Henry Leka interview

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Okay, so I have one of the competitors this weekend looking for the very first title on RAT fighting championship in the bantamweight division as well. So it's a bit of history for the show. It'll be a bit history for the guys and especially the person that wins it. So I have…

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Okay, so I have one of the competitors this weekend looking for the very first title on RAT fighting championship in the bantamweight division as well. So it's a bit of history for the show. It'll be a bit history for the guys and especially the person that wins it. So I have Mr. Henry Lea out fantastic talent. Thinks he's gone under the radar a bit by a lot of people haven't been watched him. So maybe that's easier, there's less pressure. I don't know. But you've got your title shot which I think you've deserved for a while. Thank you very much for joining me. How are you uh on this fight week? >> Uh yeah, I feel good for this fight week, you know, but uh to be fair for me like it doesn't really change anything. It's all just the same, you know. Like h for me like the only thing I change for fight camp is just my food. So like to be fair, like I always always just feel the same, you know? And as far as for training, again, training is the same. Just just everything. I don't really change my style depending on who I fight. I just >> really just go in there and just scrap, you know? So >> yeah, I love that. >> I think you're better like that as well. I think especially at amateur, I think when it comes to like Alexander and Kat and all in cage wars when you're coming up to like the tough fights or title fights like I think you do kind of need to sometimes adapt a bit because uh there's much. But I think as an amateur like you want to put your fighting style, stamp that down, let people know who you are. >> If you're worrying about everyone then like what style do you have? So, I like that attitude. But with training, like I said, you're always kind of ready. The only thing you change is obviously your food and your diet to to get down to the weight. How hard is it coming up? Obviously, fight week comes up and then you go from 100 miles an hour to boom, a kind of weaker arrest. How hard is that to manage from being so busy to being not as busy? >> Uh, to be fair, it doesn't really change much to me, you know. To me, it's all just the same. If I have a fight, I don't have a fight. It's all just the same to me, you know. So, >> yeah. So fight weeks just more like the the weight cutting and stuff. Do do you cut much weight yourself? Is it is it a big way cut, a small way cut or >> Well, no, like when I when I used to go down to flyweight, that was pretty tough, you know. Yeah. But now for banttom, it's pretty easy. So now I can actually kind of eat what I want and then still make the weight. But uh yeah, but that's actually the reason why why that I did move up to 61 just cuz I thought maybe for amateur the weight cut doesn't really make sense to cut too much weight in amateur, you know, for pro then I'll have to start doing it cuz people at 61 are really big, you know, but as far as for amateur there's just no point, you know, to cut that much weight. >> Yeah. And I think obviously the smaller Yeah. Like in the weight classes, it's different if you're someone at welterweight cutting like like six or seven kg, but when you're cutting it, that's a huge percentage of your actual body weight, you know, sort weight and >> against ages. And I like what you said, just go out there, fight, learn the trade as you come to the end of amateur >> and if you're going when you're going to be going pro, if you want to go to flyweight, your last two or three fights kind of to try and get that right then. Right now, I think like you're skilled enough at the weight obviously, as you can see, you don't need to be to cut. I don't think amateur should cut until you're coming into the tail end of your amateur career. But >> Nathan, obviously you said you don't kind of prepare for an opponent, but what do you think of Nathan? I think he's his last two performances have been quite good. Uh he's a really tricky opponent as are yourself. What what do you make of Nate and what are you expecting from him this weekend? I mean, I think he's a good opponent and what I expect from him is I think he's going to shoot at me like straight away, you know, cuz uh now I've been I've been doing a lot of striking now lately, especially my last fight. So, I think when he's going to watch my fights that I've been striking more, I think he's just going to shoot straight off the bat. If he doesn't, I think the striking stages I'll definitely win them, I think. And then he's a very good grappler. I think the grappling will be 50/50, I think. You know, so what I expect from him is to shoot right away. If he doesn't, I think he'll be more towards me if he doesn't do that. And then as far as for him being able to take me