Swimming With The Sharks

Ringkasan

Combat Confidential #026 - S3E11 - Sam Devaney Swimming With the Sharks In this week's episode, I have an insightful conversation with Sam Devaney, a seasoned Professional K1 kickboxer. Sam shares his compelling journey into the world of combat sports, tracing his beginnings…

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[Music] all right everyone welcome back for another special onsite interview um um today's guest another Pro K1 Muay Thai Fighter fights out of I'm G butcher this again th thorus thus yeah thorus martial arts yeah in thus yeah Ireland uh uh Mr Sam Dean yeah yeah Y no that was it screwed up that was better that was that was better that was better it's you're getting there getting there getting there I lived in iron enough you think I'd figure it out yeah well most people even in Ireland say it wrong so it's fine so your brother said Dean Dean yeah Dean uh we basically called Everything by the right name um same with turist though as well like when we fight in when we fight in the UK everyone calls it Turles yeah that's that's how I yeah I suppose it's how it reads but yeah I okay fun story before I really get into things uh okay so my uh real name mhm is Juan yeah Ju in yeah I was in the hospital here uh quite a few years ago um I was in the hospital and um uh was waiting for the nurse to call me like they checked me and then they threw me in the back and they like all right you know wait here we'll call you and then um I was there for like an hour and a half probably almost two hours and I'm like what the hell's going on like CU you know there's people coming and going and all this and then finally it's like I go to the nurse and I'm like hey like anything happening here and um and then she's like what's your name I'm like it's Juan and they're like how do you spell that and then you know Jan whatever and um then she was like Joanne Joanne like no no and because I and I remember or no sorry she was like oh Joanne and I'm like no La uh like I remember sitting there and I I heard them call Joanne Joanne Joan and you know and you know the thing about is the thing that really frustrated me was she was Filipino and you know Juan's not an uncommon name in the Philippines how did you not know this yeah you know yeah Joanne would be pretty common in Ireland that's why but I'm like God come on I know yeah but um anyway enough about me all good so just a few questions to like I said I want to I want to get to know about you they want to get to know about you y um so just first thing that comes to mind just let me know uh coffee or tea coffee coffee yeah 100% 100% te ever no don't like um I'm probably the only Irish person that does not like tea and you know I don't think it's I think it's more common than you think cuz I'm in my own family I can think of two are coming to mind right off hand but I think there's at least two more who don't drink tea yeah now my family like my my my especially my dad and my sister like are proper like tea drinkers all the time like just yeah I I didn't even drink coffee till I moved here yeah yeah yeah I like coffee I like coffee know yeah definitely a bit of a coffee nerd yeah yeah I do like a real like are you kind of a snob about it do you have like um yeah yeah I would I'd like yeah no I probably am I probably am I know you have a particular brand or anything that you're not particular Brands all just like yeah probably particular beans more than anything which is yeah probably even worse you know like it okay so like I'm not a a coffee snob or anything but um what I trying to say U like coffee in general I think tastes the same but when you get a nice cup of coffee yeah you can tell like you can tell like this is this is good coffee but same thing when you get a bad one like oh just I just had a terrible one the other it was it tasted burnt yeah oh it was it was horrendous and you'll never go back that place back to there again either because if you get one bag of coffee it's ruined it for you exactly yeah I'm definitely a coffee SN definitely a coffee SL no it's all brown Bean Juice to me but yeah yeah but um no yeah like a I say it's hard to [ __ ] up a cup of coffee but it's actually not no no you but uh yeah I like a good cup of coffee mhm but I don't I don't seek it out yeah yeah no I know I know the good places to go I know the good places yeah where's one around here shout him out Deja breu de breu will be definitely the best best um C play toless without a doubt all right check them out after this yeah yeah know our coffee is never failed like ever right on um yeah okay uh what is the best gift you've ever received best gift or just a memorable one off the top of my head I mean I mean it kind of sounds bad that it was actually a gift but it was a gift um but what maybe nearly two years ago we my girlfriend came home with uh my dog yeah um yeah Auto so he's a little miniature dashed and he is like yeah I love that dog that dog is my yeah I love him love him and then about six months later then we got another one and he's just he has to have a friend yeah but he's a crackhead he's a crackhead he is absolutely nuts like anyone that knows him like everyone in the gym knows dogs and like yeah Aros we call him an old man even though he's only about 18 months yeah but then Theo is just off the- walls like off the- walls have you had dogs before did you grow up with them or yeah yeah um so my mom was involved with the ispca for years so We rescued well lot of fostering going on yeah tons of tons of rescues um tons of rescues like from every from small dogs big dogs dangerous dogs abused dogs starved dogs you name it we probably had him um yeah and then when I was younger probably the dog that stood out to me most um was a dog named Juke um he was mixed with a great Dan and a German Shepherd so he was he was massive um but just the most