James Dixon’s fighting ability is top drawer but his main passion comes in the form of teaching classes about the sport.
We caught up with him as he signs a deal with Oktagon MMA and speaks about his progress in the fighting world.
We caught up with him as he signs a deal with Oktagon MMA and speaks about his progress in the fighting world.
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00:00 As Octagon MMA travels to Birmingham on April 20th, Coventry's very own James Dixon will
00:09 make his debut on the highly anticipated Octagon 56 card.
00:14 Known as the Lionheart, Dixon has achieved so much in MMA, becoming Fight UK's MMA featherweight
00:20 champion early in his career, as well as winning multiple Brazilian Jiu Jitsu titles across
00:26 the UK.
00:27 I caught up with him to find out more.
00:31 So James, just tell me about your journey into the fighting world and where did your
00:36 sort of passion for it all come from?
00:39 When I first watched UFC when I was about 14, 15, absolutely fell in love, fell in love
00:44 with it, knew right there and then that that's what I was going to do.
00:48 You know, so I went out, got a job and that paid for my gym membership and literally since
00:53 15 years old until now, 29, I don't think a week's gone by where I haven't been in a
00:59 gym or haven't at least watched any sort of MMA, you know.
01:02 I've been absolutely captivated by the sport and yeah, it's been all systems go since then.
01:09 James also uses his MMA prowess to coach the next generation of fighters inside Lions Gym
01:15 in Coventry.
01:16 I asked him about the impact he wishes to have on these fighters and how quickly he
01:22 sees the progress.
01:24 Coaching I found, I mean, I sort of accidentally fell on coaching and obviously it's progressed
01:30 to then become the head coach of my gym and to have a plethora of fighters underneath
01:33 me, both amateur and professional.
01:36 And yeah, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, it has improved, you know, my martial
01:43 arts skills tenfold.
01:46 We see that the UFC and MMA is getting bigger every year.
01:50 Are you seeing more young people get into it, whether it be young lads, girls and what
01:55 do you think is drawing them into the fighting world as well?
01:58 Yeah, fighting's been snowballing in terms of all this MMA has in terms of popularity.
02:08 There's been multiple different periods of time where MMA has got massive and probably
02:13 the most recent in terms of MMA would obviously be Conor McGregor.
02:16 Everyone's heard of him and he's really made, at least in the UK, but obviously worldwide
02:22 as well, but at least in the UK is very much a household sport.
02:26 Now, not many people will not know what MMA and UFC is.
02:30 So yeah, yeah, it's been absolutely huge in terms of popularity, kids and, you know, Ronda
02:38 Rousey when it comes to girls.
02:40 It's been nonstop and I do, I don't know where the ceiling is going to be met, you know,
02:44 it's going to continue to be big and I do truly believe it will be bigger than your
02:48 normal Western boxing.
02:51 As James embarks on another incredible journey in the world of professional fighting, he
02:56 will continue to inspire fighters both locally to him in the Midlands and across the UK.
03:03 Thank you.