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Gone but not forgotten from UK MMA, Alex Cook talks to The Fight Lounge about what he has been upto recently and also looks back at his time fighting and training at The Wolfslair.

TFL: Hi Alex, welcome to The Fight Lounge!

AC: Hi Mike, great to speak to you. Thanks for getting in touch. 

TFL: So where have you been? What have you been upto?

AC: I gave up full time competing in 2007, I’d had enough of being broke and going nowhere fast in the sport. It was a hard decision to make, but I it was the right one.

I’ve met a lot of great people along the way and had some great times, but I had to think about my future, and unfortunately that involved leaving the sport on a full time basis.

It’s funny how your priorities change as time goes by.

So I moved back home as much as it killed me and began working for an old boss of mine on the Sellafield Industrial Site.

I started to teach three classes of MMA per week, created my own club (www.hybridmmaschool.com) with my mate Craig Strickland, mainly geared towards the beginners market.

Craig is a Brown Belt in Judo and a Black Belt in Karate and his dedication to martial arts is phenomenal.  We had a good selection of amateur and Semi Pro fighters at one stage too.

I’ve competed in a few competitions since I quit full time, I had an unsuccessful bout in the IFL against Marcello Salazar, a successful local bout against a Lithuanian at War in Workington, then I got completely dominated by Alex Makhonin at OMMAC last year.

Other than MMA, I’ve competed in a few Unlicensed boxing bouts and a few Grappling comps, with reasonable success… Managed to win all my boxing bouts with them all going the distance. Although it’s only 3 x 2′s, it’s like a bloody sprint!

I’ve done OK in the grappling, I won Ground Control 3 which was still based at Next Generation gym in Liverpool, but had mixed success since.

TFL: I believe you have been doing some catch wrestling. Where was that and how did you find the experience?

AC: Absolutely amazing… I’d heard of something called Catch as Catch Can way back and had just dismissed it without paying much attention to it…

Then Craig lent me an Instructional DVD with Josh Barnett and Erik Paulson on it… Then this old guy with a walking stick was introduced by John Barnett, and he had a Lancashire accent with an American twang. The old guy was Billy Robinson, one of the top wrestlers there has ever been, and he originated from Manchester and Trained in Wigan at Riley’s Snake Pit Gym.

I watched it over and over and practiced the moves shown and I was hooked. So my love of it started there really, and I looked and found more information on it via Jake Shannon’s website Scientificwrestling.com.

I’ve since flew over to Utah twice and trained with them both as well as Harry Smith (WWE’s David Hart Smith)

We made an instructional DVD whilst out there. Billy Robinson was doing the commentary and instruction whilst Jake Shannon and I were performing the moves.

It’s an absolutely amazing sport with a rich history and shows moves that people think are new today that have really been around for 100′s of years..

Randy Couture and Chael Sonnen have recently talked about their interest in the techniques used in it too.

TFL: You have retired from fighting now. Do you have get the itch to get back into the cage?

AC: If I’m honest, no. Preparation takes too much time and effort and my priorities have changed over the years.

I love training and sparring but I love it because I do it when I want and because I want to, not because I have to.

 
TFL: You where a member of the Wolfslair. Do you miss your time there?

AC: I don’t miss it at all!

But I will say that my time there was a very happy one. I was keen to learn, worked hard and enjoyed training.

I got to meet some great people in and out of MMA. It was probably the most important part of my MMA career, if you can call it a career.

The coaches were great, Tony Quigley the boxing coach knew how to get the best out of everyone, and never took any shit…

And Mario (Neto) was a legend.

The management were great to me, the lads in the gym had a good camaraderie most of the time. Paul Kelly, Lee Dickson, Jay Ceiren, Dave Faulkner and Tom Blackledge were all very close. Even some of the Polish and Brazilian lads became good friends, like Andrew Gallotti, Mahal and Choco.

It was tough though. I basically lived, ate, slept, taught and trained at the gym. So it became a bit like cabin fever at times.

In the end it became too much, coupled with a few family problems, I decided to call it a day from full time fighting.

 TFL: One of your old teammates and friends Tom Blackledge makes his UFC debut in October against James McSweeney. How do you think the fight will play out?

AC: I’ve not been in touch with Tom for a few years, but he’s a great guy. Very funny and a great fighter. I think the drop to LHW will really see him blossom. I don’t know much about McSweeney, other than he’s got great stand up.

I think it will be a battle of styles and I’d like to see Tom win because he’s a mate from years back. Tom and I were competing in the same Grapple & Strike competitions years ago when he had a mingy pony tail, so I’d like to see him do really well. I predict a bit of a clinch up then Tom to get a take-down and dominate from there. Win by Ground and pound or sub.

TFL: Now you’re a trainer, do you have any guys who you think could have a great future in MMA?

AC: We have a good selection of lads down at the club, and we have a couple of young lads that seem to soak up techniques very easily. There are one or two lads that have the drive to train hard and learn, Davey Turner who is 21 and Rory Wood who is 16,  they mix our classes up with boxing and their own training whether that’s weights or fitness work, so it shows they have a desire to work hard and learn. We had a good nucleus of fighters competing at one point and were quite successful, but again priorities change for people and working and training for a fight doesn’t necessarily go hand in hand.

TFL: Are there any domestic fights you are looking forward to seeing or any fighters you like to watch?

AC: In all honesty, I don’t keep my finger on the pulse anymore. I look out for lads I know and obviously shout for British lads competing internationally.

Paul Kelly, Paul Taylor, Terry Etim and Paul Daley I think are all exciting home grown guys to watch. And any of our lads or lads from the local area like the Thompsons.

I think the UFC are slowly recruiting most of the top guys from around the British circuit, so before long I reckon most of the guys worth their salt will be competing in the UFC in one way or another. It’s a great way forward for everyone that busts a gut to get their chance. I just hope it doesn’t get over saturated for the sake of audience viewing figures.

TFL: What do you think of the current state of UK MMA?

AC: It’s rising rapidly… Everyone wants to be a part of it in one way or another. Which is a good thing from a business point of view!

… I’m not sure what sort of impact it has on other traditional martial arts, which I personally think are sometimes neglected.

The interest in UFC or Cage Fighting has rocketed recently and I imagine gyms have never been so busy. But one thing I have noticed is a lot of people try to go from A-Z in their training, when in reality it takes time to learn. Even the basic concepts of any martial arts takes time. But the main thing is to have fun while you learn. But if you want to become the best you’ve got to use your head, have plenty of heart and go out and do your best to succeed.

TFL: Is there anything you would like to say to the readers of The Fight Lounge?

AC: Just go out and learn as much as you can and try not to let politics get in the way of your learning.

TFL: Well thanks for your time Alex, good luck with the future and please visit us again!

AC: Thanks for your time with me.