Richie Ivory Grapple Kings 11: Exclusive Post-Fight Interview | Combat Confidential

Summary

Dive into the heart of Jiu-Jitsu excellence with Richie Ivory, following his thrilling victory over Darren Curtis at Grapple Kings 11. This exclusive interview captures the essence of Richie's journey, his triumphant strategies, and his passion for the art. 🌟 Connect with us…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] Mr Richie Ivory uh it's wonderful to finally meet you there I've been to your gym before a couple times uh it's couple years ago but there no you weren't I think you were I believe you away competing at the time um I love yeah it was great that's what I like to hear when people come and I'm not there I like to know that it run smoothly very difficult to find we have a good team now in the gym so I'm more comfortable leaving to compete and do other things so that's the that's that's the main goal very welcoming atmosphere especially because like I was at that time I was still new okay um you know so I felt very comfortable when everyone in there was great to me to hear that than anything else so so uh second thing I'll say congratulations on your win there thank you um tough match it looked tough yeah definitely looked um how do you you know how did you feel about that match I was pretty nervous um it's a bigger weight than I've ever competed up before I usually compete down 66 in Jiu-Jitsu 61 in MMA this was at 73 which I barely walk around at 73 and I knew I knew he was cutting down so I was a little bit nervous to see how he felt but to be honest I felt Stronger Yeah I felt strong in the clinch I had a body lock on him I could I just felt strong everywhere so I'm happy with how I felt at 73 it's not somewhere I want to be regularly just didn't want to cut any weight over Christmas and uh I'm happy to get that out of the way daren's a scary dude I think I went a little bit rough on him with the hand fighting but that was that was purely out of my I've had a lot of guys roll with him who say he's rough he's strong he's aggressive one guy told me before the match he felt like he went through a washing machine when he finished rolling with him so that's in my head when I'm being aggressive to make sure I'm the hammer and not the nail so I had to I had to be I had to be mean in there and plus I come from MMA so um being mean is like the way people telling me how tough he was I'm like okay that's no problem as long as he's not pinching me in the face and knee me in the face it she'll be okay so uh speaking coming from MMA like how how did you prepare or did you prepare differently for this uh grappling match versus your you know normal to be honest the day I took the match I trained uh pretty hard picked it up and I immediately blew out my back the day I took the match so I was this day last week I was in an MRI machine in the hospital really um trying to get the green light or no I just I had to find out what was wrong with my back so I had the MRI last Sunday they told me please I got my results back on Wednesday of two bulging discs hitting nerves on both sides they said we highly suggest you don't compete and I said it's too late I just have to make the walk and then we'll figure out the back after that so to be honest how you feeling now though like uh is it it's quite a bit of adrenaline so it feels all right but it's okay it's okay it's good well I hope the pain in my leg is not as bad now but the the Pains of my biceps from squeezing are taken away from the pain in my back so well I I I hope that uh you know it's not anything too serious and yeah look I just have to look after myself and make sure I'm getting strong stretch speaking of you know injuries in general like how do you you know injuries happen yeah you know and then I just don't train a whole lot you just kind of cut back just do a few rounds here and there teach my classes when this came up I trained down in Arlo with Dean Barry and AR Kell Arlo Jiu-Jitsu and got some rounds in with other black belts just to see how I felt and um yeah just took it as if it was any other day training to be honest this one I wasn't nervous I just uh I train 10 Rounds every day so why would one 10-minute round feel any different and I think because I went in with that attitude I didn't heat pressure on it as if it was something different this is a fight there's people it's not I people tell me when are you fighting I say I'm not fighting I've one rounded Jiu-Jitsu on Sunday I'll be okay so keeping it relaxed in my head I think was the main thing not building it up to be too much than more than it was okay so like with my podcast in general so I hope podcast confidential um one of the things I like to do is try to understand why um I try to understand why people love this so much like I have this love for it it's difficult for me to kind of get it out to other people so you know like what what is it about Combat Sports in general that you know make it this the reason I do this now I'm 36 the reason I still even step on the mat is because ran come here I have can you see that jump up I have kids of my own who I tell to do things even Jiu-Jitsu competitions that they're uncomfortable doing things they have to work hard to do same with the kids in my kids classes the adults in my classes I know how uncomfortable it is and how hard you have to work to step on a mat or compete anywhere so I can't stand on the side telling these people and him to come on just just step up just do it doesn't matter if you win