Chris Fields & Tom King | Team KF's 2023 Plan | Energized Show

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What is up and welcome to The Energized Show! On this episode Team KF's Chris Fields & Tom King join us to discuss Team KF's 2023 plan, Irish MMA & the countdown to Cage Warriors 153 Dublin. Like, Comment, Subscribe & Hit the notification bell for more Energized Shows! Youtube…

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foreign [Applause] okay what's going on guys and welcome to brand new episode of energized in 2020 tree Ross introduce the guests today we have the gym of the Year 2022 and the coach of the year 2022 we have Mr Chris fields and Tom King Lads how are you doing how you stand Grace yeah all good man how are you yeah not bad not bad excited to see what 2023 brings out obviously you guys had an incredible 2022 and we'll we'll start with start off yourself Tom Tom how did you feel the gym did this year and what do you think made the difference this year um obviously fantastic year for us um I'm building on you know the year before was pretty good as well um it's just the squad is coming together I think like obviously this huge props to Chris um I suppose a big difference is like he's he's obsessed with it um like he came back early after family holiday when he came in the middle of his family holiday flew back cornered some Lads flew back to to Spain that sort of stuff a lot of cultures won't do you know um but I think a combination of things I think with the new premise is there we've a big kind of squad of guys um and we have the processes in place you know and like this is really only the start it's a gym in the year this year would be you know it could build from here I think every year is going to be an improvement on what we did this year you know yeah absolutely and one thing I did want to ask is that the Mantra we are different Tom where did that come from uh and what does that mean to you Chris made that up all right Chris yeah I don't know it it's yeah it kind of sums us up because like I said like we will go to go to a Jiu-Jitsu competition and watch guys watch white bells for eight or nine hours like Chris Lookout it doesn't matter what level of fighter guys are doing he'll be there in the corner with them because he'll be doing pads at all hours he'll be there for them um so there is a different attitude in the gym obviously we trained you know elsewhere and um just I suppose the dedication from the team and the coaches um and we're trying to we were trying to build something different trying to build a you know it's kind of our re task was almost like a 40 version of a Gea Club you know everyone's involved everyone has to practice play and uh it builds from you know bills from the top down there's a culture there so I suppose that's one thing that we I noticed we're getting a picture to say he was coming on the show and I literally saw is when the when the original uh GM was being built like the two years getting your hands dirty getting stuck in so like you literally are building something amazing yeah absolutely it's it's incredible what you guys have achieved that not only over the last year but but since since you guys uh started your own gym Chris one thing I want to touch on is what uh Tom torch on and when you guys were up for a gym the year and you were up for a coach of the year and we put the polls out like I'm not gonna lie the amount of abuse we got our team KF guys even when you're winning like the culture there is like is something else like they're giving out to us even even when you're winning the polls that were being given out about the same payoff guys I was like I was like geez that's like a cult to these laughter for bringing that's that's how passionate about uh that GM people are yeah I think uh like something that me and Tom put a lot of effort in is that um everyone feels apart and like it's not there's no superstars in the gym there's no content like like say I don't know you pick one of the pros that's doing really well at the moment he's treated the exact same as as like a white belt training twice a week you know what I mean and the other thing that happens and this was very important is that the guy is training in all the classes so the the pros that you see compete at the highest levels they go and train with the uh Jiu-Jitsu guys in Jiu Jitsu classes and they get humbled by guys like that and they they download their respect and there's also a team that's a guy that trains maybe three nights a week but he's a really solid purple belt he's rolling with guys who are competing in today's world and he sealed the part of that because he is he helped allowed to get there he's the guy like that they were rolling he was the guy pushing him and something nice I have and we have in the gym and something that like me and Tom have created is that like like say one of the guys is fighting a really high level Jitsu guy we have black belt from the gym that will take us like their Friday night with their family come down and train with that guy and they'll add in strikes and they'll do things to make like his life easier that doesn't happen elsewhere it still doesn't it doesn't like it doesn't happen another game it's just something that it was something that me and Tom had to get it so Tom used to do that for me you know what I mean and then we just brought it into a much bigger sphere now when I used to when I used to have voice kind of time he's called meet me in with roll for an hour on the case because that like that's that's what we did for pretty much my whole career he did the same for Carl you know he didn't say for comedy the same for anyone like that one to three hours and then what's happened is that we've been able to pass it on to a student so it's just really cool atmosphere where everyone feels it's