Jim Wallhead - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Jim Wallhead is an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

professional mixed martial artist

Mixed martial arts

Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...

, based in Leicestershire, England, who competes in the welterweight

Welterweight (MMA)

The welterweight division in mixed martial arts can refer to a number of different weight classes:*The UFC's & Strikeforce's welterweight division, which groups competitors within 156 to 170 lb...

division. Wallhead's background is in Judo

Judo

is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...

, where he holds a Black Belt having trained under Olympic silver medallist Neil Adams. Wallhead was a three time Under-21 British Judo Champion, an entrant in the European Youth Olympics and a former British Judo Youth Games Team Member.

Wallhead is a member of Team Rough House

Team Rough House

Team Rough House is a Mixed martial arts team from the East Midlands, England. Based in Nottingham and Leicester, the team is known for producing well respected welterweight fighters...

and Leicester Shootfighters. In addition to his training at Leicester Shootfighters, Wallhead also works as a coach. Wallhead joined Team Rough House after back-to-back losses at the beginning of his professional career and dropped his competing weight from light heavyweight

Light Heavyweight (MMA)

The light heavyweight division in mixed martial arts generally refers to competitors weighing between 186 and 205 lb . It sits between the lighter middleweight division, and the heavyweight division....

and middleweight

Middleweight (MMA)

The middleweight division in mixed martial arts can refer to a number of different weight classes:*UFC's & Strikeforce's middleweight division, which groups competitors within 171 to 185 lb...

to welterweight

Welterweight (MMA)

The welterweight division in mixed martial arts can refer to a number of different weight classes:*The UFC's & Strikeforce's welterweight division, which groups competitors within 156 to 170 lb...

Background

Wallhead comes from a judo background, where he holds a black belt. He was introduced to judo accidentally after being taken to a class that was believed to be a karate class. Wallhead was successful early in his judo career for the Beaumont Leys Judo club, before moving to a club in Coventry under Olympic silver medallist Neil Adams. Under Adams, Wallhead won three Under-21s British titles as well as placing 7th in the European youth Olympics.

Wallhead joined Team Rough House

Team Rough House

Team Rough House is a Mixed martial arts team from the East Midlands, England. Based in Nottingham and Leicester, the team is known for producing well respected welterweight fighters...

in 2005, following back-to-back losses between May and July 2005. Wallhead is still a member of Team Rough House to this date, alongside fighters such as Dan Hardy

Dan Hardy

Dan Hardy is an English professional mixed martial artist who competes in the welterweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2004, Hardy fought in various promotions such as Cage Force and Cage Warriors before signing a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2008. He was...

, Ross Pearson

Ross Pearson

Ross Pearson is an English professional mixed martial artist from Sunderland. He is the lightweight division winner of The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom and is a member of Team Rough House.-Background:...

, Paul Daley

Paul Daley

Paul Daley is an English professional mixed martial artist who has fought for EliteXC, Cage Rage, Strikeforce, BAMMA, Maximum Fighting Championship, Cage Warriors, Shark Fights, Impact FC, Pancrase and the Ultimate Fighting Championship...

and Andre Winner

Andre Winner

Andre Winner is an English professional mixed martial artist. He was a cast member of Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom, reaching the final. Winner is also a member of Team Rough House. He holds notable wins over Jeff Lawson, Rolando Delgado and Rafaello...

.Wallhead also trains Muay Thai

Muay Thai

Muay Thai is a combat sport from Thailand that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. It is similar to other Indochinese kickboxing systems, namely pradal serey from Cambodia, tomoi from Malaysia, lethwei from Myanmar and muay Lao from Laos...

with the former multi-time Kickboxing

Kickboxing

Kickboxing refers to a group of martial arts and stand-up combat sports based on kicking and punching, historically developed from karate, Muay Thai and western boxing....

champion Owen Comerie, who previously trained Dan Hardy. Wallhead works his strength and conditioning with Ollie Richardson at the Leicester Tigers

Leicester Tigers

Leicester Tigers is an English rugby union club that plays in the Aviva Premiership.Leicester are the most successful English club since the introduction of league rugby in 1987, a record 9 times English champions - 3 more than either Bath or Wasps, the last of which was in 2010...

