Liverpool comedian Paul Smith supports Weapons Down Gloves Up with huge donation from his debut MMA fight

Liverpool stand-up comedian Paul Smith took to the ring in his MMA debut against reality TV star and actor, Jake Quickenden on Saturday night. In a packed-out AO Arena, the pair made it from the stage to the cage, battling it out as part of the OKTAGON 48 MMA challenge. Before the fight, Paul Smith made an emotional announcement, that he would be donating his full fight purse to charity, Weapons Up, Gloves Up.

Paul Smith said, “These kids who are carrying knives and guns, they’re not bad kids, they’re just looking for some kind of belonging. There’s broken families everywhere, they’re just looking for some kind of community and kind of belonging and that’s something we don’t have now and something I’ve really found in these gyms.

“These boxing gyms, these MMA gyms, they give you discipline, a sense of community, they give you a sense of family. I think its massively important to get behind these charities and I’m hoping that with the money they get from this they can improve the plan that they’ve got at Liverpool and help to kind of spread it out and we’ll get some kind of franchise going where we can spread it round the country and just make some change. 

“If we can help a couple of kids then It stops one kid stabbing another kid and it’s all been worth it, this whole last year has been worth it for me, yeah so that’s it.”

Weapons Down, Gloves Up is a volunteer-led charity dedicated to saving lives through educating young minds about gun and knife crime, tackling these issues in Paul’s home city of Liverpool.

The Merseyside initiative, backed by the comedian, is focused on providing a positive pathway for young people, away from unemployment and gangs, instead providing opportunities including sport, boxing camps, education, mental health support and employment.

Paul made the announcement in full here.

Find out more about Weapons Down, Gloves Up HERE.