IN DEPTH | EPISODE 10 | ARMAND HERCZEG

Ringkasan

David chats to Team Sanda amateur Mma fighter Armand Herczeg. Armand talks about moving to Ireland, his amateur career so far and his next fight which will be for the Clan Wars featherweight title against Nahom Wedi.

Transkrip (youtube_captions)

Kind: captions Language: en foreign [Music] he's an Irish fighter on the amateur scene he's like quite a few fights we're gonna go to his career but I want to start from the kind of beginning in Ireland like when did you move over here how did you find the integration within to the country all right thanks for having me on anyway I just want to say that first appreciate it and moved here I think 13 14 years ago was about seven and a half years old so came in I actually skipped second class and got put in the third because they said my English was very good we used to live in Canada as well for six and a half years so that's where I started speaking English first it's actually my first language as well so I learned Hungarian initially at home with my parents talking to me then we came here and because I knew English very well it was kind of easy enough to settle in and talk to people because you don't have to learn it that much so it was all right but being from Hungary got slagged a lot you know I asked if I'm starving a lot you know stuff like that so it was it was glad at the time like obviously it's it's definitely coming to a new country and all but I was kind of used to it we've moved a lot in my life so we've moved loads of houses I think I've moved at least 30 32 times different houses three different countries so used to having to meet new people and make new friends and all but um Ireland was a was the one where we decided to stay so here now 13 14 years yeah we're glad you stayed here so you're settled here now uh you like being in the country obviously so we want I want to go to your career then but more like how you started in MMA what got you into it what what background do you have from before so initially when we lived in Canada I seen the chocolate El Tito Ortiz if I take towards the second one from then on I was like this is the sport I want to do like I want to do this and all but I didn't know where to start when we lived in Ireland uh I went to a kickboxing gym before I started here I think I must have been like nine got me yellow belt and kickboxing and then stopped as it was only like contact you couldn't hit hard or not and they didn't really enjoy that tried boxing for about three weeks and just wasn't committed to it so I played football for a while thought I'd be a professional as a professional sitting on the bench you know what I mean he wasn't getting anywhere what I bought then about 15 years old I walked in the to the strong room was what I was called at the time before we moved over here and I met down Sonic and it was actually one of my mates his name as I honest he he told me about the gym he was training over here and ended up coming up up the sand line been here ever since so we're here about seven years now yeah so seven years long time and obviously you've been here since then uh obviously you've got other teammates here they're doing quite well as well you've got Jess who just won the case conflict best um when you start MMA like a lot of people say they go in and they get the book like what was it like for you like what made you want to do MMA after having doing different things before like when you when your first session tell me what your first session was like oh my first session when I came in I had no clue how to fight I obviously had like a bit of a kickboxing background and all so I had I guess okay kicks Dan would probably say they were horrible but my boxing was horrible I used to box on my head down swinging like this and obviously there was no way like you could want to fight them in that but that's where I started I was kind of a bit afraid of getting hit and all like I had one or two street fights when I was younger or not but I was never anything like a martial arts there's a complete difference between fighting someone who hasn't a clue what they're doing and they're just swinging out of panic against someone who's actually a trained fighter so I learned that very quick and very painfully yeah no but uh so we're gonna go on you've all like you said you had to Kickstarter for your MMA amateur debut tell us to like What feelings did you have promoted or were you excited nervous anxious um like when this was coming up the week of and then tell me about like making that walk and with the people around you what was that like right so my MMA debut is a a weird one I was meant to fight share Mullen a while ago and then he ended up pulling out so I didn't think I was fighting and then the day before the fight down text me I'm sitting in McDonald's with a Big Mac about to buy it into it I never forget he texted me lose do you want to make your MMA debut at 70 kilos so I was like yeah same day weighing 70 kilos on cage Legacy made it so then I just put the burger back down and then I I just like ride my way in tomorrow I started I had to cut it like I think maybe two kilos or something anyway then and I was fighting Paul Stewart he he fights now at about 66 kilos as well he he's fairly decent good good start good match up for for your first fight but uh he's a Grappler style so straight away he's getting put in against Grapplers we knew what they wanted to do take me down it was a good test I ended up winning it by uh Guillotine standing guillotine in the second round going out for it um I prepared well for backstage and and Darren helped me a lot he was he stuck by me Mitchell is mentally ready you know you know your anime debut is a big one and if you kick it off right it gives you a good run if you make mistakes with it then obviously you lay on off it but you want to start your animated debut off a win definitely so it was very exciting the workout was really good as well it was in um I think it was it was in a guy Hall I think in tala or near Tyler I can't remember what the guy Hall was called but I never forget walking out I had a Hungarian flag with me walking out to Johnny Cash and my mom and dad and all what else so I noticed them straight away and it just kind of lifted me off for me spearing up and also it was good actually to speaking of your parents when you first said you're going to do kickboxing MMA what was did they have any apprehensions or hesitations about you doing it because obviously it's a physical sport yeah well my dad he he when he lived in Hungary he was in the Special Forces he was a paratrooper so he's a hearty man like so he was a lot happier than