Will Fleury | Oktagon 68, Champ Champ Fight & Irish MMA | The Energized Show

Summary

What is up and welcome to The Energized Show! On this episode SBG Ireland's Will Fleury joins us to discuss his upcoming return at Oktagon 68 Stuttgart, his Champ Champ Fight & Irish MMA. Like, Comment, Subscribe & Hit the notification bell for more Energized Shows! Youtube …

Transcript (youtube_captions)

di Joy show op the orish time okay what's going on guys and welcome to a brand new episode of energized brought to you by or Kings competitions Russ are you intoxicated or something introduce the guest man today we have the Octagon light heavyweight champion it's the Care Bear it's a tiporary line it's the one and only will [ __ ] flurry will how you doing my friend I'm good man I'm good care bear I love that lot of people forgot Care Bear yeah yeah man you're a man who's had many many nicknames you're one of the very few fighters who have also been to my masa for a cup of tea one of the first ever guests we had on the podcast so uh will great to have you here great to have you here well I feel like for ages you were trying to find your lane in the sport or fin to find the right you know fight promotion that was home for you and I feel like you've done that you know we've seen you in Bellator we've seen you pfl we've seen the UA Warriors you know you seem to be very embraced by octagon and now you're going for champ champ salus you're going for the heavyweight belt do you think if you know you asked most of the population of M fans they said will flurry is going for champ champ satus SL heavyweight champ do you think they would have thought you would have went back down to middleweight probably but this opportunity came up and it wasn't going to let it go so you know I think that could be a triple jump to be honest I think after I win this belt I could potentially go down it's more just what's the incentive so there's a couple of options open once I do this but the main thing is like G man Toof is a tough fighter I'm focused on him right now but there's a lot of possibilities out there you know yeah well I think this one actually excited me more because I'm like well I've seen you know we've seen you wi the UAE Warriors middleweight title and I was like now heavy way I got this is a new challenge it's exciting like there's a high possibility you'll probably be like a bet and Underdog going into this one just because you know it's your heavyweight debut fighting for the belt like this this is like the things dreams are made of and you're going to fight H over in stockart a place that Ireland has made famous like how excited are you for this opportunity yeah it's cool like look I think within the last year everything I've done has become kind of bigger and bigger step by step and obviously going for this double chop thing it's pretty huge but it's funny because you just get into the mindset of like okay cool next challenge it's very kind of routine you know everything for the last year has just been like cool new challenge okay what's next so like you know The Knockout in Frankfurt was a pretty class experience fighting with the broken hand was a different feeling um that time and that felt like the biggest achievement to be honest I felt like once I'd done that I was kind of like okay cool all bets are off the doors are open and possibilities are endless now uh but I obious have to go away and get surgery on that but since I came back from the Frankfurt fight and even like within a couple of seconds of knocking ler out I was over calling caros out and like my mind's just been focused on like okay cool how can I make this as big as possible and so far I'm killing it with that and like like they rang me I fought on Sunday evening and on Thursday night I got the call about this fight and it was literally zero hesitation in my mind it wasn't like oh you know when's it going to be or anything they said you want to fly to for everyone yeah cool and then I was like okay when is it what's the crap when you know it's like the details don't matter I'm gonna do it but like let me know anyway for [ __ ] sake so yeah like it's um it's been a bit of a my journey and this definitely is very exciting but it's weird how casual it all feels as well yeah like I I I think like this is definitely probably the best run of performances we've seen out of you um you know the head and arm against give was brilliant um obviously the H knockout against Langer went pure viral uh that that that was like almost like your your com out party for octagon that you're like will will will [ __ ] flurry has arrived and he's taking out prisoners and then just pure domination over an absolute veteran of the sport UFC veteran in verola um you know will flurry everything you're touching at the moment is turning to gold and uh that gos about the Double H in stard so I for one definitely can't wait to say it um obviously us or fans are probably newer to the Octagon um brand and promotion and obviously you've been studying these guys now because you know ever since you stepped into the division what can we expect from Tod he's a tidy fighter so like look I think he's probably the best guy I've fought so far in octagon um his overall record is 11- six but he was actually two and five and now he's won nine out of his last 10 fights so since then he's gone nine and one and uh yeah like even the only fight he lost in that period of time was ttif muel who's the former champ and that was a very close fight like a lot of people think he won that fight as she so I'm not underestimating the guy at all I think like he's very fast for a heavyweight you know he moves quite well for a heavyweight too um so we're basically both big line heavyweights wen't going to cut and I see the skill set he's bringing and I'm like look he's a solid fighter he's probably the best guy I've fought so far but I feel like I can smash guys like him you know and again I've been showing that for the last year that that's the level I'm at I've done the work to be at that level now it's on me to go in there and prove that on the E of March you know so I'm very excited about this one I did like it's definitely a challenge and I respect the challenge than it is and even moving up to a new way class like you were saying it's like yeah you're probably the underdog here but I don't feel like look I know I have to do the work to be you know physically prepared for this one because it's a higher weight class and you know the guys could be huge in future you never know but I feel like mentally and [ __ ] skill set wise I'm extremely well prepared for this and with that being said well uh obviously you touch on the wave Factor like you know come fight night when when you're fighting at you know 205 what would you sort of walk into the cage at and then obviously you don't want to put on too much size or too much weight that would compromise your speed and your movement so like how do you navigate that and who do you discuss that with