Jeff Bullock Interview 1993

This article was first published in the Martial Arts Illustrated December 1993 edition.

Jeff Bullock describes himself as an 'ordinary fella' who put his mind to something; this being the formation of The Association of Kickboxing Elite. Jeff and his gang of fighters arrived at the office, the men looked a formidable lot, seeming uncomfortable in their new suits, and Aisha appearing deceptively harmless.

After a debate they decided to go to the local fast food place, strange really as all they drank was coffee and coke. Later, as I tucked into my greasy chips it was commented on that they were all on strict training diets.

The Manager - Jeff Bullock
Jeff has a long history in Kickboxing. "I first fought full contact in 1979 (I decided) to have one fight to give it a try and see that it was like. Here I am in 1993, 61 fights later".

His martial art background boasts a junior dan in Judo, 3rd dan Ju Jitsu, and 1st dan in Shotokan.

Before Jeff became involved in the promotion and management side of Kickboxing he managed gymnasiums, but he has been involved in looking after fighters for 15 years. "I've been waiting for the opportunity and the right time... I've decided to slot into the role and do it properly". His role of manager includes both training and marketing, he currently manages a stable of 4 fighters, and he describes these proudly as "class fighters". Jeff said that they will fight under "anybody really" but he feels that the most prestigious organization is the WKA.

Jeff himself has only been beaten 6 times and had 4 draws. He recently beat Orson Deman. He holds the WKA European title and the CKO European title. His next fight is against Trevor Tracey in November in London where he will be defending his European title. Though he said that, "I keep managing to lick my body into shape, each time it's a bit harder", he feels that he will probably only fight for another 12 months at the most before retiring.

It is very rare that a competitor who regularly competes can integrate producing fighters to such a high standard. "It is difficult as you're trying to allocate some of your time to your own training and time to their training. Luckily I've got a great support team with Kev Crowley... he helps with the administration, and teaches."

He described full contact as a very egotistical sport, saying that large egos are very temperamental; he said it is the coach's job to keep the fighters calm.

The Fighters
All of his fighters are competing for top titles under WKA and WAKO rules. John Castelain, Philip Barton and Gary Sandland are WAKO British Champions, and Aisha Lahsen is twice European semi contact WAKO points champion; this year she also won the WAKO British semi and light continuous championship.

Aisha Lahsen
The lethal female kicking-beauty used to do ballet, "But it was boring," so she began martial arts. She has recently crossed over to full contact. In November she's going to compete at the World Championships in semi and light continuous. Jeff said of her, "She's a phenomenal athlete... she can adapt from semi contact to light continuous to full contact... from Kickboxing to Thai boxing...".

Gary Sandland
Gary looks like he's walked out of an Al Capone movie, come to think of it they all do. Gary is at the very top of his tree according to Jeff, and he will shortly be fighting for the WKA World full contact title in November. Jeff described him as being, "...renowned for his phenomenal power, he really can dig, he really is a big digger." Jeff said that Gary's technical ability needs improving, and he is a good listener and he trains hard.

John Castelain
He looked young, and wore a continuously vacant expression throughout the photography shoot. This is a fighter who, in Jeff's words, is very experienced for his age; he is 19 years-old and currently British WAKO Champion. He fought for the British WKA Kickboxing title where he was narrowly beaten by Trevor Tracey; he is fighting for the title again in November. Jeff leant across the table and asked him in his strong Liverpudlian twang, "How many fights have you had?" John answered concisely, "Thirty-eight". He has had 29 wins; these also include international fights in France and Greece.

Philip Barton
Phil the Hitman, has had 25 fights, and 17 wins, and he has had 13 first round knock outs; hence the nickname. He's the North-West area WKA Thai boxing champion, and in November at Everton he fights in a Kickboxing bout against Eugene Valerio. As Valerio is such an experienced title holder, Jeff reckons it will be, "...a real exciting fight."

Jeff then talked to me about his training methods which clearly steer away from the traditional.

Coaching Techniques
Jeff said that basically he doesn't train in a certain style, he looks for the fighter's natural ability and develops them in their own individual way. "None of my fighters are actually like clones of one another, each of them has got a very individual style." He continued, "What you've got to do to be a good coach is to try to put your head onto their body, and fight with their physical attributes, not your own."

Jeff believes that training is a lot more scientific now. When he first started coaching Kickboxing the lessons were general with everyone being taught the same, now: "I actually write out a whole session on the blackboard, so the students come in and I'll explain the session prior to when we start." Students are taught according to ability and their fight programme. He also does a lot of work with check spars; these are prearranged sparring techniques with combinations of moves to be practiced. He said of this, "It's like a fight situation, so the attack will be strong and they (the students) will learn to do the block and attack, it becomes automatic and they will reverse the process.

The coaching is designed in such a way that he can give individual attention around the class. He usually structures the class into skipping, sprints, exercises and the check sparring, this enables him to, "...float round the class and supervise far more on an individual format than teach a class generally."

