Sam Rea Ready For Shock N Awe 11: "Gonna fight my fight and do what I need to do to win."

Shock N Awe 11 is nearly here and excitement levels are reaching new altitudes. With the South Coasts top promotion gaining ever new heights of interest from the UK scene, one things that can be guaranteed is that any fighters chosen to appear on this upcoming card have been handpicked due to their experience, skills and/or potential.

Featuring on the undercard is Sam Rea, a young fighter that is looking to make a name for himself. Training at Ippon Gym, home to UFC veteran and ground specialist Jeff Lawson, Sam has a great team and head coach at his disposal, and now he has the platform on which he hopes to put all of these things together. AddictedMMA caught up with Sam to see how things were going ahead of his big fight:


Hi Sam, thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule! First of all can you tell us a little about your martial arts background?

I have been training for about two years now; I started at the Bulldog and moved to Ippon Gym when it opened to carry on training with Jeff Lawson.


How does it feel to be a part of such an increasingly important event such as Shock N Awe?

It feels great to be a part of this event. It is getting bigger and better with every show and is a great platform for fighters.


I believe this is your first semi-pro fight...how have things changed over the last few weeks in your training as fight night approaches? Have you been dropping much weight?

This will be my first semi-pro MMA fight. I have really stepped up with training over the last couple of weeks to sharpen my skills and keep the cardio up. The weight isn't really a problem, just need to eat well and train hard.


What do you know about your opponent Chris Siddall and will you be working to a specific game plan against him? How do you see this fight ending?

I know that he is coming off a recent win and will be looking to continue that streak, I wouldn't say I have a specific game plan, just gonna fight my fight and do what I need to do to win. I see me ending it early with either GnP or a submission.


How important is to have someone like Jeff Lawson to call on for help and advice?

Jeff has been crucial for my training. He is such a good instructor and has a lot of experience so knows exactly what you're going through before a fight.


Do you have ambitions to move on from semi-pro, to pro?

Eventually I will look to go to the professional level but I want to build experience at semi pro first.


As always this a pretty stacked card from the guys at Shock N Awe, who else are you looking forward to seeing fight on the night?

Obviously I'm looking forward to watching all the guys from Ippon, and the whole night looks like it will be a good one.


Are there any shout-outs that you would like to give?

Yeah I would like to give a shout out to all the instructors at Ippon and all the training partners. I wouldn't be ready for this if it wasn't for the awesome team we have at Ippon. Also my girlfriend for putting up with me spending so much time at the gym in preparation for this.


And as usual we have the AddictedMMA signature question! Outside of MMA what is Sam Rea addicted to?

Maybe because it is on my mind but I cannot wait to get back to having a cheat day and eating some junk food!!


So there you have it Addicts, a brief insight into the life of Sam Rea as he gears up for his fight at Shock N Awe 11 this coming Saturday, July 14th.

One last time we would like to thank Sam for his time and we suggest anybody in attendance this week end should keep an eye out for Sam.

For more details on Shock N Awe 11 please follow the link:
www.shocknawe.co.uk


The full card is as follows:

MAIN CARD

Pro MMA Main Event - British Bantamweight Title U135lbs
Davey Grant 6.1.0. vs James 'The Power Weasel' Pennington 6.0.0.

Pro MMA Co-Main Event - British Welterweight Title U170lbs
Alexei "BOOM" Roberts 6.2.0. vs Andy Kerr 4.2.0.

Pro MMA U155lbs Lightweight
Jason Cooledge 4.2.0. vs Lee "Hercules" Taylor 3.4.0.

Pro MMA U170lbs Welterweight
Fred "Fury" Harrington 3.0.0. vs Colin Howells 2.0.0

Pro MMA U170lbs Welterweight
Rocci Williams 5.10.0. vs Danny Compton 2.3.0.

Pro MMA U125lbs Flyweight
Karl Harrison 3.3.0. vs "GI" Joe Laurence 3.2.0.

Pro MMA U185lbs Middleweight
Kieran Rice 2.0.0. vs Luke Killick 0.0.0.

Pro MMA U170lbs Welterweight
Damien Forgie 2.0.0. vs Paul Rocha. 9.6.0.

Pro MMA U135lbs Bantam weight
Danny Pearson 0.3.0. vs Paddy Moore 4.3.0.

Pro MMA U170lbs Welterweight
AJ Russell 0.1.0. vs Adam Fyfe 0.0.0.

Pro MMA U135lbs Bantamweight
Brett Healy 0.3.0. vs Brett O'brien 2.1.0.



UNDERCARD

Semi Pro MMA U75kg Catch weight
Ben Carr 3.0.0. vs Matt "Short Fuze" Hughes 5.1.0.

Semi Pro MMA U135lbs Bantamweight
Jamie Pritchard 5.2.0. vs Anton DeFreitas 3.2.0.

Semi Pro MMA U170lbs Welterweight
Gareth Millar 2.0.0. vs Manuel Pais 1.0.0.

K1 U63kg Catch weight
Damien "Damo" Weeden 2.0.0. vs Martin Avery 2.0.0.

Semi Pro MMA U125lbs Flyweight
Ben Harrison 4.4.0. vs Brett Caswell 1.0.0.

K1 U66kg Catch weight (On the day weigh in)
Johnny Cromwell 0.0.0. vs Joe Loudof 1.1.0.

Semi Pro MMA U155lbs Lightweight
Chris Siddall 1.1.0. vs Sam Rea 0.0.0.

K1 U74kg Catch weight (On the day weigh in)
Nigel Marchant 0.0.0. vs Jamie Hawkhead 3.1.0.


Please note the fight card can change at ANY time.

Published by Ruarie Farrelly - Tue, 10 Jul 2012 16:25