Matt '12 Gauge' Thorpe
Matt “12 Gauge” Thorpe is an experienced campaigner in the UK MMA scene having spent the past seven years working his way up the pro ranks in shows across the UK and beyond. A veteran of Cage Warriors, King Of The Cage UK, Bodog Fight, M-1 Global and many more; this 6ft 4in/193cm athlete cuts an imposing figure inside the Cage and has impressed on many occasions during his long career.
This 29 year old started his career as a Welterweight and notched-up wins against the likes of the former Cage Rage British Champion Che Mills; the German Shidokan star, Peter Angerer; the Shooto Holland veteran, Raymon Jarman and the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu player; Claudio Henrique. However throughout his career both Thorpe and his team have voiced their frustration over the lack of domestic opposition willing to face him.
Thorpe is also known for his many battles at Cage Warriors and in particular an epic battle for the CWFC World Welterweight Title against Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy back in 2005. That bout was one of the greatest contest in the history of the CWFC, due to the cat-and-mouse like action of the bout, which saw Thorpe lock on numerous submission attempts and pressurirse Hardy throughout the contest, before falling just short in his attempt to take the Title in a spectacular five round bout.
A versatile fighter, Thorpe is a threat both on his feet and on the floor with vastly underrated stand-up for a fighter with ten submission wins. And although he has suffered from some inactively in the past due to injuries, he has only been defeated in the past three years by some of the top fighters in the European scene. After his defeat in July 2008 against the Norwegian grappler Simeon Thoresen; Thorpe announced he would take the rest of the year off to refocus and moved-up a weight class to compete in the Middleweight division.
In early 2009 the rangy Team Coliseum fighter returned to action and jumped at the chance to once again to test his skills on the world stage as he joined “Team England” in the 2009 M-1 Challenge. In April 2009, Thorpe made his M-1 Challenge debut in style by defeating the DEEP veteran Yusuke Masuda of Team Japan by Rear Naked Choke in round 2. However Thorpe suffered a minor setback in June when he was submitted by the skilful French grappler Christophe Daffreville in Kansas City, USA.
Nevertheless Thorpe rebounded from that loss in style on August 15th in Holland when he defeated Rafael Rodriguez via triangle choke after just 56 seconds of the first round. Thorpe showed excellent composure and helped seal a great night for himself and Team England as they defeated their Spanish counterparts 5-0.
Thorpe and the rest of Team England then moved onto the Semi Finals against the mighty Russian Legion on September 26th in Rostov, Russia. Thorpe was the feature of numerous Newspaper, Website and video interviews in the lead-up to this best-of-five team challenge series (which can be found here, here and here.) However Thorpe was unsuccessful in his bout against the UFC veteran Ansar Chalangov as he was forced to tap out to a reverse heel hook, which Ansar Chalangov applied after escaping from an armbar attempt by the rangy all-rounder.
Thorpe then suffered another loss abroad in December against the European top 15 ranked Middleweight Tor Troeng in the main event of the “Battle of Botnia 2” show in Sweden. Thorpe was caught by a Kimura after impressing early on and even flooring the Swedish grappler during their early exchanges,
Despite that loss Thorpe remained in the UK top 10 Middleweight rankings and kicked-off his 2010 campaign with his first fight on UK soil for nearly eighteen months at Knuckleup: Origins back in February. Thorpe took on the powerful Welsh striker John Phillips for the vacant Knuckle Up Middleweight Title in the night's main event, which was shown on Sky Sports.
However Thorpe was unsuccessful and lost by TKO in round 1 of the contest. After the bout Thorpe announced his retirement from active MMA competition and will now intead concentrate on coaching and setting up his own fight team.
You can keep track on Matt's progress on his official website www.12gaugemma.com
Or for more information on Matt Thorpe, please contact Ian Dean of WPFM
Fighter Stats
| Won | 13 |
|---|---|
| Lost | 11 |
| Draw | 0 |
| NC | 0 |
| Weight | Middleweight |
Fight Record
| Opponent | Method | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Phillips | TKO (Ground and Pound) | LOST | 20/02/10 |
| Tor Troeng | Submission (Kimura) | LOST | 12/12/09 |
| Ansar Chalangov | Submission (Reverse Heel Hook) | LOST | 26/09/09 |
| Rafael Rodriguez | Submission (Triangle Choke) | WIN | 15/08/09 |
| Christophe Daffreville | Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) | LOST | 05/06/09 |
| Yusuke Masuda | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | WIN | 29/04/09 |
| Simeon Thoresen | Submission (Kimura) | LOST | 12/07/08 |
| Mark 'Manslaughter' O'Toole | Submission (Kimura) | WIN | 19/04/08 |
| Claude Henrique | DQ | WIN | 10/11/07 |
| Leslee Ojugbana | TKO (Strikes) | LOST | 14/10/07 |
| Raymon Jarman | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | WIN | 30/09/07 |
| Vasile Doczi | Submission (Strikes) | WIN | 21/07/07 |
| Diego Gonzalez | Judges Decision (Unanimous) | LOST | 16/12/06 |
| Peter Angerer | Submission (Strikes) | WIN | 16/09/06 |
| Dan 'The Outlaw' Hardy | Judges Decision (Split) | LOST | 26/11/05 |
| Arran Barrow | Submission (Triangle Choke) | WIN | 24/06/05 |
| Henrique Santana | Submission (Choke) | LOST | 04/12/04 |
| Chris Hipkiss | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | WIN | 10/04/04 |
| Ollie Ellis | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | LOST | 07/03/04 |
| Che Mills | Submission (Armbar) | WIN | 09/11/03 |
| Ryan Norwood | Submission | WIN | 30/08/03 |
| Danny Rogerson | Submission (Armbar) | LOST | 16/03/03 |
| Tim Ryder | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | WIN | 03/03/03 |
| David Simpson | Judges Decision | WIN | 01/09/02 |
