1. Jim Wallhead was born on 14 March 1984 and is an English former professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Welterweight division.
59 Facts About Jim Wallhead
1. 2.
Jim Wallhead has competed for BAMMA, Bellator, and M-1 Challenge and the UFC.
3.
Jim Wallhead joined Team Rough House after back-to-back losses at the beginning of his professional career and dropped his competing weight from Light Heavyweight and Middleweight to Welterweight.
4.
Jim Wallhead comes from a judo background, where he holds a black belt.
5.
Jim Wallhead was introduced to judo accidentally after being taken to a class that was believed to be a karate class.
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Jim Wallhead was successful early in his judo career for the Beaumont Leys Judo club, before moving to a club in Coventry under Olympic silver medallist Neil Adams.
7.
Under Adams, Jim Wallhead won three Under-21s British titles as well as placing 7th in the European youth Olympics.
8.
Jim Wallhead joined Team Rough House in 2005, following back-to-back losses between May and July 2005.
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Jim Wallhead is still a member of Team Rough House to this date, alongside fighters such as Dan Hardy, Ross Pearson, Paul Daley and Andre Winner.
10.
Early in his career, Jim Wallhead was associated with the Urban Combat Leicester team.
11.
Jim Wallhead made his semi-professional debut against Steve Matthews on 8 April 2005, in a two-round fight.
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Jim Wallhead soon turned professional and on 30 April 2005, he made his debut at Cage Warriors: Ultimate Force.
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Jim Wallhead fought Leslee Ojugbana, utilising knee strikes from the clinch, whilst preventing Ojugbana from succeeding with takedown attempts.
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Jim Wallhead competed just weeks later and made his second professional appearance against Boris Jonstomp at Cage Warriors: Strike Force.
15.
Midway through the first round, Singh-Sidhu appeared to be backing away from Jim Wallhead, who chased him down with punches and knees to the head.
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Jim Wallhead won the fight via majority decision after five rounds, giving him the title.
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Just over two years to that day, Jim Wallhead rematched Jenkins in a kickboxing bout ; this time in Jim Wallhead's hometown of Nottingham.
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Jim Wallhead showed effective low kicks and combinations which earned him a unanimous decision victory.
19.
Jim Wallhead's opponent was John Phillips who was making his second professional appearance.
20.
Jim Wallhead defeated Phillips to retain the title, after a TKO victory due to elbows.
21.
Jim Wallhead then captured the Cage Gladiators British Welterweight Title, defeating the UFC veteran Jason Tan.
22.
Jim Wallhead faced Lewis Barrow four months later and won via submission to begin a four fight win streak.
23.
Jim Wallhead began to gain more recognition and exposure in the United States when his fight against Charles Blanchard was featured on Inside MMA on HDNet.
24.
Unfortunately for Jim Wallhead, this fight resulted in a decision loss.
25.
Jim Wallhead then began to show improved boxing and knockout power in his next few fights, the first of which was against Tom Haddock in April 2008 who he defeated via submission due to punches.
26.
Just under three months later, Jim Wallhead faced off against Fabricio Nascimento.
27.
Jim Wallhead kept the fight on their feet throughout, preventing Nascimento's takedowns.
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Jim Wallhead took the unanimous decision victory which was regarded as the most important victory he had claimed at that stage in his career.
29.
Jim Wallhead's next fight came at M-1 Challenge UK in September 2008 and was intended to be against Jason Ball.
30.
In preparation for his fight with Araujo, Jim Wallhead temporarily joined Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada to further polish his skills.
31.
Jim Wallhead then applied to become a castmember of The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs United Kingdom.
32.
Jim Wallhead would go on to defeat his opponent via knockout, which was described by one of Jim Wallhead's team mates as "one of the worst knockouts they've seen".
33.
In September 2009, Jim Wallhead won the Clash of Warriors Welterweight title by defeating Marius Buzinskas.
34.
In November 2009, Jim Wallhead scored arguably the most high-profile win of his career when he defeated The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs United Kingdom participant Che Mills at "Knuckleup At The Manor" in Newport, Wales.
35.
The second round saw Mills use foot stomps and elbows from the clinch, which prevented Jim Wallhead from utilising his wrestling.
36.
However, on 20 April, just two days before his fight with McClintock, Jim Wallhead was forced to withdraw from the Bellator tournament as he was grounded in England due to the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajokull.
37.
Jim Wallhead went on to defeat Thomas via unanimous decision.
38.
Jim Wallhead made his BAMMA debut at BAMMA 7 against Frank Trigg.
39.
Jim Wallhead ended the first round landing ground-and-pound shots which opened up a cut on Trigg's cheek.
40.
The final round was close, though Jim Wallhead managed to rock Trigg early in the round.
41.
Jim Wallhead competed at BAMMA 8 in a welterweight bout against Joey Villasenor, winning via first-round KO.
42.
Jim Wallhead faced off against UFC veteran Matt Veach in the main event of BAMMA 12 in Newcastle, England on 9 March 2013.
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Jim Wallhead won the fight via submission in the first round.
44.
Jim Wallhead returned to Bellator to compete in the season seven welterweight tournament.
45.
Jim Wallhead faced former TUF contestant Eddy Ellis at BAMMA 13 on 14 September 2013.
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Jim Wallhead lost the fight in a highly controversial decision after breaking Ellis' jaw in the first round and stuffing many of his takedown attempts.
47.
On 9 April 2016, Jim Wallhead fought at WFCA 17 against Gennadiy Kovalev.
48.
On 27 June 2016, Jim Wallhead signed with the UFC to fight Jessin Ayari at UFC Fight Night 93, replacing Emil Meek.
49.
Jim Wallhead faced Luan Chagas on 3 June 2017 at UFC 212.
50.
Jim Wallhead lost the fight via submission due to a rear-naked choke in the second round.
51.
Jim Wallhead was expected to face Warlley Alves on 21 October 2017 at UFC Fight Night 118.
52.
Jim Wallhead was tested positive from an out-of-competition test collected on October 7,2017 by USADA.
53.
Jim Wallhead faced Giorgio Pietrini on May 4,2019 at Bellator: Birmingham.
54.
Jim Wallhead faced Daniel Skibinski at Cage Warriors 141 on July 22,2022.
55.
Jim Wallhead won the bout via TKO stoppage in the first round.
56.
Jim Wallhead faced Mateusz Figlak for the Interim Cage Warriors Welterweight Championship on November 12,2022 at Cage Warriors 146.
57.
Jim Wallhead won the title and the bout, knocking out Figlak in the first round.
58.
Jim Wallhead faced Rhys McKee on April 29,2023 at Cage Warriors 153 in a unification of the Cage Warriors Welterweight Championship.
59.
Jim Wallhead's corner threw in the towel at the end of the fourth round, with Jim Wallhead retiring from MMA after the bout.