IN DEPTH | EPISODE 13 | BRIAN MOORE

Ringkasan

David sits down with Bellator Professional fighter Brian Moore. Brian talks finding MMA, his career so far, and much more.Brian fight in Dublins 3Arena on the 23rd of September for Bellator MMA.

Transkrip (youtube_captions)

[Music] okay so i'm here with bellator fighter brian moore fighting out of spg and he's got a fight coming up on the 23rd it's a it's 2010 um i just want to go to his career with him today and ups and downs of his career so far so thank you very much for your time and i just want to know what brought you into mma because i know you had a strong ga background and then what actually led you to to go into mma yeah well like i was in my final year in college so i was 21 and uh well i was bored stifles and they were doing a course that i didn't really want to do but i was doing my thesis and anyway i was at home from college on the weekends and i seen um an mma fight and um it was actually material versus gsp and matt sarah beat gsp and gsp even though he's my idol i seen this little small guy being a world champion and um or even before that fact i couldn't believe the sport that i was looking at this was just amazing to me and once i seen that i was like okay i need to do this i can't just look at it anymore and need to get involved and uh and that was it and like yeah i played ga since i was five years of age i represented my county but uh it was just like overnight once i found martial arts and i'd done my first mutai class ga was done with you know for me as a competitor i'm still a huge fan of it but um yeah i was i was on a different path from that day on yeah so obviously like when you moved over what were your family and so what would their tasks move over because you know especially back a long time ago mma isn't viewed as the way it is now so technically stuff like that it would have been viewed quite differently how is your family which you're moving over to do it and away from ga because that's such a big sport within the country and within within the county well the first thing i'll say is my wife uh is boy and mile the biggest supporter i've ever had like it's crazy we she's from originally from cork we met in waterford in college after like a month in college and um we decided we're going to move to wexford and that was mainly because i didn't want to i wanted to continue doing my gaa and then after like a month of speed i was like okay i'm not doing this anymore we're doing martial arts and no problem brian you know what i mean she always has always always been behind me but in regarding you know other family and all yeah they've been very supportive but they thought i was crazy that i was lunatics i lost friends over believe it or not um they thought i was nuts to go and you know uh throw something like like such a renowned and you know popular sport to go on to go and pursue mma i may remember it was very different back then and perceived very different than it is today you know um people didn't know what the hell i was doing they thought i was doing [ __ ] strong man and or with a little mix of [ __ ] bare knuckle boxing and every other sort of thing um but it wasn't i just look at i fell in love with it and you know i have the most amazing support system you can imagine and that's why i'm here today you know and you're doing quite well but what i want to know is like when you like why would your friends walk away from you because the obvious ega is so big i know a lot of family that love gea and for me it's not for me personally and you can see how i can see how people would like you but to actually lose friends over how did that actually make you feel then when like people walked away from you because you said your mindset changed that you used to care what people think and then you kind of there was a switch like when your friends walked away is that when you started thinking well if they're going to walk away from me from this then you shouldn't really take it into account too much what other people think except for the likes of your wife and your close family look at my like i'm petrified of death that's just how i've been since i was a kid i just so i'm going to do everything to enjoy myself with the time that i have i don't care what anyone thinks i and that's it was a huge fault of me growing up when i was a teenager i cared what everyone taught i think a lot of people did i genuinely couldn't do a bollocks what anyone thinks right now you know what i mean as long as i'm happy and as long as my girls inside are happy that's that that will do me you know but you know yeah i lost friends back then i've i've a lot of those relationships are back now which is great um i don't hold any like groceries or resentment further that i can kind of see where they're coming from but only on the same breath if someone is going to pursue something that they really want to do and they're passionate about and they love it not causing any harm i'm going to be back them they didn't but it's a different time you know what i mean i'm not going to take it personally yeah so then you went from ga into mma like i said the first class that you had tell us what it was like like were you nervous excited going into a class like that because i know you said you wanted to bring a friend and hit point on the long finger but then you ended up just going yourself so tell me what it's like first day going from coming from ga walking into an atmosphere like that yeah it's it's something that oh my god i wish i could um i wish i could explain to people more to to to just be courageous and take that jump yourself a friend of mine kept promising me each week he had a little bit of kickboxing that he would go with me and i was like come on it's on this tuesday let's go he's not no he was just a lazy little [ __ ] but um eventually i said right [ __ ] it i'm gonna go myself you know what i mean so i rocked up into my first mute i with a pair of wigs for gaa shorts couldn't wait to get combo it was like a drug i can't explain it like i just couldn't believe i was doing this i wanted to box ever since i was a very small kid now i remember wanting a green pair of boxing gloves i remember seeing steve um steve collins and i i just wanted a green pair of boxer gloves and to put to box and you know you can see where i'm living i'm living in the back areas of nowhere here so the nearest town is like 25 30 minutes away and you know i grew up with a ga field in walking distance that's where obviously my parents wanted me going but i eventually talked him into bringing me