Shane Smith interview

Ringkasan

try to remember everything. I already said, >> right, so I'm here with Mr. Shane Smith. I remember meeting Shane a couple of years ago when I was down doing MMA in depths. You had the combat lab. You were doing strength and conditioning for the lads and you came back uh to…

Transkrip (youtube_captions)

try to remember everything. I already said, >> right, so I'm here with Mr. Shane Smith. I remember meeting Shane a couple of years ago when I was down doing MMA in depths. You had the combat lab. You were doing strength and conditioning for the lads and you came back uh to fighting after 14 13 or 14 years, I believe, and now you're >> How are you feeling? Nationals this weekend. How you feeling? >> Yeah, I feel great, man. Um obviously the last fight I had, I know I didn't get the result I want, but I didn't really come out with any like nicks or bangs or anything. So I just kind of took two or three days off training and got straight back into it then. So um just opportunity for the nationalists came up and it kind of seemed like fairly good. You know I would love to do uh an IMAS. I think if you win this you should get on the team or you know you're you're in the running to get on the team. So that's the that's the goal is to go in this weekend put on a good performance and get the win and then hopefully go to Serbia in February along with H Shane Dunn as well. So hopefully be two of us going over. Yeah, it's it's a fantastic gym. Air grapple. I love the the talent that's coming out with Ron De and Bar Shane Dunn has kind of he's exploded onto the scene. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Second best Shane in the gym. [laughter] >> I love that. But what what made you come back to fighting after so long out? Cuz like fair play is like like I'm not saying you're old. We had this conversation before. You're not old, but you like these guys coming in 18, 19, 20. They're young. They're fresh. They're their their thing. What? >> Yeah. like you were out for a while but you had the technique and stuff behind you. What made you come back and fair play you for coming back? >> I suppose just uh like we were saying already kind of like I started back into I've never I've always been doing combat sports like I've never really like stopped stopped you know what I mean it's it was on and off when I'm doing stuff nearly like the last 20 years 18 years or that h [snorts] but I think maybe three four years ago like saying the gym was a little bit quiet in terms of the MMA team. So I think like Ronin and Andrew were just asking one day going, "Hey, do you want to throw on shingards and gloves and spare weights?" And uh that was kind of it just started tipping away back at training from there. But then in the last uh say two years like we added back in some like more evening MMA class stuff that Kieran was taking and stuff and I started jumping into those and then really started kind of finding my momentum with training stuff and feeling good and I was like gez I forgot you know how good this felt and uh set myself a goal then at the start of this year that like I want to get back competing this year whether it was like jiu-jitsu or um or MMA cuz obviously the last four or five years were a bit disaster for me. multiple surgeries and injuries and stuff, you know, but yeah, all that's behind me now and um h yeah just obviously went got in did I in the summer the prep and all for that was unreal like you know it was cast to do a full camp again especially with me so you know I do I run the combat lab so like I look after like SNC nutrition for the fighters here and a few other people online and stuff and then like I want to be able to walk the walk and talk to talk you know what I mean so it was class for me to get to go through a proper weight cut doing everything that I know how stuff should be fun compared to say like I obviously fought like in like nearly the first wave of Irish MMA and the [ __ ] we used to do the cut way and SNC and everything was crazy like you know what I mean. H so it was class to do it all properly and get a feel for it and then you know you can fully uh understand what what your athletes are going through as well you know what I mean and relate to them that way. Uh but yeah, so even though I did that fight, obviously like I was saying, I I went for a stupid like judo throw that Kieran was warning me for weeks not to do and I was in the midst of it. I obviously went for it, gave up my own back, got choked, but I still came out of it like feeling class. I was like, "Yeah, like I I do love it. I I want to go again." And uh yeah, now here we are up again this weekend. I was originally meant to have two fights this weekend, which I thought would have been class, but uh my opponent for the first day actually ended up pulling out. And the guy I'm fighting now Sunday, he was supposed to fight Saturday as well. But his opponent pulled out too. So we're both of us are just straight into a final now uh Sunday. So yeah, but I actually would have really liked to to have gotten the two cuz I think I think the guy would have fought Saturday would have been more of like a striker and then the guy Sunday is more of a grapper. So it would have been classed to get like a bow in experience against boys that have kind of slightly different bases to each other. You know what I mean? But um it is what it is. >> Yeah. No, it's the fight game. Like when you look at the evolution of MMA to where it is now, like is it kind of does it feel surreal that it's progressed so fast and so quickly? Because like you said, strength, conditioning, nutrition, all the stuff we know about techniques, competing, uh the health and safety of the fighters and everything we have nowadays. Is it like night and day to what it was when you first >> Yeah. Yeah. It's unbelievable. Like say when I was doing MMA years ago, I was the only teenager in the gym. Uh so like I was a teen having to train with a lot of like grown men, do you know what I mean? No. Uh, and I would like to have like kids and teens classes here that are packed and say like they're learning from people that have the 10 or 