KRU LEE BADMAN,

 

Born just 2lb 2oz, Lee started his life fighting and his fascination for the martial arts began very early on after watching the likes of the legendary Bruce Lee and others of that time, Lee was just 5 years old when he convinced his parents to let him take part in his first martial arts session, which started with Judo, but lacking striking skills, he quickly decided it was time to try something else. His early path led Lee to try several disciplines including Karate and Kung-Fu. But not naturally taking to martial arts he decided to quit for while...

During his younger years, Lee was often bullied and beaten upon at school. Not willing to fight back the bullying and beatings got worse for a few years until his Mum had enough of him returning from school in a messy way. So at age 11 his Mum made contact with an old family friend who taught Tae-Kwon-Do, A very effective high speed kicking sport born in Korea. This time Lee adapted to training very quickly learning the basics and really being challenged physically. He practised Tae-Kwon-Do for a few years before competing with a record of 2 wins 1 loss.  The bullying also stopped after Lee had been training about 6 months, when he decided to stand up to the bullies for the first time!, Lee's biggest revelation however was to discover Muay Thai at age 14 and he has never looked back since.

More recently he has undergone training in Mixed Martial Arts including Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and Wrestling. He firmly believes that in order to be a well rounded martial athlete you need to be versed in all of the arts, retaining the best of the stand up striking arts especially Muay Thai, Kick Boxing and combining the best of the ground work mainly BJJ all bound together with great Wrestling skills.

Although Lee has competed at amateur level, his dream to fight professionally was put on hold when he started a family and was unable to commit the time to train at such a highly competitive level. So instead he focused his wealth of knowledge and experience into teaching where he has continued to learn and develop immensely. Lee still wants to compete at professional level but his drive and passion are very much in teaching and developing the new breed of competitive athlete. Despite teaching for nearly a decade now, Lee has remained very much involved in everything Muay Thai and for past few years has been training for competition with 2 x British Champion Howard Hughes and his team and very much looks forward to competing again.

Martial Arts Qualifications:

Full Instructor of Muay Thai certified by Grand Master Sken,
Full Coach in Muay Thai certified by Howard Hughes

Ongoing Training:

Wrestling, Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and MMA

Active Fighter 2013:

Having already competed at amateur level several times Lee is really looking forward to taking his fight career to the next level when he competes professionally late 2013. His ambition is to take at least 3 Muay Thai Titles with a possibility of competing in MMA.

Training:

A typical days training for Lee consists of 2 main training sessions Monday to Friday - One early in the AM usually weight or cardio based, followed by sport specific training and drills including bag/pad work. His next session is in the evening through joining the classes he teaches and working round after round with students or through sparring and partner based drills or training.

Favourite grappling technique:

Kimura, Good old RNC... I favour the less technical and more effective! at this point in time that is!

Favourite striking technique:

The knees are my forte but the Muay Thai Round kick is awesome - Then again I love elbows and boxing too... Maybe all of them!

Do you have any heroes?

Latest heroes include: Jose Aldo, Jon Bones Jones & GSP, 
My idles are Howard Hughes, Phil Nurse, Tony Jaa,

What other jobs do you hold?:

Teaching & Coaching my own Muay Thai Team and Teaching for external organisations
Door Supervisor and Security for Night Clubs and Events