MMA Fighter and coach James Dixon prepares to appear on Oktagon MMA card
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.