Leicester; a small, diverse city in the east midlands of England, and the home to a rising star in the world of mixed martial arts, Andre Winner. Streaking through his competition in The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 – UK Vs USA to reach the finale, his talents were revealed to the world and as such, launched him from relative anonymity to the global stage.

Though certain recognition has been earned in a relatively short space of time, the journey from a small bright Grenadian boy to becoming an explosive mixed martial arts fighter has been a long one.

Originally from Grenada, West Indies, Andre Winner moved to Leicester, England just under a month before his seventh birthday with his family. Like many young boys, he was captivated by comic books, action and martial arts movies. Admiring the ideology and image of the “hero”, he aspired to be one. Naturally a remarkable illustrator since early childhood, he would constantly draw his favourite characters, movie stars and martial artists. Eager to be like them, he would act out fight scenes from his favourite movies with his brothers and mimic the moves of martial artists like Bruce Lee and Jean Claude Van Damme.

Bright and bursting with energy, Andre has always been a keen sportsman. Through his years at Coleman Primary School, he competed as part of the school football (soccer) team, Humberstone Rangers Sunday league football team and represented his school as a sprinter.

As his older brother William would exercise at home, doing press ups and sit ups, eleven year old Andre would copy him. Loving to test himself he would perform repetition after repetition almost every day just to see how many more he could manage than the last time.

Over the years Andre attended a few formal martial arts classes here and there but it was nothing serious. The majority of his knowledge during his early teens was acquired through watching movies, messing around with friends and play fighting his brothers, which was a lot of the time. Shortly after he turned sixteen, Andre found his place at the Leicester Kyokushinkai Karate Club where he was swiftly joined by his younger brother Michael.

Andre would thoroughly enjoy the traditional karate classes and tough conditioning of the art. However, he always looked forward to Friday evenings the most, for on Fridays, was knock down training. Bare knuckle and full contact, knock down was a time when Andre could test his metal. “I used to hate going up those stairs to knock down, but used to love the feeling when I came walking down them afterwards”, Andre recounted as he talked about the satisfaction he gained from a good scrap.