Matthew Elliot interview

Ringkasan

Matthew Elliot returns to the cage warriors cage in April after a long stint out with an eye injury and then competing on the Oktagon challenge. We speak about his opponent, the atmosphere in the gym plus plenty more

Transkrip (youtube_captions)

[Music] okay so I'm here with Mr Matthew Elliot uh he's fighting on the upcoming cage Wars uh he's back on it we obviously seen him last year on the Octagon challenge as well so I want to thank you very much for your time how does it feel to be back on cage Warriors feels great to be back at cage Warriors I feel like it's probably where I belong I made my debut with cage War so I feel that everything's just kind of coming around a circle and obviously we see the on the Octagon challenge um and since then obviously Arman and Dennis had had fights obviously it seems like maybe it wasn't uh the fit for you or the promotion for you not in a in a bad sense just I what exactly happened there if you don't mind talking about if you can talk about what that is yeah so basically coming off the show P Shand were just trying to get me matched uh on like a smaller Regional show because they kind of give us the go ahead for uh a fight so to speak outside of them because they knew there would be like a a long enough layoff so they were P sh were looking couldn't really find anything and then once the show came out they made contact with octago and the way it was I I don't I don't really want to say too much because I don't want to burn Bridges with anyone but it was more like they'd offered me three fights in the space of a day we' accepted all three and then they were trying to get me to go to the check repu to sign the contract and i' I'd informed them that I actually couldn't get out to the Czech Republic cuz he wanted us out for interviews but they were want on us out from like the Thursday to the Sunday and I couldn't actually get the time off for it and they never really followed up with whenever I'd said I couldn't go out to sign the contract they when we accepted the last of the fights they were like I can sign the contract when he's out Friday but they knew it wasn't coming out so I just don't think there was any further communication after that and um because they never really reached the deal so this week uh we had like a a termination clause on it so that we could terminate the contract at any stage so we just thought that it would be better off terminating because we didn't really see too much interest on octagon side for kind of pushing or promoting me all right and and that's fair enough fan at the end of the day you're a fighter you need to kind of take care of your own needs and and and your career going forward because no one else is going to and and that's not a slight on octagon or anyone sometimes uh people or promotions just don't mention and and it work like that but like you said you haven't said anything that's going to burn any Bridges I don't think it is what it is but you're back on cage War which is obviously exciting you made your debut there um um was it like when the atmosphere when when the show is coming up obviously fight Cy island is high it's high Tempo it's it's the the training sessions are like the best they can be but does it was it like atmosphere wise when you're all got something to look forward to on a show like cage Warriors the atmosphere in the gym is it's incredible all the time but especially know for myself as well it's gotten a lot better because I have been out of the mix for quite some time so it's good to just be back in it and then especially with like the past while since me and Scott were both confirmed and know like me and Scott be doing like a bit more training together because you're both working towards the same date just things like that there so the gyms the gyms atmosphere is always amazing but especially coming up the fight you do you feel more includ at yourself anyways whenever you are actually getting the fight yeah and like you said you've been out for quite a bit Scott been hasn't hasn't competed in quite a bit as well I want to say his last was his last fight yankov was it the one after that no h some Italian C from SBG oh yeah yes yes yes yes it was um but that still it wasn't uh like hugely recently and you see with Scott like obviously getting the chance on cage Warriors how good does that make you feel when you see your teammates coming from uh the gym coming from the likes of the cage conflict shows getting a chance on the big stage which is well in terms of Scott Scott's kids worst debut is well well overdue Scott is the best Bantam with in Europe outside of the UFC uh without a question of a doubt so this is just I think it's a long time coming for him and especially on April 6th he'll get the he'll get to really show that H as well as Jordan it's Jordan's first time actually getting the competing kids Wars I know he was called up for the last Belfast card but he had btis in his knee but since then he's came the Fai he's joined and I'm very excited to see it because he's another he's massive Prospect so I'm just glad he's going to be able to show up yeah know I remember that actually it was supposed to be him and big patty uh uh fighting at the time and now the two of them are teammates and and that's happened with quite a few people you've talked about obviously people moving to gym uh it's happened with a few people now that obviously they fought and that they're now teammates how does it feel uh for yourself and obviously more so for the trainers that you have these guys like the likes of Jordan onel the aim and de uh wanting to come over and train at Fai I feel that Pon Shand probably wouldn't uh take too much from it I don't think they would be the type to reflect on it too much and do not give thems any kind of Praise but I feel that their work in the gym and their work through coaching is evident the fact that nearly every professional fighter in the country has moved to fight Academy Ireland like I know since since I moved up 18 like the amount of people who I've had beef with who have then joined the gym and then you're