Sean Carmody interview

Ringkasan

Sean competes at chaos fighting championship tomorrow, we speak about transitioning to MMA with a decorated back in the BJJ scene, we discuss what it like going into a fighters home town to fight plus much more

Transkrip (youtube_captions)

So I'm here with Sean Cardy. He's going to be competing tomorrow on Chaos Fighting Championship. He's obviously one of the Caries. I would have heard of him from the BJJ scene. Uh him and his brother have transitioned over to MMA. This will be his second fight. Um thank you very much for joining me, especially the day before the fight. You've got your weight out of the way. You're refueling. How are you feeling about tomorrow? >> I'm very excited for tomorrow. Uh I've had a lot more time to work and prepare for this fight. My first fight I got on like two months of training and six days notice. This time I didn't get much notice either, like two weeks because the original opponent fell out. Um, but I've had at least like another month and a half of training. So, I'm feeling very very good about it. >> Yeah. No, it's a fantastic show as well. It's a long travel for you tomorrow. Is it just I see yourself I think Jacob is on the card as well. Jacob Doris. >> Yeah, Jacob Doris. Yeah. >> Uh, is there many you going up? What time you leaving at? That's that's a huge travel the day of the fight. What time you be leaving at stuff like that? >> Yeah. So, I was actually very surprised today. See, my fight time was around 11:30. That was news to me. Like, I never knew that was going to be the case. But, so I've adapted because I'm actually refereeing at Grappling Industries on the next day. >> Um, the lad's car was full, so I'm not going up with them. So, me and Shane are going to drive up. Um, we'll probably be leaving my place, I'd say around 2 or 3. You know, it takes about six hours to get up there. Uh, so we'll get there just before Jacob's fight hopefully. Um, so I have enough time to rest in between uh like driving and fighting. >> Yeah, that that's a lot. It's not like elite where it's on your on your doorstep. >> Yeah, that was so cool. Like that's the first time especially transitioning from jiu-jitsu because everything's in Dublin. I got to do something that was on my doorstep for a change. That was a big thing for us. >> Yeah, cuz like especially Cork, MMA Cork, I see them at every show. I see Aaron or Jack or Aean like and then obviously the fighters like they're on every show and I man, how do you do this travel? Cuz we all know there's not much money in MMA. So, it just shows the the dedication they put in, the dedication you put in. But, um, in regards to tomorrow, your opponent, do you study your opponent? Do you let the lads do that? or do you just want to kind of implement your own style coming into MMA and kind of not not disregard what they're doing but not look too heavily into it or what way do you work that? >> So I look at it like this and this is totally honest like I don't have the best like fight studying IQ. So normally I leave all of that to my brother Shane and I leave it to Aaron and Jack or whoever's doing the study for me and we'll go over some stuff. Of course, I watch, but I don't pick up on a lot of I don't pick up on a lot of traits, I'll be honest with you. Um, I kind of just do me. I always have done me. Um, like for jiu-jitsu, I just always would find someone who I like to watch and who I look up to and I would just study that person and I just try to replicate it to be honest. Um, and normally one of my brothers would do all the hard study on any opponents I have because I've just not got the frame for it to be honest with you. But I've looked at Jake. He looks sharp, you know, like he's a bit confusing to me to be honest with you because uh he seemed more of a striker in his novice fights, but he's got some submissions out on him, you know. So I it was it's a bit confusing, but um yeah, it's it's a puzzle, you know. MMA is a puzzle. So it's going to be interesting tomorrow to see what he's got. >> Yeah. And like that fight has improve like improved so much at novice and amateur from fight to fight. you can see the improvements heavily because obviously you're new your brain's taking it all in. Obviously when you get to like the pro high levels there's there's not as much room to to kind of expand. But that's like I when I look at fighters I wouldn't even look at that. I'd look at what kind of they do well. But I would be like you and say Joe someone go oh look he's moving his foot like 40 degrees this way. I'm like how did you what are you even talking >> I'm like that like how did you pick that up? Like I kind of get stuff midfight as well and I'll notice patterns when I'm just watching it. I'm literally I'm I'm just like watching a movie and I'm like, "Oh, that I like, oh that was nice if it's a nice shot or whatever." I see it obviously more on the grappling than the striking because it's where I've got the most expertise, shall I say. Um but overall, yeah, I just tend to leave that to everyone else and I just try to focus on me and just doing well. Yeah, and I think you should because there's no point tailoring your game to someone else. You want to be an individual fight or you want to stamp your own kind of style on it if you I I understand game plan and stuff like that when you get to title fights or UFC or or big promotions that you do need to like look at the defensive stuff, but I think as an amateur just go out, have fun uh or novice as well and then just kind of feel it out for yourself, kind of do your own thing. But with tomorrow, you've got Jake, like we said, and he's this is his home show. How do you think you're going to react? Because obviously, he's going to get big cheers. I'm not saying you'll get booze, but they'd be pretty silent for you compared to when he's coming out. How do you think that'll affect you? Will it affect you? Or do you think you'll revel in it or what way? >> Honestly, like I don't I just think it's going