Rugby Union training ground.

Early career

Early in his career, Wallhead was associated with the Urban Combat Leicester team. He made his semi-professional debut against Steve Matthews on April 8, 2005, in a two-round fight. This fight was fought at heavyweight, at the "Cage Warriors: Quest" event where Wallhead was able to defeat his opponent with a rear naked choke after 27 seconds of the first round.

Wallhead soon turned professional and on April 30, 2005, he made his debut at Cage Warriors: Ultimate Force. Jim fought Leslee Ojugbana, utilising knee strikes from the clinch, whilst preventing Ojugbana from succeeding with takedown attempts. After one-sided striking from Wallhead, Ojugbana gave up his back and Wallhead was able to pull off a rear naked choke for his debut win after just 64 seconds.

Wallhead competed just weeks later and made his second professional appearance against Boris Jonstomp at Cage Warriors: Strike Force. This fight was fought at the lower weight of middleweight and saw Wallhead succeed with judo throw attempts early in the fight. However, Wallhead's ground game was not to the same standard at Jonstomp's and he lost via first round submission (neck crank) after 4:20.

This was followed up by his second consecutive loss, two months later at the Cage Warriors: Quest 2 event, at the hands of Chris Rice. Wallhead was TKOd 3:32 into the first round, resulting in a 1–2 record at the start of his professional MMA career. Following this loss, Wallhead joined Team Rough House

Team Rough House

Team Rough House is a Mixed martial arts team from the East Midlands, England. Based in Nottingham and Leicester, the team is known for producing well respected welterweight fighters...

after meeting Dan Hardy

Dan Hardy

and receiving an invitation to join the team. Upon doing so, Wallhead dropped two weight categories to his current status as a welterweight.

Early affiliation with Team Rough House

In his welterweight debut and his first fight under Team Rough House affiliation, Wallhead was victorious. The fight took place at Cage Warriors: Strike Force 3 where Wallhead faced Greco-Roman wrestler

Greco-Roman wrestling

Greco-Roman wrestling is a style of wrestling that is practised worldwide. It was contested at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been included in every edition of the summer Olympics held since 1908. Two wrestlers are scored for their performance in three two-minute periods, which can...

Steve Singh-Sidhu. Though Wallhead had dropped to welterweight, he still had a considerable weight advantage over his opponent who weighed in at 3.5 kg less than Wallhead. This perhaps was significant as Singh-Sidhu's strikes seemed to have little bearing on Wallhead, who was able to land takedowns and a standing choke. Midway through the first round, Singh-Sidhu appeared to be backing away from Wallhead, who chased him down with punches and knees to the head. After a shin strike to the head, Singh-Sidhu's corner threw in the towel, resulting in a first round TKO victory for Wallhead.

In December 2005, Wallhead fought Welshman Paul Jenkins. This was Wallhead's first title fight in mixed martial arts, as they competed for the House of Pain Welterweight title in front of Jenkins' home crowd of Cardiff, Wales. Wallhead won the fight via majority decision after five rounds, giving him the title. Just over two years to that day, Wallhead rematched Jenkins in a kickboxing bout (thus not counting towards his pro-MMA record); this time in Wallhead's hometown of Nottingham

Nottingham

Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

. Wallhead showed effective low kicks and combinations which earned him a unanimous decision victory.

After his third successive victory, with his win over Henning Svendsen in March 2006, Wallhead made his first title defense of his House of Pain Welterweight title just two weeks later. His opponent was John Phillips

John Phillips (fighter)

John Phillips is a Welsh mixed martial artist, who fights at middleweight. He is a veteran of British MMA, having fought in Cage Rage and BAMMA.-Background:...

who was making his second professional appearance. Wallhead defeated Phillips to retain the title, after a TKO victory due to elbows.

