Jim Wallhead

Wallhead faced Luan Chagas on 3 June 2017 at UFC 212. He lost the fight via submission due to a rear-naked choke in the second round.

Wallhead was expected to face Warlley Alves on 21 October 2017 at UFC Fight Night 118. However, Wallhead pulled out of the fight on 14 October citing an injury.

Wallhead was tested positive from an out-of-competition test collected on October 7, 2017 by USADA . On February 6, 2018 he received a nine month USADA suspension for violation for tested ostarine and its metabolite as the result of a contaminated supplement and clear to compete again on July 7, 2018.

On 9 April 2016, Wallhead fought at WFCA 17 against Gennadiy Kovalev. He won the bout via unanimous decision

On 27 June 2016, Wallhead signed with the UFC to fight Jessin Ayari at UFC Fight Night 93, replacing Emil Meek. He lost the fight via split decision.

In mid-2015, Wallhead signed with Poland-based promotion Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki, and is currently expected to face Rafał Moks at KSW 32: Road to Wembley in a welterweight bout on 31 October 2015.

This was followed up by his second consecutive loss, two months later at the Cage Warriors: Quest 2 event, at the hands of Chris Rice. Wallhead was TKOd 3:32 into the first round, resulting in a 1–2 record at the start of his professional MMA career. Following this loss, Wallhead joined Team Rough House after meeting Dan Hardy and receiving an invitation to join the team. Upon doing so, Wallhead dropped two weight categories to his current status as a welterweight.

After going 4–0 under the tutelage of Team Rough House, Wallhead then faced Peter Angerer in May 2006. Despite controlling the fight, Angerer defeated Wallhead via submission (arm-triangle choke). During the submission attempt, Wallhead's arm was stuck, meaning he had to tap with his feet, earning the nickname "Scuba Steve" from his teammates.

Returning to Cage Warriors, Wallhead faced the UFC-bound Dennis Siver. Despite being on a three fight winning streak, Wallhead was submitted via armbar taking his record to 8–4. Wallhead faced Lewis Barrow four months later and won via submission (punches) to begin a four fight win streak. Wallhead's next three fights resulted in submission victories; a victory via choke over Jordan James, an arm-triangle choke victory over Soli Clichko and a rear naked choke victory over Steven Lynch.

Wallhead faced off against UFC veteran Matt Veach in the main event of BAMMA 12 in Newcastle, England on 9 March 2013. He won the fight via submission in the first round.

On 9 March 2013 he took on UFC veteran Matt Veach at BAMMA 12, winning by first round submission due to Rear-Naked Choke. Wallhead faced former TUF contestant Eddy Ellis at BAMMA 13 on 14 September 2013. He lost the fight in a highly controversial decision after breaking Ellis' jaw in the first round and stuffing many of his takedown attempts.

Despite speculation about joining the UFC, in December 2009, Wallhead was signed by the Bellator Fighting Championships to compete in their 2010 eight man, number 1 contender Welterweight Tournament, which began on 8 April 2010.

However, on 20 April, just two days before his fight with McClintock, Wallhead was forced to withdraw from the Bellator tournament as he was grounded in England due to the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull. Wallhead was replaced by Ryan Thomas.

Bellator's plans to include Wallhead in their third season were confirmed in September 2010, when Wallhead signed to face Ryan Thomas on 14 October 2010 at Bellator 32. Wallhead went on to defeat Thomas via unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 29–28).

Wallhead would then have an eight-month layoff. This was due to his signing with the debuting "British Fighting Championships" - an organisation aimed at combining domestic British MMA into one entity - that would eventually dissolve before its premiere broadcast. The knockout-style tournament saw him drawn against the Brazilian Fabio Toldo. However, the BFC organisation would eventually dissolve and in May 2009, the Ultimate Force organisation picked up the fight. The fight saw Wallhead continue to use his improved boxing after an early scare, where Toldo knocked Wallhead down. Wallhead would go on to defeat his opponent via knockout, which was described by one of Wallhead's team mates as "one of the worst knockouts they've seen".

