Matthew Bonner | Cage Warriors Trilogy Recap | Energized Show

Summary

What is up and welcome to the latest Energized Show! On this episode The New Cage Warriors Middle Weight Champion Matthew Bonner joins us to discuss his Title winning fight & we recap the @Cage_Warriors Trilogy. Check it out, enjoy, subscribe for more & as always Stay…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay what's going on guys and welcome to a brand new episode of energizer us introduce the champ we have the cage warriors middleweight champion of the world it's matthew the beast bonner matthew how you doing i'm really good thank you fellas how are you i'm doing really really well man well actually i'm a bit sick you're probably here for those you who are useless to us but having you on has definitely perked me up are you the most famous man in wigan now warrington that's where i'm from oh jesus uh you cancel the show cancel the show you you must be up there with the rugby league players now weren't then are you i think it's kerry katana he's like the most famous from warrington so yeah hopefully i'm kind of catching up to her a little bit now she's famous around these parts as well yeah because she was married to broy mcfadden so uh yeah we're very familiar with her work uh so ma how does it feel to be a world champion good it it sounds really kind of boring i'm going to say but it's more like a relief it feels like i've almost had a weight come off my shoulders um sometimes it takes it takes a lot out of you this sport it can kind of chew up and spit you out sometimes got to actually take something out of it it's very satisfying um i've fought for cage right as an artist a lot of times now you know anyone who joins cage always wants to win the world title and move over to the ufc so hopefully that will be the pathway now absolutely man it was an absolute insane back and forth yeah i think i wrote it on about five or six different places online i was like i think that was actually cage warrior's fight of the year it was an absolute absolute epic battle and not only that you know the way of football they sort of say it's the tail two halves well i think each round was a tale of two halves like frederick came out very strong in the first sort of minute to a minute and a half the first uh at the start of every round and then like as it got to the second half of the round then you start to take over and start getting the better positions i was watching just going oh my god you don't and you know what was even crazy i think you'll tell us better but in the fourth round when you actually got the win i think that's when you were probably most hurt and that was his best chance to finish the fight himself and then next thing you know out of nowhere matthew bonner is on the toilet frederick's back and he sings in what's only known as a next-gen special the rear naked choke these days it was a strange one i said this kind of watching frederick's previous fights against james webb because those fights went four or five rounds as well um and he's got a really kind of very weird energy system frederick he it can kind of he recovers so well between rounds i've never known anything like that before um i think anyone watching in the fourth round he was still really really fresh on the feet and then when i took him down that kind of freshness disappeared it was like i was speaking to my snc coach after the fight he was saying obviously the stand up on the grappling are very different energy systems so if you kind of compare a marathon runner to a sprinter he was almost like the marathon runner he was very fresh on the feet you know he probably could have got another 10 or 10 rounds but as soon as i took it to the floor the kind of wind went out and that's where i seem to be able to do my best work yeah it was such a great photo to watch especially the the cole man will curry again say it's a christian duncan that one that was a great fight as well and then like i was like how's this main event gonna be that and it was just so entertaining have you watched it back yourself i watched it back about 23 million times it's just on replay there with the belt yeah i was after the straight after the fight i was like oh i want to watch that and cringe a little bit because it was a little bit messy i was you know i was exhausted honestly i'm not sure how that fifth round would have played out um and i think that was a locked down today obviously being my first five round fight and it being the world title opportunity and stuff there's there's a lot of pressure there there's always a lot of pressure in fighting but you know obviously a little bit more with the stakes being a little bit higher but actually looking back i'm quite pleased with how the fight went i'm pleased that i showed a little bit of great determination which i know i had but it's always nice to prove it again and and i i would have said before the fight i wanted to win by a choke i wanted to show my submission skills off a little bit because that's what i feel has come a long way in this camp um the last three fights have been very striking involved so for this one to be a little bit more grappling is was out you know i was quite satisfied with one thing that i did notice uh on the broadcast uh you probably obviously didn't get to see you were in the cage was we didn't actually get to hear what was being said in between rounds and what was your sort of thought process in between rounds and what was your corner relay into if you can remember because you know as i was saying that the rounds are actually you know one half he was dominating then you were dominating did you know you were up or did you feel you were up was that what was being relayed and then obviously he got the point taken off him as well did that factor into it at all again that's quite funny because every time i went back to my corner the first question i asked was did i win that round because it it it's very strange obviously from your my perspective isn't really it you can be blinded and you can think you're winning or you can think you're losing you're not obviously the corner team's there because they can see things that can't so every time the realm finished i'll go out to my con and say did i win that round and for the first three rounds he said yes you definitely won you've definitely won those rounds even though the third i think probably looking back could have gone either way um but they just wanted me to get hold of him grapple him take him down i don't really think that that's too much of a surprise to say that because every time i did take him down you know i very much controlled him for the most of the round where he was doing his best work on the feet so the idea really was to get hold of him take him down dragging down to the mat and see if we could get a finish what's it do is is it good when you're going off the corner you're like am i winning are they better off lying to you be like nah no way no way you need to win this round or like are they like well done man you're ahead like what's the best what's actually the best way looking back at things i think if it was a close round it's probably best for them to go back and say let's see that as a lost round let's see that as a round loss just in case um i think the first two rounds i i don't think anyone could argue that i didn't want them and then i think it was was it the second round where i got the second round he got yeah the second round it was it was 108. again yeah obviously so that that's kind of a 108th round so we knew we were at least kind of