Kickboxing Elite currently runs 2 clubs, one in Southport and the other in Liverpool.

The Association of Kickboxing Elite
Jeff feels that his experience in the martial arts has created a high standard in training.

"...We can pass this on, and give other clubs the advantage of venues and coaching ability." He believes that the padwork drills and basic drills at Kickboxing Elite have developed the standards of his fighters to a high pinnacle.

Jeff, as yet, has not actually started to advertise his association but he told me that he has already been requested to do seminars because of the success they have achieved.

Marketing and Money in Kickboxing
Marketing is big business and big money, at present boxing has more money pumped into it than Kickboxing. A top heavy-weight boxer can expect to be a millionaire by the end of his career. But what about Kickboxers? One of the top paid Kickboxers at present is Stanley Longinidis, he is reputed to have earned around 200,000 Australian dollars for his last 6 fights in total. British Kickboxers beginning their careers earn a pittance in comparison. Jeff explained that contracts and profits are not the norm. Fighters usually keep up with that day job and fit training in around these commitments. They don't expect to make a living out of Kickboxing at first, just cover costs.

But enter Jeff Bullock. He has different ideas about running fighters' careers, he has contracts, and is trying to build up a professional marketing network with sponsors. He talked about his visit to Australia and its influence upon him; how the marketing potential has been realised in that country, "...they have this beer called Tuohys, and it was (advertised) right smack in the ring, there were girls walking around with Tuohys on. That show was broadcast to 41 different nations, and went out to 7 live." But Kickboxing in the UK at present just doesn't have the big players involved. Jeff said, "What we've got to do, from a management and promoter's point of view, is get people to realise this marketing potential. We can sell them that advertising space, and that space is worth a lot of money.

The best promoters of the sport out of the television networks at the moment are the satellite and cable stations, they have the capacity to broadcast across Europe and into America. Jeff said, "When we were in Australia, Geoff Patterson was the promoter out there and he actually promotes real title professional boxing in Australia. What's happened in other countries is that professional pro-boxing promoters are getting hold of Kickboxing and seeing its potential". But the money just doesn't appear to be in the sport in this country, yet. One of the reasons could be the stigma that appears to be attached to Kickboxing: that of a bloodsport.

Taboos and Icons
Jeff states that he has got as far as director meetings and someone's piped up, "Kickboxing it's a bloodsport" - and boom, there goes your sponsorship; yet the same ideal is not attached to boxing. One of the ways that Jeff appears to be attempting to breakdown these taboos is through what he terms his professional approach. He wants to create icons, fighters that people recognise and identify with. A good example of this in British boxing is Frank Bruno, Frank complete with bottle of Heinz sauce and 'Arry. Frank Bruno, although he lost his most recent title bid, was still paid into the millions. Jeff said with a smile, "...no disrespect intended but Frank is a very marketable commodity... A career was created out of this, marketed and sold".

Ambitions
Jeff has high hopes for his own stable of fighters, not only in fighting, his aspirations are in looking further afield. "We actually want our fighters to follow movie careers." Do a vast majority of martial artists want to get into films? It would appear so.

He is also concentrating on trying to attract the audience that watch boxing, the obvious connection is there. He wants to concentrate on promoting, giving seminars and raising sponsorship. "We've just had a show in the King's Way, Southport and we've had a lot in Liverpool. We've got a big event which is a big coup for Liverpool with a World title bout coming up; we really want to promote Kickboxing."

The Future of the Sport
If Kickboxing is to become a popular sport, as popular, say, as boxing then it will have to become more of a realised marketable commodity. Promoters will have to pump hard cash into the sport; it will have to be considered accessible for TV on a Saturday night. Jeff thinks that the future of the sport is definitely leaning towards this directional think long term it will become equal to boxing. Also Jeff believes that the Olympic board are looking at the WAKO format. He said that there could be a possibility of a trial showing a couple of games away; but it will probably be years before they make a committed decision.

The fight between Jeff and Bob Sykes
Jeff and MAI's Editor Bob Sykes fought in the ring years ago. Jeff said that Bob totally psyched him out before the fight, he kept on going up to him and saying, "Who is this Jeff Bullock guy? Do you know what he looks like?" In Bob's version he said he was also making loud noises in the changing room. Jeff said that he just got madder and madder. By the time they were to go into the ring to fight, all Jeff said he wanted to do was rip Bob's head off. "It turned out to be a very good exhibition fight," he said, "that's what a lot of people thought it was because Bob used to favour his jump spinning kick". He continued smiling, "I thought he's going to come out in the last round with this. So I thought I'd do a drop spin sweep as he comes out and catch him with it. And what actually happened was that I dropped down, Bob flew over my head, and we just squared up and faced each other. It looked like something out of a Kung Fu movie, everybody thought it was a set up, but it wasn't". Strangely enough, Bob's version told the same story.