Jake Ngai interview

Summary

[Music] okay so I'm here with Jake Knight who's going to be competing this weekend for another title uh he's someone who broke onto the scene uh hugely through imaf competitions uh he was one of the standouts uh last year in my opinion anyways and he's a massive massive Talent…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] okay so I'm here with Jake Knight who's going to be competing this weekend for another title uh he's someone who broke onto the scene uh hugely through imaf competitions uh he was one of the standouts uh last year in my opinion anyways and he's a massive massive Talent going forward he's got a tough test ahead of him this weekend though um it's good to see him back in the case thank you very much for joining me how are you how it feel to be to be back and and to be fighting for a title in just a few yeah yeah it feels good I'm excited to be back in there you know I've been out uh for a lot of this year uh my last fight was uh in February so like literally the start of the year that was for the cage Legacy belth so uh it's it's it's been it's been a while so I'm really really like itching to get back into the cage and get back get the ball back rolling yeah because because when you're find you kind the first year and a half you you really rattled through you were you were uh Super Active with obviously the cuz you're fighting day after day and have you found it kind of hard as well that you haven't been so active are you itching to get back in there yeah yeah yeah I have like because I was so used because last year I was I was so active I think I had like eight fights in the year so uh yeah like it it has been tough but also I've been training the whole time so uh so has like it wasn't like too hard it wasn't like I was out for like an injury or anything it was just like things I had to deal with so I was still training so uh just but just really just really like looking forward to getting back into the cage now and just like getting you know uh getting that uh you know uh just the feeling of like fighting and stuff like it's different to training obviously you don't get that same buz uh so I'm really looking forward to just like step back into the cage and just like just uh getting it get get the experience yeah no 100% and I'm looking forward to seeing you back like I said you were one of the the standouts when when you like you really burst onto the scene and obviously you haven't competed you've still been training do I've asked this to a couple of Fighters as well and I just want to see your opinion on it when you're not fighting or preparing for a fight or have a camp on can you like and you're trading with a little bit more ease do you see yourself improving can you see those sorry you just froze for a second what' you say sorry you just froze for a second yeah yeah yeah yeah I say again so yeah so just in in terms of not competing and not having a camp um when you're just training and solely training and en jooin training do you find that you improve more during that time because you're not focusing on someone or is it just the same or or do you notice the increases as they happen yeah definitely like it gives expand on your game because maybe if you have like locked in you're kind of like just training like your aame like like all the time like winning like like if you don't have a fight or if you're like sparing specifically for an opponent but if you don't have an opponent or like anything locked in you can like train and work new things you know and you're you're not having like a specific person to train for you can kind of really open up your spars a lot and like really like it really does like I feel like I have like improved a lot in this uh time frame and I'm just excited to uh show it on Fright Night yeah I I would presume it makes you it gives you that little bit more room to be a bit more creative in training rather than like you said just sticking the same thing try new things and we know obviously you you pulled off three the plate which was a fantastic achievement at the time and um with your opponent how do you study your opponent much are you looking into it much are you just working on on you because you are still an amateur fire albeit you you have a wealth of experience but do you just like to concentrate on you as opposed to him or do you look at him a little bit or a lot or or what way does it work for you uh so I always just try to uh first of all focus on myself obviously because I can always just improve myself and like I'm like no one's perfect like you're always like trying to strive for Perfection I don't believe you'll ever get there but you could be like I always strive to be perfect uh so I'm always like getting better of myself and then also I obvious I all the time I uh I look at my opponent like that I'm fighting like uh H it get a bit different when I'm doing a competition like if I'm at the IMs and I have to fight back to back like it's hard to like study your opponent and stuff but but uh even at the IMs usually like a day before like you usually find out your opponent a day before like I'll always watch their fights and kind of see like uh things I can do and stuff like that so like yeah I do I do study my opponents but also I do like also focus on myself and improve like