three points up going into the third and again the third could have gone anyway but then obviously i stacked it higher really quite badly at the beginning of the fourth um yeah it would have been interesting kind of to see how how the fifth would have played out i think but yeah i just i think honesty in the corner is probably the main thing but if it's a close round i think it's best i'll say listen you may have lost that round let's uh let's let's fix it for the next one exactly um being the challenger as opposed to the champion you know the draw was no good to you as well so you had to make sure you were win the rounds if you know frederick was up three points or or sorry three points after two rounds you know i mean he can sort of almost coast his way and lose the last three rounds and still get the draw so uh yeah you know what i think you're right honestly at the corner is exactly what you need you need to know exactly where you are to know how much energy to expand or expand as well so i think you know great job in the corner uh hopefully next time there is a cage where you can hear the corner because like i don't know i love here in the corner between rounds i love not being known what said um especially i was really intrigued on saturday night to hear what uh we'll get into that later but what paul used to say to you gary i was like that was like that must be like very interesting to hear so i was like oh we're missing out but uh can i can i give another recommendation as well uh just on the screen when this when the show on the phone um if if because obviously people from cage wires are listening now just like if they put the names on the screen as well so people know or what color who like what color the shorts or the gloves anything just so because i've i live with a few ads and they're only watching because because we're us doing the show and they're like who's who who's who and all the fights so if they if there's an easier way to differentiate that would be easy enough you know yeah it was probably easier to differentiate this fight though which one was a bonner and which one's frederick you know i'm sure you tell the lads to start they know but yeah definitely it's just the lower current stuff yeah no i definitely think a little uh where it says the realm and it would just even have said you know color of shorts or whatever or color corner i think it does help people who are watching for the first time and one thing i did notice that my last fight is that i i assume it's your twin brother i saw when you brought the belt home and you and your brother i was like oh my god basketball there's two of them the playboys are warrington around it was crazy to see and then i think like i saw on his page or something like that he had a post on his wall and i don't know it was either your missus or his misses and roared at the teddy cone get up get up it was in the fourth round they were not the telly and i was like oh my god there we go this is like carnage but uh man what was it like to bring that belt home to the family yeah it was yeah it was nice obviously it's kind of it it's easy when you win because you come back and everyone's dead happy and please when you lose it's very it's awkward and obviously you're a little bit embarrassed whether that's rightfully or wrongfully you are you're embarrassed and people come in the gym and it's kind of you know you throw a little pity party every time and you think [ __ ] out this this is i wish we just could get past this awkward two weeks so it's nice to get a win and obviously the missus is super pleased and the family made up and stuff and no i i've done this for 20 years now i started training when i was 10 years old and i'm 30 now so it's again it's kind of similar to what i said before the starting interview it's very nice just to take something out of it and no one no one can really take this away from me now and if i if i was to lose the next 10 fights i'd i'd still turn around and say you know what i had a really great career and i was a world champion and i'm very proud of myself for that but it's obviously the feedback you get for everybody else is very satisfying as well if it makes them happy and they get a little bit of pleasure out of it then that's even better can we just talk about that for a sec if someone loses it's like ross like we know we're obviously we're close with a lot of people on the cards and so like you don't know if you should send the message to say hard look or it is a very it's slightly torchy subject isn't it like you know well i also think it depends on the you know the fashion of the seat you know i mean if you if you if you're laid knockout like i think a lot of times you don't really think about it as a fan like my you go into the cage basically in a pair of boxer shorts um you're playing another man in a pair of box for sure i'm like if that other man knocks you clean out and you're you know you become a highlight reel basically for the rest of that person's career i mean i'm sure you just want to go home crawl into it crawl into your into your bedroom and sit there for two weeks until like someone else gets knocked out and then you know you're you're sort of forgotten about you i mean i'm sure it's extraordinary rough i'm sure it's quite you know telling on on your mental health as well you know i mean like he it probably makes you question all the training and all the hard work you've done been like i'm actually good at this or may not you know i mean so i'm sure you know you d you do have those deepest thoughts on you know when we do see someone lose who like you know we do support we're like oh i think nine times out of ten we send them a text anyway just because yeah you know their phone's blowing up when they win but you know who's who's who's really on your team you'll find out when you lose i suppose yeah when you win when you win you get all the tinder matches when you lose you can't even buy one you know that's exactly a bad moment my your career has had such a reassurance out of like would you actually attribute that to move to next gen because each time i've seen you and i've seen your last three fights the improvement has been massive each time out and like you mean you're turning into this like unstoppable finisher now as opposed to beforehand you were almost closer to 50 50. yeah i think that's i think there's two kind of massive key moments in my career and i think the first one and the biggest one is definitely moving to next gen um that's kind of proved to be probably the best decision i've ever made in life uh sorry about when was that exactly that was that was after the mad ass blemish fight so we're probably talking 2018 something like that that was the 16th of february 2019. right okay so yeah about about two years about two years ago so i've not been i'm not really not with that next jump for that long really um that i was i'd lost two fights in a row i fought matt madsen in denmark uh i brought my jar in that fight i broke both my feet in that fight uh came back home jumped on the mad ass blemish fight uh i don't think i've actually ever said this before but i had like a really bad tear of my knee walk into that fight as well where i couldn't even shadowbox for the madask won this fight and then he won by split decision and that was probably you know out of maybe one or two the roughest point of my career was at that moment but what it did do is spur me on to change things up um a big change was was going to next gen and and mixing up and getting out that comfort zone really because i was very much