Rhys McKee | UFC Atlantic City, FAI & Ryan Curtis | The Energized Show

Summary

What is up and welcome to The Energized Show! On this episode Rhys McKee joins us to discuss UFC Atlantic City, Ryan Curtis & FAI. Like, Comment, Subscribe & Hit the notification bell for more Energized Shows! Youtube : Energized Show Instagram: @Energized_Show TikTok…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] en sh up the Irish time okay what's going on guys and welcome to a brand new episode of energized brought to you by for St are you intoxicated or something introduce their guest man today we are bringing you the war and only UFC welterweight it is Ree Skeletor mcke Rees how are you doing buddy yeah I'm good you know it's fight time and we're having chat so good to be on talking the yeah there's always voice going down that WhatsApp group isn't there up yeah yeah there is there is we're always we're always uh we're keep that WhatsApp group rocking we're keeping it rocking uh reys tell us this uh how excited are you to get to fight in Atlantic City I don't think the UFC have been there in a while and it's it's almost like a a Vegas of the East Coast yeah it's like Atlantic City is probably one of them places that you probably would never go unless you had a specific reason to go so um when I found out I was fighting there it's pretty cool and you know I've always heard like uh any friends fans will know the reference Atlantic City in some of the episodes so um that's my chance to to go and see it so yeah it's a good place to fight it's a good place to experience but as you as we said it's about a fight really wasn't Atlantic City like the place to go gambling and then all of a sudden like people just start pulling out and there's just loads of like casinos left just Hollow yeah I believe it's like I do believe it's like an American version of Vegas like we all go to Vegas they probably go to Atlantic City so know I was just I was just checking that out it's a was spot and then uh obviously uh fighting on the same card as your buddy Kay lockran do you think that was uh done on purpose now get the Irish take over together I'm not sure I think the UFC maybe have a list of people that like maybe they go through Maybe maybe when they're matching they go through like the pars card and like where well who needs match from this one and then well there's two irish guys so we might as well put them on maybe something like that but it's funny isn't it it's funny how it's worked out two shows to uh they both on it together so strange you didn't send them a message and be like here I don't want kayin on the card I want Paul Hughes on the card instead no I think we've all tried the Paul Hughes messages so um it's funny it's just funny how things work out but Paul's coming surely yeah unable unable that fell uh re tell us this what did you what you make your opponent chi in Jani and um did you know much about him when you were first told that's that's your point yeah to be honest like we were getting to that stage where we were waiting for a name so like I was going through the whole witer division being like it might be this guy could be this guy um but I never had eyes on on chitty because he was in middleweight obviously so he's never a name that that I would have imagined would have been the next name uh I wasn't massively aware of him I I've seen like a lot of his like his like finishes and stuff I know he's some viral stuff which is which is good to see so um he's experienced he's a lot of a wealth of experience he's been around a long time he's a fun style to watch for me being like a fight fan and a striking fan like he's probably someone you know I enjoy watching his fights so I like the name I like the idea of of taking a win off him and you know this time you know I know maybe a few years ago Chile was very like making noise in the UFC like kind of high up so like his name uh is worth a lot to have so it's like same as the Jimmy wallhead fight like to have a win over a guy like that holds a lot of stuff so I'm glad to be honest I'm glad I didn't get the liks of A USC debut or or some a bit fresher because it's kind of like it's kind of like one of wins not that nobody cares about because the wins a win but this one holds something to it yeah absolutely like people people know his name obviously his brother fights as well so like they're they they come from a fighting family so uh it's a great name to have um obviously as you mentioned at start he's dropping down from middleway to WWE is there any fear of him like missing weight or anything that obviously you can't control that but like do you does that come into your mind at all been like will this guy make the weight come come fight night not not really to be honest um not really because you know at the end of the day you have to look at it is he's fighting in the UFC like he knows how important this is uh he knows the UFC technal [ __ ] so you have to make we um yeah so I'm not too bothered what I do know is I'm fighting on the 30 of March so whether it's chitty or whether it's somebody like not even talking on weight issue he could get injured for all we know so you know I'm turning up FR for March and you know hopefully he's there because again he is the name I want but if not it'll be someone else and re we can see we can see you're wearing a few marks on your face at the moment H who's giving you those hard rounds up in FA