In September 2009, Wallhead won the Clash of Warriors Welterweight title by defeating Marius Buzinskas.

In November 2009, Wallhead scored arguably the most high-profile win of his career when he defeated The Ultimate Fighter: United States vs. United Kingdom participant Che Mills at "Knuckleup At The Manor" in Newport, Wales. The fight, which was seen as "a clash between the UK’s two top unsigned welterweights," was a close fight that was difficult to score for the judges. Mills was able to block Wallhead's takedown attempts and get back up quickly when Wallhead was successful. In the first round, Wallhead was able to take Mills down and get into side mount, though Mills almost won the first round in the eyes of the judges after a late flurry of strikes. The second round saw Mills use foot stomps and elbows from the clinch, which prevented Wallhead from utilising his wrestling. In the final round, Wallhead continued with takedowns before hitting Mills with elbows. With 45 seconds of the fight remaining, Wallhead was able to cut Mills with his strikes.

Wallhead then began to show improved boxing and knockout power in his next few fights, the first of which was against Tom Haddock in April 2008 who he defeated via submission due to punches.

Wallhead's next fight came at M-1 Challenge UK in September 2008 and was intended to be against Jason Ball. However, Ball had to withdraw with a knee injury and was replaced by Igor Araújo. In preparation for his fight with Araújo, Wallhead temporarily joined Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada to further polish his skills.

After his third successive victory, with his win over Henning Svendsen in March 2006, Wallhead made his first title defense of his House of Pain Welterweight title just two weeks later. His opponent was John Phillips who was making his second professional appearance. Wallhead defeated Phillips to retain the title, after a TKO victory due to elbows.

Wallhead joined Team Rough House in 2005, following back-to-back losses between May and July 2005. Wallhead is still a member of Team Rough House to this date, alongside fighters such as Dan Hardy, Ross Pearson, Paul Daley and Andre Winner.Wallhead also trains Muay Thai with the former multi-time Kickboxing champion Owen Comerie, who previously trained Dan Hardy. Wallhead works his strength and conditioning with Ollie Richardson at the Leicester Tigers Rugby Union training ground. Wallhead also trains Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Victor Estima, he holds a Blue Belt under him.

Early in his career, Wallhead was associated with the Urban Combat Leicester team. He made his semi-professional debut against Steve Matthews on 8 April 2005, in a two-round fight. This fight was fought at heavyweight, at the "Cage Warriors: Quest" event where Wallhead was able to defeat his opponent with a rear naked choke after 27 seconds of the first round.

Wallhead soon turned professional and on 30 April 2005, he made his debut at Cage Warriors: Ultimate Force. Jim fought Leslee Ojugbana, utilising knee strikes from the clinch, whilst preventing Ojugbana from succeeding with takedown attempts. After one-sided striking from Wallhead, Ojugbana gave up his back and Wallhead was able to pull off a rear naked choke for his debut win after just 64 seconds.

In December 2005, Wallhead fought Welshman Paul Jenkins. This was Wallhead's first title fight in mixed martial arts, as they competed for the House of Pain Welterweight title in front of Jenkins' home crowd of Cardiff, Wales. Wallhead won the fight via majority decision after five rounds, giving him the title. Just over two years to that day, Wallhead rematched Jenkins in a kickboxing bout (thus not counting towards his pro-MMA record); this time in Wallhead's hometown of Nottingham. Wallhead showed effective low kicks and combinations which earned him a unanimous decision victory.

Jim Wallhead (born 14 March 1984) is an English professional mixed martial artist who competes in the Welterweight division. He has competed for BAMMA, Bellator, and M-1 Challenge and the UFC .

Wallhead comes from a judo background, where he holds a black belt. He was introduced to judo accidentally after being taken to a class that was believed to be a karate class. Wallhead was successful early in his judo career for the Beaumont Leys Judo club, before moving to a club in Coventry under Olympic silver medallist Neil Adams. Under Adams, Wallhead won three Under-21s British titles as well as placing 7th in the European youth Olympics.