Legendary House of Tinkerbell (HOT) MMA fighter James ‘Wolverine’ Read (47) has been fighting regularly since June 2005 and has no plans of stopping any time soon.
During the day he works for a travel company, but his main passion still lies with MMA.
Read has his own Pro-Fight management agency which has produced many talented fighters over the years, such as Orlando Mashaba and Marcel Els.
The Addie sat down with Read to find out more about his career.
How did you first get into MMA?
It was through my children, actually.
My two sons, Rogan (21) and Braden (19), were taking kickboxing classes at Xtreme Kickboxing Technologies (XKT) in Benoni and I slowly took to it myself.
I was the one who fell in love with combat sports and ironically my children found passion with other sports.
I was introduced to MMA through JP Kruger, whom I met through my good friend Raymond Phillips, who was the head honcho at XKT.
Kruger owns House of Tinkerbell in Springs and offers Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, MMA and kickboxing classes there, and that’s also where I do my training and coaching.
He and I soon became good friends and I was always amazed at how easily he could control the fight whether he was on or off his feet and I became addicted to MMA ever since.
What were your earlier days in MMA like?
I, like every other striker, entered the MMA world thinking my striking was so good there was no need for me to learn any ground game.
But, as you guessed it, I was wrong, really wrong!
After being choked out in my first MMA fight, I immediately changed my thinking and took up Brazilian jiu-jitsu and slowly learnt how to not only survive on the ground but to get back to my feet.
But that was many years ago and I would say due to loss of some of my youth, and learning enough jiu-jitsu at Arte Suave plus some pure savage grappling at House of Tinkerbell, I no longer feel that urgent need to get back to my feet and might just keep it on the ground anyway.
What are some of the highlights of your MMA career?
I would say every last fight is a highlight.
In this sport you take it fight by fight and don’t try and look back too much.
I am also a bit older now so I feel very blessed at every opportunity I get to climb into the ring.
But I guess my last fight in December 2018 is my fondest memory, it was the first time I won by submission and that felt quite good.
Today I would probably say the greatest moment is when any one of my students from the the Pro League clubs like HOT, Dominators Den and Arte Suave stand on that podium. It truly makes me feel like I have been part of something awesome, something the Lord Jesus would approve of.
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What are your future plans?
Well, I don’t plan on stopping any time soon.
I will continue to train as hard as I can and keep fit, and help guide and foster future talent with Pro-Fight management.
What are some of your greatest strengths as a fighter?
I’d say I’m quite fast on my feet and my striking is quite good as well, which I have carried over from my kickboxing days.
I also have a lot of experience behind me, which gives me an advantage I think.
What advice do you have for young and up-and-coming fighters?
I would tell them that they must accept that this is a lifestyle and it is to be taken very seriously.
And also if they plan on going on to the professional stage they must accept that they will be in the spotlight and will have cameras on them the whole time.
This makes some people uncomfortable, but they mustn’t let it get to them too much.
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