amazing amazing dog um we had so many dogs and loved all of them but sometimes there's just a dog that just yeah that one that connects to you out here yeah yeah he was just always yeah he was great he was great unfortunately we had to p him down he got really sick and um took him into the vets and just had was full of cancer unfortunately but yeah [ __ ] happens yeah [ __ ] happens I had a had a box her we had her for nine years yeah actually I brought her over from the states here yeah um you know she was like it's my my wife she like she's almost like another person like she so like in tune with everything that was going on around in the house and you know like uh you know she was around for you know my my first kid and God bless her because she got beat by that by the baby just and she just took it it was so it was so awesome yeah dogs are dogs are absolutely amazing we all all of us in the gym we're all like massive dog people like we have the door open and we're training um and there's a lot of people to walk dogs up here if a dog walks fast everyone stops training like literally everyone stops training is looking at the dog and yeah it's we we are we are such a dog gym it's great it's great though yeah know it it's it's nice to to to have someone like the I say someone but you know uh to have someone like that to be around like un unconditional kind of you know yeah want you know wanting to be around you there's very you know I don't know how they do it like they never get mad at you and yeah it doesn't matter you know you could you know and I'm sure maybe you've noticed this too you know you get these neglected animals that maybe uh come in and you know they're still so loving and they just want to be loved and yeah that's that's awesome I think it's so cool that uh your uh your mom did that and yeah yeah oh we just yeah animals animals everywhere just dogs or um dogs um yeah know it was mostly it was mostly dogs yeah she had a couple of cases of maybe maybe horses and um couple of cases of cats and stuff like that but obviously the horses wouldn't be stay with us cats we would maybe would have minded them for a bit and then and then moved tried to move them on um again dogs are believe it or not they're a lot harder to re home than you think um you know I suppose a cat can kind of nearly look after itself too yeah you know dogs dogs would be would be in a bad place if didn't exist um I agree yeah they wouldn't be able to survive without people people wouldn't be able to survive without them either so you know I think it's a yeah both people work you know that kind of you know anyway um yeah it's good okay uh to check one thing real quick because I'm just I'm always just Paranoid on not recording and I don't distinctly remember pressing that button but we're good that's probably scary thing it is I'm always is looking at the camera and then like my [ __ ] vision sucks without my glasses so there's like a little red dot on those cameras that I can barely see um but they're there all good all good all good all good editing all this out you're F okay so um okay so obviously you love dogs what is your favorite item don't I genuinely anybody that knows me personally would know that that's an incredibly hard question cuz I I'm a I'm a complete nature animal nerd like is is there something that like uh personifies you um or excuse me it's is there an animal that you personify I should say I think I said that correctly I've always thought yeah I know I know what you mean I i' there's one that I've always thought about um and it was actually it's actually a great weight yeah yeah um I actually have one tattooed on on my my leg for that reason um yeah I don't know something about them uh obviously incredibly dangerous but you see like I watch loads of document like I'm just a complete animal nerd um but like when you see people diving with them you know something that is so so dangerous has the potential to be so dangerous but then also can actually be quite calm at times obviously um yeah I think it's just they they're just pure power pure strength just everything about them but then also you look at them and they're they're quite relaxed but in the same sense you look at them and it's like that's a shark you know you know um and they don't need to tell you anything you know that kind of way I think that something like that yeah I I I I've always been drawn towards great weights there's no confusing what a shark is and what they're about exactly exactly exactly yeah yeah they're more likely going to try kill you than play with you you're not going to it now there's a there are some people that do dive with them a lot um and they do they get away with it yeah it's crazy it is crazy it's something I would actually definitely be up to really oh yeah 100% you would do that yeah 100% in a cage or outside of one no I do it I just do it I do it so would wouldn't matter I love I me with animals I to me animals are way better than people cuz animals you usually know what they want they either want food they either want food or they want to get away PE people are a little bit more they're a bit more deep yeah they're way too deep in my opinion like they just you never really know what their agenda is um yeah yeah that's true I think animals can be a bit kind of binary in their objectives yeah whereas humans are a lot more complicated so which again for me like for me that's probably what why I like um why I like animals and nature and everything like that is because it doesn't it is what it is you know there's no there's no hidden stuff with it you know um which I like I do like that but yeah that's cool no that's cool and uh it's it's a top animal for sure yeah yeah definitely um do you have a kind of like a a favorite like holiday or family tradition um family tradition I mean definitely like Christmas for me would come to mind um