the part of something it probably leads to them abusing people every now and again but it's definitely it's all in good faith it's all in good faith no he is incredible but Buzz is actually always going on but okay if he loves them yeah another thing I've noticed as well from team captain whole team anytime someone has a fight announced that the whole team then announced the fights on as well like the way they are poor she should have waited I'll make sure that everyone's involved is something that myself like promoting origin may like we see that and that's that's probably the thing the team are probably most known for any time there's a fight amateur or Pro everyone's shouting it out yeah so so something that like uh has happened in the club and there's a big thing is that like um it's like I I and Tom like Tom's the same as me and this but I want to deal with 50 I don't want to deal with 500 I want 50 guys I want them to like I want to train them from the ground up I want to build them from absolute zero or a little bit of experience and then make them into guys who are finding the ufcs and I don't want 500 guys in my mind I don't know the name they're like they're Ronin the Samurai's are no massive they Bounce from Jim Virginia that's not what they want to do here we want to build the guys like like a solid comment like I don't want to be Real Madrid I want to be RX you know I mean that's that's what I want I want to build the players from nothing and that leads to like the lads having a very close-knit group they're like they're very tight and like not only the MMA guys you come there and you hang out like every everyone will sit in the couch and talk together no matter what training they do it's just a really cool environment like Tom said him he was the first one to kind of bring that about like a GAA group you know it's honking like a true culture [Laughter] that was called that you know what when you actually say that it actually makes sense because it does have that sort of uh Community local local vibe to it so uh we can definitely we can actually see that come into fruition and I do want to touch on some of the guys within the gym because I know you said there's no superstars in the gym but there's a lot of guys who are Making Waves uh in the gym and I think we've started to see almost like the first wave of like homegrown team half talent in like you know the shadow Shelley's um taka obviously you have James Webb sort of a team team captain like figure but now you have like the next level of amateurs coming in you know we have Craig mccratten and you have Dom norcus who I'm really high on uh is this something that you were touching on there with the oax Chris that you're like you're Dr you're bringing in wave after wave of talent yeah so like uh well like both of us for that yeah that's that's kind of our approach I me and Tom are like have kind of from the day we we set up you know we sit down and we like talk about how we want this to go and like we we want to be this might sound a little bit weird to some people but we want to be emotionally attached to the guys because here's the thing I'm not gonna fly home for my family holiday is I'm not emotionally it has to be guys if I don't like want them to win as much as they want to win you know and something we've been part of and I don't ever want to do too large is that like everyone's fight has the same importance It's like because to you is the most important thing so to some guy having his army debut or a goddess fighting for cage Warriors title they're the same to them doesn't make a difference what the show is how many people are watching to them is the most important thing in the world and then like are we allowed to use language or is that way you can say whatever you want Chris no you [ __ ] can't yeah if you put them over and you don't body your bollocks they shall walk to the show right Magno two in a row uh but if you if you do that to them like like the guys just won't respond to you to say anymore they'll feel like they're not part of Summer anymore you know so that's why I made such a an effort and that's why like if you go to Annie Jitsu tournament Tom Simon there from the morning to them I mean if he can be there he's there the morning to the night he's standing there Corner Lads all day it's like MMA team got bigger in the club that's your time where is on you you do like 80 Corners you know what I mean 80 you're calling it 80 people in a day like it's [ __ ] miserable yeah I'm sure it is um Tom do you want to touch on that like yeah corner you know because in a Judicial competition someone might have three or four four uh boats in a day and then on top of that uh at the end I want to touch on uh how did it feel to give Chris's black belt as well that must been a nice moment for you I changed me I haven't got to take it back now yeah yeah no you're going back to what you're saying there about the livestock it's grateful seeing you know if the likes of uh Craig and Rome and and Julian like they all came through the teens class like they all started when we started on the Main Street they came in they started you know I was teenagers 13 year olds in with the Jiu Jitsu uh teens program so seeing them come true and then they're moving on to the you know the Army teams a lot of those guys would be fighting Pro pretty soon and like that's that's what we're building it's an academy you know we're getting guys in at a young age building them up you know and seeing them progress like that's that's where you get the real kick out of it you know um yeah and I'm from a like a Jiu-Jitsu point of view like the way you know you have your fight squad or whatever that that's like I don't know it's like the tip of the iceberg you need a huge amount of guys underneath that you need guys competing in Jiu-Jitsu and