Jim Wallhead (born 14 March 1984) is an English former professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Welterweight division.
Wallhead joined Team Rough House after back-to-back losses at the beginning of his professional career and dropped his competing weight from Light Heavyweight and Middleweight to Welterweight.
[4] 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 works his strength and conditioning with Ollie Richardson at the Leicester Tigers Rugby Union training ground.
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.
[7][8] Wallhead competed just weeks later and made his second professional appearance against Boris Jonstomp at Cage Warriors: Strike Force.
[9] 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.
The fight took place at Cage Warriors: Strike Force 3 where Wallhead faced Greco-Roman wrestler Steve Singh-Sidhu.
After a shin strike to the head, Singh-Sidhu's corner threw in the towel, resulting in a first-round TKO victory for Wallhead.
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.
[5] Wallhead then captured the Cage Gladiators British Welterweight Title, defeating the UFC veteran Jason Tan.
[21] Wallhead faced Lewis Barrow four months later[21] and won via submission (punches) to begin a four fight win streak.
[24] Wallhead began to gain more recognition and exposure in the United States when his fight against Charles Blanchard was featured on Inside MMA on HDNet.
"[26] 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[27] who he defeated via submission due to punches.
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 passing the assessment and interview successfully, he was told he was "too experienced" for the show,[31] though strangely, he was instead made into an "alternate" who would step up if another castmember withdrew with injury.
[39] 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.
[41] 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.
[43] In the meantime, Wallhead took a fight in Cage Warriors against Shaun Lomas and defeated him via rear naked choke in the first round.
[47] In the fourth season welterweight tournament opening round, Wallhead faced fellow judoka, Rick Hawn, losing via unanimous decision.
[48] In the opening round, Wallhead caught Trigg with a left hook which appeared to hurt him, before executing a successful takedown.
Wallhead faced off against UFC veteran Matt Veach in the main event of BAMMA 12 in Newcastle, England on 9 March 2013.
On 9 March 2013 he took on UFC veteran Matt Veach at BAMMA 12, winning by first round submission due to Rear-Naked Choke.
He lost the fight in a highly controversial decision after breaking Ellis' jaw in the first round and stuffing many of his takedown attempts.
In mid-2015, Wallhead signed with Poland-based promotion Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki,[52] and faced Rafał Moks at KSW 32: Road to Wembley in a welterweight bout on 31 October 2015.
[61] 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.