Martyn Ford has been the talk of the town ever since the actor/body builder decided to transition to boxing. Now it appears like Ford is covering all of his bases and working in some jiu jitsu to boot.
Ford has been in talks to face the Iranian hulk in boxing for the last several years with the bout falling apart several times. Last time, celebrity boxing promotion promised to stage the event in London’s O2 arena however the date was first delayed twice and then ultimately cancelled.
For cited he didn’t want to bully the Iranian Hulk (Sajad Gharibi).
Since then Ford has given an exclusive to the Mirror explaining what transpired:
“As an outsider people might say, ‘What are you on about?’ but from someone who was there, who saw him and the way he crumbled. We had a face-off and it was one little push. I looked in his eyes and then turned around and said to the guys, ‘There is no fight’.”
“What happened afterwards I already felt bad about, the amount he got bullied and his reaction to being bullied breaking down on National TV. ”
“Then his parents came out and said ‘we don’t want anything to do with you, you are weak’. Then on Instagram Live when he turned around and said he hates Iranians and wants to end his life. I just thought, ‘No I can’t be a part of this’.”
Following the cancellation of his boxing debut, Ford got together with a new adviser – the controversial Daniel Kinehan. Kinehan has been the ‘advisor’ to a number of high profile athletes in both boxing and MMA. Soon after Ford said he’s moving on from the celebrity boxing promotion and started talks with KSW – a respectable Polish MMA promotion.
Ford was previously rumored to be in talks with them – and at one point there were discussions that he would be facing Gharibi there but those rumors were dispelled by KSW brass at that point.
Before the coronavirus, the British actor/bodybuilder had talks with KSW.
“One hundred per cent I am planning on getting involved in MMA,” Ford told Mirror . “I am already speaking to KSW. This is something that was set pre-covid. ”
“I have still been doing pieces of Jiu-Jitsu and stuff. They are looking at coming to London in October, and that is an event I would love to get involved with.”
“It just needs to be the right person and right time, my feelers have been put out there to try and get this set up as soon as possible.”
“I understand the frustration from people about not yet seeing me fight. I am still training, only thing I am not doing is active sparring. I have switched back into its resistance and explosive power.“
“If something does happen which I am hoping I can sign up too soon, I have been training and dedicating so much time and effort to it.”
“I need to do it for my own mental state to be honest, anyone that has trained at a good level in any sport will understand the frustration I am going through at the moment.”
And now we can finally see some of Martyn’s jiu jitsu.
While he’s long worked on his boxing alongside professionals like dutch powerhouse Rico Verhooven it’s unknown how much jiu jitsu training Ford has.
At age 41 it’s a real challenge to pick up new skills from scratch – but it can be done. Ford’s rumored opponent, KSW’s Mariusz Pudzianovski just knocked out KSW middleweight champion Michael Materla and secured the title at age 45.