down, I think uh he is pretty big and he's strong. But I just don't think he'll be able to take me down. If he does, I think I can just stand back up anyway, you know. I'll be able to stand back up, get to my feet, even reverse him, you know. But I think it will be a tough fight for him anyway, you know, because he's not um like because especially because it's his first time going down to 61, like he's going to be pretty big as well. So, so because for strength reasons everything, he will be a tight opponent and because he is pretty slow on the ground. So, [snorts] >> yeah. And like that cuz he's coming down. He's going to be really good one. But also, it's his first time coming down. So, like you said, obviously go down to fly away was hard. He might be a little bit more drained, but we'll see. Obviously, he's in a good gym, so I'm sure they have a good have him prepared really, really well for it. And he is someone >> I've been watching for years. He is very tricky on the ground, but you're al also very good on the ground. You're very smothering. You're very What I've noticed is when you get people down, they just look so for like so it's like I not get like no matter what they find it really hard to get up and do you find that do you feel that your break and especially when you fight people who are primarily strikers obviously >> uh you've been working on your striking yourself like I said but primarily strikers when you get them down and they can't get back up to strike with you can you can you feel them breaking as that's happening because I can see in their face when it's like the second or third round they've been taken down again that they're just like like [ __ ] me you know like Like can you feel that at the time and feel their body language changing and feel the kind of tension of them changing when when you're doing that? >> Yeah. Like for example, you know, when I take people down, I don't want to brag too much, but I feel like when I take them down, they're like, "Holy [ __ ] this guy's strong, you know, and I think so far in all my fights, I've always been a stronger person. I've always been a strong person. Even if I am the smaller one, I'm always the strongest one." So I can tell every time when I grapple with them, at first they're like, "Oh shit." like this guy's this guy's strong like you know and then but I kind of want to stay away from that style just for holding people down now. I want to go in more into striking but still keep my grappling of course but I want to stray away from just holding people down you know but yeah but um yeah but uh yeah but as far as for what I said yeah for sure like I always feel like I'm always the strongest guy in there you know. >> Yeah. No, I I think it's going to be a really really good fight. That's why as soon as I seen the two names, I was like, "Yeah, I think we'll put them together." It's like I think you would earn the title shot 100%. And I think like that Nathan, he had a loss, I think, against someone on Clan Wars, but then he's come back, he's had a couple of good wins as well. So, it's a really, really good fight to make. It's a really interesting one. But you're obviously, you're in Cac. I just want to talk to you about what it's like being there. I mean, obviously, you've got Alexander, uh, Keith, Jordan, Ross, I could go on forever. Trevor, you've got really good team there. It's not the biggest size gym in the world. You don't have the hu biggest amount of members, right? And this isn't me being disrespect, but the talent coming out of there, it just shows you don't need all the shiny new equipment. You don't need this. You just need a good coach who cares and a commitment. What's your thoughts on on Alexander Cmac, Debs, and all the guys there? And what does it mean to you to be there? >> For sure. Like for me to be a parasymak is definitely a big deal just because [snorts] I think the reason why the gym has so much success is because whenever we don't train we always go like like he's a [ __ ] for not training or something you know so every time we always have to train because we don't want to pretty much like we don't want to not train and then we look like a [ __ ] in front of the boys pretty much you know and then it's just a case of that you know it's just that we don't post too much on Instagram. We're not posting every 10 seconds about we're doing pads, we're doing bad whip, whatever. That's why we're so good. We just train, you know, and then we let our talent speak for ourselves. We don't just train and kind of just keep posting. We just we just train, we fight, and we look good during the fight, you know. And then and also because the main reason why CMAC is good, I think, is because there's not too many people. I think when there's too many people, then what happens, the coach doesn't really care about anybody too much, but because the but because it's a small club, Alex really cares about everyone. like he makes sure he makes sure everyone does everything right, you know, whether if the