Jade Morris: MMA in 2013

Jade Morris is a presenter for MMA plus and BayTV. She is a great girl with an excellent interview demenour and a real passion for the sport who knows how to ask the right questions. Jade has been a great person to work with and her blog posts will focus on MMA as an industry and her dealings with fighters, coaches and more. Jade Morris and all things MMA…. What a year it has been in the world of MMA, little did we know coming into 2013 that Ronda Rousey would be the first female UFC champion, George St Pierre would take a leave of absence, Chris Weidman would defeat Anderson Silva and the UFC would introduce the first all female Ultimate Fighter. If that wasn’t enough we have been spoiled with explosive fights this year that proved champions who we thought were untouchable can in fact be rocked, need I mentioned Jon Jones when he faced Alexander Gustafsson in arguably one of the best fights of the year. The UFC couldn’t have asked for a better year for their 20^th Anniversary and their aims for the future are very exciting. MMA is expanding all over the world, and as a UK MMA Presenter and a fan of the sport I am proud to be a part of that expansion and help expose some of the UK’s up and coming fighters. As a girly girl people always ask why I like MMA but my answer is ‘have you seen how exciting it is?’ I simply love the sport and it won’t be long before even more girls begin to get involved with it. I was lucky enough to join the MMA world as a presenter after I pitched the idea of an MMA show to a TV station. Their response… if I can prove there is a UK following then I get my show. I was determined and incredibly self-motivated so I went straight to the MMA gyms in Liverpool to ask if they were interested in being interviewed by me. I will admit, as a 5ft 2 girl marching in my heels into a gym full of fighters (who were probably wondering if I was lost) was daunting! But once I started chatting about MMA fights they soon realised I was serious and not a girl just wanting to be on TV! I first interviewed top 10 UK middleweight prospect Danny Roberts ahead of his fight at Cage Warriors 57. My interviews got thousands of hits and it wasn’t long before I was known on the MMA circuit. I was then invited to Cage Warriors, Bamma, OMAAC and the UFC to do the post fight interviews with the fighters for Bay TV. Since then I have been lucky enough to have interviewed the likes of Mark Munoz, Lyoto Machida, Ross Pearson, Paul Daley… the list goes on! I always get asked if there is more to me than meets the eye… the answer is yes! As well as being an events manager for over 10 years I also work as a sponsorship coordinator for KO Dynasty MMA Sports Management based in L.A. I work with some amazing fighters in UFC, WSOF and Bellator including the likes of Emanuel Newton who just had another impressive victory. I have been very lucky and it is an honour to now not only be sponsored by a brand as large as Revgear but to get to work with some of the biggest MMA names and promotions in the world and help expose up and coming talent. I have made some great contacts along the way and am enjoying every minute of it. Look out for Jade’s article ‘5 Minutes with…’ in MMA Plus Magazine out soon! Written by Jade Morris