competing and K1 kickboxing compete and lower level MMA fights you know and then the top guys in that filter up so if you don't have those processes in place you'll never have we certainly never be able to build a squad of of problems you might be able to kind of bite them in from elsewhere but you're not going to build them yourself without that yeah it is called mixed martial arts for a reason you do need to sort of uh have people who are you are you need to get people to try the different aspects of the sport separately as well as a collective I think on the way I think a big thing as well is that like um and something that we're lucky to have is like Specialists your specialist in the gym you know you have a guy that's like we have some very very high level Jiu Jitsu players in the gym and like we have them guys in MMA that are excellent at the YouTube but they go rolled again you know what I mean because a specialist in Jiu Jitsu it is like not years ahead of a good Grappler in MMA that's that's the truth of the matter like you know like Damian Moya is the greatest rapper at uh ever Grace ever made he's not the greatest operator that ever lives exactly I'm I'm plenty of older people like have you ever seen Roe Marcelo Garcia you know and like like me and Tom love Damian Morrison please know and take this as a slate and he's one of my favorite MMA fighters of all time but like when you go watch the highest level of the sport the the grappling is light years ahead right so what you what you have then is you have Ergo is having the push to match those guys in grapplings and then all that does is just throughout the mileage it's better and better and better what happens in a lot of places and a lot of changes the MMA team just trying to get it that's it so what you have as well the blue box how are you going to improve is giving away some of the secrets to the other gyms here now tell us this lad um either one of these can take this one but uh obviously cagewire is is massive for you guys um the team's been very successful on cage workers how big is this cage Warrior is Dublin event going to be for the gym and then for origami you want to take your time yeah well it's massive for us um I think uh I think we're gonna have a fairly big big Squad at it and and the big thing for us I suppose is that the rest of the the rest of the gym can get more heavily involved you know I'd say there'll be a fairly big block of Team KF supporters there um but it's it's that that's a huge event for us we'll be building up uh building up to that yeah it was it was great to see um Leon Hill get someone Chris doesn't know I know we took his Pro debut on I believe in four hours no it was actually yeah over over a cage Warriors and uh he was uh unsuccessful gave a great count of himself and then you know he had a much better year um well in 2022 I don't know what I'd say last year or this year I don't know what way to reference in there or what uh the last 12 months he's done really really well and it's definitely earned and not given that call up helps I know you're freely on this year yeah so uh Leon um right no it was on a different podcast sorry I'd say that okay but I stated last year that Leon would be the breakout guy um like I'm 2022 from the gyms and uh you know Tom can attest to this as well Leon's work ethic and his improvement over the last kind of two years has been immense you know yeah I'm just very happy to see him um kind of get where he belongs it's where he belongs to the father I think a lot of people are going to be taken aback for how well he does at that level as well I think um I think he I watch him in the gym with the guys who are already there he's very capable you know and I feel like my guys just understand no guys there anyway and he's hanging with all of them so he just adds that I think as well like you're asking Tom about what it means to the gym again for Irish MMA it's huge to have cage Warriors back you know and obviously there's been a push towards dinosaur uh over the last while but I think you know historically cage Warriors at the root that people have taken I think everyone can can attest but that all they want is Irish guys in the UC competing and Pedro is obviously the best route there at the moment um so yeah I just think it opens uploads of doors and I think it just brings us back to those historical nights those amazing nights you know the Helix would have been there I don't know whether you guys are there or not but like that it's like they they're the noise that people still talk about to this day and I'm hoping we're going to recreate one of them in April yeah hopefully so and I hope the rsma crowd Gets behind it and I hope everyone Boys tickets to go see it because uh we don't see a full house will end always come back time and time again yeah Chris would you be planning and Tom would you be planning on basically just stacking the card uh the cage Warriors Dublin card with your Fighters or would you be interested in having them on cars beforehand yeah so um I'm definitely gonna have some Lads of marks so we're a bit disappointing but um it kind of has to happen is Omron won't be able to compete in April because of Ramadan so he can fight on the Dublin card so he'll fight in London probably don't get in trouble now yeah and then I'd imagine they're going to want James for the Mars card in London as well so uh I'm thinking I'll probably have maybe four or five guys on the Dublin card yeah because middleweight title is now a vacant yeah so I do we'd probably be looking at one more before the after games and that like that's obviously okay and uh and grime but uh you'll probably be looking at one more before you can push for that and I'd also like to see him maybe go up and compete at uh 205 as well I think that provision's a little bit open at the moment yeah