NOTE...I have been experimenting with colour in PS!

UFC fighter Dan Hardy challenges George St Pierre for the Welterweight title in New Jersey at UFC111, Saturday March 27th, 2010. He will be the first British fighter to challenge for a title in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. 

The above images are from Hardy's training camp in Nottingham, England, for his fight against Mike Swick at UFC 105. That win gave him the chance to take on GSP at UFC111.

I will be travelling to New Jersey and New York to photograph Hardy's preparations for the biggest fight in UK MMA history.

Image rights reserved. 

Girlfriend's a Cage Fighter....

Overs from the shoot with Michelle. 

My girlfriend is a cagefighter!

Feature in Nuts magazine of female MMA fighter Michelle Tyler. Michelle was shot at London Shoot Fighters gym. 

Wasn't the most straight forward of shoots as Simon, the boyfriend, failed to turn up. This shot was done before we dragged a guy in from the gym to stand-in as Michelle's boyfriend. Spent 5 minutes shooting just her and an hour shooting the two of them together thinking the Art Director would want two people in the frame. This image was by no means the strongest but it was felt that we could not use the stand-in. 

A day in the life of....

Mike Bisping feature as it ran in Nuts magazine. Feb 2010.

Mike Bisping training camp

A small edit of images from a set created over the course of a day spent with UFC fighter Mike Bisping. I met Mike at 7am and covered his morning run, Thai Boxing, wrestling and MMA and boxing sparring sessions. The training took place at The Wolfslair MMA gym in Widness, UK.

His training camp was in full flow with only 2 weeks to go until his fight against Wanderlai Silva at UFC 110 in Australia. 

All image rights reserved. 

Ultimate Challenge MMA Resurrection

My edit of images from UFC 105. MEN Arena, Manchester, UK. November 14th, 2009.

(click on contact sheer to see larger image)

All image rights reserved.

Ultimate Challenge MMA. Fighting for Heroes. December 5th, 2009.

The London based MMA outfit put on events in the heart of East London. The organisation (which has saw a name change from Cage Rage in 2008) has seen many big names fight under their banner including Mike Bisping and Paul Daley.

The events are held at the Troxy theatre with the fighters warming up and cooling down in the many small dressing rooms and hallways. 

It was interesting to be able to hover between the dressing rooms capturing each fighter prepare and to see the coaches and corner men assist the fighters. Whilst one guy would be preparing he would be interrupted by the previous fights winner or looser telling the tale of the fight as they saw it to their supporters. 

(click on contact sheet to see larger image)

All image rights reserved.

Behind the scenes at UFC99 as it ran in Nuts magazine. 

The feature included images from the prefight weigh-in, the British locker room and cage side action. 

Secrets of the UFC.

Very few people get the chance to spend a few hours backstage of a UFC event. During UFC99 in Cologne I spent the duration of the undercard in the British fighters locker room. Dan Hardy, Paul Talyor, Terry Ettim and Paul Kelly were sharing the warm-up area.

The atmosphere was much calmer than I had expected with each fighter going about his pre-fight routine without fuss. There was a sense of respect between the fighters, each one supporting the other and no one wanting to let down the other Brits. Each of the 4 Brits recorded victories at the event. 

(click on contact sheet to view larger)