Mark Weir

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mark Weir
Statistics
Nickname	The Wizard
Height	6’2” (188cm)
Weight	185lbs (84kg)
Born	September 19, 1967
Fighting out of	Range Fighting
Town of birth	Gloucester, England
Fighting style	Range Fighting
Mixed martial arts record
Wins	17
By knockout	5
By submission	4
Losses	10
Draws	0

Mark Weir (September 19, 1967 - ) is an English mixed martial arts fighter, usually fighting in the middleweight division at 185lbs. He has fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and PRIDE Fighting Championships, and is the current Cage Rage British middleweight champion.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Martial Arts Background & Training Regimen
2 See also
3 Footnotes
4 External Links and Sources

[edit] Biography

Mark Weir lives in Quedgeley, England with his wife Michelle and two children, Tamara and Lyle. Weir appears keen to pass his knowledge to the next generation of the family, as he once said of his daughter that “Tamara is really into martial arts and she is already picking up some of the skills.”^[1]

Weir has used his martial arts ability on screen as well as in the ring, starring in film student Scott Clifford’s low-budget feature Dealing with Danger 2, a taekwondo themed production. Weir played the villain and also choreographed the numerous action sequences, and according to Clifford (who trains with Weir in Barton), Weir “has been offered the chance to be in Hong Kong films.”^[2]. Clifford enlisted the services of Weir once again in his 2001 short film, Dead Ringers, another of the student’s amateur works.^[3]

[edit] Martial Arts Background & Training Regimen

Weir began his martial arts training with judo and boxing, but later switched to taekwondo because his mother did not want him to box full-time^[4]. He gained his taekwondo black belt in 1988 from Master Hee Il Cho, then went on to win World Championships in both 1988 and 1991. Weir moved up from Light Heavyweight to Heavyweight over the two competitions. ^[5]

He has also claimed to be “completely self taught”^[6], and is a keen supporter of the British MMA scene:

“The skill levels are constantly improving and popularity is growing. Too many British MMA’s are looking outside this country for help and improvement rather than realising that fighting is a natural instinct and is based on what your strengths and weaknesses are and once you have isolated these two areas its just a case of finding the most scientific or practical way to improve them. I am living proof that it is possible to reach a competitive fighting level without external help.”^[7]

Weir had perhaps his most notable success in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. On July 13, 2002, he knocked out Eugene Jackson in 10 seconds at UFC 38 – at the time, this was the fastest knockout ever seen in the competition. Fittingly, it was also the first time the UFC had been held in England, with a number of British mixed martial artists competing alongside Weir in the Royal Albert Hall.

Weir holds classes in Gloucester and Cheltenham, where he teaches what he calls ‘Range Fighting’, combining muay thai, boxing, ju jitsu and ground fighting.^[8] His last fight was a loss by submission to Denis Kang at PRIDE Bushido 10 on April 2, 2006.