Christmas in our house um there's seven kids seven kids um obviously my bought my parents um usually my uncle either my uncle will come over or my grandfather will come over or both yeah um they're both living in the UK um yeah it's very it's basically about a week of doing nothing but eating food with family playing games um yeah nobody has to worry about working or or yeah me and Le we're we're more than likely still training anyway but yeah it's a it's a nice week where family is the main the main thing um yeah I say Christmas for me would be Christmas for me yeah yeah definitely right definitely um what's your favorite thing about where you grew up what's my favorite thing about where I grew up um I I grew up I grew up in a small really small village um Boris Lee it's only maybe about 10 15 minutes away from here yeah um honestly like that again nature and animals I was always that any any Lads that knew when I was younger um I you'd find me just wandering through Fields uh um wandering through Fields looking looking for looking for animals um you know going literally if there was a field with horses in it you'd see me just walking through it yeah for me that was probably the nicest thing about about living out there um you were only a 5 minute walk from complete nature um obviously turus is a little bit more built up so so I have to drive places to do that now but I still do it like I still do it I love just going and yeah just being part of the the actual natural world is yeah you know that that to me has always been a big big thing for me right on yeah always uh do you have any hidden talents hidden talents hidden talents probably n that I should say um I know no no probably no not really I mean I don't want to think so I mean a hidden talent no no I don't think so I don't think so again maybe I'm a bit of like like I always go back to that yeah I'm a lot of people they be surprised I know with any any people in the gym they were quite surprised when when a lot of them found out that like that that I am I I'm just very very much um again Back To Nature you know I spend most if I'm not trained or I'm not home watching fights or something like that or I'm not I'm not coaching people I'm more than likely researching animals yeah yeah yeah I yeah that's that's something I love to do what's your most recent kind of rabbit hole then snakes really yeah yeah uh BS BS at the moment yeah so B at the moment and a couple of like um rat snakes as well Asian rat snakes and yeah yeah that's that's a that's a very long Rabbit Hole though that's a very long Rabbit Hole what is it about that that kind of grabbed you in or pulled you in I I could I could sit down on my phone um and research like I remember one day and I've often I've used it sometimes in my like in my pts like that I'm I'm All About all about passion with with everything you do no matter what it is um so from for for the people that are coming in for me to to show me being passionate about something and it's almost going be a bit endlessly pass passionate at times like I remember one night I I was up I think for two or three hours uh re researching hibernation patterns in snakes um and like like most people be like why would you do that but I I didn't even realize the time was passing you know it's like in here I love being in here um did to me in here is pure passion I've spent spent I've spent hours upon hours in here and it feels like I've been in here 5 minutes um you know I think it's good it's good to be able to be that passionate about something yeah yeah yeah yeah I definitely yeah I definitely get like hyperfocused as well about things um you know and it it does it's good it's good to be that way but you have to you have to learn to control to um you just have to you have to cuz if you go too hyperfocused you completely forget the rest of the world exists and then everyone else starts falling in and you're like yeah and then you realize [ __ ] the whole things after after falling in and yeah and you've been so focused on this wooden thing that yeah so yeah it's a good house is burning down around you oh yeah yeah 100% um that's that's me in a nutshell I am incredibly hyper focused and yeah I go I'm very much an All or Nothing type of person um learning as I go on how how to deal with that better um but yeah yeah that's probably that's probably who I am um that's cool I think I think it's a it's a very uh it's a good characteristic to have that like means you're like you can get interested in something and stay interested in it and like you're you have a willingness to learn new things as well and yeah yeah I think that's great um sometimes a lot of people are just take things at face value and they don't necessarily you know scratch the surface at all yeah so yeah no I get I I get yeah I get really intrigued by something that is actually difficult and something that is hard and something that does take time and something that does take patience that to me is very impressive um you know I'm like inspired by that um like you know I mean I wouldn't say no but if I won the lottery in the morning like yeah it'd be great but it'd be much nicer for me to work incredibly hard for 10 20 years and still get that equivalent amount of money you know because it's yeah you you're you're probably learning you're learning so much more yeah there's a lot of lessons in there that be kind of missing out on yeah and like you know don't be afraid afid to like don't be afraid to I'm L on this yeah oh yeah yeah don't be afraid to [ __ ] up like you know and that's something I always would say to people you know don't um if you try something once no matter what it is whether it's martial arts whether it's painting whether it's playing a guitar whether it's what whatever it is if it goes wrong once don't just throw it away and move on to the next thing because then you you if that