I don't think there's more to the division there really from being brutally understood at 205. it seems like what they're doing is they've tried to recreate a division there I suppose if you look around um Europe at the minute the likes of uh ksws and they tend to attract the 205 is that's mostly what they look for uh cage Warriors would be much more known for their middleweights and down uh trying to you know you never really see too many heavy heavyweight fights on categories you never see too many like Headway flights so I think it's a nice open division for a James to make a run at 205 as well so yeah no that definitely I think I I think he's capable in both divisions as well um to be honest I think uh if you if you look at the middleweight landscape sort of like Will Curry Matt Bonner James the future knock around um I don't know if Marilyn is still signed the former champ but like there's a few guys there who you know if you really looked at them they all actually have a a state or a claim to a title shot uh at this stage but it will be interesting to see what way they go um another person I want to touch on is Ryan Shelley I feel like he's he's maybe one win away from a featherweight title shot um I feel like a lot will depend on what they do with Paul used but uh where would you manage his career for the next year Chris yeah um so I think there's uh like I I think you know it has to be a a big fight in um in Dublin I think yeah you know there's some names that I would like I like the harilla fight uh really like that's why um you know there's a few people there that are like going against I'd like to share A4 I like that fight too I think Ryan's very capable of beating that even the division I think one of the biggest things um and this is a testament that Thomas Ryan tent was as a striker um and obviously we concentrate a lot on grappling in um the MMA class at the MMA class as we do but you know you see what Ryan's cable are doing as a rapper is you know attach someone to what column's doing in the background there you know what's that yeah he's just he sees that Pakistan and you watch my voice back taking is not my thing yeah yeah Tom waiter what's called that we'll start calling him rear naked ruin Not A Bad Name from yeah spectacular some of the finishes got unbelievable and I guess you know how really high level opponents you know you're people going in worried about striking but you know you want to be worried about everything but Ryan and it's the same whether you're looking at the the omran as well like the the jump in his grappling Leon um his last finish like positionally really really strong you know and you're talking about submissions like Jiu Jitsu big part of it is positioned someone like Leon able to hold him out you can't shift him he's going to Elbow the mouth off you you know that's that's Jiu-Jitsu and it's purest form but uh it absolutely delighted with the jump and the guys and Tom were you okay with the with the wink and on the tongue from Leonard informal are you okay with that I might be doing the same yourself you individual right I watch Tom get a mounted triangle on someone once and go like that to me [Laughter] who was it was it Nate Diaz versus supposed yeah yeah he was a pro who you think is going to be your standout for 2023 and then an amateur uh an amateur well um I think like uh I I think the the amateur ranks are very difficult at the moment because I think there's a bunch of guys there that probably ain't gonna see the end of the year as that means they're going to be the transition of the pro uh early or mid this year uh they're kind of two folks off I I kind of like um uh well we have Carnival an amount of fights that we localized to have I know there's a new idea of having tons and tons and tons of amateur fights I'm not really on board with that uh I think like what happens is you start to take damage at the operator on the amateur and the upper restaurant of amateur is lower than the lower level of bro so uh and you're not getting paid and it's a very short career and one injury and it's gone you know what I mean one bad injury in the storm so I generally look for the guys have six or seven but mostly I'm looking for two or three big performances towards the end so the dominant performances and so it was the point that uh like I think uh Kiera here mcgurk has a huge year this year I think we see Craig McGrath and GoPro uh Julian renew GoPro I think I'll probably let the cat out of the bag here but Dominic his next fight will be Pro anyway he's throwing that amateur for me uh there's nothing else to do there that's incredibly yeah [Music] [Laughter] like I'm not surprised like he he was he was one person who I I've never seen him take care take to sports so quick and like he's incredible and all the lads in the game like talk to the Chinese and they're all like oh Tom's incredible he's giving me the hardest rounds in training there's no mystery to that though you could come in at five in the morning to turn the alarm off in the gym darma be there hitting the [ __ ] bag if you're doing something do you know what I mean he's there every day every time I'm there he's doing something he's he's rolling or he's hitting pads or he's training in a session I don't think I have been in the GM all year and he's not there doing something he's a Matt rat you know so I I think I think a big thing as well is um like you know it almost looks like the arms just exploded onto the scene here because this year everything happened within six seven months from it he had a huge here but it was only from him but like there's been training going on for two and a half years in the background the only kind of way I don't let anyone fight until they're 18 so we had to wait till he turned 18 to let him loose like he'd only turned 18 a month and he used the