to be normal for me because like I can only bring this back to jiu-jitsu again. like cuz I've there's nothing ever happening in Cork and we used to have a very very competitive team where I train my jiu-jitsu, but uh with like my brother moving away to America and stuff like this, you know, uh the competition team kind of died a little bit and it's been me and Shane going everywhere for the longest period of time. So, it's just been me and him, you know, so I'm only used to having like Shane in my corner, you know? So, I'm used to everyone else having a big team or whatever like, so this doesn't bother me. I fought on Chaos before in a jiu-jitsu match against Adam Glenn. I actually lost that one. Uh, it was very was a very quiet day actually. I was on very early, so I guess like the normal crowd wasn't in. It wasn't MMA obviously, but um, yeah. So, I expect there to be loads of cheers. Like, he's clearly quite popular. I've seen the amount of people who post his story. And the thing is, I actually followed Jake because I saw his submission against that Georgian fell. I was like, "That's quick, you know." Um, so I followed him because of that and I've seen he Yeah, he's he's quite popular, you know. So I expect a lot of people to be cheering for him and it's just not going to bother me because that's the norm for me, you know, like just having no one in the corner. It's just what I'm used to. >> Yeah. No. I think that I think I was at that show where uh with the submission, was it like 50 something seconds? Was it at the house? >> Uh, no. It was actually a heel hook. So, it's a bit controversial. Like, h he had me in a heel hook and I couldn't really move because of the cage. So, I had to like really kind of like push hard down on his knee. But the ref interpreted it as a tap. Um, once we cleared that out that it wasn't a tap, he reset. But the problem was he reset in the heel hook, which you wouldn't ordinarily do. Normally you what you should do then as a referee is you should stand the fight back up and like let that be like a mental like advantage for that fellow you know for your opponent you know like the judges would look at that heavy you know but um yeah instead he just resetting the heel hook so all and this is taking nothing away from Adam but all he had to do was like literally hip and I actually tore my MCL from that >> that's that's that's people say do jiu-jitsu It's it's it's fine in their neck braces, leg braces, shoulders hanging off, and they're like, "Ju, it's less uh physical." Well, it's obviously when you're competing, it's different. Uh you're going to hold on more, but you we had a little brief conversation before we came on. You've 100% submission rate this year uh >> at the Irish Open. Yeah. Yeah. >> At the Irish Open. Yeah. Um what made you want to make the transition to MMA? Like what what brought you that way? because obviously you're so decorated and well renowned, you and your brothers in jiu-jitsu. What made you want to make the transition over? >> Basically, my brother's success for one. Uh my brother Stuart, h he's gone to train in atos with Andrea Gaval. Um so he's moving away and he was my main training partner because we were both like featherweights. Uh, so with him moving away, I lost my main training partner and my brother Shay is also going to be going over to do big camps over in the US for the worlds and stuff like that. So, it kind of took the two guys who are my weight and best in the gym around my level. Like my coach, Galleran jiu-jitsu, very very good. Um, but he's just a little bit older. You know, we still have competitive rounds, but he's like master three. And it's not to take anything away from him either because he's very good. like he's won black belt Europeans. Like he's just insanely good. But um sometimes you need the guys who are like younger, more flexible, got a bit better cardio, you know, like guys who you can't be as physical with, if you get what I mean. >> Yeah. >> Um so yeah, like that's what kind of what made me and Shane was doing MMA up here, so I just thought, oh well, I think I might just give it a go. On top of that, I actually have two children and there is no money in jiu-jitsu. And I was realizing this and I thought, well, maybe it's better off to try and start a career in MMA because with the amount of time you put into jiu-jitsu, like I'm not going to say MMA is easier, but I think in the beginning it's easier to get entry level into money because for jiu-jitsu, you need to be a like a black belt world champion selling instructionals, privates, and there's just not a calling for that here. I can't go over to Atos or um to Brazil to Clauddio Kalisans get a get like to get a camp because I have my children you know I can't just up and leave them I have responsibilities I can't just up and leave my job and guys like Demetrius Johnson obviously came up through working whilst fighting for title fights so it's still possible if you're going to put the work in you know and even if you don't make it to the UFC you can still make a living from it you know you can still make a basic living off it and I would personally rather do that than I would actually, you know, [ __ ] work in a factory forever, you know. Even if I was only like making just what I'm making now, I'd rather do that. >> Yeah. Yeah. Know, I get you. Who Craig Jones was actually saying it there recently that um he said he thinks everyone's mad that that was doing jiu-jitsu for years because he said he's only making money the past couple of years doing instructionals uh like that, doing going to seminars and stuff like that. said how people who were able to do it and dedicate and only work part-time and barely live. Um Rosa Walsh is someone that you probably know. Rosa BJJ. >> Yeah, I know. doing very good like but there's only like like there's only so many people that can do that to a sort of way before it becomes saturated and like you said it's it's hard like it is there's not much more money in MMA but as you go