that's an endless cycle you know if something has caught your attention and you're like right I really want to learn we'll say guitar for example try stick with it try stick with it um and if in three to six months if you're still trying and you're still [ __ ] at it maybe it's not for you yeah so maybe after six months maybe now right now we can move on something different but don't give up after an hour yeah I think a lot of people do that when when they do something they're not immediately good at it yeah they just kind of quit and yeah you know because I think people who are really good at things yeah make it look so easy yeah yeah but there's a lot of time behind it though yeah like the the one thing uh like basketball for me yeah I don't like it because it doesn't look difficult to me but I know for damn well like it's professionals are like they're Professionals for a reason they're very good yeah um but it it's just you know the optics for me it's it was like me with um like now I do not play golf at all um two of my younger brothers are are very big into golf yeah that's another one too yeah like but I remember I remember being like what's so hard about golf I like you're basically hitting a ball into a hole and then I went to a driving range over in Spain with my younger brothers and like it was so hard yeah but for me I have to be careful at things like that because if I realize it's hard now I'm going to want to do it dive into it oh yeah yeah yeah um like so I have to I have to be very very careful of what I what I put my interest into it because again I get hyperfocused I get yeah blessing in a curse blessing in a curse that's what I call it um do you have a fight name no no no no no never have never have you want one we one for you pick one if you want I don't mind but no no I always no just Sam just Sam always um yeah I know that's cool oh some some people do some people don't yeah somebody yeah look it's something I don't know I'm a bit I nearly think it's a bit pretentious like it's only pretentious if you pick it yourself yeah you see then you find out that they picked it themselves and it's like now it doesn't even work yeah yeah no it's it's it's odd like it is it's a bit odd um yeah so I think somebody should pick it for you and I think somebody should yeah yeah like uh I remember one time I I was actually fighting in fighting in gway a couple of years ago um and the guy I was fighting had a nickname um and his nickname was uh was stain was was stain steel believe it or not and the commentator or the the announcer or whatever came into the back room and actually asked lie I like well does Sam have a nickname um I was like lad he's fighting his nickname is uh stainless steel and Le was just like mild steel H cuz le le was a welder for like years um but thankfully thankfully they didn't go with it I'm so happy they did not go with that um but yeah no that's probably the closest thing I've ever got to Titanium or tungsten or something yeah yeah I was just like yeah I'm so glad they didn't go mild steel like just I don't know maybe might stick now maybe no I definitely don't want it don't want it we not use it no way no way that's funny you can pick any else uh your Walker song what your walk out song um aall Nation um sale yeah yeah yeah do have any particular meaning to you or um yeah yeah it probably it does um so basically before I basically before I I probably want to go a bit deep but like before I started this I I struggled a lot with my own mental health yeah um I know mental health is a big thing at the moment and things like that which is something I think it's great to to to promote it but I think there's a lot of people that just run off with the whole mental health thing and as a selling point but um yeah know I I I struggled big time I struggled big time from with my mental health and um that song uh a All Nation sale if you actually listen to the the lyrics um it's it's basically him just it's basically him screaming for help for help yeah um and I remember the first time I listened to it it was yeah it was probably something that I felt I felt like it was it was almost me speaking okay um and and then like there's even one part of it is like this is how I show my love um and not like I love when like when I'm walking and I hear that one lyric When I'm walking out to the ring like this is how I show my love and yeah I'm I'm the happiest I ever am on fight there fight there for me is just let's go like love it love it love it what kind of first Drew you into Combat Sports in general was like your brother was uh was it kickboxing first yeah or did you explore anything else or but like what what was it that really kind of brought you in um I don't know I suppose uh so the the receptionist that I I I was a hgv mechanic saw diesel mechanic um and the receptionist actually she trained in here for Fitness um and I was out of playing sports but she could see that I was maybe struggling a little bit mentally um and she actually suggested that I that I do a beginner do the beginner course and again like me and Li we've always we we've always and never in a bad way never in a bad way but we've always loved fighting yeah always um if anyone like remembers us playing hland um if there was a fight me and Li were in it we doesn't mean we started it but we were definitely in it yeah um I remember I remember running the length of of of the field like to jump into the fight at the other end of the field like um in rugby we were the same thing um I remember we were playing I'm not going to say the team but I remember we were playing um a rugby match and uh someone got into a fight in it and everyone else on the team just ran away um and me and leam we were playing together we stood and we fought uh 15 players um and we we bet them all we bet the heads off them uh it was great fun that's funny um so yeah I suppose