kind of just thought about it for a while myself so I was on holidays the week I got the call and um I came back training about five days afterwards and my whole thing was like I'm not going to gain that much I'm just going to eat and be healthy and see where I end up at and that's what I've done so far so normally if I was walking in for light heavyweight fight I'd be about 105 kilos and I'd spend most of the camp about that roughly and then i' like two or three weeks out I'd dropped down a bit and I'd be like 101 102 and then the last week I'd be just cutting the weight and making the night tree um for this one if I walk into the cage at 107 that'd be good we'll see like I'm not really like obviously I don't have to do anyway cutter like that so it's kind of like how much water did you drink the night before and all that type of things so I'm not gonna like I'm not you know nutritionally I'm done that massively different I'm not trying to put on a significant amount of weight I'm basically just fueling the body and Performing as well as I can and like like you said the last thing you want to do is go in as a different athlete like where you're losing your speed a little bit you're not used to moving the body you have that was one of the things when I was like put on all the way to go up to light heavyweight it was like yeah it takes a while for your heart to get used to carrying that extra bit of weight so I know if I was trying to do that quite quickly in the space of six or eight weeks your body's just not going to respond well to that so I know myself that I can beat up heavyweight with the B like where I am now and it's just on me to be smart about how I approach that in the tactics sense you up the raw bastard we're going to see the raw version yet cuz uh no way C that's that's that's a dangerous will flurry H will actually I did want to ask you I did want to ask you unlimited Sports Unlimited Sports I did want to ask you H obviously someone who you would have trained with quite a lot Johnny Walker has gone back to well he's gone to Vegas permanently um how often were you training with Johnny and is that is that a big body you'll miss it's definitely a GU on Miss yeah and we were together quite a lot so Johnny and Carl would have been my main training partners for the last five years he came in 2019 and then he was gone for a little while and then back again but for most of the last five years he's been here pretty much Non-Stop and he would have been you know Carl kind of fights and then he's gone for a few months and then he's back and you know me and Carl will be best mates when he's here but he's not always here Johnny was always here so that was great and when he left it was it sucks you know and I'll go over to Vegas and I'll see him a good bit like you know even he's been inviting me over nonstop and like I'm definitely going to head over uh cuz I freak out there now as well which is sweet so it's like it's kind of cool to have that option in a way but I've got it he's gone too so that has sucked in one way but then it's just another incentive to get out and travel and see more like you know I love trending over in Vegas I've been over a few times already so it's just another incentive to go but I wish he was still here to be honest yeah he's there you're made Sean stricking as well so you have a few buddies over there exactly yeah yeah no and Eric and like you know the lads get on well with everybody in the gym it's a great place man no absolutely it's just uh sad to see him leave for your for your sake I suppose uh but look it is what it is so with that being said then where where are the big buddies coming from then if Carl's not in the gym as well at Mount car's just come back thank God time yeah it really was so like Johnny was got about three weeks and then car r back in which was like oh thank God because up until then I was going to head over to Manchester and I was going to go back to Birmingham so I trained the Renegade a little bit coming up to the longer fight um just because Johnny had just broke his nose shortly after that or shortly before that um so he wasn't around much for those couple of weeks um so this has happened in the past I was going to have to go away again but then Carl came back and I was like are you definitely here and he was like yeah yeah I'm around and he has been In fairness to him so he's been my Main's SP partner and my main trainer partner for all of this and then like I have Mohammad in the gym as well and mohammad's really high level like people massively underestimate how good moham is I think he's beating jrod now so everybody kind of knows but like in terms of skill set he's an incredible young lad and he's big guy too so like it's great having him around and then look there's big bodies like Kanan smallen I've been doing a lot of sperm with the last year as well and kiran's hands are very tidy you know I feel like I went over to Birmingham and I was SP guys who are considered really high level Fighters and back and bar Kon I was like Kon SS are probably better than a lot of these Lads um so there's a lot of talent and a lot of big guys who are talented in the country it's just kind of get them all together I think it's just we're we're rare so it's kind of you know you have to organize people to be where they need to be I thought like I can just show up on a day and expect her to be some high level big lad there training with us there isn't going to be different as are just sort of Jiu-Jitsu Specialist or like they just do jiu-jitsu or you know mean or like you go meet someone you know who's just a boxer or something that it's hard to find the high level larger m mads and I think like yourself and Carl Moore few and far between but like no no better body to go against than a big F bestman like him because he's an absolute year of an individual when we had the three of us here it was amazing because like I don't think there are many gyms around Europe that I can go to even that have that many you know high level big Lads like you can go elsewhere and they big Lads but they're probably not great to be honest so like me Carl and Johnny all been here based here for a good while we really did you know we leveled up on each other a lot like and I got some great training in in those years and I'm really glad we had those but like I still think like if you're willing to travel to SP for a couple of weeks to go anywhere most of it is just developing your skill set outside of that and just having that Curiosity and having that bit of passion about it because like look you're saying they're like all individual guys they have like different skill sets you know so some of those guys are on you to guys I've probably learned more from friending with Le Mohamad and some of the other young lads who were coming out like Ryan Dawn and you know all these young lads who just like they're bringing a new passion and they're bringing a bz to it that you know I have to remind myself like okay yeah