to a martial arts class a boxing class but uh literally three days later i broke my arm and i never went back you know i broke her plane hurling and i went back playing hurling of course but um yeah like it's it was it was like a drug i remember the first session we were sparring by using just jabs and it was such a foreign feeling at the time but an amazing feeling and that's probably why i i'm a big jabber probably from that day because i still get that feeling you know what i mean it's it was martial artist has done so much for me but like everybody will you know if you can find what your thing is martial arts is mine yeah no and then obviously like i said that was probably your first real experience with martial arts so that's probably why that stuck with you just the jabbing part yeah then you go on you had a very short amateur career three you know it's different compared to the lads nowadays like contrast the difference of an amateur scene then in an amateur scene now oh my god it's [ __ ] it was like the wild west back then it was hilarious um my first amateur fight i had firstly had about six months total training and uh i remember googling and going on boards that ie looking for an mma fight because i always put pressure on myself because it started in me at 21 22 training not even fighting and then and i said right i need to [ __ ] make some big steps like i'm not like uh you know rory mcdonald who's been doing it since he was whatever age i need to make things happen plus i was broke me and my wife we had just finished college i was working part time [ __ ] hell it was just a it was a mad time so i wanted to get going i wanted to you know hit the ground running so i said i'll have a couple of amateur flights and i'll turn pro and um yeah so i was googling and all of a sudden there was a wexford mma show i was like [ __ ] hell what's this you know so i contacted motor and of course the performer was like oh yeah we'd love to have you because we're going to sell tickets and it's in wax for me and a couple of friends mine so i was matched up to fight zero and zero guy i was a zero and zero alright that was fair we get a fight or two weeks out i can't remember what i was that guy pulled out so the motor said listen we can't find another guy so you're gonna have to fight this other dude and uh alan duffy is his name so much time for alan allen was a pro at the time moving back down to amateur which i don't think you're meant to do but again it was the wild west and i remember like being so scared i was [ __ ] petrified because i'd never been in a fight in my life all right and i was standing just i was standing uh well i was terrified for a couple of weeks but i was standing ready to go out and i was like i don't give a [ __ ] what's that what's up behind this door i'm just going to give it my best but the mc was like fighting out of uh you know spg ireland just not me get the time this is alan you know he was one of john's guys and um he is a former all-ireland wrestling champion he's a former all ireland boxing champion and i was like oh bollocks [Laughter] so we went in you know and then it was like and then then they announced them and i get this huge booing from this wexford crowd a lot of them are still behind me today thank god but then i was like and his opponent from wexford brian moore was like there's no credentials no nothing just he's from wexford so yeah the fight went as you can expect it to go at the start and uh you know i was getting [ __ ] hockey around the place and you know first time getting getting hit properly and all and then you know the the thing that's still with me today is that hard to mind and it clicked in and you know i grinded through it and i i i took him down big double a took us back and and got the joke and it was a it was [ __ ] and again it was like full ground a pound four ounce gloves it wasn't amateur and i was fighting a pro so [ __ ] me but uh yeah that was my first fight ever never mind like in a first mixed martial arts contest or anything first fight ever and uh yeah so i'll never forget that i'll never [ __ ] forget that no i really like that story as well just just tell me the feeling the first time getting punched in the face what was the task on your head if you can even can you remember because that was a long time once you once you get the first kind of slap because they always say you always have a plan to get punched in the face and this was your first time ever getting punched in the face and it's in in an event i can't remember i can remember thinking [ __ ] no this is this is different you know i mean this is this is new to me you know but um yeah to be honest if you look at a lot of my fights uh when i fought tommy mccafferty when i thought uh mick brennan it takes me a slap to get going sometimes you know and i've like i work with a great psychologist now at the moment and he was like i want you and the same for the last one i want your corner man they i want your corner man to hit you and like that goes really he goes yeah they want you to leather you because if that has to take you to wake you up why do wait till the fight i was like yeah that's true you know i mean so yeah he gave me a good slap of a pad backstage you know what i mean and i was ready to go you know i mean but often like you can go in and you can be a little bit complacent or you're trying to figure things out so yeah it's never it's i think that's a good little tactic for myself anyway yeah no exactly because like if you get to slap in the fight that slap could be the end of the fight yeah not a sort of a way yeah we're gonna move on so obviously that was your amateur like it's a lot different now then you had your first pro fight against andy young yeah yeah yeah and you won that one like what was the difference between the amateur and pro at the time or because it was regional was there much difference in in making the making the walk um no when i fought andy it was uh it was i loved that show i always think back i have such fond memories to show me and patty houlihan uh connor mcgregor and phil my peter phone and they're three guys that i just adore i think they're the best guys i love that that um you know i love the the guys that came up i still i love the guys they're training right now but those ads they all hold a special place in my heart anyway that's for sure and we all fought on that same show and um you know things already kicked off before the fight so i was so [ __ ] nervous first pro fight and the younger knocked out uh his last two opponents people on line that