page revision date: 18th September2008
Gentleman Alex enjoys being caged
Talk to Alex Ward for a short while and it soon becomes apparent that he is the exact opposite of what one might expect a cage fighter to be because he is quietly-spoken, modest, unassuming, and pleasant with a sense of humour.
Yet he readily admits that he loves the hurly-burley of full-contact sports, having previously been involved in judo, where he was taught by Sandy Buttle MBE, and jujitsu, in both of which sports he has a Black Belt as proof of his prowess, and taijitsu, where he was a world champion as a junior and a senior competitor. He won the former title in 1998 in Seoul, North Korea and then the senior crown four years later in the same city, winning seven bouts in the process. Afterwards he also defended his title in places like Belgium, Germany and the USA.
Caged for first time
It was whilst he was taking part in a tai-jitsu competition in Los Angeles that he set out in cage fighting and was approached to see if he would like to try out this new sport of cage fighting, which was regularly filmed for US television on ‘Ultimate Fight Nights’. After agreeing to give it a try he was shown the rules for the venture and decided it was something that would appeal to him.
Alex was understandably nervous but in his first bout acquitted himself really well as he slammed opponent Carlos Stout to the floor with such force that Carlos was unable to continue and Alex claimed a debut first-round victory.
He was invited back to the USA on two other occasions to fight and kept up his winning run as he beat Jason Vonfleur from a right hooked kick before despatching Chris Stanford with a straight cross arm bar which left his opponent with little option but to submit or risk a broken arm!
Body blow for Alex
But then Alex suffered a body blow in his life as his jujitsu coach David Parry passed away. David had not only taught Alex how to defend himself but was like a father to him and taught him life skills and how to respond to situations - and Alex readily admits that he lost interest in doing anything for a while.
Luckily for him, Alex finally decided to restart his interest in exercise by giving Graham Brockway’s gym a try in Merlins Bridge and immediately found another excellent mentor who gave every encouragement. Graham has got him super-fgit again with pleasant challenges like running up the immense steps by the Bristol Trader and regular three mile runs as well as tough gym work.
Hard work pays off
But it is paying off because since then he has competed three more times in Cage Fighting, winning in Newport against John Davidson after only one minute and 20 seconds with a rear naked choke, followed by success against Chris Barrass in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, this time with a guillotine choke. His first defeat came in a British title fight at Northampton where the ref thought he had submitted but was mistaken, although the result still stands in Chris’s record.
Alex is hoping that his next challenge will be to take part in an American reality TV programme called ‘Ultimate Fighter’ where 16 Cage Fighters share a house and compete against each other in the ring, all filmed as in ‘Big Brother’ here. There is a huge six-figure cash prize for the winner and he has joined team-mate Stuart Tyrie in applying for entry.
He hopes to hear soon and Pembrokeshire Sport wishes him every success because he has worked tirelessly to reach his current level and deserves to enjoy further success as he flies the Pembrokeshire Flag with distinction.
Do you know what Cage Fighting involves?
It takes place over an agreed number of rounds in a pre-sited cage that is eight foot high and with only a referee in there alongside the two protagonists.
It contains a variety of skills and techniques from a variety of other martial arts’ like:
Judo – with its throws and pins to the floor
Jujitsu – with its grips and submission holds on the floor
Kick Boxing – with plenty of use of the hands and legs
Thai Boxing – bringing in knees and elbows
All merged in to one in Cage Fighting!
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