IN DEPTH | EPISODE 29 | PAUL BROWNE

Ringkasan

Dave sits down for a chat with Paul Browne. Paul is a commentator, ring announcer and a BJJ blackbelt. He is heavily invested in Irish Martial Arts, and also works for top promotion Cage Warriors.

Transkrip (youtube_captions)

[Music] thank you okay so I'm here with Mr Paul Brown enormous what the voice of Irish ever made nearly on every show but um we were just going to talk to him about his career today and how he got into MMA so thank you very much for your time and what brought you to MMA and will Jiu Jitsu more so yeah it was a Jujitsu or what wasn't even Jujitsu I initially started with uh it was kind of kickboxing I did originally when I first kicked off so I was in like my early 30s and I had been playing Gaelic football for the few years prior to that and I just sort of knocked out on the head and spent a year twiddling with homes and drinking and yeah not much else really and I kind of like I've always trained like a work in the fitness industry so but I I had this sort of urge to be involved in a sport you know I missed it so I as prior to my job I I ended up doing some strength and condition and programming for a guy who got his Pro MMA debut coming up and through that I ended up trying a class or two here and there long story short fell into having a couple of kickboxing fights and then a couple of jujitsu matches and it just sort of uh it spoiled from there um I found myself sort of gravitating towards team Rhino world still a reasonable beginner and I've been a team Rhino since I was a white belt so uh yeah went all the way from White Bear to Black Belt under Andy Ryan and uh the journey just did that whatever it is I think it's about 12 years or something like that just the people I've met the place have been experienced with a lot when you take a minute to stop and look back into its class you know yeah I'd say when you look back on that whole time and what what led you towards well I know was it there was there notable fighters in there at the time or was it just a gym closure or was it Andy Ryan himself yeah so the German initially started in was uh kind of Affiliated to team Rhino so what we did was we popped up once every couple of weeks to do a jiu jitsu class open Rhino with with as a group and I remember just being in there and being mesmerized but like the level of athlete in the place you had there guys like Pro Fighters up there at the time like Siri and Paul Redmond were were um you know the top of the pile there but we plenty of water goes with Chris Bouchard and Conrad ivanowski and guys like that that we're all doing well um as high level amateurs or just new pros and the scene was pretty uh underground still in Ireland at the time so this was before the the UFC explosion Conor McGregor hadn't hadn't made it into the the worldwide stage at that point so a lot of these guys were you know just breaking into the cage Warrior scene at the time and so I remember just being mesmerized and that and like I said with the fourth year or year and a half I was training I had a couple of kind of low-level kickboxing fights and whatnot and it was nice to get just the experience of getting in the ring and fighting but then I remember strapping on the gloves and standing in front of meal theory for me for a sparring around the team round I was like oh this is different this is completely [ __ ] different you know so we um yeah I just I just felt there I felt like if I want to actually learn and improve and and learn sport these are the people I need to be around you know the atmosphere back in rhino in those days like we're a crazy Bunch even now like we're a bit different than other clubs but back then it was the [ __ ] Wild West you know what I mean it was I was um I always refer to that to those as the the crazy gang you know the women and football team used to be known as back in the late 80s so uh it was just like that and it was just something I wanted to be a part of so I just started I found myself in the door there and never left and they're still there to this day you know so yeah and then you said you went from a white bed to black belt on The Andy Ryan talk to us about the stages is that and and like you said what was about 12 13-year Journey what job because everyone tells me when they go to Jitsu you get smashed for like the first six months to a year before you start actually turn around like what kind of a mindset you need to keep going because if I was gone something for six months to a year and not that you didn't seem to make in progress but you get smashed a lot of people would easily give up what made you stick it out and keep going Jesus yeah it's a good question so like back then the way the gym was lined up like there was like Andy got his black belt shortly after I began training Andy Ryan and he was the second Irish black belt after John Kavanagh so like there wasn't black belts all over the place but there was guys wearing portal belts and you would have assumed that like I mean they would have been seen as like Jesus these lands are high level you know what I mean but there's a lot of guys that were training there in the gym that were blue belts and corporate belts and we were going in there as new blood white belts there wasn't there the beginner friendly approach to jiu jitsu there was no beginner classes it was sink or swim get on the map I'm just try and survive for a handful of rounds so we did that and uh I don't know just some of us just kept going people tailed off but there was a handful of us started there oh he started with me best mate Ray your um we've started training in that same club and both moved into team Rhino then and me and Ray are both black belts now you know so at least we sort of had each other to bounce off and that um but it was it was just think I swim for a long long time you were basically rolling with big people you are rolling with Advanced folks uh Giants uh just getting murdered and it was just yeah can you can you hold on can you hold on until you eventually start getting kind of good at this and it took a while it took a few years you know and there was no like nowadays a few starters there's technique classes beginner classes and whatnot back then it was just jump in and go go with everyone else and just try and keep your head above water for a long long time but I've not just the addictive nature of my personality or just uh okay I had to keep going I had to keep going and I enjoyed the competition aspect I've competed all the way through uh and yeah just it's been a mad Journey but still still going strong yeah and how does it feel when that does start to turn when you do like when you start seeing their progress like is there a great satisfaction in it is it like just like oh I'm finally getting somewhere with it and then in terms of competitions did you compete from a Wipeout as well yeah yeah um we're