@arnoldbfa (Arnold Billy Allen)

Arnold Billy Allen is a 18 year old MMA fighter from Felixstowe, UK. Arnold recently made his pro debut at UCMMA back in April. Arnold fought Nathan Greyson and won by way of a vicious left hook in the 2nd round. Here us a video of that fight

I found Arnold on Twitter after looking around for upcoming MMA fighters. After seeing the video above you will understand why I was interested in doing an interview with him. All of the questions were emailed to Arnold, and he responded very quickly. Here is what Arnold had to say

Q: What influenced your decision to start doing MMA?
A: "I grew up watching the old martial arts movies and cartoons like Dragon ball Z, me and my brother did a bit of kickboxing together before moving on to boxing. My dad was competing in MMA at this time and I joined a few of his MMA sessions and I fell in love with it from there."

Q: You started MMA at just 14 years old, was it hard to persuade your parents to let you participate in that type of sport?
A: "Not at all, as my Dad fights himself he was more than happy for me to do it too. And my mum is happy as long as I'm out of the house."

Q: What does your daily training regimen consist of?
A: "During fight camp I will train up to four times a day. In the morning me and Sean Carter will focus on a specific discipline, and drill/spar. Then mid day is strength and conditioning with my coach Ben Chow who had helped me improve massively. At night I usually fit in a back to back session down at BKK Fighters on on Mondays its Sub wrestling followed by Muay Thai."

Q: You recently won your firs professional fight, take us through the emotion felt from the beginning of that night to after you won the fight.
A: "It was the best feeling. I was so happy to get my first pro win, but after I was exhausted and was sick, had a major adrenaline dump."

Q:  After that fight your team had told you it was a tradition to drink beer out of your groin guard. Did you ever find out if really is a tradition, or just a bad prank you fell for?
A: "unfortunately it isn't a tradition! haha"

Q: Do you train hard all year round, or is it more of a laid back approach until you have a fight scheduled?
A: "I train hard all year round. The only thing that slacks off is the diet, if I stopped training I'd definitely be fat!"

Q: What is  the weirdest thing a fan has asked you to sign?
A: "I've only signed a couple of things nothing weird  yet haha."

Q: How do you spend your downtime in between fights?
A: "Watching fights, and eating cake!"

Q: You train with some of the best fighters in the UK (Sean Carter, Ben Chow), do any of them train you in a specific specialty or are they more all around types of fighters?
A: "Most of them are all rounders, but I do have quality coaches for each discipline."

Q: Before MMA you were a boxer, do you prefer to be standing or to be grappling going for submissions?
A: "Either. I enjoy standing or grappling."

Q: What goals are you currently working towards in your MMA career?
A: "Just working on getting better in all areas, and working towards another win."

Q: You have said you don't spend much time out drinking or partying like most people your age, do you ever get any negative feedback from your friends because of that?
A: "Yeh I get a lot of abuse of my friends haha, but I made up for it a bit since my last fight."

Q: After you beat Nathan Greyson in your first pro fight there was a lot of buzz about your natural ability in the cage, is there still a lot of local hype around you?
A: " Fortunately alot of the hype has died."

Q: If you could see any two fighters go toe to toe who would they be, and who do you think would win and why?
A: "I'd like to see the Korean Zombie fight Jose Aldo! I think Aldo would win but not sure he'd be able to finish the Korean Zombie."

If there is anything else you would like to add please do so here.
" I'd just like to thank my sponsor for helping me out! i-Supp Ben Chow, Ross Knevett, Britishfighter, Almighty Fightwear, Funky Gums, Elite Fightwear."