you're very experienced in some of this stuff but there's new stuff out there man like the new stuff's like you know as long as you're willing to adapt to what's going on and like you know use your experience but at the same time have an open mind towards what's coming it keeps you young in a way and it keeps you kind of hungry to keep learning and I'm really glad that I have them Lads around in the chy as well like because you know it keeps you openminded and it keeps you kind of like on your toes a little bit as well because like you know Mohammad has [ __ ] me up on a regular basis and Ryan Don's caught me with a few leg locks once or twice as well it's like oh [ __ ] I have to keep learning here you know if I want to be the boss you gotta stay on top of [ __ ] like you know so like it's cool I love that bu is it just a bit of fresh freshness you'd say will sorry is it just a bit of freshness you'd say yeah but also like it's interesting as in like if you're doing the same [ __ ] again and again it gets very tedious and you get a bit like you're just training for another fight whereas if you're coming in and there's something new and there's a new leg lock sequence or there's a new like way of passing or there's a new like I separate the guy's hips or I do this when I'm in this position and like look I've been working a little bit with on block who's in the high performance team the last kind of three years nearly now but like always adding new things to my game or I'm always trying to add new things to my game and like always trying to kind of develop a new skill set and develop a new thing and like you know find little details to refly the skill set that you already have without all that stuff it'll be really boring it' be really tedious and like there are times where it's kind of like ah nothing's really that exciting right now and there are the harder days to go training but it's like if you still have a reason that you want to go because you want to learn something you want to progress you want to get better at something it's much easier to justify the effort and I feel like that's what a lot of guys who just fight lack because there's a different mentality to fighting it's like just be in shape just be ready just be mentally strong blah BL blah all that but stay learning too you know and they're different thing like I feel like the period I learned most was 2021 which was a year where I couldn't really fight I just lost the Bellator contract and like I was on a yeah I was on a win streak at that stage but at the same time it was like right I have to go away and [ __ ] not fight for a while and Co was shutting everything down but I couldn't believe how much I learned that year and then I realized like well actually if you can just integrate that mentality into when you're fighting as well of like should just be playful just have a laugh just like explore things and you know when it's fight night you're gonna be pretty [ __ ] serious about that anyway because some guy's gonna be trying to whoop your ass but if you've taken the last few weeks of training more as like a game you're going to be a hell of a lot better and you're going to have a much more advanced understanding of what you're about to do big time man like oh I think it's great to see you be so open to training I think uh something that could be cool obviously said you were training Renegade but maybe if uh give Tomas show shout because he he has like pure heavyweight only basically I know uh well James web's trained there as well so like that could be cool that could be nice place for you to get in with to get a you know if you went over there that's where I even myself Carl the first week Carl was back um he was like sure we'll go over there for a week and then we had Johnny back and then Johnny was like I'll come over to Vegas so we were half thinking about going off Vegas for a couple of weeks the two of us but we ended up not doing either just been like I was kind of more worried about like look new SP partner injuries main thing is don't get injured now so a couple of weeks like maybe after this fight I Know Carl has the fight like he's in the tournament now so he has a fight coming up as well um so maybe we'll head over to Manchester for a week or two for his Camp after which would be cool and like look all those things are class because it's like you're still going to be expanding and you're still going to be learning it's new experiences keeps you interested it keeps you just like like even the last year nothing is monotonous it's all a new comp a new thing a new and like there's times where your body's like oh man just give me aing break you know it's been comp after comp after comp but like it's the days where you're buying into something new it's the days where there's some like fresh piece of info where you're like oh cool and then you're integrating I into your game it's burn and the next week and you're like oh class you know look at how that's kind of come into the game now like so yeah look I'm excited about you know continuing the journey and like please God I'll be able to do this for a couple more years and I really want to get like to the highest level I can and get the best out of it all like exactly yeah well can I can I just ask what was the reaction like when you came back to Ireland with the with the belt for the people that that aren't actually watching you can see is right behind you with Bob wearing it very noisy I go here yeah that guyy so Bob was delighted obviously you know he doesn't show it he's bit stok but like he was happy out and and yeah like obviously family and everybody was delighted and like I was amazed at the reaction of got back in care because like I don't know I don't go home as much as I'd like to these days but anytime I do it's a huge buzz and like people are really yeah unbelievably supportive because I know like I was on off ball there recently and I was talking about the attitude towards MMA and Ireland and how some of the time it's like the mainstream media doesn't take the best or well doesn't have the best impression of what MMA is but like I'm always because most of the people around are a good bit older like in the town who be supporting me and whatever and they're of my parents generation say maybe a little bit younger than that but like they're not young and they're very supportive which is class because I don't experience that much you know i' like it's always younger people who are into MMA in my eyes and like it's great to see that to feel that and to like feel like you have the supportive Community behind you which is that's kind of blown me away a bit to be honest like even like yeah like there's been a couple of things about this last year that have been really positive in a way like where it's been quite like and again you don't really need it as such because I was doing this anyway and like I'm not doing this for anybody else I'm doing this for myself and just my own bz because I love the fighting