Jonny Duggan interview

Summary

[Music] one of my returning guests who's on he's he's on before every fight nearly now at this stage Mr Johnny Dugen he's gonna be fighting at Elite this weekend he's gonna be fighting for his first amateur title we'll talk about a title shot that he previously could have had…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] one of my returning guests who's on he's he's on before every fight nearly now at this stage Mr Johnny Dugen he's gonna be fighting at Elite this weekend he's gonna be fighting for his first amateur title we'll talk about a title shot that he previously could have had but we're going to focus on this one first and foremost it's fight week how you feeling how how thank you very much for joining me is there any different preparations for for a fight week for a title or is it same old same old uh first before we even get into that there thanks again for having me on H always great supporter especially for us lad Stone and cark and stuff like that you give us great exposure so thanks for that um fight week doesn't change for me D um and I suppose like it's the same with anything like I mean I think the main point for me is just being ready being happy being focused uh I've actually enjoyed this fight week um like you know weight's been good training's been going really well um no niggles injuries you know things like that that sometimes come into fights and kind of you put a bit of a kind of spin it like oh I can't do this can't do that at the moment you know there's been none of that so it's it's been perfect and obviously it's the day of weigh and you fought a lot day of way in this year obious because of the three Elite shows which I want to say to Barry or Callahan and what he's doing there it's absolutely fantastic that we have a sh on Republic how do you find fighting at the day off do you do you do you feel that you fight like you feel better going into it because there isn't a huge way cut or or or is there pluses and cons of both you know no not really because like look I be honest I don't really struggle with weight either way like you know I mean like I cut weight we do it properly you know get uh obv SE Sean and Fitz Char he's always behind everything he's a mastermind when it comes to this stuff like so if it's day off day before it doesn't really matter um but again like it you know it's obviously a different plan depending on how much you're cut like but these ones look I I get to wake up my own bed in the morning like you know I don't need to travel there's nothing like that sometimes those things just make a difference at times as well you know yeah and and I I think we've talked about this before it's like for you to go to the lik of Belfast and place like this it could be potentially six hours tra Depend and stuff like that how much of it like how much of a difference does that make because people might think actually you're traveling whatever but been able to relax and chill at home whereas when you're going into a fight I know obviously you've been there before but it is that it's like you're going up you comfort like how much more does the Comfort level suit going into a fight because sitting in the car for six hours probably isn't going to be so comfortable especially when there's a fight I know obviously you're not like scared nervous but you're there's the little butterflies or whatever you get for the fight wouldn't you prefer to be at home chilling with them rather than sitting in the car and you two or three different Boys on on different kind of wavelength yeah and like look I think anyone that is in any form sure whether it be CLK Belfast Dublin wherever they are everyone's always happier fighting at home um the travel is always a tough part but like it's part of the job as well like you know I mean I sport like you got to just deal with that side of things like I don't really try look into too much uh for me these days it's just focus on performance like all the outside factors everything like that they're kind of just in the past no where before maybe look earlier on maybe I would have been like oh my God I have to travel here to do this but again doesn't really matter these days it's just about getting in there and just being being ready yeah 100% so like if there was Fighters that are are starting around and they have these things you're just an example there over time these things will just like pan themselves out and you just get used to it it's like the first time you do anything or the second time you just get comfortable with it over time and like I said it's just it's your job now but how excited are you to actually fight for the title because obviously you were supposed to fight a chaos but you fought in Cork which was you really wanted to fight in Cork at that stage we didn't realize they were going to have to run the shows that they've had and and and fantastic shows and obviously they were booked really close and it was It was kind of bit of sweet because you won the cork fight you got to perform there but you lost uh the title fight but now the title fight has come back around and it's on the cork show how much more does it mean for you for the first title fight to be on the cor show yeah like I mean like look I was meant to obviously uh fight on chaos br my foot the week before um look probably looking back at I was probably a bit mad I think I was going to fight week after a week like you know I mean but look I think that just speaks of who I am I just love love this you know and that's that's me down to a tea like I mean if anyone asks me like what are you thinking I'm just like why not you know I'm I'm about that and I I don't think you've ever seen me say like I won fight you know I'm a I love this and like for a title fight my home sure front of my friends my family um that's big it's it's got a kind of like and I suppose if I'm that kind of person like where I'm like I think back a year ago and you were one of the one one of only a few people that probably still supported me at that time was on a bad run and lost a few fights um things weren't going my way at all sitting there and I was like you know my friends telling me maybe it's time to pack it in like you know what I mean like that that probably hurt more than anything but like you look the run this year um two wins and a loss um and back back in for a title