15 years behind them of doing things the old way and learning what works and what doesn't work. You know what I mean? So like even if you go I think there's like a kids comp on Sunday before our one or something the the youth nationals or whatever. Like if you see the level of some of them like it's just unbelievable. Do you know what I mean? Like do you you've you have kids there in teams that are 16 for blame 14 15 16 and they already have 10 years of training behind them. Do you know what I mean? And they're just they're just unbelievable. I would even say like like the like the system we have here is is class as well with all the lads saying like um just with say like the mind Kieran has and like obviously like he's a really really highly regarded coach and has like years of MMA behind him as well and um you know like he was doing said like a degree in certain condition and stuff too and then obviously me like I went to college and did sport science and all and just like the way we have stuff laid out and it's just it's so good compared to say like years ago it could have been like one of the boys watch something on YouTube and like right lads today that's what we're going to work you know what I mean whereas now like no like you know like we have a syllabus and a system and it's it's periodized and it's just like it's class you know what I mean like say like even all the lads here are training like pros even even they're like they're they're pros they're pros even though they're still fighting amateur you know what I mean like the way the way they're training and stuff but as a whole like the level in Ireland now is is so good but yeah it's it's night and day compared to like what you would have seen you know like even even 10 years ago if not you know like 15 It's it's class. It's class to see and it's only going to keep getting better and better and better. >> Yeah, it is. Like I I watch some of the novice fights now and I'm like these are novice fighters. like it it's >> it's mental and and like you said you've got all the steps out and we have all the information whether it's nutrition strength condition before like I said it was I think Brian Moore said they used to go on to boards or they used to go on to something to research even a move or or this someone had a jiu-jitsu DVD and trying to whereas the information is out there and you've got these steps in the gym that basically if the guys show up they're going to be successful. So it's kind of streamlined. It's only up to the fighter now. There's no more guesswork. >> Yeah. Yeah. you like kind of um you get out what you put in, you know what I mean? That way. But h yeah, no, it is it's it's class like all the information is out there if you know obviously how to like sip through it and stuff. I know boys now are just they're just riding on chat for everything. [laughter] I I'm glad to have came from a time or like learned my trade before that was a thing. You know what I mean? Um but yeah, no, it is it's it's class. It's great. It's great to see and like I said like it's it's just constantly evolving and it's just going to keep getting better and um like to the caliber of Irish athletes even that you have now kind of just shows how good things have gotten here like you know we've got like champions there like the likes of sell like Solomon Simon that just won his belt we've got you know like Will Flurry Paul Hughes like Gary everyone you know they're just just showing how how good things here are you know what I mean >> yeah it's like if you look at UFC I know Kayen Lock's gone and Keith was gone now but there was six or seven at one stage in the >> UFC the next >> like Octagon, Cage Warriors, um PFL, like you know, we're everywhere for such a tidy island that the the levels is unreal. And I think that's why we do so well, especially at the start of row when these other Europeans are coming in. I don't think they have the amateur background. They don't have the the dedication. Well, I'm not saying the dedication training, but I just think the lads here train two times a day, work 40, 50 hours a week, and it's it's just mental. But as for yourself, obviously, you're going to be competing Sunday. Will this be the last time you compete for the year you're going to enjoy Christmas or are you looking at getting matched on another show? >> Yeah, unless unless we end up fighting someone on a night out over Christmas. [laughter] Yeah. No, this this will be it now for the for the year. Um unless like there I know there are two shows there on the sixth and seventh. I think there's a gladiator era on and there's an EFC on. Unless something good came up there, you know, said like the right matchup and I come out this weekend fairly okay, I could jump into that. I know we're still trying to get some of our lads matched on those. So, I wouldn't I'm not ruling out maybe doing one more, but I'd say the way things are looking at the moment, this will probably be the last one for the year. But then again, hopefully then I will be doing IMAS at the start of February. You know what I mean? So, I'll just be training right through the Christmas and then just all of January and then fighting again then, you know, cuz I the goal is to like just compete as much as I can next year because like I have [snorts] the years of training kind of behind me now. So, I just have to get good at competing again and just making the right decisions in in the cage like you know um and that you can kind of only really do that by competing you know as opposed to say like some of the lads here that are still like obviously like building up their skills and you know going through their belts in jiu-jitsu and all that crap like you know. >> Yeah. Cuz live competition is a lot different to the training room because you've got someone there trying to take your head off trying to choke you out and like I know people say in the training room you can do this but well it's different. There's the event, there's the crowd, there's different >> different things that kind of come into it though. But in terms of the IMAS, obviously if you're successful and you go, what would it mean for you