(RS) My favourite mixed martial artist has always been Chuck Liddell. He was the first fighter I watched and I’ve always been excited about the way he fights and the way he wins fights with KO’s. It’s similar to the way I like to win.
(B) When did you start MMA?
(RS) About four or five years ago. I’d done a bit of Thai Boxing before that. I first got into it with Michael Bisping who went to the same gym as me in Burnley. I just got talking to him and he invited me to come along and start training with him.
(B) What has been your biggest achievement in mixed martial arts?
(RS) Beating Daniel Weichel on BAMMA 3. Not only was he my toughest opponent but it was my best performance so far.
(B) What is it that gives you your competitive edge?
(RS) I always want to win. I don’t take losing lightly at all. I’m a really sore loser. I want to get to the top. I’m getting there at the moment in Britain and I want to start doing it in Europe now.
(B) What advice would you give to someone wanting to follow in your foot steps?
(RS) I would definitely recommend MMA to anyone its the ultimate sport. You don’t have to do it to fight, you can do it for fitness as well. Its also a real confidence booster. My confidence has shot through the roof since I started doing [MMA]. People think its a dangerous [sport] but its not really. If people want to have a go then I would recommend it but stick at it and you’ll get better and better.
(B) What to you miss most when you are training for a fight?
(RS) Food and Beer. Mostly food though. I love my food.
(B) Who would you most like to fight?
(RS) I would really like to fight UFC veteran Rich Clementi because if I beat him then I would know I’m good enough for the UFC. If he beats me then I know I’m not good enough. Simple as that really. Of course its up to my manager to decide who I fight.
(B) What did you think of the BAMMA 3?
(RS) I thought it was really good. There were some really top fights.
(B) Run us through your last fight?
(RS) It went how I thought it would go. I knew he would try and tease me into throwing some big shots so he could shoot under. But I thought I’ll wait a little bit, be patient. I knew he was going to shoot in. Thats his bread and butter.
What I didn’t want to do is what I’ve seen a lot of guys do. If your half way being taken down, you want to give up and lie down. I made sure when Daniel took me down I landed in a half decent position on the floor. I wanted to keep scrambling. I knew that his fitness had never been the greatest from previous fights so I didn’t want to let him get on top. I wanted to be on top and obviously I finished the fight from there.
(B) Do you think you could improve on anything?
(RS) It always been well documented that I’ve got good stand up but I still need to improve on it. Everything else I’m quite happy with but I just need to get my confidence in my standup. Once I get my confidence in my standup I’m going to take some stopping.