You can’t argue that Southport’s Liam “The Nightmare” Gittin’s career is going from strength to strength at the minute. Following on from his fight-of-the-night performance against John Hughes at the Cage Warriors Academy show, flyweight champion Liam has deservedly had the call up to the senior Cage Warriors card at Liverpool’s Echo Arena this Saturday.
We sat down with him to discuss his upcoming bout, his diet and lifestyle and our recent sponsorship deal with Liam.
Hi Liam,
You make the step from Cage Warriors Academy to debuting on the full Cage Warriors card this weekend. It must be a great feeling showcasing your skills on such a high level show?
Hi Matt,
It’s a great honour to be fighting on Cage Warriors and especially headlining the undercard!
You’re defending your flyweight belt against Abdul Choudhury of SBG Manchester, a gym renowned for their Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. How are you expecting the fight to play out?
I know he’s good for his Jiu Jitsu, but I’m ready for anything when I go in there on Saturday. Just because someone’s good on the ground doesn’t mean they won’t try to strike with you. I know I’m capable of taking the fight to various places in the cage against my opponent. He’s a skilled fighter and I’m not going to underestimate him but I think with my experience and style I’ll have the edge over this fight and I’m ready to prove that.
Your head coach at Team Elite Southport, Andy Brocklebank, is a highly respected Muay Thai guy, and although you have to be very much a well rounded fighter this day in age, does this Muay Thai v Jiu Jitsu base have the potential for us to see some old school MMA fireworks?
Yes that’s definitely a potential for the fight, sticking towards your strengths is always a great idea in each fight. Having Andy Brocklebank who has had over 30 pro Thai Boxing fights, Kev Ward who is a multi world championship K1 fighter and Jake Barton who also has loads of experience in Thai Boxing, also having a WBC title in it. Just looking at that, our gym has an obvious high level knowledge of standup. I’m not one to avoid wrestling or just jitsu either though, I think a great scenario for this fight would be me picking my opponent off standing, but whether or not I choose to do that on the night we shall see.
If it’s anything like your previous title defence and fight of the night performance against John Hughes, then we expect it to be a thriller!
As you know, we are a health and wellness company, so what does a typical diet and lifestyle look like for you at this late stage of camp?
Yes that fight was for sure a top performance from both me and John. It was awesome to have an opponent who wants to fight and trade blow for blow until the last bell rings!
I had a lot of fun that night haha!
A typical diet right now, coming up to weigh ins, is a reduced carb diet and making sure to eat at the right times for energy, and training so that I’m still losing the last few bits of weight and keeping my energy up to stay sharp. With the nutritional testing that Feel Supreme put me through, I realised that there were foods that I was sensitive to and with keeping away from them my body felt cleaner and happier during my training. You can’t go wrong with some salads and lean meats. Your company, Feel Supreme has helped a lot and give me advice on CBD Oil, which has made my recovery quicker and sleeping way easier!
Well, that was our next question- what kind of supplements have you been adding to your diet? And for what reason?
Okay sweet haha. I’ve started taking the CBD oil, vitamin C and pro-biotics. These are things which I think are important- you can get a lot through a healthy diet but supplements definitely have a place when you’re training as hard as the MMA athletes do. Your body burns through alot everytime you train so you have to take notice of how your body is feeling and what you’re eating in order to stay ready for a high performance.
Definitely. At a time that your body is burning a lot of nutrients with less than usual going back in, your immune system can become compromised. It’s vital to take in immune boosting nutrients and anti oxidants.
And what about complimentary training such as yoga and meditation? More and more athletes are taking an holistic approach at the moment. Is this something you’ve considered?
Yes that’s very true! I actually did yoga for a year when I was 18 years old and I did enjoy it and saw the benefits too. I’ve been looking to get back into it recently for helping my flexibility and also relaxing. I do meditate occasionally which is great for just slowing everything down during the day or thinking over techniques that I practice in training. This helps a lot because you have the muscle memory for moves but you also need to have the mental rehearsal over combos and moves.
Ok so finally, who is Liam when he’s not The Nightmare?
That’s what Liamcam’s all about! (Editor note- excellent plug!)
Liamcam is my Youtube Chanel which gives an insight into the life of me and the various adventures I get upto whilst pursuing a career as an MMA fighter.
I’d also like to just give a shoutout to my coach Andy Brocklebank, my team mates at Elite, Adam Ventre for always believing in me and my family and friends for the massive amount of support I get! They’re all top bacons!
I would also like to say a big thanks to Hamma who welcome me down to train with them for my upcoming fights, Nathan Fletcher who helped train with me for this upcoming bout and to you guys at Feel Supreme for your nutrition advice and constant support. Also to Russle Wright (RDW) who has become a new sponsor and to Shakespeare Barber Shop!
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