UCMMA 29: Spencer Hewitt - Be Ready For War

Spencer Hewitt opened peoples eyes at UCMMA 26 when he Knocked Out hot prospect Cory Tait in just 10 seconds of round 1, back in February this year.  At the age of 13, Spencer started training in Judo and boxing at his local club but when he turned 18 he took two years off. After his break from training, Spencer took up BJJ under the guidance of Mark Walder and after 10 years training he as reached Brown Belt. With medals in the Worlds, Europeans and the Pan Am championships Spencer decided to have a go at MMA. Mixing boxing with BJJ early on, he as now included wrestling and Thai boxing to become a complete MMA fighter.

FRMMA: Would you say that BJJ is your base game?

SH: A lot of people think my base game is BJJ but I was boxing long before that, its just that my first 5 wins were by submission and that was just because the guys I fought were stand up fighters so I took them to there weakest point. 

I would say my stand up and my ground game are on a par but I just choose where I want to take it in the fight depending on the opponent.

FRMMA: Can you tell us a bit about your team 'MMA Terror Squad'?

SH: Yeah, I've been teaching BJJ for years but when I started taking up mma a lot of people asked me if they could learn it as well, so I started a team. I'm the head coach, we have a strength and conditioning coach, my brother who's an ex-pro boxer as adapted boxing for mma, we have a coach that teaches Thai boxing for mma and then I've brought in an international wrestling coach. So we have 6-7 high level coaches and I oversee it.

We have some really talented fighters at the minute, we have Danny Lawson who's the CFC Champion, we also have some new starters as well who have only had one or two fights. We've got a really sound team, we train everyday, seven days a week. We do other things that some teams don't do, we all go out together and do hill sprints and commando fitness stuff. There's a lot of different things we do to bring the team together.

FRMMA: Do you think that kind of thing helps, to get along as a family?

SH: Yeah I think so, your only as good as your team mates. Our guys might not have a fight but rather than take time off they'll come in and help you for your sparring. The same with hill sprints, yeah you can do it on your own but if you've got people pushing you it makes all the difference.

FRMMA: Your last fight was at CFC where you submitted Marty Kayes.

SH: Yeah, I submitted Marty Kayes, I think a lot of people were expecting me to go for another Knock Out after Knocking out Cory Tait but three weeks before the fight I fractured my hand which as since healed. So I didn't want to throw the right hand knowing I had a bigger fight in August, I went in for a big takedown and submitted him. I was going to go for the KO on him because he's a good boxer but I just didn't want to risk the hand.

FRMMA: Winning the championship at CFC would mean that you would have to return and defend the title, is fighting on a number of different shows something that your looking at doing?

SH: I don't want to fight on too many, UCMMA is my favourite show to fight on, as my second show I like CFC because a number of my guys fight there and I had a few of my earlier fights on that show. UCMMA is one of the biggest shows in Europe, its on Sky Sports and you've got really high level guys. It's all about the UFC for me, I'm 9-2, I beat Cory Tait who's a top guy, I've beaten some other top guys and now I've got Giorgio Andrews who's undefeated so if I beat him I'm in a really good position at Flyweight.

FRMMA: With Cory Tait, you seemed to shock a lot of people when you Knocked him out, did that fight go how you planned it?

SH: Some people were saying "Does he really want to stand with him?" but if you check my press conference, I said "I'm going to stand and bang with Cory Tait" and that's what happened. The fight went how we rehearsed it, we rehearsed it in training for 12 weeks and executed it perfectly. I knew I was going to stop him and I knew it was going to be standing but I didn't think it would be that quick. At bantamweight and especially flyweight if I connect with a shot I'm going to be putting people to sleep.

FRMMA: You seemed slightly annoyed that Michael Page got more coverage with his KO than you did.

SH: Yeah, not so much annoyed but they were posting his fight a lot more and not showing my fight at the time and I didn't understand. UCMMA explained later that they had to air his fight in America which I understood. A lot of guys get attention for knocking people out, but just remember who your knocking out, Cory Tait was a very dangerous fighter so for me that was a great KO and I had reason to shout about it.

FRMMA: Can you tell us about your next opponent Giorgio Andrews?

SH: Yeah, he's 8-0, from a very good fight camp (London Shootfighters) so I expect him to come in with an all round game. We've studied him, broke him down and gone through every one of his fights and we've got a good game plan for him. We know his weaknesses and his strengths so its going to be a really good fight.

Its for the UCMMA flyweight title against an undefeated fighter, he's very aggressive and I think he's got 8 first round wins but so have I, its going to be an explosive fight which will be great for the fans.

FRMMA: What do you think his game plan will be for you?

SH: I believe he'll respect my stand up so he'll work his stand up. He'll also work his takedown defence and I believe he may even want to take me down. I think he'll play a mixed game, it will be a very interesting fight.

FRMMA: Dave O'Donnell certainly isn't giving you the easy route, do you prefer that or is it just added pressure?

SH: It's better for me, I don't want the easy route. I'm 33 and I want to get in the UFC. If I fight easy fights there going to say, yeah he's got a good win record but who's he beat? Also for the people that come to watch, I want them to have a good show.

I want to be the No. 1 pound for pound fighter in the UK and I have to fight the best guys to say I am.

FRMMA: Is there any added pressure being on Sky Sports?

SH: No, its just a bigger stage to showcase my skills.

FRMMA: Any messages of Giorgio Andrews?

SH: Just be ready for a war!!

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To hear the full audio version of the interview check out Episode 46 of the FRONT ROW MMA Podcast.