just best friends with them it's not really like so the Gym's atmosphere is amazing and pot and Sh are really creating something something special like yeah and you can see it like that we all like if you look at your your amateurs even like to the fly weights you've three three the fly weights in amateur in the top five between Damen H Oliver and Kieran cougan um then you've obviously got Sher Burns a professional uh you've got fighters in all different promotions Braves uh cage Warriors everywhere like that like talk to us about Paton shando and Adam stronger is one that doesn't get as mentioned as much as well and he's also like Elite coaching and is so good what's what's it like being with them on a daily basis it's it's phenomenal being with him on a daily basis espe like as you mentioned yourself there with Adam I've only really started working with Adam say the past three months but improvements already are massive H Adam really does have a mind for the game and I feel it's because he's uh he's only really breaking on the scene himself and he's only starting to get the recognition but with the likes of Michael shields for example he's been coaching Michael since Michael was I couldn't tell you I think Michael was must have been about 11 or something when he started coaching him same with Damian MC wian and it's starting to become like a we bit more evident whenever you've had these young Fighters come up to the amateur ranks now and they completely dominating the amate scene so it's good that it's good that Adam is starting to get a be bit more recognition as well because he really is a Top Flight coach along with Liam and po yeah and like that the sessions I've been there on a Sunday and the sessions like people turning up on a Sunday morning for sessions is is unbelievable and it just seems that Jim is going from strength to strength like I said you've got J in in Brave you've got the guys in cage War you've got ree obviously in UFC um and then you have all the boys then that are complete competing on cage conflict which is one of the best shows if not the best show within the island it's it's crazy the atmosphere is absolutely I you it's hard to find another atmosphere like it and that's not anything bad on on any other show I think it's the devest um as a venue as well because I believe they host a lot of boxing as well and it's supposed to be the same when the boxing's on but cage conflict is a it is a fantastic show I actually like to go up and enjoy the shows rather than do the media ones because it's just you have to soak in that atmosphere but with you being out obviously uh there was the there was kind of no movement there from octagon but then I know like you said you're trying to get fights on the regional scene was it frustrating not being able to compete especially after coming off the back of the show yeah I think it's been frustrating for the past two years so essentially before the ran shell fight about 3 weeks out I got eye poked and basically couldn't leave my room had the bandage up my head like basically sleep for a week and then went back to the training on the Monday and essentially your eyes have their immune system so once one eye gets damaged the other one's a lot more sensitive so then the other eye got hit on the Monday first night training back and then I was out for Sensei another full week so from three and two weeks out I Sensei couldn't train H after the fight they cleared up for say a month or so and then I got poked again and then everything started kind of this like started spirling uh fast forward to November or competed on a wrestling competition H got another eye pooke but it was quite a bad one and uh Alex scratched behind my eye and I ended up with like an ulcer that it formed over the top of my eye so whether the mats have been dirty or a dirty fingernail or whatever I I essentially ended up with like an ulcer in my eye so more or less from the Shelly fight or just shortly after the Shelly fight to after the Octagon show I wasn't able to spar so even before going away to the Octagon show uh I didn't actually get like a proper Spar session because anytime I got hit in the eyes it looked like I just burst in the tears my eyes would start watering theyd go red and they just got very sensitive so it was only really off of the back of the Octagon show that they started healing up again so we were looking to get back out there because I could get back in the training uh and then just nothing really suitable came up from it and then we Essen had to just sit and wait to see what was happening with octagon it wasn't really working out so it's just good there it's just good to be back it is good to be back it is good to have you back as well and have you back on on a show like cage Wars but with your eye injury cuz I remember you putting up a post about it you were looking for people to to maybe look at your how pain how frustrating was that that you couldn't go in and Spar and couldn't go in and do your thing and every time you seem to go back in and do it that it just it was like people were a beacon for your eye even though obviously they're not really like it just like whenever you went back in the one thing you wanted to kind of keep protect was the thing that kept getting injured and and how painful was the Al and did it just clear up naturally over time or was it like we was there a lot of maybe medication or anything you had to take no like I I wasn't taking any uh like pharmaceutical medication or anything I take all my own uh stuff that uh I could go in their big SP about what I take and uh all the rest of it but uh I'll save that for a later it but essentially yeah it just got very frustrating uh over the course of the Year whenever it was happening I'd assumed I started making the assumption that I wouldn't fight again and because they wouldn't clear up I would leave it then know I wouldn't Spar for say two months and then I would go back and try Spar and then the same thing would happen again so it kind of before the Octagon show kind of happened I was starting to get it into my head that you know I might not actually