that that that was probably always in me um in both of us went home and I said Le about the winer's course um and yeah he was always in fighting but he also wanted to drop a bit of weight himself and didn't really know how to do it um and yeah both of us came in and I think we we just like we we always say like addicted but yeah that's what happened like we just we literally fell head over heels for the sport um lean was 20 I was 21 so it's probably late in the grand scheme of things but still early enough to to make a career out of it um I and yeah we just we just we just trained all the time um you know both of us had full-time jobs but I would leave I would leave work um gear bag packed everything in the car drive straight to here spend three four hours in here every single evening um you know doing my runs doing doing everything um three classes in here with the coach but yeah like I was on my own back I just started just I started running I started doing the train conditioning I started doing I just started like researching kind of Fighters mindsets and listening to Fighters and you know figuring out um again like that hyperfocus just Deep dive into it and just went went yeah so you kind of briefly mentioned you know you're suffering a bit suffering a bit from uh you know kind of some mental health yeah uh things you know like how how is that kind of excuse me how has you know Finding you know Combat Sports how how is that kind of Good Help things good good yeah I mean like look like like we're we're all human at the end of the day there definitely definitely still good days and bad days yeah um and that's just that's just part of life um but yeah for me for me martial arts in particular in particular my Ty for me I love my typ but martial arts I think in general like I have a weird analogy that I always say um to to people that if anyone does ever speak to me about it that um that like the likes of like depression anxiety um social anxiety you you you name it um in my head I think that they're almost it's it's like built up energy in you um and if that energy builds up builds up uh it's like filling a bottle with water eventually it spills over yeah whereas if you can if you can do something whether it's going for a walk going for a walk by yourself going for a walk with your dog your girlfriend whatever um go you know do do do something that empties your energy a little bit um obviously this just drains all your energy so like like that it's almost like um you can you can almost starve it out yeah um but it it it it never goes it never goes that makes perfect sense you know yeah like another another always any anyone that knows any of my clients will know I'm full of an allergies but like for me it was probably like depression it was a big one uh for me um it's never gone um but like I always think you're driving the car and some days depression is in the booth sometimes it's in the back seat sometimes it's in the front seat and sometimes it's driving the car okay but it's never it's never out of the car um but it's but like you know obviously when it's driving the car that's a bad day but it you know most of the days you're all you're still in control of it yeah um or like another one that I've often used is uh if a if you're sitting down and a stray dog came over to you and you give that dog food if you come back to that same place the next day that dog is now going to come over again and you give it more food and it's just this endless endless cycle dogs are Great Depression isn't you know but but if you keep paying attention to it and keep feeding it and giving it the fuel it's not going to it's not going to it's going to keep coming back yeah it's if you keep kind of paying it attention and giving it fuel then it just keeps yeah and no look I mean definitely acknowledge acknowledge the way you feel definitely acknowledge the way you feel but try not to let it debilitate you try not let it um stop you from doing what you love to do don't give it energy yeah to come back at you yeah exactly exactly like it's it is it's very much like I I'm I'm going I train anyway so I I try not to let that ever stop me from training because yeah I might come into training I might be a little bit off in the head or whatever but then afterwards I'm I'm great so again yeah I was just about to ask you know if there's ever days where you're coming in and you're not totally feeling it or you know maybe you're yeah you're suffering a little bit and then just after a session in here generally this to me is my therapy yeah like I've always said it um you know Le to me is I've heard that time and time again from pretty much every anyone who sat across from me here yeah you know that uh this is really like yeah that training in some kind of combat sport has it that's their yeah therapy for sure and it definitely was for me as well especially when I was training a lot more I it was it was nice to you know kind of it's weird because like you can't think about anything you know inside the ring you know so you really you have to disassociate yourself from your problems um you know for a short period of time and I think it if if you're able to do that for a short period of time when you kind of come back to them maybe they're not as big a problem anymore it's not as uh it's not something that was as heavy as maybe you thought it was it's almost like you you get time to reassess the situation when you come back when you have to come back to it you can decide whether or not uh you know you're going to let it canest yeah or you know or consume you again or okay it's still there but we're going to kind of you know move along with it not it move us along yeah I think again it just teaches you laws like I I I didn't really see it as um active meditation like it's it's an active meditation like you said that it's far that however longer training