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Ian Butlin Profile and Interview
- Our good friends over at cagewarriors.com keep on bringing you the most current news on the UK MMA scene. Today, they share with us a great interview conducted by CWFC Media/News Manager Ian Dean with MMA fighter Ian Butlin. TheFightGame.tv would like to Thank Mr. Dean and Cagewarriors.com for their continued hard work and for allowing us to use their pictures and interview -
With a record of 6-2 in MMA with 5 submission wins, Ian “M16” Butlin is quickly representing the archetypical modern MMA fighter due to his extensive cross training and fitness background. With a BSc in Sports Science and 18 years training in various Martial Arts, this 25 year old is becoming one of the UK’s most recognizable MMA figures and in many ways is leading the way to true professionalism by quitting his day job, training full time and setting up his own Gym (in conjunction with his brothers Andy and Dave).
As previously mentioned, Butlin has an extensive martial arts/combat sports background with 3 years judo, 6 years Thai boxing and was teaching kickboxing before he took up MMA full time in 2002 after seeing early UFC shows and thinking that he can do that too.
However, Butlin is most famous for his amateur boxing background which most noticeably includes 16 senior bouts with a 12-4 record. Highlights of this include a British University Gold at 63.5 kilos (light welterweight) in 2000, internationals in both Cyprus and the Seychelles, (where he had a win and a loss) and winning the Yorkshire title in 2003. However, Butlin was robbed of a chance to appear in the National Championships finals after having to box for both the Yorkshire and North East titles on the same night and was ultimately stopped in the latter fight because of a cut with 30 seconds of the final round. It was this disappointment that made Butlin switch to MMA.
Hailing from Huddersfield, he comes from a fighting family with brothers Andy (a top amateur boxer, who’s recently turned professional) and Dave who fights in both kickboxing and MMA style matches. All 3 Butlin’s belong to Team Quannum and the Northern Cartel. (Which is joint venture made up of a group of gyms in the local area who share knowledge, information and train together and are subsequently becoming a formidable force in UK MMA)
Butlin recently scored a noticeable coup in getting both the long time UK star and former UFC, AFC and Hook n Shoot veteran Leigh Remedios to relocate up north and join Team Quannum www.quannumfitness.co.uk to train and take classes at their gym and also to have the Jean-Jacques Machado black belt Eddie “The Twister” Bravo conduct seminars on the 17th and 18th September 2004 at the Quannum gym.
Having failed to take the Cagewarriors Featherweight title at Cagewarriors 7 in Barnsley on the 9th of May when he was submitted by the unbeaten French BJJ Black Belt Emmanuel Fernandez after 4.59 of round 1, Ian has refocused and now turns his attention to the Cage Rage Featherweight Crown as he takes on the dangerous Muay Thai and Gracie Jiu Jitsu fighter Peter Tiarks in a long awaited duel in London on September 11th at Cage Rage 8: Knights of the Octagon.
Butlin triangle's Peter Irvine
Cagewarriors.com caught up with Ian Butlin at the Royal Beach Hotel in Southsea, Portsmouth on the day after Full Contact Fight Night 2. Here is the edited version which includes Ian’s views on his Featherweight Title Showdown in September, the state of the UK MMA scene and future plans.
Ian Dean: Okay, 4 weeks away, Peter Tiarks, Wembley conference centre. (Cage Rage 9)
Ian Butlin: Yeah it seems like a long time coming, it’s a fight I’ve always wanted, I was suppose to fight him back in February for the Cage Rage Title but for various reasons he couldn’t fight, then my other opponent couldn’t fight, so I ended up fighting Chin (Weerasinghe) in a title eliminator. 6 months down the line and I finally got that shot at the title.
This is the chance I’ve needed really I wanna prove I’m the best featherweight in the world (embarrassed laugh) I mean the UK, and now I think I got that opportunity, I’ll fight peter who is a very good fighter, I think our styles match up very well to make a very exciting fight. He’s an experienced Thai boxer, a good ju jitsu guy, he’s good in the clinch. I’ve got a lot of stand-up background, my groundwork is pretty good, and I’ve got some decent wrestling, I think it can only match up as a good fight.
After that, I’ve won the cage rage title and I proved I’m the best fighter in the UK, hopefully I’ll get the chance to avenge my loss against Emmanuel Fernandez, who in my opinion is proved he’s the best fighter currently active in the UK. I think I made a couple of mistakes and I lost, I think I’m the better fighter, I just think on that day he beat me.
Ian Dean: And it’s eaten away at you hasn’t it?
Ian Butlin: Everyday, it bugs me every day that the way I fought, taking nothing away from Emmanuel, I think he’s a very very good fighter, I just think I made a few mistake, that I will not make again. I know for a fact that he cannot beat me again.
Ian Dean: Is it the fact that you cut so much weight, on the internet everyone says, you know, this is crazy what they do, they lose 10, 11, 12 kg I mean is it the weight that affects you, that affects your performance or was it just the fact that at the end of the day, it just didn’t happen?