be able to fight again and then I went to Cathedral clinic and Essen the doctor had said to me that I need laser eye surgery to resurface the front of my eyes or I they essentially get eye poked hard enough to scratch the front of like essentially scratch the eler off the eye and thankfully just after I came back from the Octagon show I got eye poked again and since I haven't had any bother so I'm assuming it's done the trick like a factory reset button on the eye yeah and more or less uh so it's essentially what he was saying to me is I needed the because the eye had healed so like my dri do healed quite quickly so because it had healed with like the ulcer under it uh it was either l or ey surgery or get poked hard enough but in terms of pain it is without a shadow of a doubt the worst pain imaginable and it's it's more frustration because you're not you can't work you can't go to the training so you're sitting in the house but when you're sitting in the house you can't do anything because you can't keep your eyes open because it hurts so they're s walking about blind for a week and yeah it's I'm just glad to see the back of it at this stage yeah I can I I'd say you can because like you said that since from the Ryan shell fighter after the the Octagon challenges is quite a period of time and you talk there and you you talked there about saying maybe that you thought you might never fight again what was that like as a prospect of you not fighting again after putting in so much work over the years to so many different not just MMA like you're wrestling to everything to build up the CATE to where you are like what was that like thinking through all this work it might not happen again I might not fight again it's see I I feel like I maybe went through because of it because of the frustration by the time the Octagon show actually came about I did lose a lot of love for the sport because I wasn't really able to do it so I think the prospect of it by the time the show it came around it actually it was something that it thought about quite a bit and didn't seem to hunt me too much so it didn't and I'd actually kind of turned around to myself before the Octagon show happened and said to myself I was like if this doesn't go my way that that might be me done and then coming out the tail end of it it was basically after the fight on the show I was like right okay you're not made of glass you've got hit in the eyes you can still see you can still train and I was like we're like we're good to go so come like coming out of the show uh everything was a lot better so to speak and essentially it's like it has took me a while to get my motivation back but we're back we're fully motivated and uh we're GNA make sure that the same mistakes haven't happen or don't happen again yeah I can imagine that wait like go forward Tok cwise to your opponent when you're coming up on the fight how involved you get with scouting the opponent and looking at him or do you leave that to Le uh to Pat and shandel uh just to to come back to you and then you kind of formulate a plan together or do you look into them quite heavily yourself no I feel that the athlet should always be looking into the person they fighting because at the end of it's not my coaches fighting they're coaching me and they'll give me things to do and can guide me in the right path or sequences or whatever but in terms of the actual fight itself for me seeing what's coming at me in real time you do need to St of your opponent but as for this Italian boy I watched his last cage Wars fight and I didn't even get through it I got halfway through the first round and he he was leaning back with his chin up while swinging a hook and I just looked at up and was like this guy's so I'm going to absolutely run through him and from there I just kind of I to be honest I'm not to hours he can he can do whatever he wants but I uh typically I would be looking on the people but with this here my mindset is a lot more I'm going to do what I've trained to do and I'm just going to impose my will on him and there's nothing he can do about that and obviously it's been obviously a while since we seen you have you improved much like greatly since the last time that we seen you in the Octagon absolutely massive M so from from the Shelly fight to no essentially the improvements have been huge and more so since last M so in the past 8 n 10 months the the improvements have been massive been doing a lot of one to one work with shandu been working a lot one the one with Adam as well and Pat so I'm in twice a week doing back privates with P pods every Friday with Shand and I'm in one the on with Adam every week as well so the the improvements are massive and they will show on the 6th of April and I can't wait for the show you've got it's a big card obviously Paul Hughes has H it was announced over the weekend that he was going to be back um I believe is his last fight on kro as well you've got the like said Dey melen and on the cad you've got guys from everywhere how do you find cage Warrior I I think what I like about cage Warriors is do so many different gyms get so many different chances from the promotions you know that sort of way how do you find the car like cage War and what it does for Irish MMA and how do you feel the state of Irish MMA is at the minute because I think it's absolutely booming I think it's probably one of the most exciting years in a long time Irish MMA is it is f at the moment I feel that it's probably more so because you've that many high level ameters starting the turn pro that the pro SC or the pro scene is starting to like beef out and fill out a bit for the first time in a long time so I know when I first started MMA back around around 2013 there was a lot of prosos on the island and then a lot of them just kind of dwindled away and I feel like we're getting back to the stage where you have high level amateurs turning professional and they're making good professional careers from themselves but as for Cades Wars I feel that Cades Wars are doing a fantastic job especially more so recently uh of pushing RS MMA I feel like for a while RS MMA