like I actually really just genuine enjoy fighting but it is really nice when things like that happen and you see like you know some of the coverage get in the newspapers and like even people post up about you from the town and saying how much of a [ __ ] inspiration you are and all that and you're like Jesus just do what I'm doing like [ __ ] you know but it is it's nice yeah you do get a bit like Blown Away by that sometimes and uh and what are you expecting the The Fan Fair to be like with a second belt could to bring back the tiary yeah look it like here's the thing that second belt will be class right I'm delighted but like again yeah have to make it happen first but like to do that to chase that ball and to go and get it that would be amazing but it's about the next thing I know as soon as I get that I'm going to need another goal and I already have one in mind but I'm going to reveal that after the fight you know I'm G to keep it to myself for a bit but like I'm fully focused on this right now I understand the to if is a huge Challenge and I don't want to dismiss him at all because I do think like this is the toughest wi I've had so far this year like in the last year but I want another goal and I have another big goal in mind afterwards and I think I can make that happen and I think it'll be very interesting super heavy weight that right R Beast weight 140 plus but uh in the island for bring in more Sports Lads obvious obviously will like you you've been on fire like the opportunities are you know you're making them I didn't want to say they're fall into your lap because you're actually making them happen you're going out you're making the noise look it's one thing I wanted to thank you for as well with Carlos white like that was one that I really had to pursue because they definitely didn't want that to happen and ye Lads gave us a hand with that too which you know it all made the difference and like putting the pressure on them it eventually paid off and I know for a fact that fight wouldn't have happened unless I started doing stuff like that and he got behind it and he pushed it too so fair play thanks mil for doing that it was all part of it but yeah it didn't just happen you know we made it no but like at the end of the day like you know you put you put his name in your your mouth and we like it was easy for us to get behind because we were like make sense we like sense but it was more from a business point of view they didn't seem to want it because they knew that like okay an Irish guy in a check based promotion isn't going to sell anywhere near as well as a Czech guy in a check based promotion and if we're going to give him this opportunity how do we know he's going to be as big but I think like the amount of pressure that all Jack fans and furnace to them put on him to have this fight to actually do it but then like when they saw h on a lot of people in Ireland seem to want this and a lot of people in Ireland seem to care about this and seem to think that this is logical and it's like sure how can I not give you this fight you've just smashed the number one Contender yeah but you know fair play thanks for putting a bit of pressure on them as well like it made it all made a difference eventually look make a few posters throw them out there you know what I mean happen you know what I mean so uh has to be done you know and like look like I said you made the opportunity happen you know I mean it was it wasn't a straightforward you know you weren't originally their number one pick to get in there but once you got the opportunity you took it and you ran with it so like that that that's unbelievable to see um one thing I do want to see is that like they obviously do this like sort of and I I don't know 100% how it works but they this like tip sport million euro Game Changer I'm going to call it is that something that you want to get involved with because obviously you know those Bill those bills ain't cheap so you know what I mean you want to pay the bills and like obviously you know like you say you have a few years left in you but you know you want to put some away for the retirement package 100% so that's what I offered to do this year um that's why I told like I was already this why they called me so early I think because I was losing weight to go down to middleweight because that's where the real like life-changing money was um so they t Game Changer is a million EUR overall price so winner gets about 400 Grand and likees 400 Grand Euro so it's pretty good like but uh I was willing to do that there was still one slot available now I've learned recently since they had that spot filled already by the time I'd fought careless but I thought on my own head that if I could get down there there was a fight in April that I could have made the middleweight four and been part of a million dollar tournament uh but they called me pretty quickly and we're like look that's not an option but we have the heavyweight belt there if you want to fight for that and heavyweight belts class but if they were doing the million dollar tournament at light heavy obviously I would absolutely love to do that or like it's very unlikely they'll do it again at middleweight but if they were doing it in any way class anywhere near what I could make I would 100% do that and I see that your man McMan POF the guy that I called out in the cage back in December he's not doing that million dollar tournament and part of that tells me he's getting paid well enough to not do it but like I don't like I L like that it's kind of like you're looking for easy fights manate so do you even want to I like I felt that PA of like oh we have to go to middleweight he's huge we could easily do a catchweight um so look there's there's lots of options lots of options but I have a couple of mine that are pretty interesting I think more interesting than I on that I've explored there I will uh Ju Just just on the financial aspect of it you know obviously if you become champ champ how many fights do you have on this contract and does your contract change after you've won the belt yeah so I like there was a good bit of back and forth negotiation about that but like I have after this fight two fights left so I signed the four fight deal before the Carlos fight um but that deal got kind of a little bit changed I can't to go into too much detail obviously course I'm not asking you to want to make sure you're you you've been looked after more since winning the belt yes yeah so like once I started going for the double jum thing I was like no no we can't that's not the same as defending the belt um so there was a little bit of back and forth about that obviously I been compensated for going for double champ and it's a bit more there's an incentive to be the double champ basically and like right now I'm like things are good but again I can I feel like I have the ability to make things a hell of a lot better if you know what I mean and of course yeah but like if you're walking around