Great Britain Top Team (GBTT), the UK’s leading professional mixed martial arts (MMA) team, is opening a new facility for the pro team, aspiring athletes and individuals who want to train in MMA disciplines. The gym will be a training base for fighters in the UFC, Cage Warriors, Bellator, and other major international promotions. These include UFC star Nathaniel Wood, current Cage Warriors bantamweight champion Dominique Wooding, and female pro fighters Claire Lopez and Olga Rubin. GBTT was co-founded by Brad ‘One Punch’ Pickett, pioneer of British MMA who has been involved in the sport for o ..read more

A five times martial arts world champion, actor, author and artist living in Los Angeles has “virtually” travelled back to his native north east of England to inspire and enthuse young people on the first steps of their careers. Kevin Brewerton was born in Newcastle and spent his youth living and growing up in Jesmond Dene where his grandfather worked as the park keeper. His early years were typical of any young boy growing up on Tyneside but at the age of 12 he discovered that the girl he thought was his sister was actually his mother and that the couple he thought of as his parents were in ..read more

We recently featured an interview with young Kickboxing Champion Connor Neill. At the time, we also caught up with his coach Chris West, to find out how his success has come about. MAO – Do you remember when Connor started training, was his talent obvious right away? Chris West (CW) – "Yes, I do remember, when he first came into the gym, he was quite shy, but I noticed he listened to every word I said to him that day, he taken to the sport well as he was naturally athletic after trying out a few different sports first, but we have had to work hard to achieve what he has done so far." MAO – Wh ..read more

Due to popular demand, after the amazing success of the first ever Cimac Superleague virtual kickboxing tournament in February, raising over £1200 for the Young Minds charity, organiser Neville Wray has announced a second event on 18th and 25th April 2021 and this time funds raised will be for the charity WellChild as they are a national charity that looks after children of all ages. The WellChild charity enables children and young people with exceptional health needs to be cared for at home instead of in hospital, wherever possible. Like other charities its fundraising has substantially decr ..read more

If it wasn’t for the COVID-19 lockdown on industries and sporting facilities nationwide and the structured routine of a young autisic boy that enjoys the sport of kickboxing, the Cimac Superleague Virtual Open Tournament may never have been considered let alone become the history making event that it was. £1,265.00 was raised for the Young Minds Charity by the first ever Cimac Superleague virtual kickboxing tournament with 36 individual divisions contested by 90 competitors. Participants set up their computers, laptops, tablets and phones, checked their wifis and cleared spaces in their bedro ..read more

Sunvit D3 Ltd. are proud sponsors of World Kickboxing Champion Connor Neill and West Freestyle Martial Arts. They are a UK supplier of one of the few pharmaceutical grade Vitamin D supplement brands which is recommended by many health care professionals. The company have authorised a 20% discount code MARTIALARTS21 to help keep martial artists fit and healthy by utilising their range of products. SunVit-D3’s head of sales and marketing Barry Neill, is a former bodybuilder, strength athlete and avid martial arts fan who has agreed to answer a few questions about the SunVit-D3 range and give hi ..read more

A modern martial arts problem... just how long should it take to earn the coveted black belt? We've spoken to a lot of people and done plenty of research to help get to the bottom of this. What we know so far is the average opinion is somewhere between 2 & 6 years is the sort of timescales you can expect when training regularly. There are plenty of supporting arguments in each case, to include training regularity, natural skill level, age, previous experience and so on. It's not exactly the answer we were looking for so we've broken it down ourselves: Many martial arts will have, for exa ..read more

Connor Neill is rapidly making a name for himself in British martial arts. After securing the WKC world championship title, Connor has been training hard through the lockdown looking to add to his regional, national and now world titles. Fighting out of Chris West’s Freestyle Martial Arts, this 16 year old started his martial arts journey as recently as October 2018 but has shown himself to be a rare natural talent. We recently caught up with Connor who told us: "I began training in kickboxing to focus on discipline and how to defend myself. In a short space of time I fell in love with it, es ..read more

As a fighter, you’ll know that finding the perfect pre-fight training regime is critical. To stay in form, you also need to include active recovery into your schedule. This requires training that is low impact, yet adjustable to your rate of recovery so any prior progress isn’t lost. It might sound difficult, but with the right tricks and tools you can form a 360 degree plan that works before, during, and after each round. MMA fighters need to be able to release short bursts of relentless energy, with extra reserves left to strike your opponent at that perfect moment. Developing this kind of ..read more

Aside from deadlifts and landmine rotations if you have minimal or no equipment then these 4 bodyweight exercises will help you develop a stronger core Strong Core = Powerful punches Firstly remember these three key points: Strength training in any form is supplemental to correct punching technique and this is made better by practicing punching in its many forms from shadow boxing to bag work. Proper punching technique is a sequence of proper engagement of the correct muscles at the correct time in the correct sequence Most of the important muscles for correct and powerful punching are locat ..read more