or lose if I'm not doing it so the only reason I still do this is to show them that if you want to achieve something how hard you have to train how dedicated you have to be how uncomfortable you feel in the lead up to the thing and to just do it anyway cuz without without taking that risk without feeling the nerves and the anxiety you'll never achieve anything so my only reason you ask me why that's why to show these people that it's okay to feel nervous to feel anxious and to still put the head down and do it I think yeah you're you're dead on there I think we live in a society at the moment where you know people avoid people avoid any kind of discomfort you know and if someone else brings any kind of uncomfortable uncomfortableness onto them you know they get offended absolutely that's that's exact why I keep doing it it's the reason I do it now and especially when those people are looking at me it gives me a an even bigger some heaps more pressure on you as well so when you when you have kids or when you run a gym and people are looking at you as you know the guy who runs you're expected and I want to show them it's okay to have expectations it's okay to to make sure that you work hard to achieve that so no matter how scared you are about doing it so that's that's the only reason I keep doing it do you still get nerves kind of going into this like you you've been competing for quite a while In Waves so Andy Chapman that's in the the G tournament he put up a thing on his Facebook he or he was saying he goes through waves of absolute uh confidence to Absolute Terror and that that's kind of how it is so even throughout the day I just find myself thinking about the match what happens if so even though I don't feel like I was overly nervous I felt like it was consuming my thoughts what happens if he does this what happens if I get mounted am I going to like so it's more the what if and what to do in the in the in the situation as it arises more so than actually just sitting there with butterflies in your stomach only it's good to kind of have those ups and downs like if you were if you were steady at any one of those it probably wouldn't be yeah it's like a it's like a wave that's the only way I can in the morning I'm confident eat my breakfast I'm nervous on the drive I think I'm confident so but the main thing is just doing it and even even the uncomforta in the match like I think I won probably the first six the first two uh 2/3 of the match he didn't end up passing my guard and I was tired and that was where I felt the fight started I'm like right do I give up my back do I try or do I keep fighting until the last I think at one stage someone said there's 2 and a half minutes left and I thought oh I'm in trouble but then I thought am I in trouble or should I now is the time I have to start fighting so it's all it's just a mental battle it's a mental battle to get here it's a mental battle to walk out and it's a mental battle in the match so yeah keep putting yourself in those uncomfortable positions you know how would you have to say com Sports has changed your life well it changed my life completely as in it gave me well first of all it got me out of a lot of trouble going down the wrong road as well this probably one for a podcast and not for a post fight interview but of course it stopped me going down the wrong road that way it gave me everything that I have um including experiences overseas I lived in Australia got flew all around there seen the whole of Australia fighting H gave me all like my job now is is running a gym so basically everything that I have whether it be memories experiences um money everything has come from Combat Sports so to say it changed my life it it it redirected me down a very positive road that I think any young person should um should aspire to do it doesn't H and the other thing about it was when I started there was no Irish people in the UFC there was no um aspirations to be a UFC champion I started at the same time as like that first wave of Irish MMA and um but it for people to know that you don't have to be a world champion to make a life out of martial arts I went a different route I had some fights I took fights on short notice up weights did every so it's not that I went 20 and0 and got to the UFC I had mixed experiences I gained experience coaching and and training overseas and that redirect in my life in just I feel like I've probably done better off than some people who just focus on fighting as a career whereas I built a whole tried to build a whole life out of martial arts in general not just being a fighter so yeah that's perfect um so if you had kind of one point to get across to you know maybe people who aren't familiar with MMA yeah um good bad indifferent you know like what point would you want that uh to make to them um I I think just to get to get comfortable with uncomfortable um experiences that's probably what MMA start with MMA and Jiu-Jitsu has taught me just no matter how uncomfortable or how much you don't want to do something if you have a goal you must put the head down and achieve it whether that's MMA whether it's what whatever your chosen field is you must you must work harder than everyone else to excel at it whether it's MMA tennis swimming whatever you just got to put the head down and work more and smarter than everyone else that's it Excellent Man look thank you very much I appreciate your time congratulations apprciate it appreciate it no problem have a good onek you drive again [Music] thanks