at the moment not I'm not too sure who G me the they're like just we V gr burds but of course on a Monday morning on interview they don't look too good so uh tell you know we're in fight Camp too yeah of course of course and uh obviously uh re the last time m in Paris uh it didn't go your way it was a close fight there was a massive rally in the third uh do you feel like there's a bit of pressure on you coming into this one and obviously uh you know you recently became a father as well so congratulations on that unbelievable to see um so does that give you even more reason to motivate you to go out there and get that W well you know W pressure pressure isn't the word that's been with me my whole career so you know there's no you know I've seen articles already these both guys have backs against the wall and and car on like that it's like it's a fight game you know it's never a good time to lose a fight you know when you're going in your next fight you definitely can't lose that one because you lost your last it's just a good narrative um pressure like you know we're fighting in the UFC here like everybody wants to win you know like the contracts are online so like I wouldn't say there's a pressure but it's a must-win fight so it's not way then in terms of like the child and stuff like it gives you a real reason to do everything you know it's like before like it's hard I can't say that I find extra motivation because I've always been motivated I've always had a reason to do it but like there's not an extra reason to try and get these 50gs uh sent across you know that there would be nice for sure so you know you just want to do everything you can to to line her up for the most amazing quality of life you can and if that means you know training that a little bit harder for an extra 20 minutes every day then then maybe that's just being done but motivation has never really been a hard thing for me when when you look back at the performance in Paris and like in the build up to this F like what do you like what are you sort of focusing on like on how to improve and like come come out this time and like get that w yeah like I suppose really haven't spoke about this too much but in par like um the biggest problem for me was I missed not an excuse not this is not an excuse but but like I mistimed the warmup to the fight so you know I warned up maybe 45 minutes before I fought so by the time I get into the fight it was kind of like cooled down again and chilled out again um so this time there's a big emphasis on how on how that warm-up was going to look and how you know I'm going to come out like I'm going to come out swinging and there going to be no secret so I was I started too slow and ched's a fast starter so that them two things put together makes makes me destined to fix what went wrong with pars not taking anything away from Lua but um you know the way I started lost me that fight and and that's really how I see it yeah it was one of those ones where you're watching up being like like you looked a bit more Ted at the start of the open rounds and I was like I was like oh you know like for me it was like it was like a UFC debut again I know you'd fought the UFC before but if this one felt like it was like Fresh Start brand new uh and like I was like I was like oh did look a bit slow then you were coming on stronger in the third do you think uh it's going to be ultra important to time that that um warm up in the back how like you know you're basically almost coming off PAAD to the walk out how like you're fresh and ready to go yeah for sure and I think like even a lot of it was mindset you know like you know it's going to be obviously the story Line's going to be here this time but in pars and stuff it was like everybody was talking about you know the first time in the UFC and this is their time back it was kind of a drain and energy to be honest where this time it's like we're here now it's like let's just talk about this next fight so a lot of it's the mindset as well and you know I've never been someone who suffered the Jitters of the UFC and stuff like that I just haven't got the performances into Play If I finished Lua at the end of that fight nobody would have been talking about you know oh he started slow and it's just it's just a result you know and sometimes when a result doesn't go your way it doesn't mean anything's broke it just means you didn't get the win in that day because another man did you know so I think some you can look into stuff too much however we will fix what didn't go right and put ourself in the best position to win the fight yeah I'm not going to lie Reese I was absolutely heartbroken when you lost B yeah but we both were uh we all anyone who watch you wer you weren't Russ oh he was you weren't I'll go and record what's called re you're probably personally my favorite fighter as in like like when you win or lose like I feel it the most like just is what it is I don't know I appreciate the hear you say that to everyone man no no no just like there's something special it's like I actually it's not even like I'm rooting for ree mcke the fighter I'm roting for ree mcke the guy if that makes sense that's that's way I look at that just feel like you work so hard you deserve it all and you're always cour like I feel like you know I've been out this game a long time and you know even some people like look at me fighting this guy with so many fights and like