kind of training the way i wanted to train and doing what i wanted to do and i was managing myself and it seems i'm very naive looking back but going to next gen was i i was a pro fighter i'd already had maybe like nine ten fights but going to the next show was quite quite scary at the time um it always had been like a world-class gym and well-respected coaches so i'm very pleased obviously that i've that i managed to to go over there and it's done the right thing about my career now absolutely absolutely and like you know you you really have turned the corner in there and like you know obviously mark madison i think is now 10-0 and he's in the ufc he's fighting clay guy the next next one you know he's dropped down the white class he's a olympic wrestler you mean and uh i i always say this you know especially in the european team if you get one of those you know collegiate wrestlers or olympic level wrestlers they become very hard for any opponent because it'd be like you know me fighting someone in a boxing match who grew up since the age of 10 boxing you know i mean like like the level of advantage is just frightening so uh it takes years upon years to get up that level but obviously the grappling has definitely improved at next gen as well sinking in the rear naked choke as well so a shout out to all the next gen lots uh you seem to be a very popular figure there and uh one thing that the lads keep on saying to us is you're so funny and i think that's really telling from your instagram yeah i saw that i saw the bus parade uh i saw what was it the fella it was like greg yeah yeah like like just like just so so funny like not what you're expecting out of someone who doesn't want a world holy you almost expect to see the belt in every picture i bought no like there's a map on her taking the piss out of himself so also we asked him to go grab the belt as well he wasn't he wasn't wearing it so yeah we're like get that belt get that belt yeah matt was like my brother's around the town and i'll go and get it he's pretending he's me oh stop i was going to ask you as well i think ross slightly touching it there uh what just so we saw people listening and also like everyone well so of get to know you a bit more when did the penny actually drop when did you when you when was the when did like map honoree like go by here i am it was it was after jamie richardson lost i think that's where everything kind of came came together um i still think that jamie richardson richardson fight was the worst fight i've ever had um and i remember coming out after the fight and jumps on the phone to the misses and said i have no idea why i'm doing this anymore i hate doing it i'm not enjoying it i'm i'm thinking of walking away and it's it's always one of those things you end up saying kind of as soon as you've lost anyway but there was there's some real kind of i did feel like maybe that was going to be my last fight and then you take the kind of a week off two weeks off and you think i'm ruining it for myself i'm putting so much pressure on myself i'm putting all this expectation on myself um and like i say i've said this an awful lot of interviews leading up to this fight um you don't get to be an mma fighter for 30 40 years you get to be an mma fight until maybe your early 40s if you're lucky and what i absolutely didn't want to do was look back on my career and say god i wish you enjoyed that more now i can't do any more you know my body's all broken up and smashed up i'm too old no you i will look back and think these are poised for the best times to be live so that was very much the feeling after jamie richardson fight was just enjoy the whole experience enjoy the training enjoy you know having fun at next gen even enjoy the weight cutting and the weigh-ins and and everything just the special moments that you'll look back on and even the bad memories end up becoming you know the funny stories that you tell tell people about um so that's where i had the big you know the turnaround mentally anyway that the big turnaround was after the james richardson fight and obviously i've gone on to win win four fights after that yeah yeah and four points in a some fashion as well and in in terms of what's next for you baz actually asked me on the phone you're right we probably speak for about 40 minutes minimum every day on the phone and yeah we're tight and uh boss goes watch things next for matt banner he goes give me a few scenarios and i'll go right i'll give you three okay first read the out slowly so people go and let us know in the comments as well what you think i think the first one like anyone could say it is he rematches frederick because like it was an absolute epic fight um people would love to see it second one i think hopefully his name right is kent kopien i think he actually was like a reserve for the fight as well i think he weighed in or thirdly macko straight ufc and he makes a ufc uh debut especially if they're coming to london in i think september october and you know what there's plenty of irish um uk talents to take over that entire event it could be ireland in the uk against the world uh on that fight so i was like they're the sort of three options i see next do you have a preference to any of those matt uh the only other option i can think on top of that would be the bringing kind of like a ufc veteran someone who's maybe you know lost his contract in the ufc and he bring bring that guy in i would i would honestly like to see frederick fight cotman i think that'd be a good fight i think that'd be very interesting and then like i say maybe me fight this this ufc vet whoever they brought in that's what i would like to see but i'd definitely be up for a rematch with frederick i think that'd be really interesting and i think not i would be i would probably favor that over the kent cockman fight um it's a bit of a strange one but with ken i i always kind of respected him and obviously he did well in bellator and whatnot but i came down on the on the train to london on the tuesday and then you're waiting on the wednesday thursday and he started messaging me on instagram he was saying all this stupid [ __ ] this is ken and he was like oh you're going to miss way or you're going to be called with positive and i'm going to step in and this this and this and i was thinking what you talking about and then you'd see me in the hotel and you start being very passive aggressive oh i want to take your spot on all this crap and i was like listen pal i've got the biggest fight in your life in you know on thursday why don't you piss off and leave me alone kind of thing so i've not really i've kind of the last bit of respect from an awful lot yeah because he was known as this kind of uh sort of respectful guy that's what i would do well down to earth you know in his videos he says well first i want to thank god for being here and then he goes on to saying he wants me to to fall ill and wants me to miss weight and stuff and i thought well those two are a little bit of a clash of uh of things to say so right we can can go do one and fight frederick's up all right yeah you can start you're going to software if you want to and i'll just sit down you know what i can't remember who it was but that happened in uh it was a ufc title fight and someone called out someone and then uh the challenger beat the champion and he goes no no you said you you won the fight i don't know what you're saying dustin pourier he was like you said you want the fight though symporia you go fight the support yeah you don't appoint for the belt you said you want for