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Post date: 18-Apr-2011 21:23:37
Scotland top middleweight, Alan “No” Love (7-2), of the Dinky Ninja’s takes on the experienced and well ranked Jack Mason (14-7) in the main event of Cage Warriors 41 this Sunday (24th April) at the HMV Forum in Kentish town, London.
The event, from one of the UK’s leading promotions, is to be televised on premier sports (Sky Channel 433) at 9pm this Sunday. Some of the UK’s finest MMA talents will be on show and looking to impress.
Alan took some time out from preparing to answer some questions posed by the Real MMA Show.
The Real MMA Show:
Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.
Your original opponent, Denniston Sutherland pulled out of the bout due to injury and Jack Mason has stepped in. How does this affect you mentally in the run up to fight night and did it make you change anything in the final stages of preparation?
Alan Love:
It always plays with your mind a bit when there's uncertainty over a fight. Before Jack Mason stepped up there was no opponent and you start to worry that you're not going to get a fight. It's a horrible feeling and the temptation to break the diet and go out on the lash is pretty severe. Luckily Jack Mason got arranged really quickly and that's testament to the hard work of the team at Cage Warriors. I've been really focussing on what I want to do in this fight rather than worrying about my opponent so there hasn't been a big change. Obviously we've looked at some things and made some adjustments to deal with the different threats but it's been minor tweaking rather than any major overhaul of the plan.
The Real MMA Show:
Where do you see the bout taking place?
Alan Love:
At the HMV forum in Kentish Town. In seriousness though, we're both well rounded fighters and I'm preparing for a back and forth fight taking place in all ranges. It's a cliché to say I'm ready where ever the fight goes but I am and I really think this is a fight that will be all over the place. Cage Warriors has a big 32 foot cage and that'll give us plenty of space to move. A lot of UK shows us smaller cages which tend to lead to a lot of wall work, with the bigger cage that'll probably be less prevalent.
The Real MMA Show:
A win over Mason would presumably raise your profile down south. Who would you like to be matched with next if you get passed him?
Alan Love:
A win would be huge in terms of raising my profile in England, not only because it'll be over a top 10 UK ranked MW in Jack Mason but also with it being on a big show like Cage Warriors. In terms of who I'd like to fight afterwards, I really haven't looked that far ahead. I loved fighting in Europe and would like to do that again but it's really up to my management team to source good fights for me and I'll just do the fun bit of actually fighting.
The Real MMA Show:
You mentioned fighting in Europe again. How did you find fighting in Sweden last year? And how did it feel to have presumably the whole crowd cheering your opponent?
Alan Love:
I loved fighting in Sweden, the MMA scene over there is so professional with their governing body and sanctioning etc so I'd love to fight there again. There just seemed to be a greater awareness of MMA as a sport in the mainstream and it was something that I was proud to be part of. After that positive experience I'm hoping to repeat it where it may take me. With the fans being so smart to the sport over in Sweden there really wasn't a hostile atmosphere they applauded good work regardless of who did it, sure they wanted him to win more but they still gave me a clap coming out. I've had far worse fighting down in Newcastle against local boys though maybe I brought that upon myself by playing the heel.
The Real MMA Show:
Everyone involved in UK MMA knows about the fantastic coaching team which the Dinky Ninjas have at their disposal to ready their fighters. Can you tell us about an unsung hero in your camp? A sparring partner or teammate you drill with who our readers don’t know about and what they do to help prepare you.
Alan Love:
Although I'm loathe to call him a hero the guy who probably helps me, and a lot of the DNFT, out the most but doesn't get a lot of press as he doesn't fight anymore is big Garry Christie. With so many of our guys being at lighter weights it's a struggle to get good big guys in sometimes and Gazz has always been a great help to me, cornering and coaching whenever I've asked. He has a really good understanding of MMA and especially BJJ for MMA along with an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of fights and fighters. He helps me out with all aspects of MMA, is a great pad holder and will crush me anytime I get too big for my boots. If you're doing something wrong Gazz isn't afraid to tell you and doesn't care about how you react, if you're shocking he'll tell you and if you take the huff he'll tell you again. It's important to have someone like that around and I think he quite enjoys doing it as well.
The Real MMA Show:
Your coach Paul McVeigh recently published an amazing blog article outlining his game plan following his recent Cage Warriors bantamweight title defence against tough German opponent Andreas Bernhard. Many were in awe of the attention to detail and level of strategy and preparation Paul employed. Do you follow a similar process in preparing for your fights and do you find watching tape of opponents helpful?