session is you're not thinking about anything outside of the gym you're thinking about making sure you're hydrated enough breathing correctly you know obviously correct techniques not being hit um so like there's there's a million possible scenarios um but very rarely are you hit in pads or sparring and thinking about like something outside very very rarely if something if you do think of something outside you're usually going to get hit in the head and you realize right well I can't think about that now yeah you know Focus yeah exactly and that's again act active meditation or yeah so when you get all right you know it's funny like I have these questions in front of me and I'm trying to rephrase them as I no work no if I if I just read them then I don't have to stutter over myself um how do you manage like you know mental and emotional challenges as a professional fighter you know so you're in here training still but obviously you know different life things happen so like you know when those come in like how how do you kind of navigate that from to really kind of keep it from overwhelming you or affecting your your training um you know just life in general to be honest um for me it's be to be talking with um talking with my team my family um my girlfriend you know for for me that's um again I'm all with with cliche saying but like a problem shared is a problem half um you know so I I'll speak to Le me and Li get on so well I could tell you I could talk to him about any everything and anything in the entire world um same thing with my coach same thing with my girlfriend um like there's and there's other members in the gym that are they're they're they're like family like so I can I can speak to certain people about about things and I know that they're going to give me solid advice um or advice even from their own experiences um and that goes that goes for for everybody you know um yeah and then I suppose my my parents um definitely my parents um as well you know they yeah they're they class they class their class so um I asked this question to your brother uh but like when sorry if I remember correctly you both signed up and both came the same day yeah yeah and like how did your parents feel about the pair of you doing this together and then my assumption would be maybe you guys decided to become Pro Fighters around the same time as well why or how how did they accept that or come to terms I think um did anyone try to talk you out of it no no no number one I mean we were we were we we were adults um yeah like definitely I remember being younger and I I I always wanted to through boxing when I was younger okay always wanted to but my mother never let me okay because my uncle's actually a doctor and obviously he knows all the health risks that can be involved with it oh yeah and was kind of like Maybe not maybe not you know maybe I don't know maybe he had an influence I don't know um but yeah I just never I I I never I was never allowed to do it um yeah I don't know I think I think I think because me and Li started together and me and Li are incredibly close like Incredibly Close um you know like you if there's one of us there there's usually the other person is somewhere close short of follow yeah yeah we're just that's what we do that's cool um and I think because maybe the both of us started together I think my mother like she was like well you you you'll have each other kind of in it you know all through all the [ __ ] the success the failures the the the injuries the pain you name it um that it's the two of us kind of doing it together um I think I think that probably maybe met kind of content enough um now she's still she still just is like she still just thinks we're we're mental um which is understandable um my dad on the other hand he definitely gets worried but he shows it in a lot way way different way he still wants to come to the fight but I know he's [ __ ] breaking it all the time um but then after it like like before a fight like d could be really quiet really really quiet and it's not him being nervous or anything that's just his demeanor but then after a fight like especially after a win he's just he's just all out he's all out of like praise and all like well done and this and you know it's yeah yeah it's it's good it's good I think they're all I think they're far I'm not really sure we're doing what we love and and I I think that's the way they both raised us is do what you love and you know you you'll be you'll be happier the most I think I think you know right on um what do you consider your greatest personal strength uh and how has it helped your career greatest personal strength um again I'd go back to being hyperfocused extremely driven not like like not just driven like extremely driven um yeah constantly not like obviously with my my career and in in training and things like that but also in my personal life I'm always seeking um constant Improvement um I live by it's something that again something I say l but like I like never satisfied I'm I'm never satisfied in in anything no matter what it is I want I want more I want it to be better I want I want to be better and it's not for any any outside reason at all um you know I I very much live in my own little kind of bubble um and I like that but yeah I'm just I'm never satisfied with it I'm always I'm always seeking I'm always seeking more um always seeking more um yeah and I think that's again I think that's I think that's a strength but I think it's also a course as well at times cuz sometimes you you just need to just chill for a day you know and not uh not just wake up and be on that rabbit wheel all the time you know cuz that can get a lot too you know but yeah is there any time in particular that you've like or maybe this strength that's kind of inhibited you a bit anything you can think of um there was a there was a fight I had I had last year