club was a bigger club, it would have been like he might have two, three people that he likes and the rest he doesn't really care too much, you know. >> Yeah. And it's harder as a as it gets bigger for a coach to spend cuz there there's a certain amount of time, let's say he might spend with a fighter on a day. If you've got three or four times the amount of that, it's going to be burnout for him, impossible for him to do that, then you're going to have to bring in other coaches and like cuz I like to set up there. It's kind of a family feel. It's a really good feel like it obviously it's a family affair cuz Debs and Alex both compete competed at the same IMAS together. Not sure if that has happened since, >> but when you see the success and you see the likes of Alexander and Ke and obviously Jordan Bradshaw as well over in France as I'm delighted for him. Uh like are you excited? Does that motivate you? not motivated more, but you see where you can go uh from DMAC. Obviously, when you do go pro, that's that's in the distant future, but but what's it like seeing them going out and doing their things on these promotions? >> Like when I see them compete, it gives me hope. A lot of hope to know that you don't have to be from like Chetcha or like Dagasan or something, yo, to go become a champion. When I see these guys, they literally live close to me. They live in like that they live close to me. They train in the same gym and everything. It means that I kind of have the same path as them which means if they done all this then I can do it too you know and then it's nice to know that I'm not the first one cuz if you're the first one that has to lead the whole group then like that is pretty hard but because they're going first and all I have to do is just stay behind them and then I'm also going to be able to go to Cage Warriors then from Cage Warriors UFC whatever. So >> yeah, they they've created the path for you like to go there and like you said, you don't have the pressure of being first. And that's what I love about Alexander Sullivan. He seems like he's been like he's an old he is an OG in the game, but he's still quite young like he finished [clears throat] his uh history or whatever it was in Trinities like like and then doing this and all it. It's just fantastic to see. I really really a great time for them. Uh you've probably seen the MMA in depths I've done. I've done uh Alexander Key and Jordan cuz I I seen them at the time I was like they're going to be special. I know it. But you're fighting obviously this weekend for the Rat. It's going to be the first time that there is a title on the show. In the grand scheme of things in the whole MMA sphere, it's a small thing, but obviously for you it's a big thing. For us, it's a big thing. It's going to be a part of history. How does it feel to potentially have the chance or to have the chance to become the first champion of the promotion? >> Yeah, I mean it would be pretty cool to say I was the first one to get the belt at that promotion, you know? Especially cuz so far it looks like a good show. So I think in the future it's going to become even bigger. So it's going to be nice that even when I'm a pro fighter, they're still going to say, "Hey, our first champion was Henri Lea." You know? So I think it'll be like a cool thing to have, you know? So it'd be nice. >> Yeah. See, it's these little milestones though that people go, "Oh, amateur titles and all don't matter." And I agree. Obviously in the grand scheme of things, they aren't hugely important, but at the time and to the person, it matters. And like I think when you do have that belt like you've probably had issues with trying to get matched cuz a lot of people wouldn't want to like oh do you know what I don't feel like [ __ ] getting beat by Henry. But when you have that belt they come forward a lot quicker. Do you know the sort of way they're like a chance for a belt? Um you've also got another title fight coming up straight after as well which is >> so a couple of weeks ago there was no title shots. Now there's two title shots. How do you feel? Do you think this is due? Do you think it's something that should have happened before now? Yeah, I mean to be fair to be honest I think I should have got one before but at the same time I don't really care too much because to me it's just a belt. It doesn't really have a meaning, you know, like [snorts] to me what has meaning is if I was to go pro and win a fight, then that would have meaning to me. But so far an amateur, I don't really care too much of who I beat or whatever. If for me it's just experience, you know, a belt just looks good for Instagram or something. But just in terms of for myself, like it doesn't really change anything. First is if I win a fight with a belt or without a belt, it just it's just the same thing, you know, >> just just a little shiny kind of take home for you. And it's more about performance uh than the actual best and to see the improvements and like that. You've got two good tests