00:00Hello, I'm Simon Keegan, I'm the editor of the Northwest Business Insider and I'm in
00:14Wigan today to meet Tom Blackledge, one of the British legends of the UFC and mixed martial
00:21arts.
00:22Hi Tom.
00:23Hello Simon, you okay?
00:24Good to see you Tom.
00:26So Tom, first of all we're going to get into a little bit of your UFC career.
00:30So how did you get involved in the UFC first of all?
00:35Well I mean, first off I would probably say there's the differentiation between MMA as
00:40the sport and the UFC as a brand.
00:43Obviously the UFC is what most people understand and recognise as that is the ultimate level
00:49of the sport really.
00:52So my start in MMA is a long time ago, back in the 90s when I first started to do it.
01:00It wasn't even called MMA back then, it was called No Holds Barred.
01:04It didn't get its moniker of mixed martial arts until probably 2004, 2005.
01:09Because back then it wasn't the sport that it is now, now there's all the weight classes,
01:15people all wear the shorts and the gloves, but back then it was a bit more of a wild
01:18west wasn't it?
01:19Yeah, the sport was, obviously it started in 1993 in America, but in the later 90s in
01:27the UK it started to get a bit more prominent as far as the ability to go and fight and
01:35to be on really small shows to be honest.
01:39And like you said, there wasn't really any structure to what was happening, it was very
01:43much born of which martial art style is better.
01:47So you would have a karate guy against a sumo or a boxer against a judo guy, that kind
01:52of thing?
01:53Yeah, it was all stylistic traditional martial arts, facing against each other.
01:58And then gradually it became a style unto itself of various mixed martial arts, obviously
02:04Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and wrestling and kickboxing and Thai boxing.
02:08So you were doing MMA, or what we now call MMA to begin with, and then you got the call
02:14to go and fight in the UFC?
02:16Yeah, that was a long time coming, that was years and years and years later.
02:22I'd fought on big promotions around the world, there are other big promotions, I'd fought
02:26on quite a few promotions around the world in Amsterdam and Japan and places like this.
02:32And obviously I was working towards to get to the UFC.
02:36By the time, to be honest, by the time that I got signed to the UFC it was too little
02:41too late probably and I'd suffered bad injuries with my neck, a fracture on part of my spine
02:51and prolapsed discs and things like this and issues.
02:55And to be honest it was the beginning of the end already by that point, which then led
03:01me into a lot more coaching because I wasn't able to do the things that I wanted to do.
03:06So you coached very successfully, you were on the, there was a UFC TV show called The
03:11Ultimate Fighter I believe, you were a coach on that, and you also coached the world champ
03:16didn't you, who some people will know from the A-Team movie, Quinton Rampage Jackson
03:21who played BA.
03:22Yeah, that's right, yeah he's, you know Quinton's like a really close friend of mine, he's a
03:28phenomenal fighter, he was an amazing champ, I was fortunate enough to help him in lots
03:35of his fights and we remain close now still.
03:38Now when I arrived this morning and you were teaching class, I saw another famous face
03:43in your class, the Scouse comedian, Paul Smith.
03:48Yeah, Paul, yeah Paul trains, again Paul and I are really good friends, I'm fortunate enough
03:54that I get to coach him pretty regularly, we get a few days a week where we're training
03:59together and I'm helping him do little bits of Jiu Jitsu and little bits of conditioning
04:04work and things like that, ever since he signed up to do a fight we've become close
04:10friends.
04:11I think some of his one-liners are more brutal than some of the strikes that you see in the
04:15UFC aren't they?
04:16Yeah, he's very funny, very funny.
04:19So on to some of the other things that you do, because you've gone beyond even fighting
04:25and coaching, I know we had you at the 4242 last year where you spoke to the entrepreneurs
04:30in the room about mindfulness, meditation and breathing techniques and things like that,
04:37so tell us a little bit about how some of these techniques can be employed by people
04:42outside of fighting.
04:43Yeah, so I think people misconstrue martial arts and fighting, it's very misunderstood
04:51I think by a lot of people who don't see, like a lot of the things that we are taught
04:55in traditional martial arts even when we're young and what we study and might be exposed
05:00to get missed a lot by the general public and I think for years and years they just
05:07think it's all made up stuff and doesn't work and understanding that the importance of good
05:14breath work and what it does to your body and to your mind and for calming yourself
05:19and to help you cope with anxiety and fear and nerves, that's one of the key points that
05:25I write about in my book, Feelers by Design, it's a good regulator to change your state,
05:31to change the way that you feel.
05:32So this is breathing techniques, the way that you breathe, it's kind of like yoga, that
05:36sort of thing?
05:37Yeah, it's in yoga, there's yoga techniques and obviously understanding the way that we
05:44breathe can alter our state, so we have our autonomic nervous system has two branches
05:49of the rest and digest or the fight or flight, which people would know the terms.
05:57Many times the way that we breathe can alter which state we're in, if we're breathing shallow
06:01and fast, we put ourselves in this fight or flight state and then wonder why we're feeling
06:05anxious and getting anxious thoughts, but it's because we're putting ourselves in a
06:08state of fight or flight, which serves a purpose.
