Kieran Davern | Evolution Fighting Championship

Summary

Go behind the scenes at EFC 11 with promoter and Eire Grappling coach Kieran Davern as he breaks down what it takes to put on a sold-out event in your hometown. In this exclusive interview, Kieran shares what its like coordinating medicals, venue logistics, how giving local…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Applause] Go back. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. EFC11. Uh, I have Mr. Kieran Davern. Davvern. Yeah. Dav. Yeah. It's all right. I'm very uh unconfident when it comes to names. No, you are. It's close enough. Always screw them up. All right. First of all, um, great show. Thanks very much. U, I've been to a couple. Um, I was actually on one. I don't remember. I think it was seven, right? Very good. Uh, it was a grappling match back when, uh, uh, Wimp Warrior was still a thing. Oh, in the court hotel. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Um, it was a while ago. Few years. Um, it was great then. It's great now. Like I've been to a few so far. So, uh, talk to me. Tell me like what does it take to put on a show like this? Uh, it takes a lot to be honest with you. Um, I I can't take all the credit. We have a fantastic team. um Shane Smith, Marie Kennedy, Jamie, and there's so many people helping out from the club and around the you know the town and everything else. But uh it's pretty it's pretty hard because like say obviously like say with medicals and you know for it's hard to get like amateur uh MMA fights because like so expensive on so many amateurs especially fighting down in the Republic. So there's only like two MMA shows in the uh in the Republic say one here and one down in Cork. Um, one of the main reasons why we put it on is just to kind of like say, you know, promote MMA and uh, you know, kickboxing and jiu-jitsu in the town. Uh, give local gyms the opportunity to kind of like do the same. Yeah. And then just give our fighters a platform to be able to build an aim going forward and and keeping them active. That's the biggest thing. So, um, yeah, it it takes a lot, but I I can't take much of the credit to be honest with you. Shane Smith has been absolutely fantastic. I just I just kind of get to coach, micromanage, and, uh, you know, enjoy the show when it's on. you know that that's okay, you know, um but that's great and you know you do have a fantastic team here and everyone's been kind and welcome to myself. So I appreciate that. Thank you. Um like what are the highlights of an event like this for yourself and you know all everyone putting it on like what do you think are like kind of the biggest takeaways you guys? Um the the highlight for me as a as a coach is you see say a local you know young lad from Tulmore or one of the surrounding areas and like say I have one young lad in mind and he's he's um you know he was shy and you know he was like say very quiet and stuff that over the years and he's kind of had a couple of fights on the EFC's and then now when he goes around the the town like he's a real humble young lad but everyone just everyone just knows him they're going oh that's the fighter and it's just like it gives the lads a platform to to build themselves and you uh create their you know create their own name and their and and their own pack going forward. So for me that's the biggest thing is just seeing like say one that come out could come out here tonight have a fantastic performance and then he could just like say you know build build confidence and kind of like skyrocket you know in in you know he's not going to join the UFC or anything from this show but like as in you know just give him confidence and then uh he becomes the man you know what I mean or or the woman depending on who's who's fighting on that on the show. So that for me is the biggest thing. You're giving them giving the lads a platform and and then people are all talking about them on a Monday morning and stuff like that. So that's a big thing. Um like what tell me about like uh like like the day of. So like obviously like the fighters could have a lot of nerves you know you know um especially maybe it's just their first time or you know maybe they're still like you know really new second third fight or whatever. um like nerves for you know yourself coming in here and you know having to set this up and kind of having u there's a lot of is there a lot of pressure to put on like a great show. Um yeah, like so there's there's always going to be pressure. Like say if it's important, there's always going to be pressure, but just for uh from competing in that over the years, I kind of know that pressure is just a part of part of success and it's just a part of the um the process, you know what I mean? Um obviously like say when you're putting on an event, the the biggest thing is you don't want the the show to fall apart, electricity get cut off. There's always that kind of external kind of things that you can't control and stuff like that. But to be honest with you, um again, we've such a good team. We've done it so much. Uh we've been doing it since um doing it for like say quite a long time, you know, working with different people and stuff like that. And uh this is the 11th EFC show. Again, I just kind of