competing in every belt I don't think I ever won a competition at white belt um the first couple of years I didn't really improve a hell of a lot I was just game I'd get on the mountain I'd train hard and walk and whatnot but from a technical skill Viewpoint I don't I remember just not not being fantastic you know we're not not um not getting to the point where I was winning tournaments I remember and hitting the silver medal a couple of times in Jiu-Jitsu competition so I could I could kind of hang with guys and I remember breaking the arm then when I was a blue belt where I was training MMA again and uh broke me out badly if anyone on the camera could see the little hole in the elbow there the elbow got fully dislocated and there I had to take it back a notch I couldn't roll for for quite a while but I could go down and learn you know and do drills do the technical stuff and I could I could try and figure out what kind of techniques would work for me that I could protect this arm because it was really sore and and weak for a long long time uh so I learned I took a step back at intensity wise and I developed my game and a few months after coming back from that injury I remember winning my first gold medal of the tournament and then I won another and another I just kept going then I started it got to a point then when I was starting to win pretty much almost everything I was going into and then you find yourself wearing a purple belt and then after a couple of years there you're where it just yeah it trickles forward from there so that was probably the um the aha moment you know having to not focus on their just being in fifth gear all the time and actually develop that side of your game and it's not just turning up a class and listening and learning it's going off and seeking out like finding people who are good at certain things and and getting them to show you you know what worked in this position what works in that position so taking a step back and developing the other aspect of your game which I still do now like I do like I work with Collie Man in the Striking Department these days um Dublin combat Academy and it's it's not just going down there and getting my ass handed to me for a workout it's going down there and trying to develop skills that we just don't [ __ ] have and and he's able to walk me back a couple of steps of intensity and let's just walk through this technique and we'll do it and do it and do it and repeat it until it starts to feel natural and then we'll add a little bit to it you know so it's patience and um skill development and that's that's that's that Wipeout mentality is something that you got to keep going forward you can't you can't just you know think that you're you know I'm good enough now and that's it you've got to always be trying to learn if you want to if you want to make make improvements as you go forward you have to have that white white belt mentality yeah because you see you're a black belt and you've probably seen and we've all seen the evolution in MMA and jiu jitsu over the past couple of years like how much has it evolved we've seen I've seen MMA between safety uh taking everyone's rounded now like when you look back at when you started to wear Jiu Jitsu and MMA is now like how much has it changed in your opinion like can you believe we're this far ahead right now or did you ever think it was going to be just good yeah it's the skill levels now like I mean I'm I'm cage side for most of the amateur fights that take place in this country now and Jesus Christ some of the skill that like you were there during the week when we saw Damien McGregor and knock out his opponent with that that spin and kick and just like does the level of talent and these guys have they're coming into the amateur scene now at a young age and they've had x amount of Cadet fights x amount of novice fights they're coming in there as well-rounded Fighters and they're they're learning from like when I when I kicked off as I said there wasn't too many black belts in the country nowadays you walk into our gym with 24 black belts in our gym you know what I mean so you're these guys that are stepping into the cages are learning from people who've been down that path they're you know success leaves Clues and they're they're learning from people that have been there done that but worn the T-shirt um so you can see it that that's obviously going to trickle down and it's gonna it's gonna increase the standard going forward in 10 years time the skill level of the amateurs then is going to be it's going to dwarf what we're looking at now which is crazy to see yeah absolutely which is crazy so you can like should I didn't realize the Jiu Jitsu scene is absolutely massive over here I only realized recently uh because I talked to Andy Chapman a lot and it was kind of between him and you and a couple other people I realized like the scene is now there seems to be competitions for jiu jitsu every second or third weekend you had the grapple Queens there recently which I think is a fantastic concept uh did you watch it yourself because or like do you go to many competitions yourself and compete now with obviously you're doing commentating once again yeah I'm flapping a map this year so I got my black belt uh just before Christmas was I think it was just before Christmas and I did my first blackdale competition in February but it was great to actually get on the mats for the first time wearing a black belt in competition is brilliant because I've competed and won tournaments at pretty much every bet I didn't win out in a white belt but I won blue purple brown and uh it was great to step on the mats and compete against black belts and then um since then I've been sort of I got injured like three days after that and I'm still dealing with a little niggling injury which is sort of holding me back from training hard I can train on the map but I can't uh I can't train to a level where I'd be at competition intensity to be ready to get in with black belts but again I'm working nearly most weekends in a month anyway you know and between that and having two little babies it's um it's kind of importantly the competition in Jiu Jitsu was sort of at the back of me mindset but the scene it's right what you're saying the scene is on fire at the moment I look at the the big competitions that are on now and I like I've commentated on a couple of them this year and stuff and you go down with them and they're massive big Arenas and big crowds at them and huge divisions stacked full of competitors I compare that to the ones I was going to when I was a white belt or a blue belt it's night and day you know what I mean the growth has been brilliant and that's just that's down to the coaches but really the people that have been out there um that's a cold face just hammering away over the years and trying to impact their knowledge and build their skills and that uh