Jess Liaudin

As a fighter who has traveled the world to learn his craft Jess Liaudin lives and breathes the fight game. This has given him a lot of understanding of the sport of MMA. As 5 times UFC veteran he has earned his respect, but the game is far from over for this charismatic fighter.

MAI: What got you started in the martial arts?

Jess: Lots of parents put their kids at football or judo practice in France. I really suck at football so I did some judo and I liked it. After training I always use to stay to look at the karate class and tried to duplicate the moves in my bedroom. The class was for adult only so I couldn’t do it. A couple of years later we moved to a new town and I started karate there. And that s how my passion for martial arts started and I never stopped since then.

MAI: What was your motivation to become a MMA fighter?

Jess: From a very early age I was always attracted to the eficasity of martial arts. I never wanted to be a black belt that never been in actual combat. I grow up watching countless or martial arts movies and I wanted to do that but In real life, I wanted to travel the world and train with different master and test my skill in real combat, that s always been my goal and dream. So over the years I ve been training and fighting in various still of combat sport across the world so it was just a natural progression for me to get into mma and compet.

MAI: You are from France, but have lived in the UK for many years, what brought you to the UK?

Jess: At the age of 19 I left France with a few bucks in my pocket and decided to travel the world and discover new things. I started living in the US then came back in Europe and stay in London for a little bit because I had a girlfriend here at the time. At 1st I hated it, maybe it was because I was broke and working for 3 pounds an hour as a kitchen porter and living in a crappie area. I don’t know what it was but I didn’t like it much. But after time and hard work I realize that they where lots of opportunity here for peoples willing to work hard and that s what I did, I was going to school and juggling 2 jobs on the same time. During the past 12 years I ve been traveling lots like in hong kong, Japan, Thailand, brazil, the US and many other country but London always been my home and I always end up coming back here, that’s where I feel comfortable.

MAI: What do you remember most about your first fight for the UFC?

Jess: The joy right after the win, it was as if a long time dream finally became reality. I worked hard to be there, I never picked fight or had an easy ride, and I went there by myself. A year before every body where saying that I was finish and then that I was going to get murder by Siver, but I prove every body wrong and won with skill and ease.

MAI: What is a normal day in life of a MMA fighter?

Jess: It all depends on which fighter and at what point of his career you are talking about. I had lots of up and down in my life and that also relate to my fighting career and of course record. 4 years ago I had a job and was training whenever I could because my priority was to pay my bills, fighting was just a hobby and something I always done. So when you are in this situation you cant always perform at your best of course. Also MMA wasn’t nowhere near as big as it is now so it wasn’t easy to find good training partners. The past 2 years it was a different story, I was investing all my money into my training and I was living in the US training full time. I would train in the morning, eat and sleep and train in the evening again 6 times a week, it was the good life.

MAI: I lot of fighters have day jobs until they get to the bigger shows. This must make it tough to get there in the first place! What would you say to up and coming fighters; it terms of ways to balance their life of fighting?

Jess: I think that if you are looking into competing at amateur level or your 1st pro fight you should at least train 5 day a week, even if it’s only once. To be successful you need to show dedication from the beginning and spend all your free time training. If you just do it to impress your mate down the pub then you are nothing more than a cage fighter (that s how we call the wannabe in the US) but if you want to be a top MMA fighter then you should spend all your free time into the sport until you making a name for yourself and then if you truly believe that you are that good you should put your money where you mouth is and invests some of your saving so you can train full time. There is great opportunity for up and coming fighters now with all the small show across the country and the possibility to get into the UFC if you do well, it s not like back in the days.

MAI: Who are you training with, now that you are back in the UK?

Jess: Yes I am back in the UK. Since I am not fighting in the UFC I am not going to get those big pay cheque anymore so I cant afford to live in the US as well as paying my bills in the UK. I ll be going to France for 5 weeks, there is some great gym and fighters over there and I am welcome in all academy. I am going to train at the Snake Team with Cyrille Diabate and Xavier professor X and all his team but also in good grappling academy like the Luta Livre school run by Flavio Santiago and many other MMA schools. I am very looking forward to it in fact and very excited. I’ ll be finishing the rest of my camp in the UK.

MAI: You will be fighter Peter Irving on the 10th Legion Championship Fighting show on the 5th April for the Welterweight World Title of that event. What are you thoughts on that fight?

Jess: This fight means a lot to me. From now on I am actually fighting my penultimate fights so I want all of them to be a demonstration of skill and dominance. I could easily retired tomorrow but the reason I don’t it s because I am still feeling great and haven’t been able to show my full potential yet, I want to do that before I stop. When I got the offer to fight Peter I had to look at his record because even know I know him and we meet a few times I haven’t been following the UK scene for the past 2 years. When I did my research I was pleasantly surprise I realize that he did very well for himself and that he would be a great opponent for me because I would have to train hard and that was just the motivation I needed. I am going to come in good shape and angry, I’ll be like a challenger.

MAI: What are your future plans after your fighting career?

Jess: I try not to think about it, I ve been fighting for 19 years now and I cant see myself not doing it. In fact if I cant train or don’t compete for some time I get very depress. So I am not thinking about it right now.

MAI: Good luck Jess!

Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun system. Teacher of Tui Na Chinese Massage Therapy

He is also the UK representative for Guro Mark Wiley in the Filipino martial arts and Sensei Eddy Millis of Shark Tank in NHB/Grappling.

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