fight I mean to turn it around now and I think like you know to finish this proper turnaround this is how it needs to be done win it in car in front of my friends my family um it's big for me yeah no and I appreciate that because I think we actually became closer during that bad run of yours because I was constantly in in the message because I think when you're on top when you're winning you're going to have hundreds messages and I've said this plenty times before and we mean you had a good relationship anyways but I think that brought us kind of a bit closer and that was and I was like just keep going it's it's gonna it's just going to turn and and then it turned and and that's that's just the way it goes I think people get very offputting when they couple of losses but like especially like said when your friends that kind of hurts but you also have to look they could be looking at thecid a different perspective from you okay he could be doing something else they probably don't want to see they probably see in your mood and stuff like that but look the one thing I will say Dave is and I suppose it's the all saying of you really know who your friends are when it's going bad versus when it's going good and you see it you see it like I mean like I'm very lucky uh M CLK as a whole the gym um Aaron Jack um all the background guys as well like the sport system there is unreal and like I remember having a conversation with Aaron where I thought like oh my God I'm  H you know like it was that kind of feeling and I remember Aaron turnning around to me and he's like there are small things need to be done but those small things will make the difference and he was right like you know I mean we've gotten to this stage now where I'm looking at I'm going right this this is the one like yeah know and you're right and like that I I have great time for the boys uh Aaron and I would have talked to I talked to Jack quite a bit but Aaron would been the one that I would see a lot more of the shows and they're just really good people and like like you said i' I have a good relationship with your Jim and most of the the fighters in in general a lot of them I might not know coming true but obviously Brian I spoke to Brian at Premier when he was uh one and three one and four keep going keep going and then look at the te he went on and it just shows just if you keep with it it happens and Joe Ryan is an example he's gonna be fighting this weekend Jo Ry was Z4 I want to say he was and he look an absolute World beater now you look at the people he fought as well in that timeline like so it's there just keep going we've actually become like very good buddies we train with each other now a lot of the time myself and jar like you know and like I mean we actually spoke about this recently enough and we were actually saying like remember a few years ago we bought it back on geez this this might be the one for us like you know and we're both kind of sitting there now J's obviously champion and your and hopefully this weekend I fulfill that side of things and he beats Jake I mean that's that's the ultimate one for us to sit there and go we did it like you know I mean we had that chatting off a lot and I think yeah it's it's just keeping the head head down know and getting it done do that feel because if you said that someone outside MMA did be like that's kind of bizarre that obviously these two people from separate gyms you like whatever happen happened and now you're going to have potentially have this moment together like how do you describe that to someone outside MMA to make them understand it because it's it's it's not easy I don't think you can and like as mad as that sounds like I mean it if you've seen someone in a similar situation as you and I think like I mean not just MMA any sport some things in life like you know like you both get out of it like it's it's a hard one to describe but like it's also at the same time it's looking at like you know you've shown that you've made the improvements you went back to the gym you've asked the questions like you know you've turned around and You' said what can I do what am I not doing well like you know I mean I think 90% of the time people are afraid to ask that question they're afraid to ask what am I not doing you know and like I think for me at the time and not just my own friends and family and people that you know were worried about results of that time like there was obviously people with in the MMA side of things but like ah he's a one trick pony we've we've we've figured him out now you know so like it's nice to able to turn around a d this goal I'm proving youan yeah know I can imagine that is a good feeling but at the end of the day you're doing it for yourself and you're doing yourself proud talk to me about the gym the atmosphere obviously when it's a home show every show with it's Cas conflict the F boys are Buzz what's what's it like because there's so many of you actually competing at it as as it should be so he's don't have to travel uh early next year but what's just talk to us what the buzz is like right now ah him May car is just it's just describing it is just it's just such a positive place to be at the moment like you know I mean we've so many fighters on the card top to bottom and like I think it's exciting in terms of like you know you've got the guys at the top of the card Pros the bran the Liams um you've so many of us fighting for titles myself Sam Evan you know all Lads that are around a while now but you know it's that's kind of a special moment but like I think the bottom of the card like you know you've got young guys that are coming true like of jayen Murphy for example he's gonna be one to watch um obviously you have the Beast H Jordi McCarthy um she's Sensational you know um these are the kind of ones we look at there's other guys there uh and he's been here as long as I have but like you know he went traveling for Quebec luk o Kelly um he is his top drawer Patty pigot you know a lot of guys that Patty Patty's been around a few years but you know he's kind of you know went away and trained a bit come back and he's just a different animal though but it all brings a buzz and you know everyone kind of feeds off each other in ways and the good and the bad days you know there's days where people are just having sh days you know you come into the gym and just there laughing