micromanaging the lads like uh they were just fantastic. We're way ahead on time today, like say in regards setup and everything else. So uh so far so good, you know what I mean? So I think we're like maybe halfway, 3/4 of the way through the card at the moment. And uh it you know, it's been it's been really good so far. There's the the crowd seems to be enjoying it. There's good numbers out there. It's sold out. Um, so yeah, o overall it's been been a success so far. Great. Great. Um, like how how do you as a coach, you know, like when you when you have a like when you get a new uh person in the gym, you know, they're amped up, they're ready to go, you know, they're in the gym every day, you know, weeks and weeks, you know, and they want to fight. Like as a coach, like what do you what do you do to coach them to be kind of fight ready? So I I in the gym, I focus on the MMA team and I focus on the uh grappling team. Um, so basically there's a lot there's a lot of things that go into it. Like say for example, I want them to hit certain milestones in the gym. Like they have to like a minimum of blue belt and jiu-jitsu. Their striking has to be a similar level and and their wrestling, their cage work has to be kind of similar. Uh, and they have to like just show up and just be, you know, consistent and show me that they really want it. I'll never approach anyone, ask them, do you want to fight? Normally it's the lads coming to me or the other coaches saying like, I'd really like to to to do a fight. And then if they're kind of pestering you enough and they're showing up to the gym and they're putting in the work like, "Right, that kid is he really wants it. He's showing us he wants it." Cuz a lot of people will tell you they want to fight, but very few people will kind of show up and show you that they really want to fight. You know what I mean? So, you want to kind of see that from a young lad because to be honest with you, um you've seen some fights out there like say um if you're in there like half-hearted, it's probably not you don't that's probably the worst place in the world to be. You have to be all in cuz you're going to meet a young lad that is all in. You know what I mean? So for me it's like if if a young lad's all in and they're showing up every day training and stuff like that then then I'll I'll kind of coach them and then we'll put them into fights and we'll kind of build them up correctly the right stages and stuff like that. Um that's kind of that's that's the biggest thing for me. Do you know what I mean? So seeing that they're disciplined showing up and they hit kind of certain markers that we want in the gym. Uh doing certain competitions to kind of work their way up towards you know fighting in a cage on a on a fight night in front of a you know big enough crowd. Yeah. Yeah. like uh is it easy for you to kind of spot the people who are committed and who aren't? Uh say that again. Is it easy for you to kind of spot the people who aren't actually committed? Yeah, 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Because I I've been I've been coaching for quite you know quite a long time. Yeah. And like for me it's just like it's I it's not what people say, it's what they do. Yeah. And it's like I've had so many people over the years and I'm sure coaches all around the country have had this and all around the world. It's like a young some young lads will tell you everything that you want to hear, but it's the young lads that show up every single day, two times a day, wherever it is, and they just kind of like, you know, it's a it's a it's a dangerous place, like I said, to not be all in, you know, you don't you don't play fight. You could really get hurt and and, you know, it's a, you know, it's that that's that's why I kind of, you know, take it serious and if the lads are all in, they they're more than welcome to to fight and obviously their skill levels at that that level, you know what I mean? So, um, yeah, we don't just throw people in just for the sake of having numbers. So, like speaking of getting really hurt. Um, like I know there's a lot of controversy around MMA and boxing, kick, all of all combat sports. You know, a lot of people um, you know, people I know as well think that like it's, you know, just like a violent blood sport, you know, and there's aspects of that, but like, you know, what would you do? What would you say to them to kind of try and win them over? Uh it's very it's very hard to say something, you know. It's like uh if you find a certain sport boring. Yeah. Like say bowls or something and it's like no you go to bowls really good. There's like good community. It's a nice kind of environment and that type of stuff you're like I'm not going to bowls. But if you go to the bowls and then you're probably like oh you know it's probably I can see the the thing now. I've never done bowls. I'm just I don't know why. That's a wild sport to bring up. Yeah. You know, I'm just thinking of something random like cuz I was going to say golf, but golf is actually quite for me it's quite interesting looking at I'm not a golfer, but you can see there's like skill to putting a ball that small in a you know, putting that in in a hole or whatever. Um but the the biggest thing is um not say