After going 4–0 under the tutelage of Team Rough House, Wallhead then faced Peter Angerer in May 2006. Despite controlling the fight, Angerer defeated Wallhead via submission (arm-triangle choke). During the submission attempt, Wallhead's arm was stuck, meaning he had to tap with his feet, earning the nickname "Scuba Steve" from his teammates.

European and worldwide exposure

Following his loss to Angerer, Wallhead entered the 2H2H 83 kg tournament in Holland, on just 72 hours notice, despite the tournament being at a higher weight than he was adjusted to. In the first round of the tournament, Wallhead defeated Camara Bouna via two-round decision, before defeating Xander Nel in the final via TKO.

Wallhead then captured the Cage Gladiators British Welterweight Title, defeating the UFC veteran Jason Tan

Jason Tan

Jason Tan is an English mixed martial artist. He competes in the Welterweight division. He lost his last fight at UFC 84 against Dong Hyun Kim on May 24, 2008.- Biography :...

.

Returning to Cage Warriors, Wallhead faced the UFC-bound Dennis Siver

Dennis Siver

Dennis D. Siver ; born January 13, 1979) is a Russian-German mixed martial artist who competes in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As of July 2011, Siver is ranked as the #8 lightweight fighter in the world by MMAWeekly...

. Despite being on a three fight winning streak, Wallhead was submitted via armbar taking his record to 8–4. Wallhead faced Lewis Barrow four months later and won via submission (punches) to begin a four fight win streak. Wallhead's next three fights resulted in submission victories; a victory via choke over Jordan James, an arm-triangle choke victory over Soli Clichko and a rear naked choke victory over Steven Lynch.

Wallhead began to gain more recognition and exposure in the United States when his fight against Charles Blanchard was featured on Inside MMA

Inside MMA

Inside MMA is an hour-long program on Mark Cuban's HDNet television network hosted by Bas Rutten and Kenny Rice. The hosts, along with a revolving panel of three guests, provide commentary on mixed martial arts events around the globe...

on HDNet

HDNet

HDNet is a men's interest television channel in the United States, broadcasting exclusively in high-definition format and available via cable and satellite television...

. Unfortunately for Wallhead, this fight resulted in a decision loss. Wallhead would later state: "I didn't throw my hands enough in the first round when I was fresh and that's my own fault."

Wallhead then began to show improved boxing and knockout power in his next few fights, the first of which was against Tom Haddock in April 2008 who he defeated via submission due to punches.

Just under three months later, Wallhead faced off against Fabricio Nascimento. Wallhead kept the fight on their feet throughout, preventing Nascimento's takedowns. Frustrated by Wallhead's superior boxing, Nascimento visibly showed his disdain. Wallhead took the unanimous decision victory which was regarded as the most important victory he had claimed at that stage in his career.

Wallhead's next fight came at M-1 Challenge UK in September 2008 and was intended to be against Jason Ball. However, Ball had to withdraw with a knee injury and was replaced by Igor Araujo. In preparation for his fight with Araujo, Wallhead temporarily joined Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts

Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts

Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts is a mixed martial arts training organization headed by former UFC Champion and former co-founder of Team Quest, Randy Couture. Xtreme Couture was founded with the flagship gym in Las Vegas...

in Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

to further polish his skills. Araujo himself had just finished training at Xtreme Couture and entered the fight having won seven of his last eight fights. After just 79 seconds, Wallhead won via TKO due to punches - the fifth TKO victory of his career.

Wallhead then applied to become a castmember of The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom

The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom

The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom is the ninth installment of the Ultimate Fighting Championship produced reality television series The Ultimate Fighter. It began production in January 2009, and began airing on Spike on April 1, 2009. The season featured Lightweight fighters ...

. After passing the assessment and interview successfully, he was told he was "too experienced" for the show, though strangely, he was instead made into an "alternate" who would step up if another castmember withdrew with injury.