and the skill level phenomenal you know we've got guys competing we've got world champions in Jiu Jitsu from this country we've got guys competing on big shows like the abcc's we have Polaris guys like that so um yeah it's just grown and grown along with the MMA you know so it's great to see yeah it's good like we had John Fleming for Mighty Mouse uh Kieran McFadden and Catherine McFadden recently came back with silver and gold from Vegas like it's just it's on fire like I said the shows are every week parties about your back black belt obviously from starting from the white belt and going through and winning all those competitions when you've actually received your black belt digital coming at the time or did you think it was going to be a little bit longer and what was your emotions when you were getting a farm Andy Ryan the second person to have a black belt in Ireland yeah and I do I knew I was going to be black belt because it was like it was um it was time you know um they we do a grading end of year uh so December right before Christmas we do a grading every year and I know the year before that I was being looked at for my black belt and I didn't get it on the day and I was like right I don't mind I'm doing it long enough in that I was like right it'll happen when it happens don't be too pissed off like so I knew like I had a good year of training and I had done well in competition and and I'd even enter the competition at Black Belt a couple of weeks before the grade because there was no brow boats in it was a smart competition still got a match at Black Belt against a heavier opponent that came out with the win so it was just like I know I'm rolling with black belts and non-stop all the time so I just knew from how I was moving around look yeah look around about with four strikes and wearing a brown belt four years you know able to hang with with most people that are trained with and I didn't I knew it was like like it's time now so um but even still it was very emotional because I'm getting promoted to Black Belt about them alongside like miles price got his black belt same time as me Bill McCann who's training gardeners how long he's our wrestling coach and you know lifelong martial artists it was a proud moment for me to get a black belt Stevie carers won the Europeans a really good friend of mine since we were Wipeout it's a proud moment to just get promoted alongside all of those guys and to get all my best from Andy it's that place um that place has been really good to me over the years it's always there as a second home so that was a really proud moment you know I was pretty [ __ ] emotional because what we do is at your belt graving you basically get shark tanked You're Gonna Hurt the Iron Man treatment so I've had this for for pretty much most of the Bell promotions and um it's it's quite rough it's like we have lots of affiliate schools so you get people from a few of the other affiliate schools are coming up so there could be like 100 people on the mat and it's like Andy I'll pick out after we've done a bit of a Class A bit of a training session or warm-up whatever and you'll go right you you you guys he's looking after about on the mat and stay there till you're holding it off so you're there and if someone Taps you where you've had them they get off the next person who runs out and gets on you straight away and this could this goes on for like it's an indefinite amount of time there's no look in the clock on right five minutes left I've done this for like an hour hour and a half in some years and it's it's Grim like so you're in survival mode and it's it's basically it's a test of your resilience and choose your willpower you know you're you're out there and you're people getting attacked there's people tapping you out like yeah because you're just purely exhausted but you're still there and then he gets off you're still putting your hand up for the next one to come out and it's just a it's a bit of a hazing ritual and no one's expecting you to be out there killing everyone yeah but just keep on keep going so we did that but by the end of it you're [ __ ] and I remember they call time on it at the end and you're just a relief is there that it's over and right everyone come over sit down chill out find a place to sit down and then they go off to get all the belts ready but I remember just sitting there and Beyond just the room is so sweaty at that point even in December the condensation is dripping off the roof and the floor is like a swimming pool and everyone's drenched for the bottom and it's just like getting against the wall sit down remember hold your hands in my towel I was like [ __ ] I'm crying better not take this towel off my face you know I just need a minute because just that if there's an overwhelming little force of emotions because that's the last time we'll ever have to do that you know and I did it for me purple belt I did it for me blue belt and gotten like rinsed and battered and choked to sleep and woke them back up and just kept going got those belts and they're they're great memories but this is the last time now you know this is then so it was really emotional and he's been going through a hard year personally as well so I was like right yeah this is this has got to be a shining light in a tough year and it was a really really nice experience and out of the four or five of us that got promoted I was I think I might have been the last one so I got to just sit there on me in my own little headspace and watching all the the blue new blue belts getting promoted so it's about a half an hour and it's going on all the new purple belts all the new brown birds and then this guy he gets his black and this guy this guy this way and then it was me and it was just yeah it was pretty overwhelming but uh I remember just heard the relief but like I said I knew it was coming but I still yeah I still really enjoyed the whole experience and you're just surrounded by a lot of your friends and people you've been training with for years so it's Pro moment yeah yeah really cool yeah I can imagine it is and and the fact that it was the last time having to do something like that because even me listen to you saying what you had to do sounds wrong um the portable belt one now the one I got from before but it was pretty rough because we there like I said we're a bit [ __ ] wild in there and we we rinse each other like you have to have a thick skin but I remember me pork about one I always get I got it pretty much worse than everyone else so basically you're you're in you're on the mat and every time you get tapped you put your hand up the next one comes out and I kind of realized like everyone that's coming out to me is a brown belt or a black belt like there's no white balance yeah no I'm getting a roof right here what's going on and I realized they looked at the corner and bi and I realized all the brown birds of black