something, but kind of show them or maybe get them to do do it. Like so jiu-jitsu I find is very good for stuff like that. you know, parents can do jiu-jitsu, grandparents can do jiu-jitsu, kids can do jiu-jitsu, people that have like say maybe certain disabilities can do jiu-jitsu, but not everyone can get punched in the head. Do you know what I mean? Um, so for me, I think like say letting them just come into the gym, seeing the kind of camaraderie and you know, and any any gym around the country, seeing seeing the camaraderie and seeing the young lads and the normal everyday people on the map like we've like said doctors and guards and paramedics and nurses and young lads. It's a mix of to people that normally their circles would never come. I've had young lives that have been in trouble and have turned their whole lives around through MMA. And on the same Brett, we'd have like say guards and sergeants in the army. But it doesn't matter cuz the you the the mat is the ultimate equalizer. It's just jiu-jitsu or it's wrestling or MMA or whatever you're doing. So you kind of get to put your everyday life aside and you just get to come in and you're like fight club but less less violent. You know what I So I think jiu-jitsu is a good way of uh suing that you know persuading them that it's like a martial art. Absolutely. Okay. So speaking of jiu-jitsu which is my favorite excuse me um sorry speaking of jiu-jitsu said which is my favorite but um what what do you do to keep kind of things fresh and interesting not for just yourself but like you know your students as well? Um like say to be honest with you just for me as a coach continuous like say learning and skill development and trying to not get left behind. um as in like say if there's like a new new leg lock kind of craze or entry or you know certain type of wrestling or something or you know certain kind of guards now I'm like right instead of dismissing it have an open mind play around with it look for evidence kind of like on the on the bigger stage and if it's working at higher levels and people are using it and they're having success it's like right let's train that maybe we can create a niche uh the other thing as well is like at the moment I'm kind of playing around with the kind of the CLA trainings you know the constraints approach and that cuz um I just find you know instead of dismissing and going this is the way we've always done it. We just and I'm I'm the biggest I love technique. I consider myself as a technician and uh and everything I've done is you know say in regards like say um videos and instructions it's always been based around like say having uh details and I would have pride myself on having technical details when I when I coach but I'm literally like taking a back step and like really trying to commit to playing around with the CLA training and ecological stuff and just seeing what are the results you know what I mean? So that's that's where I'm at the last while in the gym. So kind of nearly doing like a near like a hybrid approach of showing technique but kind of playing around with a lot of CLA training. Like yesterday morning we did a full class on CLA training focus on leg locks from uh closing the distance to winning inside position to off balancing to keeping someone down on a hip to keeping leg entanglements switching to um different leg entanglements if one if we lose one finishing mechanics and so on. So, uh, yeah, I'm just I'm playing around with just trying to, um, have an open mind and just have that kind of mindset of like continuous learning, you know? So, it's like the Japanese kaizen, you know? That's that's the that's the way I try. It's good to have that cuz I know sometimes schools can be a bit uh, my way is the right way and uh, it's good to be openminded like Yeah. Like I'm only I'm only a black belt say 7 years and I'm like there's lads out Yeah. No, but the reason I'm saying that is there's lads out there that are black belt 15 20 years. True. So it's like what do they know? Yeah. Well, like they they know like I don't even know what they know. Do you know what I mean? So I'm just like but at least that's the way I'm trying to view it. It's like there's way more to learn out there. Like my cup is just half empty and I'm you know trying to fill it and if it starts to spill, we'll empty it with the old stuff and get new stuff back in. So that's the way I'm kind of looking at Okay. Um so back to the show. Um like have you you got any like uh predictions for the evening? call anything out. I I don't really want to do predictions, but the main event is going to be fantastic or fantastic. It's going to be Daryl V and um Shane Dunn, who's who's one of my lads and I know Daryl and his team and stuff like that. So, uh that's going to be a good fight. Um you know, there's loads loads of other fights on before that, but that one for me is the main event and I know there's going to be a pop with the crowd and stuff like that. Right on. Um it's going to be it's going to be that's definitely one not to miss. Amazing. All right. Look, uh thanks for talking to Yeah, I wish you all the success and uh hopefully we'll be able to come back to the next. Thanks very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Cheers. Thank you. [Applause]