him not for the belt so there you go i think it was kind of gasoline was it uh potentially so yeah okay yeah so uh there you have it but um yeah man thursday what a way to start off the trilogy you don't mean like oh i i've never been excited for a trilogy i don't think a trilogy has ever delivered as much as this one did also did you enjoy fighting on thursday here you got to sit back and relax and enjoy friday saturday yeah it's nice to get over and don't have to be fair i know that sounds a bit over and done with him and all the rest of it but it is nice just to get the fight out of the way and obviously you can sit back i had another five teammates who were fighting there was a few one before me and there's a few on there was one on third one on the friday one on the saturday so it was it was nice to sit back and watch them you know them get to work but yeah i i don't mind being obviously have to take the hotel and whatnot i i quite enjoy being at the hotel and no i'm not one for oh my god i'm trapped in this beautiful hotel of all this lovely food and all the rest of you like some of them are so it was it was not it's it's not it's not a big deal if you have to fight on a friday saturday but it was it was preferred to get it over and done on the thursday and then it's done you can go home and enjoy the rest of the weekend yeah well i suppose there's not build if you're on friday or saturday isn't there basically like you're cutting around all the fires and like all the people are weighing in and you're you're there like the nerve energy definitely builds up yeah it was uh even the production the embedded uh cage warrior embedded videos i thought everything was brilliant and the greatest thing for you now matt is your first toilet offense there's going to be fans in the arena as well torchwood yeah that's going to be a strange dynamic now because obviously no i thought i think i fought four times maybe five times about being a crowd there the jamie richardson fight was behind closed door as well even though at that time he wasn't having kobe tests and stuff there still wasn't any crowds around so yeah that's going to be almost very strange having people back in but i say that in a good way you know it's it's we fight and because you want the fans then you want them to spur you on and you know if you go back to the frederick fight or even to them that batman fight if there was a crowd there those fights would be massive they would have really gone off i was speaking between dean after the fight we just used the matchmaker at the end of the matterman fight and he was saying if that if that was in if that mattingly fight was in manchester you can imagine the atmosphere that would have almost smashed off there would have been a so i'm looking forward to being fans back and forth and i can shift a few tickets now now i'm jumping i can make a little bit of money on the tickets as well yeah absolutely hey man uh matt we're gonna we're gonna shift things to friday night and we're going to talk about one of your teammates um a friend of the show what an absolute performance at total domination and as we like to call him flawless nathan fletcher uh he is an animal as soon as he caught that kick from uh brianna in the first round he he was all over him like a rash and just what was it like because his work ethic seems unbelievable we were only saying you know his time off he's there doing crossfit when most people are in the pub having the point he is he is relentless tell us what he's like as a training partner and tell us what you thought of his performance i messaged him today and said um i said when you back in training i'm gonna go in next chance tomorrow and just say hello to everyone and i'm gonna have the rest of the week off and he said well i'm back in training i'm back in training today i've been backing this morning you think christ i know he didn't he didn't take any damage in the five or you still come off you know a big eight-week fight cam so for him to be back in the next day the words he usually actually was i need to be in because i need to ask someone we have a teammates because they've got fights going on so that just shows you know what the stuff that nathan fletcher is made of but i mean people will look at me and fetch a fight and they'll say well no it's a really naked joke it's not that hard but you have to understand that this guy's got i think it's six really naked chokes in a row so you have to think his opponents all they're doing all fight cam he's doing really naked choke defense and he's still he's still managing to win barry and a choke um so again it just shows the quality nathan fletcher he's he is kind of for me if anyone says no i was i was still when i started mma you still had guys who were very much strikers grapplers um individual styles where if you've got like the perfect blend of styles you're probably looking at nathan fletcher's perfect example of that he actually is he is flawed looks like there's no other way to describe yeah we're trying to get flawless to stick and it's like no one will mention but like with an undefeated record and like the way he's knocking people off flawless but the longer he stays on the feed the longer he's going to be referred to his fault and mike you know what you're actually right now i don't know how good translator is on instagram but uh brian boulang uh actually put up on his instagram that like he was actually practicing the rear naked chokes defense his entire camp and he was doing it and he's he was like all the fed's going to plan until he hit him with that elbow and he he just it was different and that's the thing in training trump you know if you'd have to have a very bad training partner to start smashing you with elbows from behind uh but like that's what happened uh nathan end up sinking in i don't think there's anything other than him fighting for one of those lovely cage warriors belts like i think it's undeniable yeah the only thing is is jack cartwright uh is actually out of contract at the moment he's not actually under contract with uh cage wires uh album let's say that because he told me himself so uh maybe i'm not supposed to say that but it's been said now um so i don't know if he's gonna have to fight someone else for the belt or whether you know jack will find a one won't fight new deal but look i wish all the best of jack as well i hope he gets all the offers from all the organizations and he can do what's best for him because that's the type of people we are over here on energizer's book jack wright's eyes in terms of his style you know he's again you if jack carter is fine you're not missing it you're tuning in you're watching him he's not again very well-rounded i don't know we know i'm just kind of like that knockout striker but he's got very good wrestling as well but in terms of you know made from five of the cage or his title definitely you know he deserves a cage for his title but if he if he ends up on that september card on the ufc i don't think anyone would bat an eyelid no absolutely no what do you think nathan's celine is as well because like obviously we had we hadn't eaten on a few times and he's also grown like physically and his mindset is so bulletproof it's actually it's very very commendable um how far do you think you can go all the way i think yeah oh yeah sure 100 percent and i think he knows that as well which is important but but when i say he knows that this isn't you know he's walking like egotistical no not at all not in the slightest but he does i know he does a lot of kind of um i don't know