Cody O’Conor | Akuma Fighting Championship 19

Summary

Cody O’Conor | Akuma Fighting Championship 19 Cody O’Conor put on a dominant performance at Akuma Fighting Championship 19, showcasing superb grappling, back to back takedowns, and smart control to earn this victory. Cody reflects on the hard work and discipline that led to the…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

All [Applause] right, everyone. Welcome back. Akuma Fighting Championship. I have here Mr. Cody O' Conor. First of all, congratulations. Thank you. >> Uh it was a pretty dominant fight on your behalf. How do you feel about it? >> Fantastic. Fantastic. A lot of work was put in. I couldn't have done it without my teammates and my family and it was hard going hard going. >> Right. So, one one of the things I'd really have to compliment you on is your attention to your corner. Everything Richie was saying like within a second or two you were doing it. You were getting it done. Like how or like I'm trying to say like um so your attention to that kind of detail in listening to Richie like clearly it paid off. Is that something that you normally do? >> Yes. When I don't listen to Richie, I always lose. When I do listen to Richie, he always wins. He's one of the best coaches I could ever have. And his advice is just A1. A couple times I didn't listen to him and I paid the price for it. So, it was very good. Like I said, it was a very dominating uh performance on your behalf. You kept uh you got several several several great takedowns. You picked them right up, put them right on the ground. And you It's almost as if you were able to uh uh kind of shift them right to your corner, too. Which was which was to your advantage having Richie there? >> Absolutely. I've been working on my grappling a lot. I struck for the most I have in a long time. Still bit uncomfortable on the feet when a guy's like as good as he is tagging you on the feet like you know. So yeah, grappling was where I knew I could win. >> You were able to get right in there um right in beyond his strike or in his striking zone. Um, so he wasn't able to land any like solid um like straits or hooks or anything on you. And uh you you kept your head head to his chest or head head right behind his uh uh elbow or his shoulder there. And like I said, you were able to get those double legs and take him right down and then constant uh constantly in the scrambles. Um you maintained a leg of his and then you took that to a takedown. Is that something that you like you train to do every day? Well, when it comes to my grappling, I'm better at holding people down and taking people down than I am and submitting them. So, that's just the truth about it. So, yeah, wanted to take not as much damage cuz in my last amateur, I took a bit of damage. I was told no beer for a month and got up a few points and after this hard two months, it was very hard two months of training and discipline. >> Right on. So, like planwise, what was your plan coming into this? And then did you like did you stick with it? >> Tag him up on the field a little bit and get to get him to the ground and submit him ground and pound TO but he was tough enough to stay in there which ended up being a decision. >> Right on. Um so with this victory in mind like what what are you what are you taking out of this fight into your next one? >> More confidence. Just more confidence overall. I came into this as a no and one amateur. Now I'm one and one which is very great for me and I'm very happy with it. >> So big confidence booster on my part. >> Do you have any plans for the rest of the year fighting wise or do you are you just going to kind of take it I think >> going to do one or two more amateurs. Definitely one maybe two. >> Excellent. Well I guess what what are your kind of your overall goals in the sport? What do you want to do with this? either become the best MMA fighter possible, become a coach one day, and just overall build a build a career out of martial arts. >> Excellent. >> If nothing if nothing else. >> Awesome. You know, that seems to be, you know, the the training call for everyone here tonight. Um, what what about combat sports like really drew you into it? Like why why do you why do you do this? Like why do you like getting into fights? It's just the greatest sport in the world. First of all, there's nothing better than watching two best two class fighters fight. And also, MMA, I do believe, is a better sport than other martial arts cuz it's mixing them all together. And it really does prove who's the best fighter overall. Like a box, like being the best boxer in the world is fantastic and all, don't get that wrong. And you will beat up most people. But if you don't know how to do a takedown, defend a takedown, if you don't know basic submissions, then boxing is not as good as just mixed martial arts as a whole. Yeah, for sure. Um, is there an aspect of your training that you kind of use every single day, you know, even when you're outside of the gym? >> Oh, that's a good question. Um, consistency. >> Okay. >> Consistency. I train twice a day, very hard. 7:00 in the morning, one session, and then 2 hours in the evening. And yeah, hard work pays off. I really do. >> Right on. Um, so a lot of people, one of the things I like to do is, uh, talk about like the mental health aspects of combat sports. Is there anything in particular that combat sports has done to help you with your mental health? >> Confidence. >> Confidence. And just just being knowing just knowing that you can handle yourself in situations that you can protect loved ones as well. >> Right on. Uh look, man, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much. >> I look forward to watching you fight again and hopefully have another conversation. >> Thank you. I'm looking forward to the next interview. >> Yes, sir. Thank you, brother. >> Thank you. Heyoo. Hey. Hey.