Ian Butlin: The weight cutting isn’t an issue in my opinion, you can push it too far but we do it safely, I’ve been doing it a while. The mistake against Fernandez was different. I think I got it bang on in February. I fought a very very good fight against Leon Howell (at Pride and Glory 1 on the 1st February) and everything went perfectly to plan then I fought Chin 2 weeks later and it was too close between fights for me to do the preparation I have to do to make weight. I then fought Emmanuel (at Cagewarriors 7) and tried something different and it didn’t work.
Ian Dean: (Laughing) So you gonna be revising your blood loss technique?
Ian Butlin: (also laughing) that’s right, I got the blood taken the wrong part of my body….my brain.
Ian Dean: So you have Tiarks who you get on with really well with, so that must be very difficult.
Ian Butlin: Yeah it is difficult I do get on really well with Peter, he’s on of the guys in the UK scene that I probably get on the best with he’s a really nice guy and its good that we had a chat about it, we are open about the fact that it was going to happen we were quite aware that we would end up fighting each other, so there will be no hard feelings and I think he’s gonna buy the first drink afterwards.
Ian Dean: A few more questions…we talk about this a lot, the state of the UK scene. What other sport is there where a guy like you, who has a record like you have, isn’t even ranked in the top 10 of some UK promotions, to the fact that you’re ignored?
Ian Butlin: Yeah well I think the problem is those certain UK promotions that don’t have me ranked in the top 10, I’ve actually been matched up for title fights earlier this year. This is something that me and yourself have talked about a lot, because I was very very pissed off that insofar as I was matched up for title fights for most of the top UK promotions and then I get pulled of them cos they can’t match me up, or fighters pull out and I get punished for it.
Now to me, that’s out of order any promotion who will not have the best fighter or a fighter who they can’t match. If they can’t match a fighter and won’t put him on their show, then their show is a 2nd rate promotion, if they are willing to have 2 lesser guys fight for the title then their 2nd division as far as I’m concerned and I will only stick to fighting on 1st division shows and I’ll make sure that the guys on our team will only fight on 1st division shows. Why do I wanna fight 2nd division?
Ian Dean: I think the argument is as well…where’s the uniformity in the UK scene? As there is none.
Ian Butlin: There isn’t and this is what we need, we need some sort of unified ranking system, if I’m being sort after to get a title shot or someone else to get a title shot, then you can work your way up the rankings, if there’s no ranking system and none of the promotions are working together with the rankings or they are trying to make their own little rankings for people who fight on their show, then its not gonna work, because if their all having 2nd rate guys fight on their show and people look at their UK top 10, then it’s gonna be a load of for want of a better word “bums”. Do you know whata mean.
To me it’s ridiculous; the state of the scene in the UK is ridiculous, there is a few people out there at the moment, a few of the promoters out there who are trying to do something about it, but there are others who just want to make money for themselves.
Ian Dean: So what are your future plans, you have Tiarks, you have Fernandez, you have called out a lot of guys and they’ve not wanted you, what now, what’s for 2005. Do you have a message for the rest of the UK scene?
Ian Butlin: To be honest I’m willing to smash up any of them, I’ve got Pete Tiarks who in my opinion is the best other fighter in the UK who I can fight, then Emmanuel Fernandez hopefully for the re-match, after that I can’t see anyone out there really to fight. I know my stablemate Leigh (Remedios) fights the same weight as me (Featherweight) but he’s going to fight a lot of fights at Lightweight for the very same reason. We can’t fight either other and in my opinion we are the best two fighters in the UK at the weight.
Ian Dean: Would you go up to Lightweight if you have to, domestically at least?
Ian Butlin: that’s probably the most likely thing, I think there are some good fights out there at lightweight domestically, so for the new year I’m taking 3 months off where I’m going to do some work at the gym, set up some interclubs and stuff and try and help the grass roots level of the sport. We got some new guys coming through who I wanna get experience for and then maybe then I think if I beat these guys and I got no one about to fight, fight domestically at lightweight.
Ian Dean: and then if you can, then get international fights
Ian Butlin: Yeah then try and get some international fights, I’ll fight anybody, anyone who can make 145 lbs. I think I can beat them.
Ian Dean: And to contact Ian Butlin?
Ian Butlin: ianbutlin@hotmail.com
Ian Dean: Best of luck Ian
Ian Butlin: Thank you very much, and thank you to my sponsors ‘Aquatech Hydroponics’ and Ultimat.co.uk for their ongoing support.
Butlin GnP on Chin
Forum at www.cagewarriors.com/forums.
Interview conducted by Ian Dean: Cagewarriors.com Media/News manager – For more information and/or feedback about what we do e-mail me at iandean@cagewarriors.com (8-15-04)
- From Ian Dean & Cagewarriors.com with a little editing from us (color, highlights, etc...)
(8/24/04)
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