with two belts you're going to be the face of the organization you know what I mean and if you're the face the organization they need to pay you like the face of the organization you know what I mean so like you know I mean like that that needs to be made right and like obviously you know if they're putting you in that position they're starting they're starting to believe in in the in the will flurry hype train you know I think though like look what I've done in last year and again you like blown your own Trum but isn't going to do you too many favors but like I came in and fought with a broken hand so I could have easily pulled out of that fight and put them in a tough position I didn't I came in I showed up and I won right after that I went away I got surgery then I came into this you know the number one Contender flight with very little Fanfare very little anything and I gave them the best performance at night in a 60,000 Ceder Stadium you know and I straightway called out the champion so from a promotional point of view guys that should be exactly what you want and then when I eventually campaigned enough to get that title fight you know I did my duty promotionally I did my duty on the fight I did my duty with everything so from a promoter's point of view I've been a dream for them so far um and again I'm not complaining they've done a very good job too you know this has been a good relationship and like they're doing things well you know they do their job well I do my job well it's worked very well so far I just feel like we're breaking into significant markets Germany's huge you know it's a massive country 80 million people there like I can definitely sell to a German audience they like obviously already have the show is very nearly sold out already which is incredible you know fa play look that their branding that's not based off the back will flurry's name but again everybody is goinging and be like whoa [ __ ] this guy's not good after a goingn perform and that's what I've worked for and that's the level like you know I'm talking here about being passionate about training blah blah but the end result is what I'm going to be able to do on march8 and that's going to be special and if you're showing up and buying a ticket for that you're gonna go Whoa man that guy's good man that guy's entertaining man that guy got in the mic afterwards he called out blah blah blah right you can build up you know you can sell another show off of that because I'm not coming in as some fake product I'm not some guy that was like hyped up and didn't have it I've done the work I am this you know I've been here for 15 years longing away doing this thing like so like you get good at what you do consistently and like I've been consistently doing this stuff to the best of my abilities so like that's what I mean man like I don't know who I can't beat right now and I want to keep exploring that keep finding out you look This heavyweight thing it's a new challenge but I feel like every challenge you put in front of me I'm going to figure out a way to smash it and it kind of has to get bigger and bigger so again right now full focus on that it's only two weeks and five days till that five but like I know my heart hurts you put me in that position I'm going to capitalize I'm going to do it so like then it becomes like okay cool what's next and I don't know how far this can go but I want to find out and like there's nothing in me that wants to die without getting my ass whoop if you know what I mean like you're playing The Game of Thrones you just got to figure out how far can you take it how far can this go and if that involves like okay you get smashed by some lad someday cool that's fine with me I just find out what I'm will do you believe that you could be the person to bring octagon to Dublin yeah no like if someone's gonna do it it's gonna be me you know um I think there's a couple of challenges there right now where like they came to England they got burned by England they think England are do the same thing it's on me to prove them to them that that's not the case but from their point of view if you can sell out a 15,000 Cedar stadium in Germany without having to do all the safety precautions you have to do in Ireland without having to probably pay as much for the venue the tickets aren't cheap either they're selling like I think the cheapest tickets for this for 90 quid so they can make a whole lot more money off of having a show there than they can off coming to Ireland and they don't have to pay as much either from a pure business point of view I can understand why the hell they be interested but if I go in and create this Legacy champ kind of status with them where it's like you're obviously the face of this brand you're obviously the guy your boy wants to fight at home eventually you know it's very like you owe me a [ __ ] fight here so it's on me to make that the reality you know um and I feel like like I kind of deep down know that I can but it's creating that and there's a lot of like I think in a way it's nearly just mapping out how you're going to do that is the hardest part and like just kind of opportunities come and if you're willing and you're able to exploit that opportunity do so it's like the caros fight you know things kind of just line beautifully for that I feel like that will happen again at some point in time and it will be an opportunity for an Irish show and I will like sooner or later Lads I'm gonna make that thing happen but I don't like I'm not holding my breath I don't think it's going to be after this flight I don't think it will be within 2025 even but I'm going to be around for a while and eventually going to make that thing happen I think one thing I would love to see is like octagon tried to do a somewhat smaller show over here it doesn't have to like one of their numbered events but maybe like do a Challenger Series because like the amount of talent in this country who are like you know about to make the pro debut up to their first five fights is absolutely frightening you know I mean like you obviously there's lots of guys in SBG like we see Lads of guys in fight Academy Ireland you know the various sbgs across the country team royos MMA cork etc etc that like I'd love to see them do like almost like invest into like a smaller show maybe in like you know the ODS or something like that you get you know you 3,000 tickets and you know you put on a show there and like the people have an opportunity to like win an octagon contract or something along those lines because I think like there's massive potential for that yeah yeah but also to bring also to bring will out in front of the r fans as well like like I mean he's a world champion oh yeah well that that's obviously a no-brainer you hardly have an show out here without will flurry will could probably be on CS or something for the night who knows yeah but even look I think I agree with you the talent here in comparison to over there like Central Europe seems to kind