belts were skipping the line to get to the front the way Glory was free and it was like an hour or an hour and a half and I remember getting choked to sleep multiple times Carol roach choked me by sitting on my chest well I was already exhausted I was like I can't breathe uh fell asleep wake up you [ __ ] someone else came out and threw a triangle on me it was just like yeah but you get through it you know and then at the end of that one everyone's lined up and Andy was dishing out all the belts and then nothing for me and he goes right let's we're all going home and says on Monday and everyone starts to walk away and Andy just pauses look at browner's face I don't know if you're sitting there about to cry so yeah it's um great memories you know but thankfully thankfully don't have to do it again thanks for Jesus Christ um throughout that time other than obviously get in the black belt is there any moments that stand out to you any competitions or a threat is there anything that really stands out you throughout your time like there's loads of great memories of competitions like you know there was a few where like you pull out a submission out of the bag when you're getting absolutely butchered and then you you strangle someone or you're catch an hour and that a cart one would like less than a tenth of a second left on the clock once to win the gold medal like I was there he got to sleep on me right near the end I was like [ __ ] the Lash down in there and barely screamed and they stopped the clock it was like point eight of a second or something stupid left on the clock so there's great memories like that like just competition wise but I think the best ones are like just somebody experience you've had like been away somewhere with some of the team competing or you know days we've had where loads of us have actually won medals or done really well and just as a group I think that stands out to me more there's more value in that you know it's less less personal and more just uh just called life experience and you know it's been a brilliant journey and the day I got the black bear needed to make a speech I kind of fumble through his speech a little bit and what I was trying to say was this is a place where you'll just make great connections and it'll always be here when shit's going well and when shit's not going so well you always have a place you can come in and you'll be welcome then people will be happy to see you and I think that's the most important thing about a journey like that it's not it's not like MMA where it's price fighting and you're trying to provide for your family you're there just to to learn and get better and grow but you're also there to to enjoy yourself you know and I think that's that's what stands out to me most you know just all the fun we've had over the years and some of those stories like just crazy you know yeah right more more so than you know any individual match or or competition or Accolade that I won't just yeah some brilliant experience built up along the way yeah no it sounds like a fantastic journey and like I said loads of memories with good people and you've like you said you've named a couple who they're they've been your friend since white belt so obviously there's been people way too long that's only but obviously people know you a lot more people would know you too MMA through your voice uh your emcee and your commentate talk to us about how that because that kind of came about all of a sudden I've seen all O'Keefe was was stepping away him and Phil were quite good as a Duo um at the time I didn't know who was gonna replace me then all of a sudden you could talk to us about your first show how it came about were you always interested in doing the commentating was that something you aspire to do or just tell us how it kind of started out for you yeah so um it's only like it's less than a year and a half now like I think it is anyway I think it's just under a year and a half and the first one I did was I commentated on chaos grappling and Andy Chapman runs and he's a good palamine and he was trying to get me to match to compete on the card and couldn't get me a match so I said look I'll come up and accommodate in the live stream because I was going up there with a couple of people from my team that I had I had helped him get matches for and I was like well I'm going to come up anyway so yeah you can stick a headset on me and I'll commentate on Grand and I did that and really really enjoyed it and like I think I did quite well I I remember Sean Quirk who runs the live streams afterwards he said Jesus that was great how long are you doing this and I was like making up three hours you know and he was the [ __ ] I thought you've been doing that for years you just you were so good at it you were well able to do it and afterwards I remember just thinking Jesus I really enjoyed that I'd love to do more of that but there's already people doing those jobs in on the Irish MMA scene and I'd love to work in MMA what kind because I prefer to watch MMA than watch Jiu-Jitsu um so I was thinking I'd love to do it and as low could have it I think the following week and I'll basically announced he was stepping away so of course I had been working as a judge and a ref I knew everyone in the sort of cage so I grew up I knew a lot of the promoters anyway um so I was like Jesus that's that's wide open now that's an opportunity so I just sent out some texts to some of the promoters offered me services for that job going forward they were happy enough to go with it and uh here we are yeah I did the fourth year when I did okay with those and then more and more shows now I've reached out and just uh it's at the point now where I'm on most of the shows in the country which is yeah you know that's that's a really nice feeling in that people trust me to to do that job because it's um it's great experience I get to work alongside some brilliant people like you mentioned Phil there we do we do we did quite a lot of shows together last year and we worked together recently on the Como we're doing cage Legacy together next month he like I've learned so much from working alongside him he's just so good so slick so professional and then you know the likes of Andrew mcgah and I've known Andrew since we were white belts or blue belts in Jiu Jitsu and we have some fun when we do that here or open Nori I'm not really looking forward to that couple of weeks we we really click on the commentary we do we it's a bit more light-hearted when the two of us are on together we pull the piss out of each other a bit but it's um it's great fun yeah I just I just absolutely love the whole experience and I get to work with guys like you of course at the show I always look forward to getting up to the show because you know all the courts team the Medics the the officials yourself and and other people it's always the same core group at every show so