCombe, at Shock N’ Awe 16.
“I’m very excited to fight ‘Taz’, I wanted to fight him on the last show but we both were already matched and then when I got asked if I wanted to fight ‘Taz’ for the title it was a no-brainer. ‘Taz’ is an awesome submission fighter with good solid stand up as well, and I just can’t wait to get in there with him and have a great fight.
To beat ‘Taz’ and win the title would be a great stepping stone on moving up that ladder and towards my eventual goal of winning a world title and striving towards that dream of competing in the UFC.”
Having been crowned the 2005 Commonwealth Judo Champion, Caswell turned his attention to mixed martial arts as a career choice, a sport that over the last 20 years has generated more and more opportunities for martial artists such as judokas and wrestlers who previoulsy didn’t have any option to compete professionally for a living.
“It just seemed that MMA was the natural progression after my judo career was coming to an end.”
Having trained and competed for several years in high level judo, the mentality that comes with this coupled with the ability to tweak and fine tune prior knowledge has transitioned perfectly into moulding yet another of Gym 01’s MMA products.
“It (judo) has helped me stay focused and work on the elements that I lack in, to make myself a more complete fighter, with my judo the grappling without a gi was easy to pick up and the submissions to it was just the varying scenarios, and striking I have been working relentlessly on.
My judo has defiantly aided me in other areas of MMA. Wrestling and BJJ are very similar to some of the techniques in judo so I have been lucky to have taken to these very quickly.”
Of all the disciplines in MMA, judo stands out as one in particular with the ability to overwhelm opponents once the practitioner is able to grab hold and evoke their bread and butter maneuvers, noticeable through the careers of fighters such as Ronda Rousey, Karo Parisyan, and now Caswell himself.
“Oh defiantly, when you clinch up with a judo player they have a different feel about them, they know how to change their weight and use their hips in ways normal grapplers don’t understand, also the angles of the throws that judo players use are completely different to regular MMA grapplers and because of our base we are extremely difficult to take down.”
Interestingly, Brett revealed his spent training and competing alongside Olympic Judo medalist and undefeated UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion, Ronda Rousey.
“I knew Ronda from back in the judo days, we both were competing on the European circuit and the US circuit together, and had a good few laughs at comps and training camps. She was an incredible fighter back then and the progression has moved over for her flawlessly.”
As a beginner, one initial problem with turning to MMA as a world class practitioner from any martial art will likely be a lack of willing or suitable opponents. Despite this, a flawless start at the amateur level has lead to a championship bout in one of the UK’s busiest promotions.
“I had to turn pro after 3 fights (at amateur) because we were finding it hard to find matches at semi pro, but since turning pro I haven’t found any difficulty getting matched yet.”
As a Gym 01 fighter Brett trains out of one of the countries best MMA gyms, home to the likes of James Pennington, James Brum, Mike Ling and of course UFC flyweight Phil Harris.
“These guys are monsters! Training with the likes of Phil Harris, James Brum, James Pennington, Scott Pooley, Jamie Pritchard, Anton Defreitas and so many more that would take forever to mention, as well as regular visits from Vaughn Lee, Davey Grant and Brad Pickett. It’s safe to say that the benefits are endless, I’m getting better every week and it’s down to training with these guys.”
Caswell blitzed through the amateur competition with three consecutive first round submissions. Since turning pro, his judo has continued to shine with a highlight reel of crowd pleasing throws. However, following a successful Cage Warriors debut, it was Caswell’s latest outing at SnA 15 where his growth as a mixed marial artist was highlighted with a first round TKO.
“I’ve been working tirelessly with my striking, working with Brian Adams and our boxing coach Wayne Kong-Gardner on improving my stand-up to match my grappling and ground game. Lets just say I’m improving and I’m going to shock a few people that think I’m just a judo guy!”
“I’d just like to give a big shout out to all the Gym01 monsters, my coaches Bri, Gareth, Wayne and Mok, and to my sponsors”:
Duomachy Fight Apparel – for the awesome walkout shirt take a look at www.duomachy.com
Crossfit Southern Legion – Mike and Ray for all my strength and conditioning and getting me fight ready for this fight.
Blades Barbers – for making sure I look my best come fight day.
Photos: Mark Blundell to see more pictures by the UK’s number mixed martial arts photographer click HERE
