AN ISLE of Wight mixed martial arts fighter has been handed “the chance of a lifetime” after securing a permanent scholarship in Thailand that could put him on the path towards one of the sport’s biggest stages.<\/p>\n
Lloyd Williams, from Newport, has been offered the apprenticeship opportunity after impressing coaches during a training trip to Thailand, where he was helping prepare his coach and training partner, Connor Tymon, for a ONE Championship fight at Bangkok’s Lumpinee Stadium.<\/p>\n
The Brotherhood MMA fighter, 24, who has been training with the Newport-based club since 2019, said the move will allow him to fully dedicate himself to pursuing his dream career.<\/p>\n
“The scholarship would provide me an opportunity to solely focus on working on my MMA skills every day and propel me to compete on a worldwide stage,” said Lloyd.<\/p>\n
MMA fighter Lloyd Williams from Newport in action (Image: Lloyd Williams)<\/p>\n
“I got the opportunity, as the coaches were impressed with me during the training and had seen my previous fights,” he said.<\/p>\n
Lloyd will relocate to the island of Koh Samui in January 2027 and expects the move to be a long-term one.<\/p>\n
“The scholarship will be permanent. I believe I will come home to see friends and family after a few months, but I’ll be staying out there for a long time.”<\/p>\n
His ultimate ambition is to compete for ONE Championship, one of the world’s leading MMA promotions, and eventually become a world champion.<\/p>\n
MMA fighter Lloyd Williams from Newport in action (Image: Lloyd Williams)<\/p>\n
MMA fighter Lloyd Williams from Newport in action (Image: Lloyd Williams)<\/p>\n
“I began boxing at age 12, so I have been training for over 12 years now and this is all I have ever wanted to do with my life. It’s my passion and purpose,” he said.<\/p>\n
“My goal is to be ONE MMA world champion and, with my own self-belief and my team, I know I will achieve this.”<\/p>\n
Lloyd already boasts an impressive combat sports record, having won four championships across three disciplines, including two MMA titles, a kickboxing championship and a boxing championship.<\/p>\n
The news has been warmly received by his family, particularly his brothers, who have supported him throughout his journey.<\/p>\n
“My family were extremely proud of me, especially my brothers, who have attended every fight I have competed in and have always believed in me,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AN ISLE of Wight mixed martial arts fighter has been handed “the chance of a lifetime” after securing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":917824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-917823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}