Alan Love:
Paul's plan he published was very detailed, I don't normally go with as detailed a plan but I do still set it out in a similar way. Look at your opponents strengths and how your game can negate them. Look at your opponents weaknesses and think how you're game can exploit them. It's something that I find really important in game planning is not to focus on what they're going to but to focus on what you're going to deal with it. It's a subtle distinction but it's there. With MMA being so broad it can be easy to get lost in your options, laying down a plan gives you a road map to work though and it focuses you in there, watching tape has it's place but you can't get to focussed on them or you forget to play to your own strengths.
The Real MMA Show:
Even from the early days of your pro career you have had to look to England for opponents due to the lack of middleweights north of the border. There seems to be loads of interest in MMA but a lack of talent coming through above welterweight. Do you have any thoughts on why this is the case and the general state of MMA in Scotland?
Alan Love:
I think it's a problem with MMA as a whole in the UK with the talent pool being much deeper at Feather, Light and Welterweight than in the heavier weight classes . You can explain the lack of depth in Heavy along with Bantam and Fly weight by a bell curve type statistical spread but at Middle and Light Heavy I don't know why it's so bad. I'd assume it'd be due to a lot of potential fighters being busy in other sports where size is an advantage. Rugby would be a good example, where players realise they wont make a higher level because they're too small might make it in MMA at LW or WW whereas at MW and above they do have the size to make a decent go at it so don't look for other sporting avenues. We really do struggle for talent at MW and LHW up in Scotland and we're pretty thin (not literally mind you) at Heavyweight as well. I'm sure in time as the sport develops we'll have more and more big guys coming through but there's probably been an effect from the top players at the outset being smaller guys (McVeigh, Doolan etc.) that has influenced the smaller guys up here and let them achieve more. Maybe a break through big man will help but I'm sure we'll see those pools develop in time.
The Real MMA Show:
In addition to training you ground game for MMA you regularly train BJJ in the gi. There are often conflicting views on the value of this for MMA competition. Do you feel training in the gi benefits your MMA game and if so how?
Alan Love:
I train in the gi because I enjoy it. I like playing BJJ for BJJ's sake and you certainly don't have to do it to get better for MMA and an over reliance on it can make your game too gi specific but there are parts of the gi game I think will benefit MMA fighters, especially those just starting out. You have to have better posture in the gi to nullify a lot of collar attacks, you have to be more technical in your sub escapes because you can't whip things out with a nice sweaty lubricant, you can spend more time getting used to positions by using the gi to slow people down which really lets you explore the options that different positions bring. That and you'll get more time on the mat and more access to quality sparring partners if you stick the gi on and train as well as no gi sessions and those are probably the 2 most important ingredients to improve. Time on mat and quality partners.
The Real MMA Show:
It’s my understanding that the various arts utilised by fighters based at the Griphouse are trained extensively separately, and not as catch all MMA classes. As such which of the arts (Muay Thai, Boxing, Bjj, Wrestling) do you enjoy training the most and do you have competitive aspirations in any of them as individual sports in their own right?
Alan Love:
That's something that we do very much for people starting out or translating to MMA from a single style background, there's no point learning how to set up a double leg with striking combinations if you can't already throw good punches and hit a good double leg. Once you're proficient in the individual arts you can be a much better MMA fighter. We do have fighter session where we bring things together and look at the aspects of MMA that aren't covered elsewhere like cage work and ground and pound.
As for competing in the individual sports, I go through spells of loving different ones. Sometimes it's Muay Thai, sometimes it's wrestling or whatever and I'll spend more time on it than anything else, it's good fun and you learn a lot when you immerse yourself that way. I've already competed in some boxing and no gi comps this year and I'll do more before the end of the year along with some gi BJJ as well. At the moment they're just fun distractions from MMA where I can go and compete without worrying about a record etc. I've fought Thai once before but I'm not keen to do it again too much cos it does wreck your legs for weeks even when you win.
The Real MMA Show:
Finally, I’m sure you once told me you had studied Keysi fighting method. What are your thoughts on this art and do you know batman?
Alan Love:
I did yeah, back in the distant past. I've no idea what it's like as a system. I find the whole idea of systems somewhat strange now having trained MMA and always just done what worked but the guys instructing that were great (George and Mandy Johnson). They showed great patience with me when I could barely kick my own waist level and they always looked really good whenever they were doing any straight kickboxing type training. They knew their stuff but it just wasn't for me, I love competing for sport and that wasn't what they were there for.
And as far as knowing Batman goes, I'm sorry to say I've never met him. I was once approached in the dark by a hooded man who said "Tell all your friends about me!" but I think he was just selling drugs.
Cheers Alan, all at the MMA show wish you the best of luck for your Cage Warriors debut and look forward to catching the event on Sky.
TOM T
Cage Warriors 41
HMV Forum, Kentish Town, London
Sunday 24th April 2011
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