pro there's still there's still a bit no there is money but it's I think people when they come into MMA they look at Connor but Conor McGregor is like a unic like take him out of the equation but like I said you can make the living the likes of Octagon which I think are very good which Brian and Jack scient uh PFL pay more like usually obviously entry level is is 10 and 10 or whatever it is but that goes up as as a thing but like you said you can make a living out of it so >> yeah no I get you how did you find MMA cork and how did you find that to the gym there with the >> basically Shane uh Shane was training MMA himself was his own coach for a while when he took his first fight on chaos and he took away from that because he broke his neck I think he explained that to you your his interview with you Okay. So, he ended up going up to MMA court with a friend of his. And he just started loving training there. He loved the vibe. Uh so, I just was he was telling me, "Oh, you should come like, you know, uh with like our levels of jiu-jitsu, you know, you need to add a bit of hands and you'll be doing very well, right?" Like, I was on the fence with it for a while and I was like, you know what, [ __ ] it. I'll just do it, you know, because yeah, I didn't really want to get punched in the face to be honest with you, right? It's a It's a nice thought, but but not getting punched in the face, but like, you know, being successful in the cage, you know, it's a nice thought, but actually getting hit is a bit different. So, I remember I was actually [ __ ] terrified going in there for the first time, right? I was like, "Oh god, you know, these guys, they're going to smack the head off me." You know, they weren't. They're literally the [ __ ] nicest people. Like, excuse my language. >> Um, but um, very very welcoming crowds. Yeah, I'm saying it's okay. It's not PG here. You can curse as much as you want. Just no racism or any things that will get us cancelled. [laughter] F this is all good. But yes, I find MMA people probably not, like I said with BJJ, combat sports in general, I find them a lot nicer, more humble and more accepting and welcoming than other kind of sports, soccer, GA. And that's not to slight them, but I just think you know when you go in what the how much effort is put in and how much you've put effort you've put in yourself. Do you credit the community being like that because of the graph and the work rate that you have to do? >> I think it's I think it's a matter of confidence to be honest with you because people can be very spiteful like in ways of being jealous, you know, or wanting something someone else has. But in combat sports, I find because you know you can take care of yourself. You know where you're at. You don't got to prove anything. You're not going to like puff your chest out like all the like the gay football players are the prime example, right? Uh you don't got to do that, you know? You don't have to be like the fellow who's on a night out and needs to prove to his friends is a tough man, you know? Like everyone who's in there is tough. They've all had a couple of like you probably spar in the gym all the time. Like sparring, it's still a still a fight, you know? That's a fight also. So, you know, you know what you're about. you see like and liked, you know, you don't have to puff your chest out and get in someone's face, you know? So, everyone's just they're just more chill, I think, is the confidence of it knowing you can look after yourself. >> Yeah. I I think that's a big thing because um like that you know what you can do. You don't need to fight whereas a lot of people like you said it's confidence issue. Short people have the short man syndrome issue [laughter] and there's just like you said people go out get drunk and and especially what when I go to shows when people's friends are there they all think they can fight then as well and it's just like lads every one of these even all these novice kids would absolutely beat the [ __ ] shut the [ __ ] up and have your drink and enjoy the fight. >> Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. >> So but um I got to let you go. Is there anything you want to say before you go or anyone you want to shout? I want to thank you so much for your time. I'm looking forward I'll be commentating tomorrow. I'll get to meet you in person cuz I did meet you at one of the elites I believe. >> EFC, the last one. Yeah. After I had my first fight. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, it'd be nice to meet you again and commentate on your fight. So, if you have anything to say or anyone shout out, you have the >> Yeah. Basically, just thanks to all my team and my uh my brothers and my sponsor, Ground Game. Um they always help me out, you know, with the best gear and stuff. So, thanks for those guys. They're great. And thanks for you for having me on. >> Perfect. Also, I just want to say uh thanks to Jake for accepting the fight because I've had a hard time getting matched and he's the first person to actually accept the match like straight away and not have to think about it or just said no straight up. So, I actually have a lot of respect to him for that because there was no questions about it. I just got oh, do you want to fight this fellow? And I was like, yes, obviously like I'll do any match, right? And there was no qualms. he just accepted. So, I have a lot of respect for watch his interview. So, yeah, like I there's a lot of mutual respect, I think, and I'm just I'm just happy to be on the show tomorrow and get the opportunity. >> Yeah, I I can't wait to see you compete and commentate on your fight. And I know you and your brother because of your jits background, a lot of people don't want to go in early stages cuz they know if it goes to the ground, it's probably going to be arm taken off or or a choke in. So, yeah, like I said, fair play. I'll see you tomorrow. Thank you very much for your time and I will talk to you tomorrow. >> Thanks a million man. Thank you.