Voodoo Gym's New Home!

Yes, Voodoo Gym has changed location.
We are now at 125A Chestergate, Macclesfield SK11 6DP.
Right at the centre of town, with great parking and access.

We have now got a full time Martial Arts Gym for us to use with two fully matted, well equipped training gyms. There is a small loose weights area, good toilet and changing facilities, a reception area where you can get hot and cold drinks. And last but not least the reception is also a shop area which is stocked with all your Martial Arts supplies needs. We are competitively priced with Stockport and Manchester supplies shops without the petrol or delivery charges to lay out!

All this and a wide range of arts available delivered to the highest standards has put us at the top of our game in Cheshire and Lancashire. We are quickly becoming the premier Martial Arts organisations in the area. And we have got some great plans for the future.

Just pop in for a chat and look around, sip your coffee then sign up for your induction course with 1 year free insurance worth £20 and complementary Opro gum shield.

We will be holding an official opening day on Saturday the 4th of July!
There will be complimentary drinks (non-alcoholic, of course) and nibbles, while you take a peak at our vision of the future.

Hard to believe, but its true.
Train with the best coaches and in the best facility now!

Voodoo Gym MMA League - May 2009

Here are the results for the May 2009 Voodoo Gym MMA League.

Matt Barker
Fights 3
Won 3
Lost 0
Points 9

Dave Ashton
Fights 4
Won 2
Lost 1

No Contest 1
Points 8

Dave Kari
Fights 2
Won 1
Lost 1
Points 4

Jonny

Fights 2

Won 1

Lost 0

No Contest 1

Points 4

Arron Goodwin
Fights 3
Won 0
Lost 3
Points 3

Neil Reeder

Fights 1

Won 0

Lost 1

Points 1

Kieran Bamford

Fights 1

Won 0

Lost 1

Points 1

We had a really good turn out this month with six fighters taking part all of whom did themselves proud.  There was some very exciting rounds and some little gems of techniques that were great to watch.

The first fight between Jonny and Arron was a bit of a mismatch in weight (understatement of the year) but was very exciting to watch.  Jonny tried not let his extra weight, strength and experience to bias the match to an extreme allowing an entertaining fight to develop.  Arron did well to take it through to the second round testing his defencive ground work to the limit, conceding defeat to some solid ground and pound from Jonny.  Well done to both of you guys.

The second match between Dave A. and Niel was another nail biting event.  Dave typically kept the fight stood up as much as possible demonstrating his ever improving boxing and kicking skills keeping Neil guessing.  And Neil came out with several take-downs a couple of which got a round of applause for his skill in their execution, very impressive for a new comer to the sport.  The fight went the full two rounds, Dave taking victory by decision.

The third fight pitched Matt and Kieran against one another.  Matt brought his very relaxed attitude and Kieran his quiet confidence, I had no idea what to expect to be honest.  Matt took Kieran down to use his smooth ground skills in a now signature manner.  Considering Kieran is probably our least experienced fighter he did astonishingly well against last months champion lasting till the second round. Only losing due to the fight being stopped due to a well put together ground and pound attack by Matt.

The fourth and final match was Dave A. and Jonny, I don't think anyone could wait to see this one.  But as quickly as it started it was over due to an unfortunate accidental and obviously painful injury to Dave's knee in the first minute of the first round resulting in a 'no contest' result.  I know everyone wishes Dave all the best in his recovery and I'm sure he will bounce back.

No-one volunteered for a second fight - apart from Kieran who was well pumped - leaving us in a very unusual situation of not having a monthly May 2009 champion.  But at least the fighters involved took away some excellent learning and hopefully had a little fun along the way.  The points were still counted and accumulated towards the annual league results.

There are some pictures to come.

I know everyone is still mates, so well done and train hard till next month.

Stoppages in Mixed Martial Arts

Below is a very interesting article on some key specifics around Mixed Martial Arts.

No holds barred sport fighting: a 10 year review of mixed martial arts competition

Dr G J Buse
Cannon USAF Clinics, Aerospace/Preventive Medicine, Clovis, NM 88103, USA; george.buse@cannon.af.mil

Objective: To identify the most salient medical issues that may be associated with mixed martial arts competition by determining the types and proportions of match stoppages.

Methods: Publicly available video footage of 1284 men competing in 642 consecutive televised matches from November 1993 to November 2003 was reviewed to determine the reasons for which matches were stopped. Matches were sanctioned by either a United States or Japan based mixed martial arts organisation.

Results: Of the 642 matches, 182 (28.3±3.4%) were stopped because of head impact, 106 (16.5±2.9%) because of musculoskeletal stress, 91 (14.1±2.7%) because of neck choke, 83 (12.9±2.6%) because of miscellaneous trauma, 173 (27.0±3.4%) because of expiration of match time, and seven (1.0±0.8%) because of disqualification, where the values in parentheses are percentages±95% confidence interval.

Conclusions: Blunt force to the head resulted in the highest proportion of match stoppages. Further research is warranted to delineate the morbidity associated with participation in mixed martial arts.

So, in a nutshell, if you want an approximate scale of the high percentage groups of finishing techniques, this is it.

Head strikes - 28%
Decision - 27%
Locks - 17%
Chokes - 14%
Other Trauma - 13%
Disqualification - 1%

As a point of interest here are the results of Mixed Martial Arts Competitions in Nevada, September 2001 through December 2004.

Result - Number (%)
Technical Knockout - 68 (39.8)
Tap Out - 52 (30.4)

Decision - 31 (18.1)
Knockout - 11 (6.4)
Choke - 4 (2.3)
Disqualification - 3 (1.8)
Draw - 2 (1.2)
Total - 171

From this information you now know why we train in the way we do and the areas you should emphasise.