people forget I've been I've been cracking about since I was 14 15 so um you know I have a I have a life lifetime dedicated to this as well like you know invested a lot of my time and gave up a lot of my normal life which I never want anyway but like to the sport so you know it's going to work though is like it is working like the fact that this is my career now is is is amazing so now it's just time to get my hand ra and then basking the glory of the UFC yeah absolutely one thing you might not have even thought about but obviously when you were fighting your last couple of fights in cage Warriors you were the champion you were preparing for five rounds all the time do you think that maybe had a a factor in the in the fight that it didn't get you going as fast because like you know you were used to 25 minutes post to 15 minutes like the shorter fight bit faster out the traps do you think that had any sort of impact on the fight at all preparation like 100% I couldn't like I didn't say it but you said is one of the things that we've talked about the most um I always had a five round mentality for the last four three four fights um and it's a totally different fight prep not a different fight prep a different start to the fight a different approach where now it's like with 15 minutes at most to do work uh so it's it's no longer like a mini marathan it's more we're going to Sprint so you know like and that's the thing my guest H lasts for five fives every time so for free five I can put on the higher pace and just go straight to work yeah absolutely cuz like I always I always think like if it gets around four or five like back in your championship fights it was like like well re going Excel here like can they keep up that pace so I I think yeah the the faster start against chigi who has a few first round finishes as well so like the danger there but I think the danger probably excites you as well because you know he's going to come out and he's going to fight fire with fire with it yeah for sure and you know like the danger like I've never once went out to fight and stood in front of someone and let them just work you know it's I'm coming I'm coming out to fight too so uh you know sometimes it's easy to look at these guys and think oh he does this he does this but you forget to like look in the mirror at what you do yourself so I'm bringing the fight I'll bring the fight straight to him uh you know again he is dangerous in that first round he's dangerous exchanges he looks fantastic and everything he does but I have a good way of wearing people D and drowning them and you know making them kind of want to get out of there so that's very much the game plan to to break everybody's heart and that's not a game plan for him if if he was replaced with someone else i' be wanting to drown them Tire them out bring them to the Deep Waters and and make them break yeah re I also want to touch on what happened to Ryan Curtis recently as well like what's the atmosphere like in the gym because uh the whole the way the whole Community like and like the M community and and even more so like uh the whole country how they've sort of red behind Ryan and they really hope to see him back um 100% healthy yeah like such a traumatic event like the gym the gym is back now you know where're is obviously very still very hard to accept what happened and stuff but the first week after it happened on that weekend was was like such a strange energy in the gym but you know now Ryan's making little progressions every day like every week he's getting a bit better so that's buzzing The Lads on you know and we're very much in the mindset of like we need to go and get these wins till like honor Ryan you know it's like yeah like you know Ryan's obviously in the situation he's in now so I feel like we all have a responsibility to to bring the win to him so I'm actually down to visit him tomorrow so I'm excited to that excited to see him and and hear from him again but it's um it makes everybody so grateful for for the support that we're able to do he did let he did let you fight in his dubling card before as well so like yeah you know what he did the chaos cartel sign it off and I was he's just such a Largent like character I still actually can't believe it's true but um hopefully he he makes it back 100% And we will put a link down in the boo for Ry go fby and also cage conflict will be coming up as well on the 24th of February and all proceeds will be gone towards Ryan um ree would you be there as well like giving autographs charging people for autographs and selfies yeah I don't know if people want autographs or selfies but I'll definitely be there so yeah I nice the way the show was doing it for Ryan and stuff too and everybody in the country as you said everybody in the country from seminars to go fundme to to Big McGregor and not like you know everybody's just came behind the things so yeah it's a it was a beautiful thing to see wasn't it Russ yeah absolutely and look the those go fies and stuff are so important because like not only does like will Ryan maybe need adjustments to his living arrangements H to start off with and stuff like that like obviously like his bills aren't going to stop like he's got a young child like I don't know what their setup is whether they're paying for child care or whatever they are but like you know I mean like everyone knows themselves you have a lot of expenses in life and