you know were saying i was going to get knocked out too i was real nervous and i remember like everything that happened with the fight even me and him down the medicals together mean andy and we were sitting right opposite each other and the doctors were like yeah his [ __ ] heart rate is crazy and andy's heart rate is crazy everything was so tense and nervous and then like uh like i said it was me conor paddy and phil and things already kicked off before fighting i was i was like oh man what am i doing here that kind of way um but i remember i remember how smooth the foil you went i think the nerves really helped me it was one of the things like obviously everyone gets nervous before a fight but i felt so sharp and switched on you know every time andy went to troll or something i met him with two shots you know um yeah i loved how that fight played out but uh yeah it was it was the first pro fight and it was it wasn't as different um i suppose that transition from amateur to pro because like i said those three amateur fights that i have were pretty much pro fights you know what i mean um but it was the fact that you were starting your pro journey so it was an important one yeah so it was a huge milestone and within your first couple of fights obviously you fought a lot locally because and at the time there was a lot of local scenes uh local shows now it seems to be coming back what you make of the amount of shows that we have now for the amateurs and for the early pros like what you make of the amount that we have now there seems to be one popping up every couple of weeks it's amazing and um again the scene is different amateur back then the shows were few and far between so you treated every amateur fight like a provide basically um [Music] now if i was an amateur and if i was in the scene now i would be racking up as many amateur fights as i possibly could i'd be getting used to the experience of not just fighting but making the walk making the weight dealing with the nerves dealing with all the con the the issues and having contingency plans for all these little things that will occur in camp when you're professional so it's just it's getting the models in getting the the the minutes in it's invaluable so i think it's a fantastic team for amateurs right now yeah i know it is great because a lot of them when i talk to them say they want to kind of reach like a 20 a 20 fight mark before they go because then you've been put in every position you've been hitting it with me obviously new things are always going to rise but like you said contingency plans experience yeah making the walk and especially making the weight i think because amateurs they usually kind of walk around at their their fight weight and then towards the end they need to start making that cut yeah i wouldn't be like when i say make weight it's more getting to getting to understand nutrition a bit better to understand the recovery and sleep and letting all those things impact forget sauna forget like water loading don't worry about that as an amateur fight is how you walk around and when you get amateur then you know or maybe or sorry when you get the pro then and maybe you're coming to your last amateur fight or last two maybe then you can start you know experimenting a little bit or putting plans in place to to cut weight but i'm hoping that part of the sport will be gone in a few years i think you know it may be heading that way that these ridiculous weight cuts are are not there anymore but that's only probably hope rather than than any uh than anything else but yeah as an amateur just to gain the experience in all facets yeah because you see nasty cams that actually missed weight last night by like eight pounds or something and it's not good to be cutting that much weight in such a short like that's going to affect your performance affect your body in the long run um you also fought on barmy you went on to batman what does like burma as a promotion what did that mean for you and for the acceleration of your career yeah look i fought on a lot of promotions the thing with bama um it was in the tree arena it was my first taste of the tree arena um and i loved it my god it was again it was just a very surreal experience you know what i mean you're you're you you start this sport as a as a fan and then you're in an arena packed out with fans you know what i mean no obviously the money with obama and you're looking around and you're looking at the revenue they must be taken in and you're wondering you know okay where's the rest of my purse you know and after selling hundreds of tickets here and well you know um that was that was a stepping stone to where i where i'm getting now so i'm very grateful for the opportunity but yeah again it was it was it done a lot from for my for my career you know um i thought i fought a great uh fight and got a tko in round one and then when bellator came around you know um they were looking for a last-minute replacement and against daniel voighl and i stood up i took up my hand and that's how i got with bellator because that's how she got you got in the door bellator and then obviously you've been with them since yeah bellator i think are quite good for the irish scene um because they bring on a lot like it's like the card is stacked with ice what do you make of bellator as a promotion i think what they're doing is great because it's given uh people who've just turned pro maybe their chance on the big stage or giving people what what you make them how is your deals with them yeah i love bellator i really really do and i see like a narrative happening for the last couple of few years if fighter's just been inherently like spoiled almost um giving out about promotions and slate promotions i'll put my hand and say i love bellator i love dealing with them what fans don't get to see is the the personalities behind the scene you know what i mean the guys that their staff are fantastic amazing would do anything for you you know what i mean the show in general you know you're fighting in front of amazing crowds we're we're blessed to be fighting in front of ten thousand close irish fans like who else can say that you know what i mean that you know it's it's huge you know i've i fall all over the world with them you know i've been treated very well and and i love their promotion you know and for the other scene it's amazing it's absolutely amazing and you know that that is bellator but it's also the irish fans you know um also irish we just get behind we we we back each other at the hills we get behind each other and i think