06:12If you're fighting.
06:13If you're fighting or you're running or you're in danger, it serves a purpose, but when you're
06:17sat at home or you're lying in bed at midnight and you can't sleep and your eyes are wide
06:23awake, it's because you're in this state of fight or flight.
06:25You're in fight mode kind of thing.
06:26Yeah, and your body doesn't understand the difference and so embracing certain breath
06:31work modalities can really alter the way that you feel, the way that your brain works, the
06:36way that your body works and the physiological state that you're in.
06:40I talk a lot in the book and obviously in the talks with businesses about how we can
06:45alter them states and the best ways to do that, but breath work is one of the best ways
06:52if you understand the way to do it.
06:54You've also involved with a charity as well now where you help people with these techniques
07:00as well.
07:01Yeah, that's right.
07:02We have CIC Ataraxia and it's a lot of mindfulness tools and courses like this, what we try and
07:09deliver to people locally and online, which feature a lot of the breath work stuff that
07:17I aspire as well.
07:18Right, okay.
07:19Yeah.
07:20And so if there's any business people who are maybe interested in managing their stress
07:23levels, it must be very stressful running a business as you know.
07:27Yeah.
07:28What can they do?
07:29Is there a way they can contact you?
07:30Yeah, they can go to my website at tomblattledge.com and send me a contact message on there.
07:35Yeah.
07:36Or they can go to Ataraxia if they wanted the charity side of it, they can go to that
07:39website too.
07:40Brilliant.
07:41Okay.
07:42Well, we've got the UFC coming up in Manchester at Co-op Live.
07:44I think some friends of yours are probably fighting in that, aren't they?
07:47So have you got any tips for us?
07:49Anybody you're rooting for?
07:51You know, obviously MMA is a small, it's a pretty small sport really.
07:55So any of the gyms, like obviously I've been involved in the sport since it started.
07:59So a lot of the guys I know, I either know them or I know the coaches and obviously Tom
08:05Aspinall's on that card.
08:07He's a wigglin' lad too.
08:08He's from Atherton, Tom, yeah.
08:11He's trained with us, he's trained with some of our guys.
08:13I'm good friends with his dad too.
08:15We used to speak quite regularly, we don't speak very much now.
08:19You know, Tom's a really good guy, really good prospect, trains with some nice lads
08:25and I think Tom beats all the heavyweights in the UFC to be fair.
08:30And then you've got Paddy on the back.
08:32This is Paddy the baddie.
08:34Yeah, Paddy.
08:35Paddy's a really good lad.
08:39What Paddy brings is really exciting and my son's like a massive fan of Paddy.
08:44So whenever I see Paddy I always ask him can I have a little video from his son and my
08:49son puts it up.
08:50And all the kids in the academy that I coach really like Paddy, they have this affinity
08:54to him.
08:55Because he's a great character but he's also very skilful, you know, he's very good.
09:00He comes from a very good team.
09:04So I really hope that Paddy goes.
09:06And I think Paddy was talking about the mental health stuff and things.
09:12He had a friend who committed suicide, I think his friend had a bad time, close to one of
09:21his fights, close to one of Paddy's fights because he upset Paddy at the time.
09:26So it's good that he brings to the forefront a lot of the stuff.
09:30Especially someone who's doing something as macho as fighting for him to talk about.
09:33That's the issue, isn't it?
09:34I think, where a lot of people who do fight, and the people who, like we were talking about
09:38earlier about martial arts, and the pretenders pretend, aren't they?
09:42And they think they have to be tough but the tough guys don't have to pretend because they
09:46are.
09:47And so it's like when they know that they can, you know, it's like I'll talk about vulnerability
09:52and being vulnerable and the strength of being vulnerable.
09:55To be vulnerable you need to be strong and to be open and to say, I'm struggling at the
09:59minute.
10:00And it's like an important part.
10:01For Paddy to say, look, it's important that people talk, he's got a big voice on a big
10:07stage.
10:08And so I think he rightfully earned a lot of fans when he spoke like that and just spoke
10:12honestly and openly.
10:15And obviously I've always liked watching Paddy and always had a big lot of respect for him.
10:20But you know, I had even more when he was so open.
10:24Well maybe that's something that business leaders should bear in mind as well, that
10:28kind of openness and not being afraid to show what could be weakness.
10:32Yeah.
10:33Oh, for sure.
10:34I think in business, I talk about this a lot too, about the fear of failing and understanding
10:39a growth mindset and a fixed mindset.
10:41And these fixed mindsets are fear-based and they don't want to make mistakes or don't
10:44want to be seen to make mistakes.
10:46And the whole point of whatever it is you're doing, you are going to make mistakes.
10:51The fear of making a mistake stops you actually doing anything and leaves you unable to progress
10:58all the time and do more and more.
11:00So in business, I do think trying to embrace the fact that making mistakes and things like
11:06that is a big part of success.
11:07Brilliant.
11:08Well, wise words, Tom.
11:09And listen, we're going to put the link to your website below this video.
11:14So you'll probably just get about 10,000 people contacting you today.
11:18Okay.
11:19Thanks a lot, Tom.
11:20Thank you, mate.
11:21Thank you.
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