of have a lack of talent and a hell of a lot of space you know they have a hungry audience and and again thank God because that's what I've gone over and exploited the fact that like people are really interested in MMA there and yet like they don't have really really high level Fighters and I'm a very high level fighter I've gone out and shown that and there's no audience there for it I think we have a hell of a lot of talent but probably not the biggest audience right now and it would take a little bit of an investment to make that audience and I think that that's what they're unwilling to create um and I don't think it's because there's a lack of interest in MMA here but I think can you get like most of our fan base is young Lads and can you get a young lad to pay €120 for a ticket or you know pay for a VIP section or pay for any of that because in centry Europe they will and they're generally speaking a slightly older or more family based crowd like from their point of view from a business point of view I don't know how you sell it to them and I don't like you know financially I don't know how you make it work as well as they have in Central Europe so I can see why they wouldn't be massively interested in that but again like I think if there's a local show to could do that like it's like we have so much talent here genuinely you know I'm not talking like you know there really is when I come back and train in Ireland after I haven't been anywhere else I'm like whoa level here is good like it is and I think we nearly underestimate ourselves and I know that there was the whole like wave after Conor in the gold generation and it didn't quite go out and succeed the way they could have but like I think since then we've barly been underestimated it was beautiful to see Paul Hughes do that with Usman you know because like in my eyes he won that fight but also like just to show like hold on no Pakistan doesn't have a dominance on this thing and again like look they have a lot of great Fighters I'm not trying to be in any way shitty toward them at all but like we have a scene here that we can be very very proud of and there's a level of talent here that we can be very proud of and yeah look we can do better definitely you know and like there's questions that need to be asked and people who need to kind of hold themselves accountable to be better than what they are but like I think overall we probably have better Fighters than we do opportunities if you know what I mean and I'm feel lucky in a way that I'm one of the fighters who went over to Central Europe and got these opportunities but if a domestic show was to come along and promote things the right way and create the right indigenous audience there's huge opportunities here there really is and like you know like there's opportunities in terms of like the level of talent of the guys you can promote the level of fights you can create like you can create great domestic fights and I know K Legacy were're kind of doing that a little bit but like I think if you get in the right guys or like you know the right Fighters the right ball you get it out on the right channels like there's a whole infrastructure here that people could be exploiting and I feel like it's not been exploited the way it could be I don't know if it's Octon that are going to come and do that hopefully please God it is because like I could be part of that and that would be amazing but the opportunity is definitely there for somebody to do it yeah there's definitely absolutely absolutely and like I'm buing to see it you know what I mean like I think you know the talent there in Spade loads and I feel like there's more young Talent now in this country than we've ever seen and look you can take take you can take you know a young man who grew up with you know the parents selling antique furniture from care going all the way to win the World titles over you know what I mean and then winning another world title in stock cart you know what I mean like this these are the things you know where that these are the things that dreams are made of you know what I mean so like there we have it you know what I mean and look exactly that man is getting booed from start to finish in Chef Republic with a smile on his face was I was amazed because like I kind of thought some of the crowd might be for me because when I was over in Slovakia they were all like [ __ ] I L his brick blah blah blah and then when I got to uh it's like oh no no no they hate me they love him they hate me but it was Co like it felt cool because everyone like even like I don't know if you noticed but like when they were announced me I was kind of like giving them the whole like cup deer like really me you know but I don't know I just enjoy like even if they [ __ ] they want to see it get smed it's brilliant because they're there you know and then it's like afterwards sure look what happened you can't about respect like it's like well if you don't respect me now [ __ ] yourself you know exactly yeah well will you beat caros from Pillar To Post well that's why you have to make sure to tune in to watch will fur TR well to become champ champ in octagon on March 8th uh will is there anything you want to say to the people tuning in now that are gonna be watching you come champ champ so it's in Stuart on March 8th it's available on the Zone here in Ireland and the UK and uh it's also octagon.svg and like you know I think like he sounds better on the mic he's never looked better on the cage I think uh he's really you know a peak with lurry right now yeah I'm actually free to I didn't get to ask him the question I really wanted to know well what's his favorite sport yeah exactly I'm gonna I'm gonna have to message them and then let people know but uh Ross no it was great like I mean it's just great to see like Irish athletes doing great things around uh the world and especially in Europe uh Ross before we get into all the latest MMA News if you are new to the show make sure to like And subscribe but uh we had Ryan Curtis on the show last week um I'd like to hear your opinions on the feedback from having Ryan Curtis on the show yeah look people love and really admire Ryan um myself included um he's just such a large and life character and he's someone who I think a lot of people draw including myself like great inspiration from and like I think you know if you're ever feeling down on your look or you're ever feeling like you know your life is hard like like look at that guy and look what he's overcome and like you know I mean like he he's like a walk and Nike advert anything is possible you know yeah well said well said uh yeah so Ross going into the world of mixed martial arts we're going to have to start with the ultimate fighter is after being announced uh the two coaches are going to be Daniel Cormier and CH sunnen uh before we get into one an Irish represent representative in the show what do you make of the coaches Ross um well look they've picked two of the biggest characters