Marius Zaromskis: Dream Grand Prix winner & welterweight champion
London Shootfighters is one of the foremost camps in the UK and its fledgling MMA revolution.
The camp, based in the affluent West End of Europe’s largest city, is on the rise. London Shootfighters first came to prominence courtesy of its dangerous and hot tempered middleweight, the infamous Lee Murray. Known for his legendary reputation for street fights and criminal activity, Murray knocked out the then-UFC Light Heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz during a street fight in the back alley behind a London nightclub, went the distance in Cage Rage with future longtime UFC king Anderson Silva for the title, and was tipped for future greatness. Sadly, his talent will never be realised in MMA, given that he is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence in Morocco and has been on considerable hiatus already, but the Shootfighters Class of 2010 are an impressive bunch, and have all combined to put the gym on the fight game’s map.
First and foremost has to be Marius Zaromskis. The firebrand striker wowed the fight world with his spectacular performance in the final round of the Dream Welterweight Grand Prix; knocking out the legend Hayato “Mach” Sakurai and then Jason High on the same night – both by head kick. Those displays earned him the Grand Prix tournament title, and with it he became the inaugural Welterweight champion of Dream.
Perhaps we all went too far though; sections of the very hardest of the hardcore community online (that I posted with) now held “The Whitemare” to be the premier welterweight in the game, and heir apparent to GSP’s claim to the top rank. This illusion was shattered, when the undersized Zaromskis headed Stateside to lose in round 1 to the vastly larger man Nick Diaz. Though the smaller Zaromskis dropped Diaz hard after 2 minutes in round 1, and nearly finished with ground’n’pound, the rangier Diaz recovered fast, and quickly turned the fight on its head, peppering the Whitemare with his superior reach and straight punches, and finished Zaro off. Marius returned to Strikeforce to face former middleweight Evangelista Santos, and his lack of defence cost him against another larger opponent, as a disastrous flying knee was countered, and the “Cyborg” scored the knockout with punches and g’n’p.
Regardless, Zaromskis is an undersized welterweight, who barely cuts any weight to fight in the division in Japan, where the practise of weight cutting is not so widely used. One hopes that in any future American adventures, Whitemare wisely cuts to lightweight, and faces off against men his own size where his skills can shine through once more, and prove that he truly is one of the elites.
Beyond the Dream Welterweight Grand Prix winner and divisional champion, Shootfighters boast some stacked talent. Karlos Vemola went 7-0 as a heavyweight on the UKMMA scene, winning the CFC title and making waves across the pond. Despite a UFC debut loss to wrestler Jon Madsen, Vemola dropped to Light-Heavyweight, and looked fearsome in absolutely beasting Seth Petruzelli at UFC 122. One hopes big things of the Czech-born Londoner.
He is not the only LS fighter contracted to zuffa. Jon Hathaway proved he is one of Britain’s major prospects, when he thoroughly outworked and arguably outclassed TUF middleweight winner Diego “The Nightmare” Sanchez at UFC 114. Despite since suffering a loss at UFC 120, Hathaway is still young, and ditto, could achieve big things in his future.
Mostapha Al Turk is another London Shootfighter with experience in the UFC Octagon. He is perhaps most well known for his callup to face returning legend Mirko “CroCop” Filipovic at UFC 99 in Germany. Unfortunately for Al Turk, neither desired outcome transpired; namely the triumphant legend nor the unlikely underdog story. Al Turk suffered an eye poke, and under a barrage of punches from the unknowing CroCop, the fight was stopped. Disappointing for all, but such high profile fights can only help Al Turk develop as a heavyweight. Though he has also lost to Cheick Kongo and Jon Madsen (the London Shootfighters kryptonite?), Al Turk was the ADCC European champion in 2005, and also the Cage Rage heavyweight king in MMA, before he relinquished the championship to sign with zuffa, prior to the collapse of that org.
Another face to be found in that gym that needs zero introduction to hardcore fans; James “The Colossus” Thompson. While these days, James sadly loses more than he wins, there are a lot of fans who hold him with some affection, remembering his entertaining fights in Pride FC and Cage Rage. Shootfighters certainly had a strong presence in the former premier org in Europe, as along with the aforementioned Murray, Al Turk and Thompson, they also boast Jean Silva as a team member; the former Cage Rage lightweight champion. James Zikic too is a London Shootfighter; he of course captured the Cage Rage Light-Heavyweight title with a win over the aforementioned Evangelista Santos; the LHW who would in the future drop all the way down to welterweight to blitz the brave but undersized Zaromskis.
It seems inevitable, that with such notables and more, and the experience in such illustrious MMA organisations as the UFC (Murray, Al Turk, Hathaway, Vemola), Dream (Zaromskis, Thompson), Sengoku (Thompson), Strikeforce (Zaromskis) and more, not to mention boasting a Dream champion, multiple kings of Cage Rage and two solid UFC contenders, that this camp will only continue to grow and prosper. The man who – by hook or by crook – has somehow become the most famous MMA fighter in Britain, Alex Reid, calls London Shootfighters his home, and with or without justification, every fight he is in from here on in will be an undoubted attraction in the mainstream. There are champions, contenders and tough guys in that camp. This British writer hopes that they prosper, go forth and conquer, and that not only do they successfully add to their ranks and bolster the camp with more notable names, but that the fighters they already boast can achieve all their potential and continue to make waves in the fight scenes of Britain, Japan and the USA.
Fly the flag.
Fletch
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