it's one of the coolest things about our culture you know what i mean you know i always say for family and flag i would i would die for both and when i'm in there on on fight night with ten thousand people and i feel that same energy of them yeah no we get every it doesn't matter what it is i think i've seen you bring this up in an interview before like when the crickets remember when the cricketers were doing well everybody everybody got behind them and like everybody gets behind but just like you said you fought all over the world you fought hungary russia italy uh the united states what sets us apart what's that like sets it you walk out your music hits and you walk out and you're looking out into that crowd what's going through your head how are you feeling um it's it's well there's there's so much of a difference it's crazy but just i'm going to use a small example i remember fighting in hungary and i was um i was on the main card and reception was okay reception for everyone was kind of okay and next when i started throwing like elbows and knees and next the crowd started rising a bit and then they got behind me all you need to do is take a foot a step out onto the onto the podium and you're you have their full backing when you're when you're in ireland you know what i mean all you have to do is is to be willing to make the walk and people will get behind you you don't have to you don't have to prove anything you don't have to do anything if you're irish when you're fighting everybody gets behind you you know what i mean from the very get-go but the it's the energy that the crowd bring it's like there there's no lull from the first prelim to the very end it's just noise amazing crazy noise and it's just beautiful like to be a fan i always think of um you know i try to be as present as i can but i always think in the future what would i look back on what are we really really proud of what's going to be the the the points that i'll go yeah i remember this in my career there's there's so many but that's going to be top top of the list that the noise the crowd reaction the the love the support yeah because you've like said you fought in other places because when you fought in russia there was actually an irish card coming up how did you feel because you missed that card i believe didn't you it was like a month or two yeah how did you feel missing that one but obviously you came back for the next one how did it feel that you were fighting in russia away when all the guys were going to be back on back in ireland yeah russia was a dark time for me but uh putting that aside you know obviously with the irish card i really wanted to fight in ireland you know it means it means so much to us you know i mean really those you know you get to fight in front of your family your friends your support i have supporters all over the world which is crazy still like kind of a pinch me feeling but um in ireland people get behind me like all true i got a message from court the other night and there was a girl saying um a lady saying do you have a ticket link there's about 60 of us traveling from cork and i was like [ __ ] i actually don't have a ticket link but thanks very much you know what i mean because you know i'm from county wexford i'm the only professional professional mma fighter here so obviously i've got a lot of support from this part of the world i train in dublin the support i get from dublin is tremendous and i train a car because my my wife is from cork so i i've often trained in cork and then three areas get i get a lot of love but from all over the country i do which is amazing so obviously when there's an irish card happening and i'm not part of it uh from you know i i do you know i do feel that it does sting you know yeah how did that make you feel when someone from cork is saying there's 60 people coming up from court unbelievable they're unbelievable and they always do the card guys always give me huge support and you know um i'm just blessed man like this is this is stuff that again again i seen mma on the tv when i was a when i was in my early twenties and i started the sport as a fan i didn't start a sport as a martial artist who transitioned into i started as a fan so the people to have fans or supporters of me is [ __ ] it's again pinch me moments you know what i mean yeah it's crazy um we touched on briefly there uh russia obviously said it was a dark time would you like to spend because like i heard i you've done a good in very good interview with andy um but like he didn't sleep for a long time pantex it was a combination of stuff like issues over the years and like just talk is true that uh that time and how how bad that was for you leading up to the fight and then the night in the fight even yeah look at i was i was literally only journaling last night of it's almost coming up to a year and uh when i was saying when i was journaling i was saying how proud i was of myself to get from there to where i am now and um it like i don't want to say but it's probably it's my own fault for not dealing with things earlier you know this was an accumulation of things and russia a couple of incidents just before russia was the straw that broke the camel's back you know what i mean if i was if i'm being completely honest with myself i should have went to speak to someone when i was 16 17 you know when i when i was aware of these things but i delayed it by 16 years generally in 17 years so um it is my own fault in that sense but you can't look back with regrets so you can only look forward and what i'm doing now i'm on a great pat and i'm i'm doing brilliant things every day um you know and in a very sustainable way which is important too and i'm i've good people in my life you know i work with a great therapist she's fantastic uh i work with a an excellent mindset coach and kieran mcghini who's an idol of mine going back to gaa you know kieran is a good friend of mine and uh to be able to work with him i've learned an awful lot from him so yeah it was a dark period but like when i look back i used to look back at russia being oh jesus i feel sick thinking about kind of job but now i feel like proud that where i am now you know what i mean so but i would just urge anyone to to go and speak to terps there's zero shame there's zero there's just that stigma we have and uh maybe this will resonate with people or whatever but i remember the feeling i had going in there i was like what the [ __ ] am i gonna talk about i feel like foolish going in the talk don't worry don't even let that talk across your mind when you go in