to represent the country on a stage like the IMAS? It would be unbelievable like because it was it was stuff said I wanted to do when I was younger and when I was fighting and competing back then and just say you know I was a lot younger and things were a lot different and uh you know even like say like money and stuff like that to be able to go and do things like that and say there was no there was no IMA or IMAS back then either which like for me at the age I was say you know I was like 16 17 18 when I was fighting it would have been class cuz it would have been like the right thing for me to do whereas like when I was back that age fighting like my coach and stuff was already on but about maybe going pro when I was like team, you know what I mean? Cuz like there was just there was just only so many fights you could do and so many people you could fight. And back then people were jumping between like pro and ammy and semipro and like it was the wide west, you know what I mean? Like whereas now like you know there it's it's it's just class cuz it's it's it's systemized that say like you can go through the IMA through and then like you know you can try get one two or three under your belt get the experience then maybe look at going like pro or something and you know still trying to clock up like 10 or 15 or 20 ammy fights or whatever and building like a proper experience before you move on. But yeah, just just to represent the country would be like unbelievable. Like, you know what I mean? I think I think anybody it should be a dream nearly for any for any athlete really, you know what I mean? It's it's it's the goal for so many and uh yeah, like I I I'd be honored to to be able to do it, you know what I mean? To go out in a color and hopefully knock a few heads around and get get a few W's, you know? Um so yeah, hopefully we we'll see how it goes, you know. Um it's t even a few times there even like you know we just went over to England a few of the boys were fighting and um said like even just the boys when they're over there you know bringing out with theric color and stuff like we we have a color here in the gym it's like it's like one that you kind of wear with a bit of a hood but we've never washed it so we've h it's just a thing I [laughter] know that sounds rotten but we brought it to like loads of shows and there's literally like blood from I don't know how many different people on it you know what I mean like it's it's like the yolk is absolutely wrong but that's the one we wear and we bring you know what I mean it feels like like it has its own aura, you know what I mean? And just I don't know if they'll let me through the airport way at this stage that much stuff on it. But if we can bring that over, you know what I mean? It'll be class cuz it's it's one that may really mean something in the gym here, you know what I mean? Along with uh along with just say like the country as a whole. But even even just to be able to go whether whether representing the country or not, even just to be able to represent the gym here and like what we're about is obviously really important to me because you know like I do work here as well and one of the coaches and coaching kids and adults and you know like just just to just to lead from the front you know what I mean is is something that's really important for me as well. And it's like I said the same thing with say like the SNC and nutrition stuff like being able to show like do doing the work properly you know what I mean? not being one of these big like overweight coaches with terrible technique that's like trying to coach people just cuz they're reading chat GBD or something. You know, you know what I mean? That way >> that chat GBD seems to be solving all the world's not something I'd use. It's not something I want to use. I like real life, real people, real experiences and fight stuff like that and error yourself. Um that's I don't even want to go into AI and chat. [laughter] I want I want to go back to the 90s to be honest. But >> yeah, >> I got to let you go. It's been a pleasure to talk to you because I know obviously we're so close to this weekend. I want to wish you the best of luck this weekend. I might >> It depends on I'm commentating on Saturday on the show. It depends on how I feel Sunday, but I was invited up. >> I think there might be a stream. I think I'm just not I'm not too sure about. I think there might be a stream. >> There's a [snorts] stream I'd have a look cuz I was talking to Danny who does fantastic work with the the youth. She invited me up. >> So then obviously if I was there I would say but it depends on you know yourself with travel and stuff. I could say yeah Sunday morning I could wake up and be like >> feel like it wasn't here. But look, is there anything you want to say before you go or anyone want to shout out? Thank you so much for your time. >> I just want to give like biggest shout out to Kieran Davern. Obviously like none of us here could do any of any of what we do without him. Uh he gives us like so much you want to see like second you find out you have a fight like he's watching everything he can about the person making a game plan. uh constantly say watching and researching himself and just constantly his whole life revolves around martial arts in the gym and just making everyone better. Uh so like biggest thanks go to him obviously everyone else in the gym here as well uh that I train with everyone on the team uh obviously like say special out to Roman Degan and Marie Kenny that I work with as well and uh Jamie also and then just my my partner Emily cuz she like supports me doing all this crack around gone like literally all the time you know what I mean but uh I always come home you know to to her at the end of the day and she she supports me and is fully on board for like me like pursuing this now properly. So yeah, um that's it really. >> Yeah. Know [clears throat] it's been a pleasure. Hopefully uh you're successful this weekend and I'm sure we're going to have more conversations next year obviously if you want to. Um but yeah >> and I will see you soon. >> Yeah. Thanks very much Dave. Appreciate it man.