it's always when the show was coming up I can't wait for Sunday or I can't wait till Saturday evening it's going to be cool it's going to be great fun you know and it's not often you get to say that about work you know yeah yeah because like that when you go up you've got chess you've got like Paddy or whoever maybe the the fighters and coaches everyone's happy to see you yeah I I've been happy to think that I've been a very happy with is the response that I've had from Fighters um doing the job I don't get Fighters texting me I have to talk to what hasn't happened yet I don't get Fighters texting me agrees with anything I've said or pissed off like I had a fighter reach out to me last week that I I gave some constructive criticism of his performance on the on the live stream at the regional vertex I think it was and you reached out to me and thanked me for it and said look yeah you're right about this and thanks for the constructive criticism this is something I need to get work on going for that was that was class for me you know that was really nice for me to hear that because I don't I don't like the sugarcoatings I tried to call things down the middle and I also don't I try not to if someone's not performing well you don't need to be just going in on the meter do you know what I mean you need to you need to call things down the middle and if someone's doing things right you've got you've just got to call the action as you see it and Fighters reach out to me all the time to chat to me about um stuff that I might have said on commentary good and bad and um just some ask my opinion on stuff which you know and that that just it's nice for me you know it's nice to focus trust my opinion and the trust trust my words and stuff so um yeah it's one thing I've really enjoyed about the whole process you'll you get to know a lot of these Fighters you get to make connections with them as well coaches but foyers in particular and it's nice to be involved in a little way on their Journey some of them going like we're seeing like Shawna there in the UFC now and I accommodated on three of her first four Pro fights and you know it's like really I feel like it was just sort of one tiny particle of that of that early stage that that journey I was right there and I gotta I gotta go there a good view of the whole uh the whole show let's see where she goes next you know so it's interesting that a lot of the fighters that are on the scene now a lot of them could go on huge things it's nice to where it's nice to just get to get to know the fighters uh like that and and enjoy the journey you know yeah like I said and I like from what I do obviously it's different but like when I look at Alexa and Simon now like cage Warriors and just like to like some Max Sally and Gary Rooney like I would have been heavily trying interviewing them and stuff two years ago or trying to get him on and now over the next couple of weeks that's a massive show for cage that like for cases to get those two pro debuts it's Masters are obviously on 4C versus it fell out for them um but obviously okay thanks and Sean uh I think she's commentating on cases she's commentating with me and Phil I believe yeah so that's going to be cool you know kashana's won multiple titles there like three belts an amateur belt and two different belts in in the promotion um so that's gonna be fun yeah get on like a house on fire with Sean as well I've trained a good build with Shauna so uh Really Gonna enjoy that one you know it's going to be uh a cool experience um yeah they do great things for the scene you know and it's great to see like you said Gary and Max on the same show Making Pro debuts you know both those Lads I know their dads well uh there are guys that are really open and friendly and always have been over the years through the scene you know them well from interviewing them um it's going to be a good night for uh for that next stage of the cruise if they bulk it in there and they both get those victories Jesus the place will be that up the flat to be bouncing off the walls in the place and Max always brings a crowd around too I enjoy uh yeah just being in the cage and introducing them and yet when you're in the cage you get to feel that energy in the room on those nights uh that that venue in hell is brilliant like a membership accommodating on China's fights in there before was it with Kerry Isom and it's a class venue for that like the atmosphere would be rocking in there so it's um yeah it's a great just it's great to be in and around the whole the whole journey some of them can go all the way to the top and yeah you're building great memories there you know yeah it is there's been some like that one that we talked you just talked about I think Jordan O'Neill and Troy yeah yeah and that was that like that was Unreal that was probably one of the best amateur fights I'd seen up until that age when there was Austin Fox and Taylor Quinn was another one that recent one with Brian Manning and Daryl Ward was another fantastic fight is there any fights or like throughout what you've been doing like I said it's been about a year and a half or so is there any like knockout that stands out here is there any kind of fight sister announcer that you watched and you just went oh my God yeah uh the one that jumps off the page of me is Jamie Jamie abubishi and Gary Rooney in Ashbourne we have that one yes Jamie I think done the best from the like genuine damage from the bottom and I think Gary Rooney said that was his favorite fight as well it was just a high level fight both of them I know both of them like obviously are trained with Jamie um since he started he's been in our place and I've known Gary a long time like I would have rolled or Gary a few pointers when he was just a just a teenager all right you know like I said his friendly guy and I was born painting by the open mats Jiu Jitsu open mats and stuff and we trained now and again he's been down the Rhino training with us so we all know each other and there was there was no [ __ ] to tell them like they know each other they're good friends and they're like let's get after this and this is going to be a great a great um memory for both of us to build for for our career going forward you know um which is testimony to tell them as martial artists but the atmosphere was crazy you had the two poles and crowds on either side of the cage it was Electric in there and the level of the fight it was just unbelievable it was a very closely um I remember afterwards talking about one of the media members and we're like won from memory were very very very close like um but just a brilliant fight just a brilliant fight you know and it was a real test for about guys and they both came through it um just at that Kimura Escape was just yeah it was one of the craziest things I've ever seen in MMA you know yeah because we I'd be sitting as close as you would be sitting