Josh Northcote
A man of many talents and interests, coach Josh could have followed a variety of paths with assured success. Luckily for us, his life’s passion is wrestling.
Born and raised in London, Northcote’s first true sporting success was rugby, an activity he played from his childhood up to his early adulthood. By a stroke of luck, Josh was living in the West Country when his rugby career came to an end. The location meant the young Londoner had direct access to one of the most groundbreaking wrestling mats in the UK, that of Mr. Saeed Esmaeli, one of the most influential grapplers in the country, whose ramifications spread wide across many combat sports platforms, from freestyle to jiu-jitsu and MMA.
By coincidence, when training with Esmaeli, Josh met and befriended another well-known Fight Zone figure, our MMA instructor, Stuart Austin who was then starting his cage-fighting career. The relationship the two created led Josh to Fight Zone, a few years later, upon Northcote’s return to London in 2016. A time when Josh was looking to further his mat experience in his hometown.
Watching Josh develop on the mats every day, and seeing how knowledgeable and didactic he was naturally with his fellow training partners led Fight Zone to invite Mr. Northcote to become our instructor in 2018.
Since taking charge of our wrestling workgroup, Josh has exceeded all our expectations, raising the squad to a whole new level both with our athletes and the many hobbyists that also attend his classes.