kind of got forgotten about and Cades Wars are doing a great job and actually getting back on the Irish hole and pushing Irish MMA and Irish Fighters so it is it's great and espe especially the past year or so fight Academy AR Fighters have started get a lot more chances as well through them and I feel that it's it's about time considering how many kids were Champions the gyms produced yeah they they produced so many champions so many good Fighters and like that you see I like when you look at what's coming out fight Academy Island we talked about the flyweights earlier and that was just one example like the gym is just it's unbelievably good at the minute like um like what's it like training with the bodies that you like like you you've Paul Hughes to train with you've like um I can't even think of any guys off top of my head now in your way class but you've so many good bodies James slav yeah there you go M who like do not that sense though you've got three guys two are going pro and it'll not be long before James slavin Goes Pro either H I'd say be very soon as well with how much he's improved so I feel like the Gym's just a great place at the minute so it is especially around from like everywhere that's it's hard to single out with s from like in featherweight alone was the four just mentioned a bon with a pro you have H you've Scott youve McDonald coming through he'll be going pro here uh the gyms the gyms in a great place s us yeah there like you said there's all these fighters on the coast but going pro uh from the gym you've got and then what excites me is when you go to cage conflict there's like there could be 26 uh fight Academy Fighters uh fight yeah fight I can't even pronounce it fight you've got so many fighters under jard that there's obviously going to be new ones and you can't even get all the fighters on on the card that's what excites me when I see these new these debuts and stuff like that as well um but Tian lockin like you said is he was unlucky not to go pro um with his fight I think it was a silly reason a passport or something the week before to me that sounded a bit fishy yeah it was it was like uh I'm pretty sure it was like two days out whatever whatever it was it was at scand like something happened quite recently with ls burn as well uh it was a guy from France and he had like a Cameroon passport but then he couldn't get a visa to come over and they they only realized this fight week and I'm just thinking like did you really find out fight week did these things really happen fight week did just that that's that's a good match up there them two Le and ter since they're both going pro if I'm gonna play matchmaker I was thinking that myself I think but then I think we I was talking to tan because we done an interview and we were about to it was it was the day I released it that I found out that uh his fight fell out cuz we done it over before the weekend and I released it like the Monday or Tuesday but look it is what it is um with octagon obviously it didn't work out but you were on the show you seem to have a good time on the show with the lads like what was your biggest takeaways your biggest positives from the show H that I'm not a late with that's h i I don't know I found that uh to be honest I found the show hard I found being in a a place where you have Essen everything that you do is watched monitored controlled and yeah you like it's it's almost like being a 5-year-old child again so to be honest like I struggle but the the biggest positives coming away from that would like they're definitely the friendships and between you know the coaches to the boys I was away with like we've all stayed really tight with each other so we have uh we talk like we're talking daily every day so I'd say they were definitely the biggest takeaways like positive takeaways from the show for myself anyways yeah the the bonds in the Friendship seem to seem to be very good obviously you see Arman and Dennis uh or Arman has actually left to go over combo and then Aaron's doing Aon I believe there was talk of him fighting I'm not sure if he he is going to be fighting on this card coming up it doesn't look like it but he's doing then bits behind the scenes he's doing interviews and stuff as well so and you can see whenever you all seem to be in conversation you seem to be sharing each other's stuff and and which is good but you've obviously got your next fight to look forward to you're not going to look and past your opponent but what's your kind of do you have like a a blueprint for the rest of the year or kind of a rough idea of of what you want to get done this year yeah so essentially after April 6th the plans that I need a big finish I feel that in the sport like I could go 10 and0 from this point forward and you'll not get a UFC call up unless you're finishing people the UFC don't want people want a decisions so I like as you were kind of mentioned earlier about like development and progress I feel like my fighting style is now completely changed as well so that's kind of one of the like probably the biggest thing that we took from the Shelly fight is that I essentially need the reinvent myself I can't uh like you can go out and rag do people and if you're not going to like if you're not going to get the judge's not on the night then it doesn't matter so a lot of us just been Reinventing myself so the plans to get a big finish here April 6th an impressive finish as well make it I want to make it look very easy and then hopefully a quick turnaround late May or early June and hopefully again with cage Wars and then we can build from there I don't want to look too far past that because I feel like a lot of my career so far has been oh we'll get this fight and then we'll get something sort of quickly and you know it's never really materialized so it hasn't so focus on on this for now but definitely I would like to get something late May early June and just get the ball roll I'm 24 I so like I know people consider that to be young but in my mind I've been at this a long time so I need to get the ball on I need to get fights rattled out back to back and I need