um and uh the year previous I had I had three fights that year um probably my worst year career-wise I had three fights um I lost all of them by stoppage unfortunately um I wouldn't mind but each one of them fights or all fights that I um should have won yeah um or could have won um you know and but after every single one of them losses it definitely definitely uh definitely affected me but then I fought I fought last so this was the following year after all them losses I fought and I won and I was so delighted to get the win just went to the decision that I fought in August um over in Scotland and it was it was it was a like such an insane fight um I got a big cut straight along my forehead in the first round I got a big cut on top of my head um was cover heads torn blood um I think it was second round um he came up with a left knee and clipped me clean and dropped me in the second round um and I I I'll never forget it I'll never forget when he dropped me and I was on underr again my everything was spinning and then all I thought about all I thought about in that Split Second was all them three losses like and there there's a video I have I have it on my phone but there's a video of me getting up from that being knocked down and I literally I pretty much ran towards the referee going I am fine do not call this fight off I am fine um luckily it was the end of the round end end the second round came out round three um dropped him um Then followed up again and and finished the fight um so I think for me I think because of all the the lot that like being that that that year of um of losing fight after fight in a weird way I'm glad that they happened because if they didn't happen maybe it wouldn't have taught me that you know kind of way it's yeah absolutely and I think that's why this this sport is so beautiful is because it's ruthless and it it doesn't care it doesn't care about you your feelings it doesn't and it'll teach you lessons in quite a again in a in a ruthless way it'll teach you lessons um yeah I think that's I think that's what I love about it though it's just yeah it's just you know you you yeah you just have to just you just have to go you have have to go if you don't go someone else's you know um yeah it's something that yeah it's it speaks so much to me like I understand completely um it it makes sense yeah for sure um soorry so when you you talk about those kind of those three losses there that you had kind of consecutively um did you have to like make a decision like about hold on I do I want to phrase this um you kind of you had these consecutive losses kind of back to back you know was there ever any kind of like what am I doing here like what you know like any kind of that self-doubt or anything like that or was it it was always like next time I'm going to get him next time kind of kind of thing yeah no I um no no I never doubt I I still I still don't doubt myself ever um you know I truthfully deep down um I know that I can be number one in the world I know that um it's just the case of when um and you es especially in my not not not so much from uh like you see it in box and nobody wants to lose that zero but it might you'll have 300 fights and they 50 losses and nobody gives a [ __ ] about the 50 losses everyone's like that L has 350 fights that's insane that is madness I didn't know that yeah that's pretty that's pretty they fight like every two weeks in Thailand you know that's pretty pretty normal you know so I think once you once you once you realize that again from from like M like like I think they realized that losing losing isn't just an isn't just okay and it's done now I've lost it's it's part of it yeah because if you lose a fight or if you lose multiple fights your next couple of fights could be the most exciting fights the most impressive fights the fights that you see the most Improvement in but imagine if imagine if you just stopped when you failed like you know again another another cliche saying it's like well what if I fail and it's like what if you don't what if you succeed yeah you know and like like they're both the same question but people like well what if I fail and everyone listens to that one but like the what if I succeed everyone's like oh that's not really realistic it's like well both of them are both of them are the same thing they're the same thing you know um yeah I think you just you you you have to be willing to to [ __ ] up and you have to be willing to learn from it um and don't under any circumstances quit um that that word doesn't even that word doesn't even exist in my head um I how how do you how do you kind of keep things grounded for yourself because grounded yeah like is there people in your life or yeah my girlfriend my girlfriend um my girlfriend my dogs um my family my brother um yeah for I think it's yeah for me there it's a it's a place where I can just go like I can just talk go with the the girlfriend or the dogs out we we go walking out in the in the B an awful lot and when you're out there it's it's it's a big b a big open area and there's just nobody there like and the dogs are running and like you're just out and again I love nature so me being out in a place where there's nothing around you it's just you your girlfriend your dogs and on a good day in Ireland which is rare enough now but when the weather is nice it's just yeah that to me that's that's probably the most grounding um you know or even when I go out to the parents like I go out there whenever I possibly can um which is usually couple of times a week um but yeah just being out in the garden with them being out in the garden even just sitting down and just chatting to the mother or or or my father or like yeah or playing with my younger sister or playing with my niece Li's daughter you know things like that like things like that to me just yeah they ground me um they around me they kind