and I was sitting kind of looking directly at it and I was like oh this this is over this is over and it wasn't I'm I think I actually spoke it was was with Gary there's very few fights that there is electricity in the air that was one of them and I think just uh I think there's a craziness about Kay's Legacy and I think it comes from decki I think it seeps through his skin into the show there's always something mental that happens and we've got your coming up as well which is another one of my favorite shows there's big fights on that but um one of the things as well you went viral for was the Trico plan oh yeah yeah do you remember that because I remember I don't think I was at that show that was the December show last year yeah in the Big Top yeah right and you came out and this off like it was just like that that's not a thing that many people would know and then that went viral it went on espanol's corner and and loads people who treated it when you do something like that and you see your commentary going viral like how does you sitting there going [ __ ] I was just yeah like I was I was nearly embarrassed I was like oh my God this is crazy like I saw someone said because I I have Twitter but I don't really use it but uh someone kind of tagged me and I was like I went down and I looked and it was just threads and threads about the whole thing like people commenting and talking about and literally highlighting me and say you know Fairplay did a commentary like that was a relief of Jesus Christ like this is crazy you know but um I think it shows the value in having someone on the mic who knows what they're talking about knows what they're doing I think that's that's important you know um the tariqo planet is something you you may never see in MMA again you know there was one uh myself and mcgahon were commenting on accommodating on your a couple of months previous and I think it might have been Mark cartmill tried it on my teammate Paddy Sawyers didn't get to finish but converted it into an amber so when the tarika platter happened I was like oh we only have one of these in Irish MMA before and it was about to say but he didn't finish it but then yeah he absolutely finished it but Jake Noy obviously got to submission and you know Jake is just a really exciting fighter his win recently on uh fertis was brilliant you know but yeah you just don't see off after after rolled kind of submissions like that in in MMA I had been uh I had learned that submission a couple a year or two previous but a few months beforehand I remember just around the corner from here Patty Hill and gym is five minutes from here and I used to pop into the old Monday night session after I'd finished working in here I'd be sprinting around the corner and I remember popping in there and on that particular night there was very few of them in there's only a small little crew and one of the guys that works there or sorry teachers a bit there might have been Sam or I think it was Sam the 90 was going through the tariko platter because he had learned it at a three cup stick three cup stock seminar over in I think jungle so he was going through with the class and just inside the door Patty and Shawna were sitting in the near Corner as they come in the door and they were parted up and they were going through so just jump in with the two of us so the three of us basically spent the class just going over the tarika plan and different different uh variations of it at different ways of finishing it so it was really cool just to break down the technique which you know two really good martial artists it was a good experience anyway fast forward a couple of months later and there's Jake no he swims onto it I was like there we are I know exactly what we're doing you know so the value of being on the mat consistently and actually doing the work like I would do the same I'm on the maths week in week out with kaliman so when I'm watching uh striking exchanges I'm like I'm watching their footwork it's not like it's something I used to do years ago which is initially when I started accommodating striking with something that I used to do years ago and I wasn't doing anymore and after the first couple of shows I was like uh I need to be on the mats moving around with people I I feel like I need to for whatever way my brain works I need to be able to uh I need to have this stuff fresh I need to know how it feels um you know how your balance feels when you switch to this position and so I find there's value in that you know and it just showed in that Jake no submission you know yeah it did because it was straight away after like that it was straight away you knew what you're talking about I was like what the f is three go player actually funny story I am I jumped in the cage and you literally have seconds before you have to announce it you're on the mic talking with Phil Campbell but what's going on and then while Phil is just rounding up the commentary forward I thought you're getting the headset off and I'm running in grabbing the mic running in to announce it so you don't get time to think here so I ran in and uh when it's a diff a unique submission I would always confirm with the fighter like if it's a child because I was that a ninja joke or you know I would always grab it to grab the fighter and just say what am I announcing that as I'll always do that just to confirm with them so uh Patrick new of course was um Jake's coach at the time I just grabbed them on the way by and said that's the streak of ladder yeah just to be sure like because you don't get time to process in your own head sit back and just be you might also I always think yeah did I see that correctly yeah I don't want to [ __ ] it up so that's a tarika pilot and he says no no that was a burrata platter and I I kind of have a half an understanding of what a burrata plan is but not really it's like a different variation of it knows like are you sure and he said yeah yeah cool cool so I announced it as a burrata platter on the mic now technically it's a loud crowd you'll probably barely [ __ ] heard but then he he texts me back later when he actually saw the clip back as he had been sitting on the other side of Jake when the submission happened yeah so he just had a different idea over his head he washed it back and goes [ __ ] that was a three complex it's like it's Grand I don't think anyone was listening I think he got drowned out by the crowd but we are all right with that one you know yeah you got it on the commentary and that was and that was amazing and Jake is like said he's in a year and a half or a year in a bit he's like 11 or two and he just looks the same and like that's what we were talking about the levels the levels when you look at what's coming true now Damon mcguig and Shay cleanan owns Oliver was another fantastic these are just kids like they're all only 18 years of age they only have to go on in