An interview with Paul Sutherland
1. Your next event Ultimate Impact 3 “Adrenaline” takes place on November 27th. How do you feel your events are going so far?
I think they have been a success. The first show was a tester to see what sort of a crowd we would get and it went really well. We are looking at creating the future stars, with most of the guys that we bring in all have between none to five fights on their record. So they are all on an even keel when they compete together. It’s all about creating the next generation of British mma superstars
2. When you announced your inaugural event. You said the events are built for the new inexperienced Pro’s. How do you see the state of the emerging British talent coming through?
I think they are more well rounded, what you have to appreciate I have been in the sport since the start of it in the UK taking part in the early shows. Comparing the guys from then to now, the guys now are a lot more rounded, better trained as there are a lot more mma gyms about with access to good trainers. This is totally different from five to ten years ago.
3. You regularly judge at various events around the UK. With all the controversy surrounding judging in mma at the moment what do you look for when scoring a round?
We are governed by the unified rules on how to judge fights. I always look at ring generalship damage and effective work. Example a guy can be throwing a lot of volume on strikes but may not be landing and the other fight could be moving backwards and counterstriking effectively. To the untrained eye the guy moving forward is winning the round but that is not always the case! Takedowns also are another thing. I only will score takedowns if something is done after that. If the guy gets taken down and his opponent gets straight back up. I usually will not score the takedown as no effective work has happened after that. But judging is very difficult watching live than on a TV so people have to understand that angles are different and you visual perspective is different to. So I think it's very important to have a trained eye whilst judging and it's an advantage if you have fought before yourself as you tend to know what is going on in there a little more. But having an educated eye is the key thing.
4. You judges bamma 4. You had a very easy night until the title fight. How impressed were you with Alex Reid and which round did you declare as a draw?
I declared the second round as a draw because the both put together good offense in the round with Alex Reid at the start of the round and Tom Watson at the end of the second round so I scored it a 10-10. I’m quite a fan of 10-10 rounds because if you’re unsure it’s better to score it as a 10-10 than to guess and score it a 10-9 in someone’s favour.
I was impressed with Alex Reid he is obviously very tough and very durable. He has always been that way as I have known the guy for about Ten years. It was never going to be an easy fight for Tom Watson
5. UFC120 is next weekend. What fights and fighters are you looking forward to seeing and are you judging this event?
I am judging the event and I am also judging ufc122 in Germany. I’m really looking forward to Dan Hardy v Carlos Condit. That for me is the headline fight as it should be very interesting as both are aggressive fighters. With both fighters looking to come forward and pressing the pace.
I am interested to see where this fight takes place. Whether it will stay standing or if one of the fighters trys to take it to the ground. I think Dan Hardy has the advantage on the feet as he has some very heavy hands and is probably the best counter puncher this country has. Carlos Condit has the advantage on the ground as he has a very expansive ground game and is very aggressive with it. Both fighters have very good cardio so I am expecting that to go the distance as they are both so durable and I’m expecting that one to be a tough one to judge if it does.
6. The British mma scene is growing at a very fast rate. How long till you see the uk having a ufc or wec champion and the uk becoming a mma superpower up there with the likes of brazil, usa and Canada?
I think we are getting there but we are still a little bit behind. The main thing what we are behind on is wrestling. They do it in college and wrestling is a big amateur sport over there. Things are definitely improving though and we aren’t that far away. I think in the next Five years we will have either a WEC or a UFC champion.
I think one of the guys who are really underrated is Brad Pickett. He is doing really well in the WEC and is ranked in the top Ten in the world. Surprisingly not a lot of people talk about him seeing as he is right up there.
7. You’re General Manager of Trojan Free Fighters which is a well respected gym with some world class talent. What is your overall goal for the gym?
To continue to develop and bring more quality fighters to compete all over the world in every organisation. To educate the general public as well in the sport and get it into the mainstream. To continue to grow our gym, our reputation in the sport and our talented fight team.
8. Rumour has it that Trojan has a big wave of new well rounded talented fighters coming through. Who do we need to look out for?
We have so many it would be unfair for me to pinpoint one fighter in particular. In general all the group of guys we have coming up are well skilled, well rounded and well trained. All of them are very hungry. Any fighter that comes out of the Trojan gym if you’re going to beat them you’re going to have to beat them solidly.
9. As a coach what do you think is the most important skill any fighter can have?
I would say mental toughness is the most important skill. You see a lot of fighters who come in very skilled but mentally not very strong. They could be very good on the pads, good grappler but when you have to dig in the trenches in the third round after being beat up a little bit you have to have that mental strength to get over that hurdle and win the fight.
10. Do you think wrestling is becoming too prominent in fights? With some fighters looking to outscore and opponent and not look for the finish?
At times yes but at the end of the day it’s still a fight and wrestling is an important component of MMA. If you are getting controlled by a wrestler you have to do something about it as wrestling is part of the game. If the fight your actually in is stalling then it’s up to the referee to stand the fighters back up on their feet. Bottom line is wrestling is a part of the game so I don’t think it’s being boring, I believe it’s the most important tool to have as you are able to dictate where the fight takes place.
11. If you could change one thing in mma what would it be and why?
I would change the public’s perception on MMA or Cage fighting as it gets called. We need to bring it more into the mainstream, we need to educate people that it has rules and it has regulations. All the fighters are proper athletes and aren’t just Neanderthals that just come out and start swinging. It’s the perception of what we do and we should be taken equally as any sort of professional athlete.
12. Do you think tuf 12 being moved to sky sports in the UK is going to make mma even more popular and get it into the mainstream?
I do because as most people have sky sports in the up. Most people like to watch a fight and it’s being pushed into their faces. I think it’s going to cause an upturn of people being interested in shows and training in MMA gyms.
13. If you could fight anyone in any organisation and at any weight. Who would it be and why?
Well I’m retired so I don’t want to fight anybody!
14. Who is Paul Sutherland outside the mma world?
Just an average everyday guy, who likes to go out with friends enjoy myself and spend time with my family.
15. Is there anybody you would like to thank?
I would like to thank all the guys at Trojan, all my fellow coaches, all the coaching staff, all of the fighters and all of the training partners. All the guys have really good attitudes with everybody willing to help everybody else. It’s a nice little family we have at Trojan and I would just like to thank all the guys at Trojan from the bottom end of the scale to all the way to the top.
www.trojanfreefighters.com
I would like to thank Paul for taking time out of his busy training and coaching schedule for this interview and wish him all the best for his events and Trojan Free fighters in the future
Dan Young
Twitter @danyoungmma
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