Italy Nations Cup

On April 23rd 2010 a team from Farrell MMA in Huddersfield will be heading out to Tarcento in Italy to compete in an international fight tournament. The Italy Nations Cup brings together fighters from Austria, England, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Spain and Turkey to compete in both MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and Kickboxing bouts.

Team England, sponsored by Huddersfield based Fightkit.com, consists of 7 fighters from two different clubs in Yorkshire. Farrell MMA in Milnsbridge will be represented Andy Farrell, head coach and former European Brazilian Jujitsu Champion, and Karl Amos who will be competing in professional Mixed Martial Arts fights.

Fight Club’s Head Coach, ex World Champion Kickboxer, Keith Priestley has 5 fighters in the team all of whom will be competing in full contact kickboxing bouts.

Huddersfield’s Farrell MMA is rapidly expanding as the sport becomes more popular due to increased press coverage of events such as the UFC, Strike Force and UK shows such as BAMMA. Andy Farrell has been involved in Martial Arts for well over 25 years and has seen the popularity increase massively over the last few years. “The club is going from strength to strength, every week we have new members coming to the classes. Our class timetable is expanding now to include more specific disciplines such as BJJ, Wrestling and Boxing. Obviously the extra media coverage being enjoyed by MMA has helped the sport gain new fans and that is reflected in the interest we have in the club.”

The chance to fight in Italy and represent his country was one Andy couldn’t resist “I got a call from a Keith who asked me if I would be interested in fighting in Italy and without hesitation I told him to put my name down. This could be a massive opportunity for me, depending on how the fight goes there is a possibility of fighting in Japan next which is something I would love to do. I still have ambitions in this sport and given the right opportunities I feel I could make it all the way to the UFC.”

Competing in MMA means a very strict training regime and diet, both Andy and Karl have been preparing for this months fights for 8 weeks now. With a good team of fighters at Farrell MMA and training equipment supplied by sponsors Fightkit.com Andy feels he is ready for battle. “The training has gone well, I’ve been doing this long enough to know where I need to be each week in terms of my weight, strength and stamina. I feel good. I just want to get out there now and show everyone what I can do. All the guys at Farrell MMA have stepped up when needed and made sure I have guys to train and spar with. I might be the one in the cage but it takes a full team to get you ready.”

The England team flies out on the 23rd ready to compete on Saturday 24th of April in front of a packed arena

This entry was posted on Friday, April 16th, 2010 at 11:58 am and is filed under INTERVIEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.