if you call it mental training but it's very much kind of positive feedback and you know he he had this little calendar on his instagram the other day where you're crushing up the days and have like uh maybe like an inspirational quote at the end of the week or something he's you know he is very much kind of if you look at my career and you can pick holes in my career and saying i've not really led i've not gone in that kind of straight path if you're looking at someone who's progressing his career perfectly and took the right fight smashed him out of the park it's nathan fletcher he's done everything right and that's that's not me saying he's had easy fights he's had super tough fights the last two fights i've been you know having nails really good really good opponents and he's again he's just made them look you know like second tier fighters and they were you know these guys if you're going to boo land he's yeah yeah he's yeah he's experienced he's playing top five in europe i actually think it's awesome that nathan fletcher's previous five opponents going into this fight had a record of something like 22 and four and like he got them all out there and then you know yeah uh brian boulance on top it's like 32 and eight or something like that well eight including the native fletcher lost now uh so like he he he actually is next level i can see him going the hallway to the top i could see him competing with the top five in the ufc right now but i think he's also smart i think he'll take his time getting up there as well and uh you know he has a he has all the makings of a superstar as well and sometimes i think he doesn't realize how remarkable he he could be himself like he he could be an absolute superstar he better not be listening if you're listening fast forward there's been yeah but like i could see the ufc definitely taking a rocket ship and strapping it to his back when he gets there because he has all the become an absolute global superstar i know we i talked to nathan quite a lot i don't really train my name quite a lot because obviously the weight difference is so so uh it's so big but even in terms of saying that we talk a lot about being podcasts and whatnot and now he says i love doing podcasts because you know when i am getting interviewed you know by on the on the ufc academy fight i'm gonna be a little bit more loose and i'm gonna be more used to it and be more confident and obviously then you know that'll sell you further to the fans and stuff so he's right very professional his approach and i think he's what was he like 23 24 or something like that yeah he's got another 15 years left to find if he wants it you know so you know he's very well he's the full package now god knows what he's going to be liking kind of two three years time absolutely and then i just wanted to take a shift on to that the next world title fight and goes this this one like pulled at the heart strings as well yeah joe mccalligan winning that lightweight belt is there a noise for going under the cage warriors banner than joe mccalligan he is such a blue collar hard-working fella he works a full-time job and then i've seen it going around the floyd academy ireland guys are sharing it and people are talking about it now i've said a trend full camp joe mcculligan is a real thing same as a motivated bj penn or trt bell for full comp john mccollum it's the first time he's had a full camp in a very long point and my god didn't make a difference he beat aggie sadari for every second that fight went on aggie couldn't get anything off and that's so unlike aggie as well his thing is sort of to go around the edge of the fence and sort of nick rounds he's very good at stealing rounds he couldn't get anything off against joe joe was incredible in this fight and it was the performance of his career and earned him one of those beautiful cage warriors belts what did you think of a man i think you kind of summed it up there he dominated every second of the round there was there's not one moment where sadari looked like he was going to control or would turn the tide i've not really spoke ever spoke to joe but i've obviously saw the fight when he fought mason jones and that must have been very disappointing i always kind of like that the comeback story you know i know we didn't have the full training confirmation and then he's gone back he fought uh kieran lister knocked him out a really good fight against vince caren um and unless you say that i can't really think of anybody else in that division who deserves it more than him and like i said i don't know the fellow but i'm very pleased for him yeah he he's uh he's just he's just so annoying when you when he gets talked new music he just he's so humble and like he he sort of said look if you know that's the pinnacle of my career so be it i'm happy to never find ufc you know i mean this is something that he's just very passionate about and that it was just great to see to see him uh put a lot together and you mean and i don't know just those floyd academy ireland lads you know i mean that they're they're really doing something great over there and i felt like between next gen and floyd academy ireland like they were the guys they were the two gyms that really smash it actually uh high level in scotland as well uh they had a great trilogy series as well look not everyone could be a winner you know what i mean and that's that's the thing about the sport and it it it is rough but like and i do feel like with the trilogy series you definitely feel you know you obviously set the tone for next-gen and like it definitely you know kept that ball rolling uh uh we'll touch on carol mulholland um and colin wilson's fight in a minute but like um i think that definitely sort of you know those two lads obviously saw their teammates from champions going into that fight uh it definitely you know encouraged them and basma was there anyone else on friday you want to give a mention to yeah um i think i think everyone can agree that the funniest person on the trilogy was harry hardwick just uh what he was coming out with it was just hilarious and um also the knockout of dominic wooding and knocking out cameron hardy that was that was probably the most variable knockout of the whole entire week yeah put on my respect on dominic warden's name and then get him on the main card next time because uh he's no joke um he wasn't impressed he was on the prelims so i wouldn't like to be very boring in their next meme yeah well then we may as well move on to saturday night yeah i suppose we sort of torched on it straight away um look as it was alluding to earlier it's a bit rough when you when you take an l and conor wilson obviously beat caramel holland in the amateurs and funnily enough i think out of and i'm going to include nathan fletcher's first round finishing this i don't think anyone had a better round than conor wilson did in that first round against karen mull holland and it was a very one-sided first round uh i don't say that lightly because uh kieron seems like but he is a lovely guy we had him on the show before the uh fourth flight but you know what i actually text him on thursday night after you won and said look here ma also lost his first two profiles i'm looking them now and he i was like taking sprays from that i'm believing yourself um that's totally true uh he he went in there um you know what he wrapped up that guillotine it was a very awkward angle and he got the job done and really really happy for him but also good for conor wilson as well it was actually very much a tale of two toys at that