Ffion Davies is one of the brightest stars in BJJ right now after an incredible debut year where she catapulted herself to the forefront of elite competition, so it’s surprising that she actually started her career in MMA. For those that did know, it’s been a source of discussion as to whether or not she may ever make the return to MMA, so we decided to find out from the queen of UK BJJ herself:
Ffion Davies – “I’ve said before that I wouldn’t do it and I was very like: “Nah, probably not.” or “Definitely not!” sometimes, I think I said that, whereas now I’m definitely more interested.”
“Every time I watch MMA I’d be like: “I want to do it again” because I started with MMA to begin with but then I got so into Jiu-Jitsu and with how things were developing for me with Jiu-Jitsu, I thought that’s all I would want to be doing.”
She also expanded on her feelings towards the sport and explained that the recent conditions placed on various sports events in order to combat the Covid pandemic have had some effect on her decisions for the future:
Ffion Davies – “When Covid happened and everything was shutting down, MMA was still going. Everything closed but somehow cagefighting managed to keep going. That intrigued me again as I’ve been watching more MMA and stuff. I did a couple of striking classes, enjoyed it and yeah, I don’t know, I might. I’ll see how it goes, if I can tolerate being punched in the face, or learn to dodge.”
Of course, Ffion Davies is still very early in her competitive career at the black belt level and at 25, she still has plenty of time to make the transition from BJJ to MMA. Despite significant financial incentives for making the career-choice, she seemed acutely aware of not only that she has no need to rush into the sport, but that sufficient preparation will always take time:
Ffion Davies – “I’m very far away from that point. I’m very much of the mindset that it’s a completely different sport and you can’t just wander in there and start winning or do well. I think sometimes, not just Jiu-Jitsu people but it can apply to any martial art I suppose, people just think: “Oh, I can hop into MMA and make a bunch of money.” If i was going to do it, I want to take it very seriously. I want to be very good and rounded, obviously grappling is going to be my strong suit but I wouldn’t want to go in there thinking: “I know, I’ll just dodge getting punched, take them down and submit them.” I don’t want it to be like that, I want it to be something I take seriously and do because I’m passionate about, not because of other ulterior motives.”
“Money is nice, there’s definitely more money in MMA than Jiu-Jitsu overall. There are people in Jiu-Jitsu who make a ton of money and don’t need to go into MMA. But I think for women, there’s very few women who can really do that with the way things are.”
Click here to read the full feature interview with Ffion Davies.
Ffion Davies features in a superfight on Polaris Squads, which will be streamed live on 27th September on UFC FightPass, click here to subscribe and watch.