there you're you're working with a professional they'll look after you from there they'll know how to ask the right questions and say the right things and you know there's a lot of stages of like uh you know me speaking to horror for instance was me getting things off my chest today was that i had buried deep down that i didn't really know were issues me talking the cure almost kiron given me things to work on on a day to day that you know the one percenters as he fantastically calls him and you know um i'm proud of where i am right now i'm proud of myself for doing so i'm glad you came through it and like that i think there is a huge stigma attached it's getting better now with the likes of tyson fury paddy people like that speaking out that to go speak to someone and like what was the reaction from your fans did you get a lot messaging because i seen you do this i've now got it and i've seen you got some messages like that like how does that make you feel that you've potentially changed someone's pathway in life like it's funny because when i say it when i when i spoke to my friends about it i said like uh you know i've been determined they're you know they think that i perhaps have ocd and like most of them really are no [ __ ] brian you know see you know that was kind of that but from the like a supporter's reaction people are reaching out to me saying you know i had my first session because i've seen you done it and you know i'm doing this now and you know people are talking to me about like dark periods of time and going through addictions and going through different things and for for to me having any slight influence or to make them pick up a phone or to go and speak someone or to maybe they had it in their mind but that was just something that distraught about brought camels back for them in a good sense you know that means a massive amount to me a massive deal to me and uh you know it's it's like it's funny you know when you look at school and you look at some of the things that your kids are learning in school and things like that we learned in school a lot of it isn't necessary but i think that there should be a better pathway for kids to be able to express their feelings more maybe therapy should be a mandatory thing in in school you never know what uh but yeah the more people that will i think a lot of people most people will benefit from speaking to someone um who has made it their business to be able to communicate with with us you know yeah and hopefully if people do see this and they are feeling like that that they can't pick up before and ago like i said you go in quite awkward and guarded but like said they asked right questions and and get you to relax and like said stuff comes up from that that you you have buried you can't even remember yeah like from for from my perspective you know um it was you know having these ocd traits or perhaps ocd and um when i would get very stressed and very anxious it would it would you know explode and uh oh you always just said that's just me that's just who i am but you know me knowing that uh when i'm starting to feel this way i'll go okay i don't need to be [ __ ] sorting everything out at 3am and 2am there's obviously something wrong there's something i miss here and then i can find the root of what's making me feel that way you know what i mean so like i've been able to identify triggers i've been able to learn so much more about myself and that's a huge tool for me it's a huge eye-opener and again i don't regret but i would have loved to have had this all true you know what i mean but i have it now and i have it forever more and i feel like a like i i'll say i'm a decent fighter and i'll say i'm a decent this but i know like i'm a great fighter i put so much time into it but i'm a better fighter now you know i'm a better husband i'm a better friend um as a result so i feel like if you want to better your life it's something that people should really really take into consideration yeah hopefully they do um i want to talk about there's a with the ocd does that actually help you structure your training in certain ways does that actually like people's view as a bad thing necessarily but it's not i don't think so there's benefits to it yeah does that help you structure your training the way you look at fighters the way you plan for fighters enormously so especially the structure around training and the structure sorry around my camping structure on my own training when i when i was when i was told these three letters and that you know well my you know she said that there's a strong possibility i do i can go get diagnosed if i want but she goes i wouldn't recommend it you have the traits for sure so why don't you work with that so i did i worked with it you know i structure my camp fantastically i don't doubt myself when i'm doing it i don't do it in a stressful way i'm not doing it in a reactive way i'm good at organizing and now i do that and even for instance like i have a phenomenal striking coach in carmichael bryan i'd be you know be ashamed not to mention him because he's made such an impact but um we work on everything off codes just about that you know instead of combination we work off codes we'll dissect our favorite fighters and and and game plans that they've used and you know wish codes on sugar ray robinson roy jones jr we've uh wreaked over you know removing we've codes on everything and it works well because that's how my brain is structured for it you know and i've made some massive developments in that aspect based on that alone by going with it and fighting against it like i have been all throughout my career research you know so you know there's um since i've been again since these things have been made made aware i've been able to turn a lot of it into positives yeah because we've seen for the last fight you came back uh leading into it you're much happier you seem much freer more at ease um yeah there was a couple of things because i would be watching like interviews and profiles there was one story you put up because i know you do your own strike as well but there was there was one interesting one where you're doing strength conditioning and you're saying you do it by yourself because no one's in the in there which okay in the cage with you is that like a mindset thing that you know once you get locked behind the door john can't help you no one can help you you're in there is that is that why you've done that that's exactly why uh i've probably maybe twice at this point but uh my wife done my conditioning with me for my last my last