in the sport um obviously both have their own accolades um CH on has been around the game for a very very long time um I'm sure some of the more charismatic Fighters would love to be on uh Cha's team but I think ch's a a straight shooter as well I think he'll he'll call it how he sees it and I think you know he's bringing in the likes of uh kobby kovon into his uh coaching Squad as well so like the there's no doubt that these guys will have high level coaches uh but also in saying that as well it's not like these guys are starting MMA today like at the end of the day The Ultimate Fighter is about keeping your your body healthy and you know using the coaches to come up with a game plan for each flight like that's that's that's what it's really about H and then obviously if you can make a bit of an name for yourself off the back of but all better obviously Daniel Cormier will have uh some AKA guys I think Michael K is actually in on his team as well so like people were saying that uh obviously DC and um son won't be able to fight but maybe they should get kesta to fight Covington uh you know as the assistant coaches but uh yeah look I think I think great coaches I think um obviously you know they've both coached tough before I think so yeah I'm here for it and then the big announcement is SVG Charles towns Andreas binder is going to be competing on the show lfl champ champ Ross yeah uh he wasn't actually the only o fighter to be offered to be on the show but um he he was the only one who actually made on to the onto the show um look Andreas binder lfl double champ H I think I I think I'd like to see him um on team DC because you know double champ champ status H the two of them have that and but I wouldn't also be surprised to see him on uh CH son's team as well I think like you know the old mouthpiece wouldn't wouldn't be a Miss either you know so uh look Andreas Bender is on top form uh he smash he smashed his last couple of performances on lfl and things didn't work out from pfl but you know their losses now UFC's gain and the judoka is someone who can put people away it just goes to show that like if at first he don't succeed try try again Ross um yeah we have times to make the waight no I'm only Jo we love you on this show H we're big fans but uh yeah hopefully uh hopefully the season goes well for him and again another reason for Irish fans to watch the ultimate fire they must be watching the show or Ross it's like right who else can we get on yeah exactly okay so yeah Ross do you know exactly when it starts I think they're filming now already so probably be a few months maybe going into the summer yeah yeah okay okay then um right in the world of UFC Ross uh the other week after Ryan Show we didn't feel like it was right to get into what happened at U 312 but drias dupes is the is and still the UFC middleweight champion Ross um we can't really Overlook that who would you like to see him fight next well to me it's only two options um there's hamach MV and then nardine imov they are the two top contenders in the division I personally like from a star point of view and from uh you know pay-per-view point of view I'd love to see him fight Hamza I think that's the fight that the fans want to see I think uh imol is obviously skill-wise he's right up there with those guys but I just don't think he brings the name recognition to a pay-per-view but I don't know whether we're going to have to see invol fight again or will he be able to like wait in the wings or will he be a backup for the fight we'll just have to wait and find out but I think Hamza is is where they will go next with trick dupes and also wayy Jang defeated Tatiana Suarez where does way Jan Go From Here Ross as well look I know like you know she hasn't fall fear of Joba uh but like I think people want to see wayy fight you know either shenko next or if shenko is fighting man on Faro the winner of that I think that's where people want to see I think they want to see our fight some of the best I think also you know you might have the likes of McKenzie Duran there as well like that's that's a fight maybe you could do but personally at this stage I think I wouldn't mind they're moving up it just depends on whether the fero shenko fight is a done deal okay well it is going to be very interesting Russ uh then just over the weekend Jared canier defeated um you there yeah I'm still here yeah all right I I thought you were like he defeated it no on no I'm trying to think hold on for robo okay Rodriguez oh man over the weekend Jer defeated robocup AKA Gregory [Laughter] Rodriguez Ross you're bosing with this result yeah big J kir fan H what a guy doing for the over 40s him and Angela Hill Angela Hill also got the D at the weekend so two people in over their 40s getting the job done uh look kir he's uh been around for a while uh I I think why not have him run it back with Robert Whitaker uh it'll be interesting to see what Whitaker's next move is you could also have him run it back with Sean stricken but I think Ker's been there so long he sort of has to have a few rematches and the only other option is uh I don't think he's far correct me if I'm wrong imav so he could actually for him um just to you know if imav needs a fight between now when ham at trus okay and then this weekend Russ UFC is going down Saturday night Henry Cudo taking on song Yong um are you surprised that cejudo's taking this for yeah I feel like they should have done cejudo versus Cruz or something like that I know Cruz obviously went out with an injury but I felt like you know they should have booked a legend versus a legend sort of thing for um crew's last fight obviously he was booked to fight Rob font um obviously cejudo believes he can still mix it in there with the very best and make another title run uh s Yong I feel like he's just that guy outside the top five that is like sort of knocking on the door needs a big win um hard to really know cuz like normally like a primed hudo I pick Prim hudo but I don't know if we're still dealing with a primes hudo at the moment so yeah well look luckily for me it'll be your pick this weekend basell so you can decide who you think is GNA win yeah and shout out to Dominick Cruz who actually just hung up his gloves there as well uh Ross okay just before we get into this weekend's Irish action we want to give a massive shout out to a couple of Fighters that won over the weekend uh we'll start with MMA cours Paul Booky who won over in Egypt Ross yeah he did he won on Arabian Fight League second round rear naked choke um yeah look MMA cork on um Paul Bley he's moved over to Dubai he's full-time there with John Mitchell Nathan Kelly sing hogley um it's they're all training under Aussie and look they seem to be doing great things over there I think Paul Booky has always looked like a massive talent and I can't wait to see what the future holds from two and 0 now you know mean racking up the Finish as well I can't wait to see hope hopefully we get to see him again soon because