point and obviously conor was doing so well with the uh striking aspect of the fight i think his confidence was going through the roof and then obviously he he let the ball slip but his ceiling looks very very high as well matt what's what's connor like in the gym um what do you see his healing being i think out of anyone out of next gen obviously our main coach is paul rimmer paul rimmer has got the most amount of kind of um he thinks conor's going to be a world champion i think he thinks he's going to go all the way it's the kind of blend of that karate style he's got really good wrestling he's jiu-jitsu he's very good um and he's he's a top he's such a nice kid as well he's going to be absolutely devastated with that i think he was quite emotional after the fight as well in the cage i was actually having a tattoo at the time so i was having a tattoo and then watching this this kind of wilson fight at the same time and i was i was gutted for him because you know you know what it is we have two guys uh joel downey cave and we had connor wilson and it was both their first time on cage warriors and when i was speaking to them they they might kind of disagree with this but if he sounded so nervous going in because it while is such a big stage you know if if any of those two would have won the fights you would have been signed to a contract you win you win all the fights on the contract you get a world title you win a world title go to the fc so i think it might have been the pressure and kind of that anticipation again which may have thrown through on both of them off but kind of rebuild he's been doing his karate for kind of 10 15 years and stuff so i'd imagine he knows how to take a loss and he'll come back and rebuild from it but this is this is why we watch mma because you can one guy can smash the first round and the second guy can pull a guillotine out of his ass that's this is what makes it so exciting to watch so well congratulations to that kieran but you know conor will definitely be back and he'll he'll make a statement in his next fight yeah we want to give a shout out to adam colon as well we didn't mention that on thursday yeah oh actually yeah uh he also won by rear naked choke him and nathan are giving each other a serious stick over who puts up the better numbers in the in the crossfit so uh shout out to adam clone as well and then also read right uh karen mulholland what a guillotine yeah i was there saying the bars it was reminiscent of that i don't know if you remember much remember cody mckenzie it was like one of those guillotines it wasn't it was it was very very awkward angle i think i think him being so long a flyweight definitely gave him uh the advantage with that joke he's big he's a big fly away you know i was shocked how much bigger than than connery was right right he must have been like two or three inch and connor at least um yeah like i say well done to care again another guy i don't really know but he's again it's quite nice to see these guys i've lost come back and win it's just not nice to see winning against my training partners yeah yeah but did like carol was coming off the two losses and then he had to drop down the flyweight so we were it was there was obviously a lot more pressure on him than people want to let him know and then when he came out the win it was just uh it was great to see for him and his family and uh and then everyone moves on uh before we get into the main event i'm sure everyone wants to hear what we have to say about that uh stevie mcintosh defeated decky mclean by rear naked choke uh ross do you think stevie did enough there to get a total shot next um i'm not too sure i just think uh meddy ben lacker um is probably still next in line just due to like that the floyd deck he does a lot of clinch work in it and it wasn't uh it wasn't as clean as i think it would be to make a statement for for a total shot and i just think medy seems to have a lot of fans as well like uh written all over the john mcculligan sort of posts as many ben lacquer next it reminds a bit of uh morgan charlie morgan chariot fights like i've never met a morgan cherry film but like when you're online that's all you see is morgan chariot fans so uh i think it does hold a bit of weight so uh maybe uh stevie voigt's a paul redmond next uh rumor has it that uh paul redmond and uh medi match uh matchup is being put back rescheduled yeah but lads we're gonna have to talk about the saturday main event uh ian gary defeating jack grant by decision like matt like obviously you saw this as well in the bill up to it he went on hiatus he said and then all of a sudden this is all coming out now that he got that he's not part of team kf and like ian was on our show when he was like oh wanna know russ wasn't oh if he even yeah yeah i think he just came off as first we in a cage we first saw ian gary on the 16th of september 2018 before he made his pro debut he was doing a k1 kickboxing match against a guy called andreas binder who's uh quite big on the irish local scene yeah and i was like right he's definitely one to watch and we followed his career since he was on our show i think february 26th i think 2019 10 days after his first cage warriors win so like talk about ogs of the being gary fight game like it doesn't get much much bigger than that but look he he put on an absolute clinic uh comes out of the night and take nothing away from jack grant jack grant as tough as nails that skinny power is real he's got one hell of a chin on him ian gary's knocked out many a man and i think he put that jab on his face all night he landed some big right hands he landed some uh big left head kicks and jack rant i don't even think he was wobbled at any stage it was very very impressive and the little bit of gamesmanship in the fifth round you know jack krab was like sorry boom and then next you know he rolls for a knee bar and it was it was very very entertaining uh especially for such a warm sided fight when someone was clearly winning all the rounds and i i you were still always wary that jack grant's submission game is so strong that you know at any moment things could change especially when he was going for a lot of those leg locks and mark tell us what you thought of the fight it was an entertaining fight it really was um for me there was i i i kind of felt like there was too much back and forth with the talking in terms of i respect you and well i respect you as well kind of saying a little bit to your best mate we were more saying that before they fought when they were like backstage i was like can you not do that bit of hugging like after the fight 100 i think i think you shake hands before you wish your opponent good luck and then you catch up afterwards and and maybe then you have you you're hogging your you know your compliments and stuff [Laughter] i don't know if i was gonna kiss frederick at any point to be fair but um maybe we would have to turn it over maybe you could kiss our taxi [Laughter] just a quick one i thought there was a little bit too much back and forth oh it was entertaining and like usually jack grant has got a hell of a chin and a hell of a ground game yeah i think actually going so well await and then not putting so much weight down to lightweight he's done him an awful lot good for his gym because he has been wobbled a little bit kind of early in his career when he was dropping away you might not he's he's a solid well-awaited in terms of his build looks very good and solid um being gary obviously you know he looked very good he was catching him with that high kick and the jab