condition my last red zone and every other one for the last three camps i've done it myself i really feel that cardio was something that if you're my coach you're not going to be able to say to me come on brian push harder i'm going pushing harder because there's a guy there trying to take my head off do you know what i mean but car conditioning is i'm telling you right now i'm telling you i i am a coach myself but i'll i'll find anyone at this point your conditioning is more up here than anything to do with your your cardiovascular system or anything like that you know um you need to know that you have always more in the in reserve you always more have more in the tank and you when you do your conditioning for fights it's training that and i'm tired here yeah but [ __ ] go oh i can't catch my breath yeah it doesn't matter go what's gonna be like when you're in a guillotine or what's gonna be like when you've got a you've just got hit by a body shot you know what i mean you're you're training your mind and body in these conditioners and that's why i do by myself because it doesn't matter what anyone else is going to say i'm there by myself there's three men in that cage and one is refereeing you know what i mean it's me and my opponent so that's why i had my wife doing it because it was my last red red zone conditioner it was on that treadmill full speed full incline and i'm going to max effort until i literally can't i have to grab the treadmill so there's a lot going on i asked her to um to monitor my heart rate to monitor my recovery to monitor my times before i failed and about my times for recovery there was a lot going on and i brought my my youngest daughter in because you know what else is going to motivate me more only my kid you know what i mean so all i do is look over there and that was going to be more seconds on on that for sure you know but yeah yeah i that's i've always done my conditioning by myself i always find that you know i do i do better yeah um with the with the likes of the motivation like i said your kids motivate you a lot you seem like such a family man and that's what kind i think endears you to a lot of people like how much do your daughters and your my wife they seem to mean more than anything in the world i'm not saying it's not to everyone else but like you just you just seem like the dalton father i am um i'm the luckiest man to have them like i literally i i often go how did i get this how did how did this happen i know you can work hard for the house you're in or the carrier drive or whatever but like when you're when you get children like that we've been blessed with are meeting my wife just by by that beautiful chance you know that is a blessing you know what i mean like i'm not a religious guy but i'm blessed in that sense you know what i mean and um so i'll never ever ever take that for granted you know these those three girls are everything to me you know and uh i do everything for them you know i'm given one chance at life you know and uh i'm making my business to spend as much time as i can with them to love them more than than possible you know and to give them everything that they that they want if you know what i mean and putting material stuff aside i think one of the best things you can give your kids is love support you know and they get that an abundance in their role of myself and my wife so you know i'll there throw my everything simply simply put you know yeah you can see that from your post from your stories that you are there was there's one picture i want to talk about for a minute it's not a picture i believe it's after rush isn't it where you're on the phone like when i look at that picture this is what i see see it seems like there is an air of disappointment but also relief would i be right in making that assessment i'm going to give i'm not going to talk about like i don't care i just want to bore you but like with the russia thing i am you know i was going through a thorough tour of time and then i arrived there on fight night and the warm-up was just i didn't care for i didn't whatever and i was in the cage itself i was so unnumb um and i felt i felt sorry for my opponent to the point that he elbowed me and he cut me open and i was like i still felt something for him i felt empathy i felt weird to the point where we were in um we were in the third round and i passed into like a mount position if you give me a mountain i only look at any other fight i've ever had before russia i'm gonna try and murder you with an elbow as soon as i get a chance i'm going to try an elbow it's like my goal too either when i throw a punch there's a good chance overhook under hook but when you throw an elbow you're cutting and you're hitting with the hardest part and i was just about and i went no no i won't i'll just pass and trigger the soap i felt sorry i don't know what it was i felt you know i didn't feel like a fighter i didn't feel like fighting so i went backstage and obviously i lost you know coming into the last 30 seconds like right it's competition just try win the competition rather than winning the fight if that makes sense didn't feel like a fighter i've always felt like a fighter and that i didn't feel like anything and then i went backstage and you know what i'll start settling in that okay i lost the phone i was like all right you know i lost a fight but i still felt pretty numb to it and then i rang my wife to let her know that i was okay you know what i mean because she's always worried about me and my daughter was still up and she came on the phone and that's when i hit home that's when i hit home that you know i need my family you know why it went through the last few days i needed them but that was the point where there was thousands of miles separating us and there was nowhere else i wanted to be with them and it was you know it is it really hit home then what i was going through and how much i needed them you know so it was a weird one and but it was it it probably was a not probably it was an absolutely vital part and a necessary part of my life and like i said things have been great since and it was funny because then i went on to the lugo fight and everything felt like good everything felt like happy and i think everything went really well with the lugo fight bar that ruthlessness that i always bring into fights do you know what i mean that that i'm gonna take your head off that wasn't there with lugo it became a technical chess match chess match that i still think i won but i wasn't taking chances to to i wasn't biting down on the gum shield and going