Ollie Ellis Interview

by Jimmy Boogaloo

Team IronLife.com Staff Writer

- Special Thanks go out to Jimmy Boogaloo and Ironlife.com for the following:

Fighting out of Team Savage, Ollie Ellis is one of the most respected MMA fighters in the UK lightweight

division. He is possibly best known for the sturdy performance he put up against Pride Bushido veteran,

Jean Silva, where he brought the high-flying Brazilian back to Earth and gave him everything he could handle

en route to a hard-fought draw. Following his decisive victory over Dave McLaughlin at the first FX3 event,

he is the FX3 Lightweight Champion and one of the top men on the UK scene. Catching up with Ollie, he

was kind enough to answer some questions for Ironlife magazine, sharing his thoughts on the Silva fight and

the up-coming defense of his title against another Brazilian, Alex de Souza.

JB/IronLife: Would it be alright to tell us a bit about your martial arts background?

Ollie Ellis: I started traditional ju jitsu in 2000; that was the only grappling related club in my area. After a few

weeks I realized traditional ju jitsu wasn’t for me. I wanted to grapple and learn submission wrestling. In 2001

I went to Australia and walked into a gym called Boxing Works. I was very impressed with the layout and

watching some of the classes. The gym is owned by Larry Papadopoulous (ranked number one in

SHOOTO). After the first class I took part in, I realized that I knew very little. From then on Larry let me train

with him. I learnt submission wrestling, BJJ, boxing, kick boxing and SHOOTO. I owe everything I know to

Larry and Alex Cook (also ranked number one in SHOOTO).

To read more please click here:

http://www.ironlife.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61760

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Recent IronLife Online Magazine: http://www.ironlife.com/mag/issue23/

- From Ironlife.com with a little editing from us (color, etc...)

(9/2/05)