and the backhand i actually thought he looked quite a little bit nervous going in which i kind of think was maybe all this drama with his with his team and not on his normal corner there yeah oh i think just sorry just to touch on that i think when the cameras were on him when he very first started walking out i don't think he knew the cameras were on him and then when he actually sort of made his way into the tent i'm gonna call it it was like a switch where he was like right be confident now and then he was confident but he looked very uncomfortable before that is that the part we were sort of touching on i i yeah i even think it passed the fight where he was backing off a little bit more when jack grant was coming forward and talking to him um i i think he did look a little bit kind of vulnerable in points and i've never seen him look like that before when he's had chris field barking at him and supporting him through the rounds it's i don't it's interesting what's going down there i don't suppose i'll ever find out really what's happened but you know i've met me and gary a couple of times and he's been very polite respectful i thought james webb was coached by chris fields and he was very polite and respectful so to me doesn't really matter what's going on but it's a bit of a shame that it's all kind of kicked off and all ended up in the fashion that it has but we'll see what happens is ian gary going to go to ufc now is that what's going to happen it pretty much looks like it's from what he says it's it's a given i've been very interested to see what you know what you can accomplish yeah russ like obviously people are tuning in now because everyone thinks that we know everything because that's what we're doing so do you want to just you want to say something well look uh obviously tkf come out with their statement you know i mean uh that they they ever look everyone has to look after their own interests obviously ian made his statement that you know he felt like he was left 10 days out from the point obviously um they felt that ian made some actions against the ethos of their team and you know what the truth probably law is somewhere in the middle because that's what what they say you know i mean yeah there's two toys to every story and the truth generally lies somewhere in the middle and for me i just think it's it's a great shame because they were like such a dynamic duo christine and i thought they were going to go all the way to the top especially for irish fans it's a bit like uh sad to see uh i i just do find it uh strange to see where is he gonna go from uh here on now where is he gonna train next i do find it uh strange that someone could be a world champion without a gym um sure where they'll end up so uh look i'm sure time will tell i'm sure um you know we might find out more we might not there could be um a rekindling they could be able to hash things out you know i mean maybe you know you will say he did wrong and his part and chris will say they did wrong on on their part and you know that they'll make up you know i mean at the end of the day i'm sure if they uh got around the table and hashed it out they could uh definitely sort it out but uh i have to say big shout out to paul hughes cornering two world title fights yeah one way off the other a victorious boat and i have said um polyu's quarterman of the year 2021 and i saw severe may tweet that out just want to say i always said that first and so uh yeah absolute uh legend and you know what i've never spoke to paul used about this but i think he would make a very good coach uh post-void career which is strange to say about someone who's so young in their profile career but i just think from a technicality standpoint um from a mindset uh point he is absolutely phenomenal foid iq and we've we've said that for a while now uh barry that his void iq is was beyond his ears and then no better man to have in his corner uh also i don't know if you knew this map what did you hear they said on the broadcast that rainbow didn't nearly pull the fight and i don't gary jack graham fight because uh i think from a legal standpoint you must have a corner uh for your voice we was kind of talking about this before the fight went when it was kind of made clear that that was his attention was to fight without a corner anything even even okay even less legal but what about him he was going to give him his water in between rounds and stuff like that and he's going to give him the still to sit on if that's what he wants yeah it didn't really make make much sense to me you know just have somebody there who's going to kind of maybe they're not going to give you massive amounts of ice cream between rounds but at least have someone there who's gonna be able to give you wall should sit you down and relax you a little bit but yeah yeah he seems very friendly with paul hughes the only thing i want to know is what day did he go your road there what day did he ask paul used through the corner uh yeah look they're they're very friendly i know for a fact they talk all the time so he he it could have been prearranged before he got there and you know just one was the word well everyone was dying just for the end of the round to happen because i think it was close near the end of the first round and then it was like right ended around it what's actually happening i also want to i also want to say something as well like like obviously we've been following me in the hallway through and then like 10 days out this happens and like we're very passionate about promoting the fights and all this cracking because we love the sport and it was actually so heartbreaking to know that like they were about to become it was about to almost become an iconic duo i know obviously the whole team's involved but chris and ian like if you look back at the conor and john cabinet stuff it was almost like this could have been the next wave like people would have put them both together and it's just like when that happened it was just i felt i felt sort of not not saving because it came world champion but just like that moment like a picture so differently than just being by himself and it was just it must be very hard for him as well because he puts on this very confident persona and he is confident let's not get that wrong it was just you know under a lot of people that have emotions and that it was just like he would like you could picture chris put him on the shoulders that sort of thing and then to not have that it was actually very very disappointing but i mean like who knows as time goes on people like uh they rekindle their friendships and all that stuff you know together again i'm not sure you know i just i'm not i'm really not sure because i mean if you think chris fields knew that if he and gary was going to win that fight he's going to the ufc he's not just going to become a cage where he's world champion he's going to go to fc yeah so i imagine there must be some kind of big dramatic thing that's happened for those two to kind of go the separate ways again it's not for me to know what to find out but i'm also doing something significant to kind of for that to happen it's impossible not to talk about it one of the biggest talking points of the whole week as well you know definitely matt one thing we do know is ian gary does have have that big eo and he is a unique talent how would you feel if he said he won a map on her next and he wanted to try for champions how would you feel about that fight i'd be comfortable i'd be comfortable that that would be something that would um that'd be something