A charismatic former cage fighter turned podcaster and comedian will be the special guest at the open day of a Lancaster MMA gym.
Emilio Urrutia, known during his Mixed Martial Arts career as 'The Honey Badger' will hold a seminar at Shay Walsh MMA on Mainway in Skerton, on Saturday.
Urrutia fought professionally 18 times between 2013 and 2019.
He was a regular fighter in events for one of the most successful combat sport promotions across Asia in recent years: the ONE Championship.
Since stepping out of the Octagon, the American has become a coach, podcaster and comedian.
Now, he’s coming to Lancaster, having met Walsh 11 years ago at a Tiger Muay Thai camp in Thailand.
That training partnership and friendship was formed at the same time Walsh met six-time UFC champion Alexander Volkanovski, who came to the gym last year for ‘The Great Reopening’.
'Volk' also hosted a seminar and did a Q&A session in front of a large crowd at the back of the then-newly renovated gym, as well as speaking to Beyond Radio.
Reflecting on that special event last July, Walsh said: “We had a really big event last year, we were lucky enough to get Alex over.
“He’d been talking about coming to visit England for a long time and it just worked out with some extension work we did at the gym.
“It was excellent and all the members were really lucky to have such a high level guy over helping us, the gym has been really busy since.”
An in-depth documentary about Walsh’s career - ‘A Journey to Greatness: The Untold Story of Shay Walsh’ - which heavily featured footage from the ‘Great Reopening’ has recently been made available on YouTube.
The documentary, produced by psychology company EA5, was shown at two private screenings in October and December last year at the Reel Cinema in Morecambe but went public online earlier this month.
“It was a very emotional piece of film that they made,” said Walsh.
"They did a great job with it and it took me by surprise.”
You can watch it HERE.
The seminar with Urrutia on the Open Day this Saturday will, according to Shay Walsh MMA’s website, offer "unique MMA concepts" as well as "unmatched energy and authenticity".
It will last two hours and costs £50, with both members and non-members welcome.
Similarly to Volkanovski, this will be Urrutia’s first time in England.
“[The open day] has been a yearly thing now for four or five years, it’s a nice little social get together for current members but also a nice time for others to look round a gym, to get a sense of the vibe and the community," said Walsh.
“After the seminar, we’re going to have a few things going on for the kids so everyone’s welcome - we’ve got a bouncy castle, face painting and a barbecue.
“We’re really excited to have him over, I’m thankful to be in this position now.
“He’s a long-term training partner and friend of mine, we all met in Thailand, he was from the same crew with Volk in 2014 and we’ve stayed a close group ever since even though we’re all from different parts of the world.
“This will be his first time in England, he’s staying with me for a week or so, I’m really looking forward to the seminar - he’s trained all over the world and with some of the best.”
Walsh has seen a rise in membership in the last year or so since the gym’s refurbishment and reopening.
A number of members have represented the gym in recent months, including Charlie Ash - who is undergoing an apprenticeship at the gym - Paige Billington, Laurence Charnock and Zak Sands.
Bulgarian fighter Georgi Yerosamilov is looking ahead to his fifth fight of 2025 and that level of activeness in the Octagon is something that Walsh has never seen from someone who he has been coaching before.
Yerosamilov takes on Sami Hoque in an amateur title fight at the Dolphin Centre in Darlington on Saturday, October 25.
Having already had an incredible year professionally and personally, racking up four fight wins and getting married, Yerosamilov will look to end the year with a title to his name.
You can book your place for the Emilio Urrutia seminar HERE.
Shay Walsh MMA Gym is located on 93-95 Mainway, Skerton, Lancaster.
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