they're only starting their amateur journey and they're building you've seen guy's GoPro with not many more amateur fights than that you've seen guys go pro with less amateur fights than that you know guys that they've had like eight ten fights and then they're after the pro ranks you know so these guys don't need to be in a rush they can have five or six more and what level are they going to be at then yeah when they make that transition you know so we we may have a a great New Wave like there's a good wave of Irish MMA fighters now a good handful now found themselves in the UFC in five years for him there there could be a way for those guys or you know some of those guys might make it to that level and and they could be knocking on the door of the UFC so it's really exciting times for the sport you know yeah it is very exciting and obviously there's been a lot of Davies in the UCD the results haven't gone the way of the Irish Fighters but like that there's still so much potential in them and I think Paul Hughes should be added fairly soon as well how he's not there I think he even came lock and said Paul Hughes should have been signed before I was like everyone is bleeding it from the rooftops like what is he nine and one or something like that and like you watch any of the fights he's fought the best and the best in cage Warriors he hasn't been out there fighting bombs he's been fighting Morgan charrier and vicenic and people like that guys at the the peak of the featherweight division you know so what more does he need to do um if they're calling for more finishes I mean it's not easy to finish guys like that guys that are you know already UFC level we saw Morgan Cherry eagle and they're an absolutely decimated opponent the other week in Paris so um I think Hughes will get signed I think it's just there's obviously something else I play there I don't know whether it's a cut if there's something sticking point in contract negotiations I don't know I don't have any insight on it but I can't or maybe they're just wait until the right opportunity you know becomes available they don't want they're not going to be asked flying him all the way to Australia when they've probably got other federates that are closer to there that they can fit into that slot they're probably waiting for just okay we're waiting to write your opponent is ready on a european-based show and we'll pop them in there and he may just have to wait till early next year and UFC Dublin card comes up or you might see him back in the yellow gloves yeah yeah we'd see them uh taking on their someone in the cage Warriors cage but it's hard to know it's hard to know but he's clearly clearly good enough for UFC yeah I think so and like that uh to he actually I I myself don't use Twitter that much I have to start using it more because I think it's one of the sewers of social media if we're being totally honest I think it's it can be a great place for a mainu's book to be a horrible place for the likes of trolls but I think he put up something George Hardwick had made a comment and he said oh I've defend my bed not like some others Paul Hughes and then I think Paul Hughes said uh cage Warriors Dublin let's do it right so a lot of people look whether that was just said Jesus if that got added onto the Character Show would be unreal wouldn't it yeah so um yeah it's an interesting one but that's a tough tough fight like that's up a weight class as well wouldn't it be solely confused us to take that and let's say he loses what does that do then for his his position going forward does he have to have win two or three more to get to the UFC I mean that's another year or two down the line and I don't know I don't know but what if he wins do you know what I mean you should be straight in there yeah yeah yeah it's it's uh yeah that's throwing all the chips on the table you know well he uses he uses brilliant like there's there's no two ways about it like uh I think look it's looking likely the UFC are coming back to Dublin how they could have a card in Dublin and not have Paul Hughes involved somewhere I don't know uh silly but we yeah with a serious bunch of Fighters ready to ready to take to the stage if we do her get that show it looks likely that we're going to get it in the early half next year doesn't it it's looking like it and we I like that if that comes over it is huge opportunities for some of the local Fighters that are fighting on cage Wars and stuff that might bear to get on that card as well like you said how many people have gotten cage wires how many people like six in the UC now is probably the most has ever been at one time Fighters I presume and yeah I'd probably use that seven um I just think going forward it's just looking really like for such a tiny Island like the amount of talent that's actually coming over is unreal and you've the one thing I've liked that you've started doing now is is the breakdowns looking either previews or breakdowns after fights what what made you kindly get into that as well because it was something I'd like to do because I've never trained not a lot of people like well your opinion doesn't matter but because you've trained you know that the nooks and crannies you know the internet what made you decide to do that because I actually really enjoyed them and so do a lot for other people yeah I like making them so I have like a weird kind of neuroy neurodivergent ADHD kind of brain where I get fixated on something then I just want to [ __ ] do it you know what I mean and then like I I am I wanted to learn how to I I was like watching like watching like little little videos and stuff I wonder how that was edited so I wanted to learn how to actually edit videos properly so um I started making one or two um as well from my job as a commentator it's good practice for me it makes me watch fights mindfully rather than passively so I'll watch a fight rather than just sit there and load on myself for half watching and daydreaming about something else because that's what my brain does my brain drift off it makes me sit down and watch it and watch the patterns and the setups and and it helps me just learn a little bit about how how certain Fighters move and how good they actually are you know what they're doing to to create traps for their opponents and whatnot um it's great practice for me on camera and also yeah it's fun editing videos I like just being a little bit on the creative side so I get to sort of scratch a couple of itches there it's a good portfolio of work as well so promoters and and stuff you know if you're looking for examples of me working on camera to see I am I actually only good at this can I speak coherently about a fight and do I know what I'm talking about well there's a bit of proof you know so yeah do it for a multitude of reasons but I really enjoy doing it like uh a couple weeks ago over the calf kick so I'd watch that fight and