he looks like he was unscathed and he looks like he's in phenomenal shape yeah that could there could be a link there to Octon as well in the future uh then also team KF Joo om Ranch Jaan and Omar tgov won in Finland at MMA cage cage MMA yeah cage MMA okay me yeah so um B guys is getting a finish um Omar tarev you know I mean he is definitely someone I could see fighting on Dana White's um Contender series at some Sage s and0 six finishes two and 0 already this year and what we're in February like that guy is an absolute machine he turns the fights around like there's no tomorrow um he is a human wreck and ball um I can't wait to see him out there again um he is someone that you know a lot of promotions must be looking at and then omran chaban um probably noce for him to go back to Finland and and fight fight over there um and then obviously he got he got the DARS choke uh Victory which is something we've seen before um I think he's also someone who could fight on Dana W's Contender series but uh you know he seems to just racking up the wins to you know get a UFC contract in in the next couple of fights so I think both team KF Fighters look like they could be UFC bound before the end of the year yeah Oman another tough alumni as well and then this weekend's tkf athlete Dom norcas returns to UAE Warriors Ross what you make of the hype behind Dom norcas yeah well the go seems to be putting on performance and finish after finish I think uh Dom norus you know is he arguably you know the hottest Prospect of Team KF potentially so um there's it's gonna be difficult difficult now like yeah yeah difficult with uh with those two but look I think you know obviously when dong turn turned 18 I think he did seven fights in six months uh on the amateur scene before turning pro so like you know he him and Omar I don't know how Chris is gonna put up with their their fight output you know fighting fighting every weekend those two so uh look we love to see it we love to see Fighters that active especially that young their career and you know biggest stage yet for Dom norc fighting on new Warriors yeah well that's how you get your name out there by staying active and then also Saturday night just quickly the the boxing goes down re season seems like every week is re season uh du Daniel D is taking on Joseph Parker for the heavyweight totle and also in the comain event bival is taking on better BF and the card is pretty stacked as well that's going to be on a good time for for us yeah definitely I think that's the best boxing card from top to bottom we've seen in a long time yeah and then uh shout out to the Muay toi event going down in Cork soam Warriors Ross that's one definitely not to be Miss for all you absolute MMA mixed martial arts degenerates but Ross we cannot finish the show without this Sunday Dey melan's your Fighting Championships 14 is going down in Nuri Ross there's three Pro fights on the card the main event is going to be Kier Brady from Nuri muoy I'm team Torres I'm team Torres is taking on Georgie groov from hula martial arts first of all what you make of this match of Ross and what you make with the card this one is an absolute Banger first of all of a car but this main event this is the main event that you could have easily seen uh on the 22nd of April in cage Warriors this is a fight that you easily could see uh headlining any show across the country this is one of those ones that people look back at and go I can't believe we got this on an Irish domestic card both these guys look incredible at the moment H josy goov over in NFL recently um Kieran Brady get getting wins on you're an and cage Warriors you know I mean like Georgie gr have also got a win on cage War as well like these these guys are top tier Talent you know these are probably you'd easily have them in your top 10 Fighters with under five fights in the UK and Ireland these these are some the El Elite they're going toe to- toe and you know may the best man win but that is an absolute treat well I don't know how much it cost to get a ticket for your or if there's any left but my God that is worth every penny yeah it's it's actually it's a huge fight for both fighters to get their name out there even further and then who knows where they could go next obviously Georgie's fought on cage Wars as well and levels and like kon's fought on cage Wars as well so it's it's it's sort of it's a bit like the cage conflict fight between sha McCormack and Brian Manning like the the winner of that will have huge uh big opportunities to to move on from afterwards as well uh Russ just in the other two is there any other fights you want to discuss on this card as well yeah well I think uh obviously you know we saw Lewis burn win on clam Wars with that sort of inverted neck Crank That was um that was a crazy submission he's fighting Alex mcook so I think like that's one that I I want to see um you know I think Lewis's looks really really good of late and let's see if Alex mcook can uh say on top of that what about you basell yeah then uh octagon Challenge Alum night Aron McDonald is taking on Jake kilpin as well that's another fight that people have to look out for because um like I think Aaron like a big win here like who knows where they could take him as well team Tes head as well so he'll have the hometown support yeah there's a good few title fights on the card as well and we'll be promoting that event throughout the week um Dey Dey mcen is recovering from injury at the moment so like we were looking forward to seeing him at the cage Warrior Dublin card but um he's be there were point in hand instead yeah matchmaking people trying to get people to fight in the next you are fighting championships and you know what that actually that that that AR MD Jake kilin f is an absolute buer I'm pretty sure Jake kilpin was an amateur champion at year so yeah I'm down for that one as well baso yeah so like make sure to keep an eye on the N Joyce Instagram page for all the latest news uh Ross that's another show on the books unless you have to anything to say of what uh what you have going on up no all good B all good uh I can't wait for for this weekend's action I think it's going to be absolutely epic to see fair play to deck M and Europe putting on a great show and you know kicking off the year in style for or M May yeah first one first one Ross I think it is is it first one yeah there you go busy weekend ahead bud um yeah get off your seats get your wallets out and uh playy the stream link and make sure make sure to watch and get energized man and stay energized baby so thanks M for everyone for tuning in we'll be back again next week discussing all the latest MMA Combat Sports news and we have will also have a very special guest as well so uh make sure to like make sure to share make sure to subscribe and as always stay enered the enjo show up the orish it's the face that runs the place chaos ctis I want to thank the orish MMA community so much for getting behind me y up the chaos cartel