forward a little more so that's what i've tapped into a lot more for this fight yeah i i love life and i love thing you know everything around it but um you know i'm i'm gonna certainly you're gonna see the old brian moore in that where there'll be no mercy for this man no not a screed the killer or anything's gonna come back yeah because i like i like lugo he was he was similar to myself he had two daughters he was a family man he was a good guy and you know i respected him and uh you know i didn't go as hard as i could i thought well i thought technically i but it didn't there was no killer instinct again there was a that kind of feeling was there you know that for him um but now with this guy this guy is trying to take away from me now like you know he's trying to take away from my girls inside and he's a dead man he's a dead man do you think obviously you're saying that you felt with lugo since you've got with a sports psychologist would it would that be something he said you need to remove like do you need to de-personalize fighters then before you go in to get the killer instinct yeah like you know one of the things in in martial arts almost a cliche is don't fight with emotion i fight better when i fight with emotion but it's not showing emotion so like if you hit me and uh i'm not gonna go oh you [ __ ] my nose i'm gonna hide that i'm gonna be emotional but i'm gonna hide it you know but i'm gonna use it you know um there's a difference with fighting with emotion and showing it and fighting with emotion and using it you know and i'm gonna go back to you know that emotion that that that makes me you know who i am would go back to my first amateur fight when i was petrified i used that emotion to overcome being an enormous underdog to come back and win a fight to you know when i fought with with um you know followed all the all these guys where i got hit and okay now i'm going to use the emotion to win and turn this tight turn the titan with this guy you know i have no time for him i feel like he's a you know he's a cheat in more ways than one and uh i'm gonna punish him for that i feel you know i'm gonna use the emotion that uh against him you know yeah you said you feel it's a cheat and what aspect you feel is achieved well i don't like making assumptions yeah it's not one of the things i like doing but uh he's a well he's 39 or 40 he looks like a little bodybuilder he's i'm sure he's he has some peds in his system or have throughout his career i've seen him fight where and he should have been disqualified for this guy had him on he was on top guy elbowed him and he like he held his face as if like it was an illegal shot referee said no it was a perfectly legal shot and he was like okay then it's fine you know he kept fighting again if you stop a fight you you've stopped the fight you have said i've had enough yeah you know so he's a cheese and uh you know i have no time for me he he can he's [ __ ] if he thinks he's coming over here and he's taken away from me you know what i mean i um i let go to the judges the last time that's a mistake i'll never make again it's gonna be you know i'm gonna fight toot for nail to to put in unconscious that's for sure yeah because the valve of your wins your 14 wins ten of them are actually by stoppage six submission for tkos and then when it does get left to judges you seem to get the the short end of the straw don't you like if any time i've won by decision has been when i have beaten the guy by 30 25 30 26 anytime it's close no and there's been fights where you can look back at it i fought in liverpool i beat a guy very clearly 29-28 even 30-27 you could go that far the crowd were like yeah remember my wife was in the crowd at the time she's been to homie fights and she was like uh talking to his supporters and they're like your gut your guy obviously won that and i got the split i got uh beat by majority decision we found out afterwards that three of his teammates were judges you know so it's just got again going back to the wild west [ __ ] you know but yeah i've been on the short end of it with decisions but you know so it's up to me to finish fight so whatever you know i have to have to be willing to take down the chain yeah so with this fight you do what way do you study opponents like quite like to see what they're good at see what they're better because obviously i've looked at your opponent coming up guillotine seems to be his go-to choice so like do you look at what they do what they do is there much tape on them to study there's a lot of tape on them yeah we've seen it and um firstly it's me and my team so obviously john and dave up in svghq have done their homework and given me their thoughts um again we'll go back to carmichael bryan my my striking coach um he's down here three days a week with me we have done sessions where we've put tape on them and we've we've assessed and we've together we're on the same wavelength me in comics so it's great but we've game plan that last night's session was with me uh my strength coach cormac and then um we had jason kearns who's a very good friend of mine he's been my corner for the last three fights and he mimicked them and we've done sparring rounds and so it's it's it's great but yeah from the start at the start of the camp we look at him a little but we work on me and as we get a little bit closer maybe four or five weeks out we start nailing down the game plan based off what we think we can we can capitalize on but also what we've been nailing into in training and uh yeah we don't get too worked up on what he can do we're aware we're aware of of his strengths we're also aware of his weaknesses we know that i'm sure what we can do you know we know that he's a good squeeze he's a little roid head most of them do um that he's gonna be you know he has a good guillotine so we're aware of that you know and one i remember one session that that springs to mind um yeah this is the home gym and like i get uh a lot of good good jitsu guys down here and we started one one uh one training session it was like an hour and a bit of just me being in a fully locked almost ready to go out guillotine and then we start you know so we've been working very hard on that you know and uh my neck isn't thankful for all the [ __ ] i've put it through the last few weeks but uh it's been a great camp in that sense because i honestly i've never felt more supported with the people around me john has always been amazing dave has been an amazing addition to spg my wife kids couldn't be more supportive my mom and dad my family are amazing but the