of I'm definitely not the a fighter when I'm around them people yeah you know it's cool that you don't always have to kind of have that uh the Persona yeah yeah that Persona on you like you can you can really switch off around certain people and that's that's that's good because no one wants to be you know one thing all the time anyway and that's probably something I struggled with a lot a couple of years ago too um like I I definitely did I kind of I was I was on 247 yeah and like 24/7 um and it just it it it just affected everything you know so you just you can't you can't you can't be that you know it's great to be on but learn to switch it off learn to switch it off um you know I I make a joke like but like you should see me with li with Li's daughter like she's my niece and like she's just amazing you know um but yeah like you see me in here I'm kicking pads and like oh that's like you know like he's a fighter or whatever and then you see Remy walk in and I just turn into this I just turn into the biggest [ __ ] you've ever seen in your entire life and you know what I couldn't give a [ __ ] because that that that's my niece like you know that's my niece and yeah she's just yeah she's amazing like she's amazing look uh last question here for you um in general how has Combat Sports changed your life in every way possible um it gave me a G me number one I suppose financially gave me a career um doing one to ones um it give me purpose in trying um give me purpose in trying to achieve these goals um it give me it gave me um probably more of a social environment again I I don't drink alcohol so I'm not really a big Pub person yeah um but for me coming in here the social aspect um believe it or not I actually my girlfriend through here yeah um she came in doing the one to one with me um again not her joke but I always say that I always say that she got what she wanted and [ __ ] off there's memes about her yeah yeah she came in she done about two or three one to ones and then was gone um but but then she already had me so it was fine but yeah yeah to me yeah it it um I think confidence too I think self-confidence too um you know knowing that knowing that you can it's it's it's nice knowing that you can you can handle yourself yeah I think that's a brilliant feeling I think it's something that I think everybody should should know because there's a lot of people out there that think they can handle themselves and they most certainly cannot and bro I can see when I see red when I see red yeah like oh or next time I see you you're dead that's the one that that's that that's one that's from around here like next time I see you you're dead and they're literally standing right in front of you and you're like you [ __ ] idiot yeah yeah I don't know I don't know yeah I suppose maybe they're going to go away for six years and train and then come back yeah come back I'll be more than welcome more than welcome but yeah yeah well look man uh I said I really appreciate your time um I had a good chat with you and like if you're ever up in duin let me know um or if you're fighting in Ireland in general let me know same with your brother U yeah happy to come out and cover you guys or something like that yeah yeah yeah I we're we're fighting whenever possible um you have a fight coming up as well that is I did have a fight coming up so I was actually meant to be fighting on the same card as lie um but unfortunately I've just been number one I think I've had two fights this year um and I've just been plagued with injuries which I can work through y but then I started getting issues with my head which is obviously you serious you can fix a broken bone you can give time for a torn ligament but your brain you get one of them and I need to to look after it AB yeah um absolutely so fingers crossed fingers crossed um I'm getting a couple of more tests done and stuff like that but um hopefully they all come back clear and yeah I I'll fingers cross will be out by by the end of the year okay awesome I I hope to hear more about that yeah yeah yeah be good be good okay um you want to shout anyone out go for it oh yeah sponsors um so here's Hotel um an our hotel uh ambition nutrition um Jonathan l in streamline Enterprises um there's a few more PB fuels John Maher transport supermax Turles um Bush and Brier coffee out in barle um barle botling company um yeah so all of them whether it's been a small donation or or a bigger donation it's been it's been greatly appreciated um I think for I think as as I hopefully I've shown that this this sport is crazy um it's quite a lonely sport at times um so and it's not recognized in Ireland unfortunately um to the point where we me and Liam tried to apply during Co so that we could legally train as professionals we were denied um because it's not a recognized sport um yet it's our careers um so that probably be me my message is that there's multi firers up and down the country kickboxers up and down the country and they get paid they're not getting paid tons of money they're not on McGregor money they're not on Mayweather money at all by no means at all so so to be supported would be just would be just fantastic um because even the people that have have helped me and leam so far it makes it makes our training easier knowing that we have the backing from the community um because like that we're in we're in a small gym um and 90% at the time it's just me and leem in here um and we're just training ourselves um and we do that twice a day six days a week um every single week um so when you're have doing a long session it's nice to know that we actually have the the support from from from the local community um so to all my sponsors was thanking you very very much appreciate every time yeah all right and I'll do my best to link as many of them below as possible so [Music] awesome thanks again man I appreciate it oh [Music]