Wallhead would then have an eight month layoff. This was due to his signing with the debuting "British Fighting Championships" - an organisation aimed at combining domestic British MMA into one entity - that would eventually dissolve before its premiere broadcast. The knockout-style tournament saw him drawn against the Brazilian Fabio Toldo. However, the BFC organisation would eventually dissolve and in May 2009, the Ultimate Force organisation picked up the fight. The fight saw Wallhead continue to utilise his improved boxing after an early scare, where Toldo knocked Wallhead down. Wallhead would go on to defeat his opponent via knockout, which was described by one of Wallhead's team mates as "one of the worst knockouts they've seen".

In September 2009, Wallhead won the Clash of Warriors Welterweight title by defeating Marius Buzinskas.

In November 2009, Wallhead scored arguably the most high profile win of his career when he defeated The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom

The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom

participant Che Mills

Che Mills

Che Mills is an English mixed martial artist. He is a former Cage Rage British welterweight champ, and holds 2 notable KO wins over DREAM Welterweight Champion Marius Zaromskis.-Early career:...

at "Knuckleup At The Manor" in Newport, Wales. The fight, which was seen as "a clash between the UK’s two top unsigned welterweights," was a close fight that was difficult to score for the judges. Mills was able to block Wallhead's takedown attempts and get back up quickly when Wallhead was successful. In the first round, Wallhead was able to take Mills down and get into side mount, though Mills almost won the first round in the eyes of the judges after a late flurry of strikes. The second round saw Mills use foot stomps and elbows from the clinch, which prevented Wallhead from utilising his wrestling. In the final round, Wallhead continued with takedowns before hitting Mills with elbows. With 45 seconds of the fight remaining, Wallhead was able to cut Mills with his strikes.

Wallhead's overall control, strategy and constant aggression led to him taking a unanimous decision. That victory led to several major websites and even the British newspaper The Sun

The Sun (newspaper)

The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...

to speculate that Wallhead may be headed to the UFC.

Bellator Fighting Championships

Despite speculation about joining the UFC, in December 2009, Wallhead was signed by the Bellator Fighting Championships

Bellator Fighting Championships

Bellator Fighting Championships is a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States. "Bellator", which is Latin for "Warrior", is organized into seasons with each event hosting the rounds of championship knockout tournaments for three-five weight divisions.-History:In its first season,...

to compete in their 2010 eight man, number 1 contender Welterweight Tournament, which began on April 8, 2010.
Wallhead's first appearance in the tournament was scheduled to be at Bellator 15 against the American Jacob McClintock

Jacob McClintock

Jacob Patrick McClintock is an American mixed martial artist. McClintock is a welterweight fighter and has a record of 6-2, all six win have been stopped in round one. He is most known for his stint with Bellator Fighting Championships...

.

However, on April 20, just two days before his fight with McClintock, Wallhead was forced to withdraw from the Bellator tournament as he was grounded in England due to the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull

2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull

The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull were volcanic events at Eyjafjöll in Iceland which, although relatively small for volcanic eruptions, caused enormous disruption to air travel across western and northern Europe over an initial period of six days in April 2010. Additional localised disruption...

. Wallhead was replaced by Ryan Thomas.

A month later, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney stated that they were aiming to include Wallhead in the third season - despite the absence of a welterweight tournament - with a view to including him in the fourth season's welterweight tournament.

In the meantime, Wallhead took a fight in Cage Warriors against Shaun Lomas and defeated him via rear naked choke in the first round. Due to an injury to Wallhead's previous opponent, Lomas had to step in at short notice, meaning that Wallhead competed at middleweight for the first time in two years.

Bellator's plans to include Wallhead in their third season were confirmed in September 2010, when Wallhead signed to face Ryan Thomas on October 14, 2010 at Bellator 32. Wallhead went on to defeat Thomas via unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 29–28).

In the fourth season welterweight tournament opening round, Wallhead faced fellow judoka, Rick Hawn

Rick Hawn

Rick Hawn is an American former 2004 US Olympic judo team member and is now a mixed martial artist. As a judoka he won numerous medals at U.S. national championships, 2 medals at the Pan American Games, and finished 9th at the 2004 Olympics. Hawn was born in Chicago; but when he was young, his...

, losing via unanimous decision.