uh and we're very lucky like the guys that aren't fighting are still coming to the gym and training when they're not fighting like I mean you've got people that come in every day the week that like Luca one of the guys like can never say lca's last name and he'd  kill me because he keeps telling me it um but like he comes to the gym the whole time you Barry Kennedy H wouldn't get away without mentioning the jaw record there'll be trouble but like these guys they show up they do rounds with us they're there for like you know background side of things as well like I mean I mean you have no idea how important that is then like you know I mean like people like Lise Brady who is on our way back now as well in the New Year like she's gonna have a huge year next year and it's going to be scary the run she goes on you're going to see Luis Brady 2.0 um and that's going to be fun yeah no like that she was when she came up against Chloe I was intrigued by that fight and it just shows Chloe from me is one of the most improved Fighters this year and for her to be able to do that to Louise I thought was unbelievable I thought it was two unbeliev and the Fe the standard of females right now is is just getting higher and higher like said yeah Jody is someone to keep an eye on I I don't know if it's your Jim so I might be you might give out to me now Jacob Norris or Jacob Morris oh Jacob noris uh he he' probably mot off me for forgetting to say them but like 16 years of age 13 and one something like that 141 novice crazy crazy 16 years of age yes and that's like you look at that and you just go holy sh you know and like he's going to be like top drawer and I'm not going to give him too much of a big head because he'll walk into the gym with his chest like oh the boy's talking about me online but like you know no he's going to be phenomenal and he is and in time he's gonna like that's the name we're going to be hearing an awful lot of in a few years yeah because a lot of people he was fighting at one of the shows I think it was chaos was was he competing on chaos chaos yeah and everybody was in my inbox they said if you're doing interviews after you need to interview this boy and I was like when have you ever seen me do interviews after I don't do interviews like very rarely but then obviously I looked into him he's someone that you should people should be watching out for like said you don't want to give him a big head or that because I found and I don't want to say any names where am Fighters they said when I would have talked about them the out triangle they kind of lost to run themselves and thought they were unbeatable and then they had one or two losses and snapped them back and just keep doing what you're doing don't worry about what I'm saying what Johnny's saying worry about what Aaron saying what Jack's saying what Fe is saying what the guys in the gym are saying that's who you worry about you don't worry about us you in training but not on here but I think as well with that da like and I think that goes back to kind of you know the culture within M car there's no OS like you know there's not people sitting there going oh I'm too big for my boots now you know um we're always reminded and it doesn't matter who you are um I'll put it it this way like I generally the two Lads Aaron and Jack they'll take any eego go out of there very quickly because that good you know and like that's that's the way it should be you know everyone everyone kind of on a level P yeah obviously you've got your competitors but like again we have people in that gym every day of the week that may not compete but they're there for us as well like you know so that's just as important sometimes yeah no exactly see like that because you need like that people think that MMA gym is just full of competitors it's not it's actually mostly made up of someone who wants to do this to get fit someone wants to get out the house to socialize someone like and that's these are the benefits I want to show to the civilian people in the world to know that it's not all fighters it's not all this just there's a and especially with females now there's a huge uptake in uh Jiu-Jitsu and and stuff like that but yeah the gym sounds rocking it sounds like it's going to be another fantastic event unfortunately unless I can get home early from work I don't think I'm G to be make it so I'm not going to make any promises I told everyone for the last two shows I was going I didn't show up so yeah I don't know if I can make it I'm going to try my best to make it but if I will be watching from the stream um I really wish I was there to BC you compete for your first title um it's going to be a fantastic fight i g to let you go is there anything you want to say before you go thank you so much for your time best of skill this weekend I will be on the edge of my seat watching you is there anything you want to say before you go uh again just thank you to you Dave um obviously my whole team M M Clark uh my coaches Aaron and Jack Maguire um always doing the work with us um some of the more local guys in the area in from so the little my scrap pack we have so the self Barry Kennedy Shane Harley the Harley Brothers All In so there's a few Lads in there um my managers at ala fer management um and obviously finally because I'll be killed and so I said this to you offline earlier but uh 21st is four days before Christmas so my wife and my family obviously as well like you know um they're my biggest supporters they always have been but uh yeah this this weekend we we prove M WR again perfect I'm glad to see the turn around I'm glad to see uh just the the positivity and the going forward and and especially the activity from you this year as well it's been unbelievable and it's just it's been a joy to watch and it's been a joy to talk to you behind the scenes as well so I want to thank you very much for not just being a fighter but being my friend as well at times when I've needed to have a chat you've been there so I never anytime thank you very much enjoy your evening um I'm gonna let you go back your misses because you you you've been missing too much time you've been missing too much time now with the fight coming up so best of skill this week whether I'm there in person or I'm at home I'm going to be watching on the edge of my seat and I can't wait thank you so much let's go thanks Dave appreciate it