Scott "The Body" Ward had an impressive 2010, where the Dinky Ninja man went undefeated in MMA and was promoted to purple belt in BJJ. He took names such as the tough Micky Burns, and Paul Cook - who was 10-0 at the time.

This impressive streak put him in the consciousness of the UK MMA fans, and he'll now meet another fantastic prospect in the shape of Sunderland's undefeated Ryan Scope; a Ross Pearson protege. Both men have good all-round games, and the winner will continue their ascent. However, Ward is looking to derail the hype train following Scope around, and Rob McCrum caught up with him to see how he was feeling prior to the fight at On Top 1 this weekend.

Your next fight is at new promotion On Top's first show in Glasgow's Celtic Park against another highly touted fighter from the North East in Ryan Scope. What are your thoughts on your opponent and fighting at a pretty unique venue?

Ryan is a good quality opponent. I expect this to be a tough fight. We are both well rounded fighters but I expect my size and strength will be crucial in this fight. When you have two well-versed, technical fighters then you will often find the size advantage will be what determines the outcome of the fight. I expect this to be the case come February 26th.

The venue is awesome; it says a lot for the promoter, Thomas Collins, putting on arguably the biggest show in Scotland at an amazing venue like Celtic Park. I would expect to see huge things from the On Top team in the future and I am happy to be a part of that.

Have you changed anything in your training for this fight?

No, I have trained hard and followed my diet completely. I have been focusing alot on my jiu jitsu as I have heard Ryan is a good grappler, but I get to train with great grapplers such as Doug McMaster, BJJ black belt, Marcos Nardini, BJJ black belt, Gary Christie, BJJ brown belt, as well as a handful of strong purples; Lovey, Tamer, Quinny and John Nic, and I'm no slouch either! If he wants to test his grappling Im the perfect opponent to do it against.

Your Brother, Gary 'who looks nothing like you' is also fighting on the show making his pro debut. How do you feel about you both fighting on the same show, and do you think it gives both of you some added motivation?

It gives us added motivation as to who gets to eat at night - we usually only make one dinner at night and have to fight for it, that's why he fights at lightweight [laughs]. Seriously though, it will be fun having my brother on the show. All I can say regarding his fight is don’t blink!

You recently fought at middleweight and still made your opponent look small.Do you think you'll jump up a weight again and do you think you can compete at the same level in the higher weight division?

I enjoyed fighting at middleweight and I would definitely do it again, I still cut to make middle, just not as horrendous as welter. I felt good at the weight and I'm sure I could beat a lot of the guys in the top fifteen in the UK.

After this fight your fighting against Stevie "Fucking" Ray at SFC for the welterweight title. Give us your thoughts on your opponent and what the title means to you?

The title means a lot to me, it will be Scotland's most recognised title belt and I will be proud to take it home come the 17th of April. As for my opponent, my aim is to prove that I am a few levels above what he should be competing at the moment, but he will find that out the hard way when I choke him unconscious or knock him out.

Is there anybody you especially want to fight in the near future and what's your goal for the year ahead?

My aim for the year is to break into the UK Top 10 and to fight in Europe, Canada or America. The only way I'm going to do this is fighting good opponents, so whomever I am asked to fight I will. I have never backed down from any opponent and never will. I will fight any welterweight period.

Anybody you want to thank or give a shout out to?

I'd like to give a shout out to my team mates and coaches:

John “The General” Nicolson, Paul “Pee Wee” McVeigh, my brother Gaz, John “Big Country” Quinn, Alan “No” Love, Jimmy “Wanger” Doolan, John “The Mother Fucking Maniac” Cullen, Dean “Hurricane” Reilly, Kieron “The Hater” Malone, Marcos “Let's Get Marcos A Nickname” Nardini, Doug “ Dougmeister-G” McMaster, Big Gaz, Graig Doherty, Graham “Afterburner” Turner, Danny “Boom Time” Grey, Dan “Absolutely No” Hope, Tam Watson, Sean “Shagger” Wright, Robert “The GTrip” Whiteford, Martin “Diesel” Delaney, Big Neil, Papas, Alan Johnstone, Tamer and Bart “The Polish Mad Man” Rozmariek, and anyone else I've forgot to mention who helped with my camp for this fight.

I'd also like to thank my sponsors Chris, Rich and Scott at EZ Sports and sportsense.co.uk, and finally Tam Collins for putting on such an amazing card and show at an equally amazing venue.
 

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