UFC: 'Judo' Jimmy Wallhead on Sparring with Michael Page: 'It's Bloody Hard Work!'
After 11 years as a professional and nearly 40 MMA bouts, ‘Judo’ Jimmy Wallhead finally made his UFC debut at the Hamburg event in September.
It was not a memorable debut for Wallhead as the former Cage Warriors, BAMMA, KSW and Bellator fighter lost a controversial split decision to Jessin Ayari at UFC Hamburg. It was a decision that many fans and the majority of media members polled at the event disagreed with, and the scorecards surprisingly saw one judge give the third round to Ayari, a round in which Wallhead dropped the German on two separate occasions.
“Twice!” confirms Wallhead, “Very frustrating. Without going into it too much, I know the judge, I know who he was.”
“It was very shocking to see a 10-9 there, I held the center most of the round, put him down, then he had a great minute where he found some sort of inner-beast, fair play to the kid. It was a tough shot I put him down with and he came back and put me under pressure for a minute, but then I dropped him again and nearly finished the fight. To give him that round stung a bit, but to each their own.”
Wallhead took to Twitter immediately following the fight, though it was primarily to express his disappointment in his own performance, with the controversy of the decision seemingly more of an afterthought.
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“I’ve watched the fight back a few times. It wasn’t my finest performance; I made a lot of mistakes. I am critical of myself but I still think I edged the fight. I think he landed more punches but they were like jabs and stuff. I think for damage and knockdowns I edged it but you shouldn’t leave it in the hands of the judges.
I wanted it to be a perfect debut. Don’t get knocked out, land the perfect shot, but messing around for two rounds potentially gave it away. UFC jitters are real, but I’m so glad to be a part of it and can’t wait to get in there again. It’s my bad, I’ll learn from it and tweak a few things I should have capitalized on. I know I should have low kicked more and not looked for the one big shot, but you live and learn, don’t you?
For the month after my fight my head was up my arse, I was so disappointed with myself. It’s not as if I performed great and lost the decision, I underperformed and lost the decision. Forget the controversial decision- I underperformed. That’s it, win or lose. Even if I’d won I think I’d have been the same, I wasn’t happy with my performance man. Get in the Octagon again and perform, that’s my next goal, my next task to work hard towards.”
It’s been a big year for the judo black belt; getting married in the summer and then finally landing a spot with the top promotion in the sport, but Wallhead feels he has much more to show in the Octagon.
“I can’t wait to get in there and put on a more telling performance,” Wallhead said, “Show what I’m about. I felt like I hesitated too much, overthought too much. Watching it back, it doesn’t look as bad as I felt in there, in there I didn’t feel comfortable at all. Next fight I want to make it a real fight, now that I’ve gone in there and I know what it takes to compete in the UFC. I understand now, you can’t mess around, you have to get in there and fight.
“Time-wise I’ve just started back training, still have a couple of niggles so I’m hoping for a February/March return. Everyone’s talented in the UFC, everyone’s going to give me a good fight so I’ll fight whoever they see fit.”
Wallhead trains with fellow London Shootfighters welterweight Michael Page, who fights for Bellator later this month. I asked Jimmy what it was like training with such a unique, unpredictable fighter.
“Bloody hard work!” said Wallhead. “Very hard work, I don’t think there’s anyone like Michael in the world. His striking is phenomenal and his wrestling and ground game is very good as well. People talk it down but it’s very good.”
“If I do something well against Michael on the feet- and it is a rarity, but if I can do one good thing every now and then to Michael, then I should be able to beat mere mortals with ease.”
“He was there to help me out, my head coach couldn’t make the [Hamburg] fight so Michael gave up his time and came to help me out. That was really appreciated, I won’t be over there but I’ll definitely be watching his fight without a doubt.”
Keep checking Cage Pages to find out who Wallhead will be fighting in his Octagon return.
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