Face to the name with Helen Copus
Undefeated Helen Copus, who fights out of Aberdeen based gym Granite City Grappling, sports an MMA record of 2-0-1. Helen will be fighting Charlotte Park of the Dinky Ninjas at Immortals Fight Promotions 4 at Aberdeen’s Beach Ballroom on February 28th, in a bout widely regarded as a match between the two best female amateur MMA fighters in Scotland. She is well known in the Grappling community for her success in Scottish Grappling Competitions, but her dedication to her training and her refreshing, friendly, attitude towards combat sports, is perhaps not so well documented.
An active and very successful BJJ competitor, having won double golds in a number of Scottish competitions, and winning every grappling match she has had since joining GCG in 2014, Helen is always looking to round out her game. She has been kickboxing since age 16 and was also involved with the Scottish female wrestling team in her earlier days. Her rounded skillset was on full display in her 2nd MMA fight, where she fought and defeated Tracy Macfarlane at Art Of Combat 8 inside two minutes, winning by TKO.
Copus recently picked up the ‘Most Dedicated Trainer’ gong at the recent Granite City Grappling award ceremony and it’s easy to see why. Helen makes a three hour round trip to get to training everyday and often trains twice a day. She also last year spent three months training at the famed gym of Marcelo Garcia in New York.
It’s clear that Copus is a true student of MMA. She looks to analyse and emulate great fighters and cites the aforementioned Marcelo Garcia and MMA legend Randy Couture as fighters she admires.
“I don’t know if I have a favourite fighter as such, I watch different fighters to understand different strategies. People have described my style in previous fights quite like Randy Couture and I certainly modelled my style on him for my first fight.”
Here’s a list of fighters Copus looks up to and why.
Fedor; “I loved his calmness when he was fighting. I also like how he enters into the clinch. He was very effective in the way he used strikes to get into the clinch and take control of people hips early. He’s a big guy but his takedowns were often fairly effortless as he got people off balance with a good connection early in the clinch.”
Mike Tyson, “I love the way his movement was both defensive and offensive, it allowed him to put his combinations together and generate a huge amount of power in his punches. He was always balanced on his feet no matter how he moved his upperbody and always in a position to strike where ever he was.
Georges St Pierre; “He has a fantastic skill set. Great hands, great movement, amazing wrestling considering, unlike many other great wrestlers, he was never a competitive wrestler. He is just so well rounded. Also I tore my ACL around the same time as GSP and went through my rehab at the same time and when he returned to fight Carlos Condit it renewed my belief that I could come back to fight as well. It helped me keep motivated and keep working to get my strength back.”
Returning from the ACL tear she suffered and enjoying the success she has in combat sports is a testament to her commitment and dedication.
When it comes to training Copus tries to make it as fun as possible, is always smiling, and allowing her creativity to come through
“Like Marcelo Garcia I like to treat grappling like play and techniques like lots of interesting toys to play and be creative with. I have fun and I enjoy my training and try to have the same mindset every time I step foot in the gym. I feel more and more as I progress and learn that being open minded, learning from people with lots of different skill sets and styles, being adaptive and creative is incredibly important for your motivation and development in this sport.”
Outside of the gym Copus enjoys swimming, cycling, climbing and craftwork. She has a pet rabbit named, wait for it, Bunnybob Fluffypants and a pet dog called Rhuri or ‘puppy’ probably depending on how much trouble it’s in.
Copus fights again at Immortals 4 at the Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen on Saturday 28 February against a tough opponent in Charlotte Parks. With female MMA being as it is in the UK at this point in time Copus is fairly relaxed about fighting in front of the fans.
“I would tell people to come and watch my fight if they feel like it. No pressure just come and have a nosey, you might like what you see. Female MMA is pretty small in the UK still so you don’t see many women’s fights. Also both myself and Charlotte are very dedicated, we train smart and we have some very experienced team mates and coaches around us. With all that behind us it should be a great match up.”
“Preparation has been the best for any fight I’ve had so far. It’s been very focused on my needs and what I really wanted to improve on for this match. I’ve been training very consistently. I’ve had a very varied group of sparring and training partner challenging me in their own ways and sharing all their knowledge and skills with me. I’ve had a lot of help from my team mates and Thai fighters, Boxers, Wrestlers and other MMA fighters.”
For more information on Immortals 4 – be sure to check out their Facebook page by clicking HERE
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