Harry Powell

Harry was born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Leaving at the age of 3, he settled in Telford, a small town between Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

Like most children his age, his initial dream was to be a professional football player. However, he quickly found that an important part of that endeavour was to kick a football correctly.

A family friend recommended kickboxing. After his first class, he was hooked. Training and competing from the age of 9 through to 16, when he stopped to focus on his GCSEs.

In 2014, he moved to London to pursue his career in IT. After settling into the London life, Harry decided to find an MMA gym. Having followed MMA as a fan first before becoming part of the team at Irish MMA media outlet Severe MMA.

Harry began his training at London Shootfighters and was introduced to his first mentors in the sport: Paul Ivens, Jason Grant & Tommy Yip.

During his training at London Shootfighters, he was reminded of the repercussions that both rigorous striking training and the toll the various modalities of the sport took on the body and decided to let go of the MMA goal.

However, during his MMA training, he sparked a keen interest in grappling. His pursuit of grappling knowledge has taken him across the world, travelling to places like New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, Stockholm, and others in search of the best minds in the sport.

After having grappled for around four years, Harry was introduced to Ross Nicholls during a round trip drive to a seminar Ross was teaching in Leeds hosted by Liam Cann.

During those hours it was discussed that Ross was opening a gym soon, Harry knew that that was the room he needed to be in, in order to progress.

During his time at London Grapple he has been afforded space to further his passion for coaching. Harry currently coaches the Friday morning leglock class and is the coach of the London Grapple affiliate gym at Kings College London.