team that i have around me for this has just been phenomenal it's been you know it's been so good to have you know on my doorstep you know yeah and be good i can't wait for it and fight i can't wait to see like said back with the killer instinct not leaving it to decision putting them out or putting them to sleep one or the other or or getting them in the sub so to your career today right i just want you to ask a couple of questions on fights favorite fights what would be your favorite finish that you've ever had oh uh i like the giorgio about sandy one studied him i knew he was going to lead her right hand i slid through her right hand and he just dropped like an elevator and i remember a friend of mine his neurologist asked me afterwards why did you hit him again when he's on the ground you woke him up and i did but then i got him into a guillotine so i feel i felt like in round one i knocked him out and guillotine or subbed them in in the first round i like the the uh simone dana fight the knockout the uppercut um you know he was a [ __ ] far bigger guy to me i took him on short notice and i was going to fight bantamweight and i was kind of very much on the way down to phantom and he couldn't make it so he went uh my original opponent pulled out but the dana fight was good because he put me into a bit of batter and um you know i just bit down on that gum shield and done the right things brought the brought the uppercuts in got the right hand counter and then conor mcgregor i remember showed me one of the first days of of a his striking class he aim your jab to the chest you bring in the overhand you know when you have them in a bit of butter that'll just get that little movement going and it was just a clean clean knockout i love that that fight too yeah so i'm gonna move on then your favorite fight and it doesn't have to be whether it's performance what it could have got to do with the atmosphere the crowd the camp leading up to it what would your favorite fight be thus far if you can pick one from all the fights that you've had i really love the atmosphere for the last fight to lugo fight and uh i felt like i felt like i wanna it was just that and the preparation felt so good if getting the decision would have been the cherry on top getting a knockout and going in with that but the rootlessness wouldn't even better again anytime i fought in the tree arena has been just magic you know when i fought aj there that was huge when i even fought back in the bahama day against making mcbrennan and we like just these ones were huge but all my fights are memorable in their own sense good and bad um the most memorable it was probably the dave hill fighting cage warriors um i've had two uh surgeries on my heart and uh that was the first episode i had on my heart during that fight i remember about two and a half three minutes into that fight i felt really good felt very comfortable started was landing my shots and in my heart i went to like well i can you know i've it's been there before with a three three to four hundred beats per minute wow so i felt like i was having a heart attack in there and i didn't stop i didn't give up and and it was memorable in the wrong sense but i learned an awful lot about myself that night that even though i remember going to round three and uh i remember carl tanswell rest in peace came into my corner because he knew something was up he knew something was amiss and he he gave me advice he said he does not he can do it to break you you've seen everything that he has and i remember turning her back around and looking at dave hill and i said yeah this is my last this is about the last of me this is it but i wasn't ready to give up you know i didn't think i was going to make it out of fight life to be perfectly honest and uh thanks thankfully it was a thing called svt but at the time i thought i was having a heart attack it was so [ __ ] scary so that was the most memorable in the shittiest sense but the most memorable and the best sense is yeah give me any of the tree arena days um and you know i'm going to make the 23rd the most memorable and what would be your favorite performance to date so far [ __ ] that could also be one of the knock outside or subs yeah because they're most of your your your win yeah i get you um there's lots that spring to mind the my first um my first pro fight i um was so nervous but remember i was telling you i fight andy young and uh i told my wife just don't don't come to this because like i i just want to go up and i have to worry about you traveling or anything like that you know and i i ended up beating him by knockout in the third round and i left the cage i was handed a check before i was off the steps by the promoter it was so weird for a couple of hundred quid and then i looked to my left and my wife was standing right there she traveled up she wouldn't miss it you know that was memorable when i fought in um i found water for just down the road and uh my my father motor came over big hug after a beaten by first round soap you know um but you know just to do the tree arena and the magic of the crowd the the embrace it was just phenomenal jump in the cage and yeah it's just there's to be honest i can't i can't pick one it's yeah i've had a fantastic career and i have so much more to give yeah we can't wait to see how much more you have to give but i'm going to ask you one last question and it's got to do with once your career is over and what would you like to be remembered or how would you like to be remembered as a fighter or even as a person as a person i want to be remembered as you know a good a good person with a good heart and a good father and a good husband that that to me is real important like i said i don't really care what people think of me anymore i probably did way too much when i was a teen and when i was probably in my early 20s but as long as they remember me has been a good influence and a good fighter and things like that that's important to me and a good husband well uh fighting career and legacy i'm a very proud wexford man and our crest says to fight with heart in hand you know the creatures love and i've always fought with my heart um you know i've shown that time and time again so if people remember me and say yeah that guy he had a huge heart he always fought so i suppose in both senses you know what i mean heart to be to be remembered for that yeah because you always make you do fight with heart you make it gritty you make it hard so i want to thank you so much for your time thank you absolute pleasure thanks for coming very much