to start getting a bit of momentum behind my name again and the way I say it is like the K War featherweight division is wide wide open now Paul's left he's went up the lightweight and a sensate featherweight now you've look Riley who's probably he gets signed of the UFC here and if he does it's even more open who do you have you have high hardworking Jordan venik that's essentially the division so is so I feel that I'm not that many wins away from actually looking at the title and I would like to So the plan is before before I turn 26 I want to be kids Wars world champion So within the next year and a bit Yeah so just the the time is yeah a year and a bit like you said the Paul is gone to lightweight and then I believe this is his last fight on cage Warriors for his he put up as well and like I said with Luke Riley he's probably not too far away from potentially going on as well cuz he had a fantastic performance um I they like that you you go into a division which there which is they probably like they're going to have to rebuild as well you know the sort of way they're gonna have to bring new guys in and like you said if you have a good finish here or a good show on at this fight you could be quite easy what like another fight or two one of the contenders and competing for the Bell how excited does that make you or like you said are you just concentrating on what you have now because of your prior experience with looking ahead concentrating on what I have now but also like I'm I'm still looking a bit like a bit into the future So the plan is like after smoke this guy like the say it's like Orlando PR I think he's called so fighting cage Wars feather Division I would like him next after H I just think he's he just looks like a prick so I would like to fight him afterwards I feel like that there's the next fight lined up regardless I don't want to call it too soon in case he has something booked I would like to get something a quick turnar around and not have to wait on him fighting but I would like that fight after this SW well that's good that you that's good that you have a plan because I think as M Michael bisbing always says like when you get on the mic after the fight you need to know who you're calling out if you don't want to call out anyone not that you don't seem bothered but they not be too bothered to push you but if you know who you want next after you fight uh your your fight coming up then it's a good sign that you're looking at theis you're looking forward and you're looking at what you want to do but I can't wait to see you back like I said it's been such a long time we chat all the time whether it be true Texas or as show so I'm delighted that this is actually coming round you're back in cage warriors uh you seem motivated and excited again to get back in and and I'm really interested in to see like how like the changes you've talked about like I said a fighter is going to look at your last couple of fights and if you've completely changed it's going to be it's going to be a complete shock and surprise so I interesting to see how everything turns out I'm going to let you go would you like to say anything or would you like to shout anyone shout out anyone and I'd like to thank you for your time thank you for your time as well Dave really appreciate it that's good that we finally got back here but just want to shout out my sponsors Corgan competitions d security black art studios emerald chauffers and King R seos I would just like to give them a big thank you for the support leading up to it's definitely alleviate like alleviate a lot of stress whenever you have uh especially financial help uh being a fighter it's getting your Bloods and Medicals done Etc isn't cheap Trend isn't cheap so like it's all greatly appreciate and I know Corgan sponsor this podcast as well so that's uh that's that's nice yeah it's good just me yourself and t t in as well and obviously what what a true I know yeah and because the boys are Fighters as well they understand and that's what I like about them so fair play like I said the financial pressures uh not precious but the the well it is precious being alleviated like that's actually one question that I leave it on like even as a professional fighter like how hard is it like to balance um like your your your work life your personal life your obviously your fighting life and then with the money as well like I said you've got training food all stuff like that how beneficial is it to have sponsors and how it's it's kind of pivotal I think for even whether you're Pro or amateur that you have to have sponsors yeah sponsors are like it's it's a massive thing I feel like I always struggled with sponsorship up until now this is the first time I've actually got sponsorship quite easily and I feel that because like I'm very out spoken if I see somebody post something I'm the first person to go and slabber to them and comment and let everyone know my opinion and see to be honest I was coming into this whenever I was even putting up the sponsorship post and stuff and I was like I probably won't get anything so the fact that I have I'm incredibly grateful for because I was looking at this fight and going right this fight's going to cost me a couple Grand to now where I'm in a position where I'm like yeah I'll probably break even on it which that's that's all I want like at the meantime I have plenty of time to make money in the sport so as long as I can kind of like keep things covered keep the bills covered I'm I'm happy enough yeah no and that's essential like the money that he actually put in like it that when if anyone actually heard that from another sport a professional actually putting their own money in to compete in the sport that they're being paid for a lot of people would go that doesn't make sense to me but it just goes to show the love for the sport and for competing and that's why you do it so on that note I want to wish you best of luck on your fight coming up and I want to thank thank you so much for your time and I will be talking to you again very soon thank you da I appreciate you mate perfect I appreciate you too than