coming up as well. Like >> I really like both fights. Uh obviously cuz I made one of them so I got to like that one and then I like the other fight after as well. Uh what do you make of the amount of shows we have as an amateur fighter which to have the choice and because you know you said fights fall out. It's easy to then get on another show with the amount of shows we have. How does that make you feel as a fighter to know you have that many options? >> Oh yeah, very good. Cuz uh when I see other places, I think a lot of a lot of other countries seem to struggle with being able to find flights because they always have to fly out like they have to go to UK, they have to go to Scotland. In Ireland, we have a lot of shows, you know, but cuz especially because it's amateur, I don't want to spend money to go to go fly out or even if I get paid to go fly out, it's just it's just going to be like a pain in the ass to go all the way to different country, make weight, then go fight. It's nice to know that I like I literally have to drive like maybe two three hours away to fight and it's still here. Like it's still in like a um you know, it's still close to where I live kind of, you know? But like it's nice to know that I don't have to fly out to another country. It's just max two, three hours drive and I'm here and I go make weight, I fight and done, you know. >> You're all about business. Boom, boom, boom, out. [laughter] >> It's like, >> yeah, just you get it done fast, you know. >> Make weight, fight, win the fight back home and I kind of get you if like when you're a pro and you're brought over, you're brought over a couple of days in advance. So, you can actually [snorts] do the like do the weight there. Whereas here you'd have to do the weight on like a Friday morning and potentially fry fly out either Saturday night or Friday night or Saturday morning which it is an ideal. It is good to get out there but you've been to IMAS and stuff so you have traveled but we have the talent on this island alone to not have to do that cuz what you make your division I think the flyweight and the bantamweight are two of the most stacked divisions in the country so many exciting fighters. Shay Clean who you fought twice. I'm I'm really really high on like you're so exciting all what you make of the the competition that you have around you and to better yourself going forward into pro. >> Oh yeah, for sure. Like the competition here is actually insane. Like I went to the Euros and the worlds now. Yeah. And honestly still my hardest fight was still here in Ireland still, you know? Like I've had tough fights over at the Euros and Worlds, but still in Ireland the talent is actually so good that I've had harder fights here than over there, you know? So, and you can't say that about many places. I think Ireland is so underrated in terms of like the sport that we're in because there's loads of people here. Like a lot of good guys, you know, but uh yeah, but I I just think I don't think too many people actually know that, you know, like people always want to go over to Euros and Worlds. I still think it's a good thing to go over, but they underrate the guys that you can fight here in Ireland, you know. So, yeah. >> Yeah, I think so. Jordan Skully actually said that as well. He's got 24 fights >> and he said his hardest fight with Sam Simon on IUR. Said that was the cuz he got dropped in that fight. I think it's the only time he got dropped. But he said like that he loves going there getting that experience. But he says most the harder fights he's had here like for this little island when you think about it. Obviously Kef is gone now. Uh and Kalin, but there was six or seven in the UFC at one stage. We've got guys in Octagon. We've got loads in cage wars like how many fought on the Dublin card. Uh you've got Octagon. You've got so many different promotions LFL all around and we're out there. And I think like that I think it's just the level that we're at is is it's because of the coaching and because of ye because the way ye train, do you know the sort of way? So >> yeah, >> it's I I think the scene is like that, man. you could for weeks and weeks I going to shows and I'm just like even the novice levels now you're like oh my god like these next kids are going to be unreal but look um I'm going to let you go is there anything else you want to say before you go or anyone you want to shout out thank you very much for your time best of skill this weekend I'll be complating on your fight which will be a pleasure um yeah so the floor is yours if you want to say anything >> I want to shout out Cmac and then Gaziki as well he's my PT so I really thank him for what he did and I really want to thank Cmac as well so them two >> yeah [snorts] Perfect. Gaziki is someone I actually am very fond of as well. He's a very good guy and he's getting you all whipped into shape. So, uh, yeah, I'll see you this weekend. Thank you so much. And, uh, if needed in the meantime, give us a shout. >> Okay. Thank you. See you.