that would get me out of the bed in the morning get me training certainly um there's a lot of eyes on ian gary which is obviously you know he would go in as a favorite i would imagine which is absolutely fine by me because i'm i'm never the favorite i'm always the underdog um and i always kind of thrive off that but i would i would be very interested in that fight if that was to come along would you be watching that fight yeah well you know loads of people from cage workers are tuning in now to listen and yeah obviously we were talking about that as well like uh like i mean the whole thing is right you put two fellas in and then like you promote them and then like you see other um they're following and everything and people be more invested and then they build on that and building that and obviously if my father and those people know that more and then it builds and builds you just have to keep building up that platform as well but uh we're like matt i have a question at the very end to ask you before so we just wrap up this trilogy because we basically covered it there um what like what really impressed you about cage warriors like whether it be the production or the way grains running things and like the stuff we wouldn't see behind the scenes what really really impressed you it's very smooth especially because now i'm i think is it the third or fourth trilogy or whatever it is yeah it's so smoothly done you can't afford it not to be because on your c fight pass you've got all these time slots you have to be you know the show has to start at nine o'clock it has to finish up this time all the runners there behind the scenes of guys who've been there for like the last at least three or four years everyone knows what the job is everyone knows what to do the wanes are always on time um everything every everything is very professionally dawn and i can't i can't really say something a bad thing about any of the experience well they pay for all your travel expenses they pay for i think they give you 20 quid a day for food and stuff and all the rest of it so honestly there's not really anything i can complain about it's a very professional race move and i imagine that's why it was such a quite an easy transition to the fc because imagine you know the cage or is a pretty much as smooth as you have ceo yeah also also it was very funny on the thursday the the prelims were always quick yeah the premium foilers were too eager to get the job that was trilogy series i hope cage workers post pandemic keep the cage wires strategy series at least twice a year we were saying what john mccollum before and you probably feel the same at least you know when you finish this trilogy you have an idea when the next trilogy is so you know what date you're getting ready for and it works out a lot better for the fighters um i'll give my last question to matt ross all right yeah go on okay obviously you lost your first two pro fights now you're sitting there with the the gold what can you say to people at home now like that are fighting or getting into fighting and then they take two losses and then obviously you're a result of like hard work dedication moving gym going and getting the gold like what can you say to people that like fall of the the star twice so go back and then push on what can you say to them i i'd very much say don't it's not a case of or i've lost fights i just need to keep working at it and i'm eventually going to get there that you have to you have to take something from the loss i'll change something afterwards we've talked about my big change being moving to next gen you know if if i had to just i was very tenacious and i was very kind of um you know very dedicated even before i went next gen but it was it's not enough it's not enough you have to be around the right coaches the right team makes the right training partners so that's what i would say to people you know if you're getting armed five times in a row then you need to work on your own bar defense that's obviously a very obvious thing you know now if you're if you're losing because you're gassing out every round that's something you need to change so i'll take the losses but don't don't just take them and say i'm going to try harder next time you have to make a fundamental change to your to your training routine um again mom was going next shane and you know and getting myself out of my comfort zone and doing that um something like george smith for example you know he he's lost twice in a row and he's lost twice on the feet one to myself and one to make stanton what would say he needs to go to a boxing gym and really get some proper sparring rounds and get used to getting hit when he gets hit now it looks like it's the first time he's ever been in the face so that that's my advice to people you know make the change don't just kind of keep hitting your head against that brick wall you've got to change direction and and try something else words from the champ ross to say uh yeah i've actually have one or two little uh shout outs to uh shout out to liam gittins as well he was a another next gen lad who picked up a w over the weekend i didn't get a mention uh shout out to paddy the buddy piml obviously we're at on next gen turf right here and shout out to the wonder ufc superstars um meatball molly mccann they were very vocal uh across the weekend on their social media about the crew and then i actually want to give a shout out to patrick mcallister from floyd academy ireland and paul rimmer as well i think they're two of the most underrated head coaches across europe and i think they're two of the very most elite and i think they need to be given more respect more respect needs to be put on their name because they are absolutely elite coaches uh they are doing incredible things for their team i'm sure matt you'll agree with that as well 100 and you've also got um ellie sampson who's kind of second in command at next gen and that adventure as well uh certainly lse's i mean he's 20 29 30 years old and he he's certainly the guy you can see kind of um taking off where where parham room is gonna you know eventually leave or whatever you know paul remember ever retired at least he's you know accepting command and he'll do it he'll do a very good job he's very good yeah absolutely he could be really longo though i never go also also a shout out to who el chaplin for keeping the standard of uh well a fashion at the highest of highs as well the main yeah the voicemail you're the man and my almost like thanks a million for your time if you have watched this video you're obviously probably you've had a little map on it the way we did make sure to head over to instagram give him a follow you won't regret it i'm going to say he's the derrick lewis of cage where you're a skinny man but with with with with the belt with the belt uh and if you have enjoyed this video just make sure to like make sure to subscribe make sure to share it because it actually means a lot to us and it helps us grow our platform to grow the platform for the fighter so we'll get more design as well and it does indeed help us get more fires on barry take it away yeah anything else to say before we wrap it up uh i'll just like say thanks for you guys for having me on it's been a pleasure uh thanks to all my sponsors who've supported me during camp and uh if anybody wants to message me on on any social media pages the more they're welcome to yeah perfect and also you're gonna have to update your linkedin with that with the belt so if you are new make sure to like share subscribe and as always stay energized