then that's sort of just bouncing around in my brain for a couple of days like if I make this video sorry that'll get rid of that little I think that's annoying me in the back of my head you know I get a lot of background noise um so yeah I know it's it's a lot of fun and I got a lot of good feedback off it as well you know um some of the fighters that they shared with the videos too and that's pretty cool and uh yeah continue to do what I was when I when I have the time of pled it on there to do no over the next few weeks and uh it's a nice way of as I said just practicing and practicing being on camera and breaking down fights intelligently and coherently and trying to just improve your own you don't you don't just turn up at work and be good at something you have to practice you know it's like anything like that's that that white belt mentality that I got through Jiu Jitsu and you're not just going to turn up and smash everyone on the mat if you're not relentlessly practicing so um I'm doing that for me sort of to help my commentary game to help me just fight analysis game and it helps me as I said learn to learn a lot of the patterns the foyers are using and yeah really enjoy the whole process you know yeah I like them because it gives you different facets and different ways to to create content and like I said it's good for a portfolio when you kind of went in and you you started doing the country like because you kind of exploded like that you're on nearly every show and you've worked it alongside Phil and you see he works for the likes of Brave and hexagon and stuff as well and you're start you've you're associated with K George and stuff now like are you looking at this is going to be your career like did you ever think this was going to be a career path when you've done that first one of Chaos not really not always like Jesus I'd like to do that that'll be a nice thing to do a nice hobby or something and now it's like yeah no people are actually paying me money to to do it more often than not now so it's like um yeah it's opened up some great opportunities and you just don't know where it's going to go or the one thing I've learned about it over the last couple years is you don't know what opportunity is going to pop up in front of you so put yourself in a position where you're going to be ready to capitalize on that because that's that's what happened with the commentary thing I was in a position at the time the opportunity came up I was like right I'm almost a black belt in Jiu Jitsu I've been training for years I've competed in the Striking act as well I've been working cage side as an official so I know the score and criteria in and out I can speak well on camera and I was looking at a gun right I'm actually I've got all I take all the boxes to do that job quite well so I've put myself not not consciously but I've true life experience I've actually put my build up there the right skill set to do that job so I'm in a position now to take that opportunity that's after popping up so you just don't know what's going to pop up over the next couple of years if I'm still doing the same thing in the next couple days I'll still be happy because I love what I'm doing at the moment but maybe some massive opportunity might might pop up out of there you never know it's um it's it's been brilliant so far the work with cage Warriors has been awesome and I've got to see how uh how a big promotion like that is run see firsthand and work alongside I mean the people that work there the production guys are getting to see um how the guys like Adam Sparrow and George and their team the guys behind the cameras Christian is their content creator they on their social media going I get to see how all of those guys operate and it's fascinating you know like I just I'm just being there hanging out with these guys like they're my work Pals on fight week so it's like you're just getting to see what they're doing and how they're operating and then of course you're looking to you're in there Ian's in there in the office and you're getting to see how he pieces everything together and it's it's fascinating just to be front and center and the big experience the big thing I love about me before it works out anyone's watching doesn't know what I'm talking about I I managed kind of or I helped manage the backstage along with Fred Zafar who also works for the UFC and I mean Fred basically we take a corner each and we coordinate the fighters once they arrive at the venue that we uh we you know we make sure that they're warmed up on time they're ready to go in the whole area and walk them out to the cage and all that stuff so um we're there as a sort of a liaison between the foyers and the promotion they're they're coming to us and if I'm there for fight week as well I'm I'm the contact point for all the fires so I'm I'm in contact with them on the phone after the week this is if they need information they come to me and you know this is where you need to be for the weigh-ins this is what you need to bring this is who you know I need to get information about your corner team what you're you know where and all that stuff so it's a real privileged position because you have to be you have to know how to talk to fighters who are quoting wait you have to you have to be there to help them you know and that's it if that's your your sole task for the week really to just make their life a little bit easier and it's great because you make good connections you meet a lot of good guys teams fighters from all over Europe from all over the world and you're troubleshooting non-stop because there's little issues pop open for a week it's a stressful time and the relief on everyone's face then once the show is out of the way the whole Carriage Warriors team you can see some of them are so exhausted they can't even talk like just it's it's three or four days of foot to the floor and we're just going at it and just putting their fires left right center but it's great environment to be a part of and like I said the experience of seeing how it all runs from that close up is just brilliant you know it's really enjoyable I can't wait to go again I'm in Manchester in a couple of weeks with them again so uh yeah really looking forward to yeah and like that I I really think if the the Casual is Dublin I think you should be one of the voices of it and I wouldn't be the only one who records that I know Andy Stevenson wheelchair in O'Neill as well I think that you should be on I think your country Works fantastic the way you've gone through the past year um and the experiences that you've gone and the moment that we have or ice MMA fans have in our head with your voice now as well the same as with Phil and Whitnall yeah it knows it'll always be there for us so I think you've done fantastic it's been a pleasure to talk to you today and I can't wait to see you at the next oh thank you bro thank you