even while I have a fight like I might like do things like not even specific for the opponent but like just things to get better like so I kind of play play between the both oh nice nice and and obviously it's a big event this event in Cork I've been to a couple of the shows that the first two and they've been fantastic how does it feel to have another show in the Republic obviously we go up north a lot and I'm not dividing North and South but obviously there's different rule sets there's less there's there there different travel times and stuff like that do you are you excited for the fact that there is a new promotion like this that seems to be doing quite well down south that if you get a belt you're your potentially gonna be defending on it again next year yeah yeah uh yeah so I like the way that well obviously uh it's it's same day weigh in in the Republic so so uh it's it's not much of a court really like just fight a f weight and uh it's just gr like I'm basically like eating whatever I want uh and stuff so it's not it's not too too heavy of a w c so that's the good thing about that but uh yeah it's good to see like another show like here like not up to North uh but yeah I still have to travel down to Cork though like like it's not obviously not the same as like just fine like in Dublin but it's uh it's still it's still nice though to have like a promotion like that around yeah I I'd say the travel from you to Nori is probably less from you to cor yeah and then and then one of a bit norian about two to to Belfast but not it's a fantastic show it's going to be a fantastic show this weekend but there's obviously there's going to be another you're fighting for a Bel but there's another special person gonna be fighting on that Jordan Bradshaw is gonna be making his professional debut um talk to us about what it's like in the gym right now with people training um when you've got more than one person on the card can you feel that buz in the gym yeah yeah yeah you definitely can feel that bull it's it's a have like multiple people like preparing for like big fights and stuff really just like pushes everyone on and like it's good like May sometimes you might have like other people that are out camp uh and then you're if you're like the only one in Camp like a lot of the time like you're the one who's like hyper focused and maybe other people might not be as focused so like you you might not be able to uh get the best bus you know but uh when everyone else is in Camp with you like you're everyone is there to like help each other and uh prepare for their own fight so it's like really brings out the best of everyone I think yeah know and and that's good and what a Jim you are in as well with the the names and the like the key Jordan Ross yourself as well there's just so many Nick is someone I'm quite high on as well but we're not going to look past off each are like you're not looking past but I just want to get an insight to because of the the activity levels this year you looking to pump it up again next year kind of what you did previously you looking to do imass again or or what's your plan you tell me yeah so basically next year I want to have a few more fights at amateur I'm looking to go pro uh probably towards the end of next year uh but uh I really want to I get I get like a decent a few uh say a day before Bantam white fights just to get ready for that like uh uh CU I have put on a little bit of size like since the start of year that's something I've been working on like my strength conditioning and and stuff like that so really like putting on a good size for for my cut to anantam way Pro so I want to get in uh a few fights early next year at uh day before Bantam and work on uh the cut and then hopefully uh GoPro uh towards the end of next year yeah and that's smart as well because obviously you've done a lot of the same day and like I said you don't have to cut that much I'm assuming like you you feel a bit better uh not having the cut but obviously going forward bro you want to kind of get you don't want to go do one or two fights and then BR you want to be able to do it because like you know yourself anything you do for the first or second time it's all all going to be learning but yeah no it's looking like a good year for you next year it's going to be a good year if you can pick up the bet this year um I can't wait to see you back in the cage I really really missed you you're a very exciting young fighter and you're someone who really kind of Rose you kind of just burst onto the scene and then um I'm really looking forward to this fight it's it's a tough matchup as well for for both Fighters so that's what makes it interesting but I'm going to let you go is there anything you want to say before you go or anyone to shout out and thank you so much for your time especially during the week that it is fight week yeah uh I just want to say thanks to my teammates thank you for the interview uh yeah all the guys at seac Royal grapping Academy and uh Gaz hickey uh uh Fitness you know thanks to everyone my family and friends and yeah that's it yeah just ready to finally get back in there and put on a show yeah and we're looking forward to getting back into back back in there thank you so much and enjoy the rest of your evening and I'll be watching on Saturday yeah thank you