BAMMA

Wallhead made his BAMMA debut at BAMMA 7

BAMMA 7

BAMMA 7: Trigg vs. Wallhead was a mixed martial arts event held by the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts on 10 September 2011 at the NIA Arena in Birmingham, England.-Background:...

against Frank Trigg

Frank Trigg

Dewey Franklin Trigg III is an American mixed martial artist, color commentator, pro wrestler and co-host of MMAWeekly radio show and TAGG radio show...

. Trigg was set to face Tom 'Kong' Watson

Tom Watson (fighter)

Tom "Kong" Watson is an English mixed martial artist, currently fighting at middleweight and training at Tristar Gym in Montreal, Canada and Jackson's Submission Fighting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is known for his unorthodox entrances, dancing to the ring in a gorilla mask...

for Watson's middleweight title, but Watson suffered a back injury forcing his withdrawal and allowing Wallhead to step up as his replacement. He won the fight via split decision.

He will now compete at BAMMA 8

BAMMA 8

BAMMA 8: Manuwa vs Rea is an upcoming mixed martial arts event to be held by the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts on December 10, 2011, at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England.-Background:...

in a welterweight bout against Joey Villasenor

Joey Villasenor

Joey Villaseñor is a Mexican American mixed martial arts fighter. He is a PRIDE Fighting Championships veteran, as well as the middleweight champion in King of the Cage. Joey has also fought in Showtime's EliteXC promotion and took part in PRIDE's welterweight grand prix. He currently trains...

Mixed martial arts record

Joey Villasenor

|
|BAMMA 8

BAMMA 8

Nottingham

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

|
|-
|Win
|align=center|22-6
|Frank Trigg

Frank Trigg

Dewey Franklin Trigg III is an American mixed martial artist, color commentator, pro wrestler and co-host of MMAWeekly radio show and TAGG radio show...

|Decision (split)
|BAMMA 7

BAMMA 7

BAMMA 7: Trigg vs. Wallhead was a mixed martial arts event held by the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts on 10 September 2011 at the NIA Arena in Birmingham, England.-Background:...

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

Rick Hawn

Lemoore, California

Lemoore is a city in Kings County, California, United States. Lemoore is located west-southwest of Hanford, at an elevation of 230 feet . It is part of the Hanford–Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area...

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

Birmingham

, England
|Fought at middleweight
|-
|Win
|align=center|19–5
|Che Mills

Che Mills

Che Mills is an English mixed martial artist. He is a former Cage Rage British welterweight champ, and holds 2 notable KO wins over DREAM Welterweight Champion Marius Zaromskis.-Early career:...

Newport

Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...

Nottingham

Doncaster

Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...

Nottingham

Nottingham

Nottingham

Kissimmee, Florida

Kissimmee is a city in Osceola County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 59,682. It is the county seat of Osceola County...

Nottingham

Nottingham

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

Nottingham

Dennis Siver

Nottingham

, England
|
|-
|Win
|align=center|9–3
|Jason Tan

Jason Tan

Jason Tan is an English mixed martial artist. He competes in the Welterweight division. He lost his last fight at UFC 84 against Dong Hyun Kim on May 24, 2008.- Biography :...

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

Amsterdam

Coventry

Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...

, England
|
|-
|Win
|align=center|6–2
|John Phillips

John Phillips (fighter)

John Phillips is a Welsh mixed martial artist, who fights at middleweight. He is a veteran of British MMA, having fought in Cage Rage and BAMMA.-Background:...

Swansea

Coventry

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

Coventry

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

Coventry

Sheffield

Sheffield

, England
|

Titles and accomplishments

Judo
- Three time Under-21 British Judo champion
- Seventh place in the European Youth Olympics

Mixed Martial Arts
- Former House of Pain Welterweight champion (defended once, then relinquished)
- 2H2H 83 kg tournament winner
- Former Cage Gladiators British Welterweight champion
- Clash of Warriors Welterweight champion

Background

Early career

Early affiliation with Team Rough House

European and worldwide exposure

Bellator Fighting Championships

BAMMA

Mixed martial arts record

Titles and accomplishments

See also