A mixed martial arts club in Peterhead now boast a British MMA title after recent success at an event in Newcastle.
William Stewart acquired the lightweight belt, which was the first to be won by a Pro-Core HQ athlete after the club opened its doors six months ago.
Stewart was one of six Pro-Core HQ fighters that travelled to ‘The Machine MMA show’, hosted by UFC legend Ian Freeman, with all but one winning their respective fights.
Markus Proctor, Dawid Kostecki, Brandon Innes, and John Proctor all took home a medal, while Dawid Mrktchan lost on his debut against an experienced fighter.
And Markus, who is the founding member of Pro-Core HQ, was impressed with all of his athletes’ efforts, but especially Stewart’s belt-winning display.
An opportunity to showcase what Pro-Core HQ has to offer
He said: “He was getting dominated the whole fight and then in the last round he managed to pull it off.
“His patience and resilience showed, and he finished the fight off with a choke.
“We had 35 or so people with us down from Peterhead and Aberdeen – you can imagine the whole side of our room erupted when he won.”
Despite most of the athletes being experienced fighters, the event in Newcastle was an opportunity to showcase what Pro-Core HQ has to offer.
Proctor reckons they exceeded their own expectations against tough competition.
“I just asked if they were up for testing out their skills,” he explained.
“It was pretty much a worldwide event, so we were backstage all hyped up for it.
“We’ve pretty much come out of nowhere – Peterhead of all places – to then go to Newcastle and beat them all.”
By winning each of their fights, the five athletes have now entered the British MMA rankings, with Stewart currently sat within the top ten in the lightweight category.
Proctor hopes that Pro-Core HQ can build on their recent success and climb the rankings when they compete in Germany, Japan and Doha later in the year.
“We didn’t have a place to call our own before. There wasn’t a base gym and we were all scattered about,” he added.
“Now we have a really good structure which has made us more successful and hopefully that can continue and our athletes can move up the rankings.”
Creating local MMA opportunities
Winning belts is an added bonus for Proctor, who opened the gym to provide more local opportunities for those who wanted to practice mixed martials arts.
And, with the sport growing thanks to popular promotions like UFC, there has been a good uptake in what the club has to offer.
Pro-Core HQ currently boast several coaches who provide classes in grappling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, freestyle wrestling, sanshou, and K-1.
Proctor said: “Having grown up here, I thought if I opened up a place like this it would provide more opportunities for upcoming athletes – like the guys we took to Newcastle.
“Now there’s a local gym in Peterhead, it’ll help a lot of kids and upcoming athletes.
“The sport is becoming much more mainstream. People of all ages are coming in to try it out – there’s something for everyone.”