trainer three times a day as well do you know as soon as it looks well I've actually had I've seen texts like certain promoters I don't say Hello send me texts on trying to get certain people matched up and like like it just becomes Impossible on the region or on the regional I'm trying to get some people matched then eventually because like coaches don't understand they're going against some of these people yeah yeah and I think again like McDonald's on what me and Tom want you know he's a K1 Champion uh he's he's uh seven seven and one I think as an as an amateur uh he's um he competes and he gets here he's just like he's all around there he like he attends so some of the rules for like being on the MMA team you can't be like just going to MMA class and they give him a Jiu-Jitsu you need to improve and all your games so he like like Tom was saying he's got everything I'm the kid has a part-time job so he manages to kind of juggle everything so I think um I think it's time for him to move on it'll be a slow kind of burner Pro he won't be doing what he did last year he's having seven points in a year but uh but it'll be yeah it'll be like maybe maybe three or four points this year and then next year look to really progress them up Tom is there anyone else that Chris hasn't mentioned that people should definitely keep an oil for in 2023 I do yeah kicking them out it's like picking your favorite child um [Laughter] yeah I think like The Lads kind of who were there just before would be they'll be moving on to prop um but I think yeah I think Kara has a big year ahead of her and like with like delighted with horror progress as well I think that's going to take um Frozen Yeah I think that's it I thought you did I I was like I was like is that me yeah he looks like he's deep and taller uh yeah I'll go back to Pro because I never said the pros so uh I think I think a big one this year so pack a pack of two his big year so yeah we lost you that time we look at your defense yeah so I think this year for like on the posting I let Tom go back for that uh on the posting they can pack us to a big year and I couldn't one that might surprise people like everyone can see where online's going everyone can see where Ryan is going you can see now with Leon as well but like I think and a huge here is going to be had by Adam Shelley I think he's found the the right mixture now so I think you see him take a huge jump this year I think Adam's one of those weird guys he has a job I think he needed all the things in place he's a little bit older than some of the boys and so he needed all the little bits in place before he could really just kind of right now I'm ready to go all in and that's kind of where we're at with him you know yeah I was actually speaking to Adam there at the last cage Order show and he said he was absolutely bollocks for Belfast because he was doing full-time forever gay training and train he was like he was like he had no no rest breaks ever so like he was like his buddy was he told me he was doing uh it was all classwork so they were all in in classes and then it was only afterwards and he scaled it but somewhere like about my guys was never excuses same with James like when when he was gone wrong I have to hear from other people what went like what was happening in the background it was Ryan who told me uh afterwards how much he was doing and then yeah but anyway I was told back to Tom there he was he was speaking and he kind of cut out just after he started talking about carrot yeah oh yeah yeah well no that was that'd be the the standout I think Army for the year um and then pro pro wise I think like you're picking someone out I suppose from Chris is saying someone who's gonna have the biggest jump in the year you know um in terms of you know coming from a you know a lower base maybe um but I think Leon's going to have a spectacular year I think I'm around as Chris said is going to have a great year Ryan is I think Adam's going to come into his own um I think the kind of from a pro point of view it's going to be a very exciting year for a set again the end of the year just you know this time next year we'll be talking about the best year we've ever had and I'm convinced that's going to happen can you top 84 win rate [Laughter] now we won't be getting his laptop as a Christmas bonus now [Laughter] you know we had that we had one bad life at the at the very end of the year and had we not had that would have been 88 um three days afterwards I was in a bad mood after that I called him Alex Ferguson and the boys they all got the hair dryer treatment that I'm like yeah yeah it's raw a draw come on yeah yeah don't be skewed on the stats for the draw a lot I suppose uh how all in me and Tom are kind of pushers or stand with the lads and how much we expect from them you know so you know if you're if you're not showing up you're not doing the hard work with the lives you can't be complaining then when the results don't come in but if you're putting everything in you can you know you're you're you're welcome in your rights to uh if you don't feel lives are important the same in my opinion or something you know didn't feel right you can say whatever you like yeah yeah I think you have to give that on assessment bars don't you exactly but like that's why 10K after doing what they're doing that's why they're vote at the energize shows MMA gym of the year in 2022 uh we cannot wait to see you let's do your thing in 2023 and especially on cage Warriors Dublin on the 29th of April Ross yes we will definitely be there I can't wait to see it I'm sure we'll see you guys both before then um because thanks a million for your time we really appreciate it can't wait to see what you guys are gonna do in 2023 and as always stay energized stay energized [Applause] so keep going keep up the good work guys