like it's probably very tough for uh for Emma as well so uh look you know every little bit helps like you know what I mean like if you can only afford the price of a cup of coffee or Point like you know don't think like that's nothing it it will it will definitely help so uh yeah give what you can and um like like we all say we're all rooting for your chaos yeah yeah shout out to and shout out to all the surgeons as well up in Belfast that have looked after Ryan as well and uh if you want to find out exactly more about that Liam mccort was speaking with ER helani going into great detail about it yeah it it touched the whole community and uh soort it really shook us I I know it shook everyone but like cover from the sport and like we we had to sort of take a couple of shows off just to really we we didn't want to it was hard to speak about because we didn't really know what exactly what was going on about and also we did not not want to speak about it as well so uh no it was nice nice to get that out there and as I said the link will be down in the bio but um reys what's what's the buildup going to be like now to Atlantic City because um as I said the whole country is going to be supporting you and they'll be tuning in to watch K as well for that mainly for you what's the buildup going to be like but you know like to be honest it's like it's pretty much just just work it's like you know I'm kind of not fussed on like the fluff and commotion with the whole thing it's like you know I I just really set here and getting the win and like I know I know we're we're talking and stuff like that like but I probably the closer we get to the fight I'm definitely going to pull back from everything I'm doing in terms of like talking to people about the fight because yeah like when it all is said and done like all that matters is the win like and um let's if I lost my my next eight fights like boys will not be talking to me so I need to be going to win these fights so like and that if that means pulling back from everything then that's what I'm going to do and I normally am like that the close I get the fight anyway but I just feel it this time like I just not that like I I don't know I just feel like all that matters to me right now is getting that win being happy being a dangerous fighter and having the Atlantic City safe sound and ready yeah will there be any more obsessed podcast coming out or any just uh YouTube videos in the buildup yeah there will definitely be YouTube videos there would definitely be like little mini blog series stuff like that um help off Paul you there on what name them what did you say get some help off Paul new user what to name each episode yeah I love the name he needs to bring the Vlog series back they were good um until you featured in them getting them cracked that's the thumbnail but the in the obsessed podcast it's hard it's like it's hard to get time we were trying to get premises for the podcast and because I just felt that would take it to the next level I want to get uh videos done all the time so you know to do anything you want to do it right so I I don't think now is the right time in terms of in the next few weeks but we do have episodes in the bank so they'll probably be released to take everyone over yeah there you have it like world class athlete needs to do world class production you know me with none of this Amateur hour stuff no I know you have to do you have to do the thing right and then we done one video episode with Paul Hughes and everybody loved it so now I can go back to Audio Only yeah that was that was the the show I was requesting the most did you ever see it yeah H I listen to it now I didn't actually watch it but I listen to it you know what we' done the video and then never released the video rather than send it a around a few people just to kind of see what it looked like but it looks so good and I done one with Liam shanon video as well so um I need to get it released though that's the problem yeah no stick that one out uh make sure to check out Reese's Instagram and also make sure to check out his podcast as well because you never know who could be the next guest yeah but uh re just before we wrap things up is there anything else you want to say to people tuning in now no just um I'm going to be in Atlantic City on the 3 of March um and that's that's where you're going to see me so I just appreciate all the support from the community the the the country is always behind Irish so um it's exciting just another time and another chance to go out and be one of our own so I'm going to Rish on that Skeletor is back baby we can't wait to see it Rec it's what the name I love it I love it for those at home who are will pull down the fourth wall That's the name of our uh WhatsApp group uh SK Jo giving away everything ah so look you know I mean that's that's what people want to know they want to know what's going on in the DMS you know they want the behind the scenes yeah the behind the scenes you know me I love it yeah well if we're lucky Reese might jump on again ahead of us for you as well but we'll see what happens but ree thanks million for your time we'll let you get on with the rest of your day okay yes Lads appreciate it all the best Rees en sh up the Irish been susing you guys a couple of times I've seen a couple of Clips I think you're done some interviews with Dylan Mor and that I saw so keep going keep up the good work guys