my mother was my mom didn't like that I was fighting she was always saying like oh we never hit you when you were younger why are you letting other people hit you and all like but then now she's actually falling in love with the sport she loves seeing like she thinks like when the girls are fighting it's a better fight than when the lads are because they are done more rough and all she loves watching especially gay like MMA fights but she loves the sports she really keeps up with the UFC and all as well so she kind of like changed her mind on it she still like obviously worries about me fighting in there doesn't want me getting hot or whatever but she understands that I can go somewhere with it and and I have good potential and so they support me now but at first my mom was very wary of her my dad was fairly proud he was happy enough with it I'd say that especially coming from a special forces that's quite impressive I would say so it was that got to do actually is that why you moved a bit or no no it had nothing to do with that like um back then I think he was only like 20 or 21 he he walked in the coal lines before that and then he back then in the Army you had to go into the army and he got um he got told I think that um if he wanted to you can join the paratroopers and he was like he didn't know what it was at first they told him that he'd be jumping on planes and I was like yeah that sounds like it'll be fun so you went into it and called mines as well Jesus had a few hearty jobs yeah he's a hard-working man so I'm just gonna do my best to make him proud you know perfect perfect and then moving on you've had more fight since then like leading up to I want to get a couple of fights for the imaps is there any flights that stand out in your next few fights before the imfs um for myself if there's any is there any fights yeah like is there any fights they said like obviously for the home yeah before 84 likes to Ryan and stuff like that yeah so like do you want to talk to maybe at the first in the home fight um obviously because he's gonna be your opponent then yeah uh what like obviously you lost but just talks through the fight how you felt the preparation and then now going forward what's going to be different to the way it was then well with the first in the home fight I wasn't initially fighting the home at first I think I think two weeks before the fight my opponent pulled out I was meant to fight Jacob kosori at a Paddy Houlihan's gym and um he ended up pulling out taking a cage where he was taking a shot which just fell off like it's a good opportunity to do what you need to do and then the home stepped in so in a sense I I myself didn't know what I like it was completely different change of fighter and all and that can happen but I went into the fight I was doing well and in the first bit I was beating him on strike and I nearly kind of want to Guillotine and then near the end of the round I made a mistake going back into his guard not respecting his Jujitsu that he has because it is good he's a good level of Grappler so made a mistake he tried to angled me and then I went for a nice sweet sleep so that seems to be a team which you don't you don't tap to you go it's not like I don't mean to type like I tapped against Mario when he got me in in the amount of guillotine it's not like I don't do in like a disrespectful way against Andrew Barrett I didn't have because I heard Donald chatting like the 15 seconds you have 10 seconds so I thought I could survive and then next minute I have a deadlock and an ambulance man in front of me telling me you know where my phone what's my name and all so it's not like I do it at a disrespect or anything like that if I I feel like I'm gonna be out on top but even my last fight when uh Victor had me in a triangle I thought about happened but then I was like I just go to sleep instead you know thankfully I didn't so I got out of that I survived that but I feel like with a joke like if if it's really really on you can type it but that sense is like if you're moving in the right way talks can loosen especially if you're if you play it right your opponent might even think you're already asleep they might lose a little bit so and then you seize your opportunity that's like if you look at vulcanovsky versus Brian Ortega look at that yeah you think like everyone's like the new Champion new champion and then all of a sudden he pops his head out and then you're just like like what happened there so obviously you'll hope for the chance that they might relax their legs or relax whatever and then and then you come over so obviously since you and the home because I think amateur Fighters can like from fight to fight they can uh improve drastically so like your last fight you'd be much different to your next fight depending on what you're drilling what you think is going to be much different between the first fight and and this upcoming fight well I know I'm a completely different fighter than I was back then I was very K1 oriented back then my grappling wasn't at the level it is that no my knowledge of the sport wasn't there either so like I know mentally I'm a lot tougher now I'm a lot better of a fighter I'm a lot more experienced as well and I understand the game a lot more so I'll understand a lot of the positions that I'll be in a lot better you know and that's that's what it was he you got the better of me that night because he was more experienced but within the times that we had I've had a lot more fights and and I've caught up to a lot of the people in the country and I've proven that I am better than a lot of people so it's just gonna be another day where I go out and I prove that I am as good as I say I am yeah no because he actually had a gap as well and you've been consistently fighting since since you've started fighting as well and like that you've had some really good wins uh I really liked the Rory Lavery fight actually as well that was like that was that was very quick that was very quick that was a very nice fight um obviously you had Victor recently but um I actually want to ask you a question what you talking when you go to sleep like you do um when you wake up with Dick Clark and Whitney amnesty like what kind of a feeling is that like does that not at some say scary and go wow like where am I like I know I know there's a referee in there so if I do go out I'm only gonna be there for so long and I'll and there they are just protect me like I'm safe it's not like I'm out in the street and some fellas choking me out and keeping the joke on like you know so it's all right like if I wake up and then I cop on I'm like all right I lost like it is what it is I've lost plenty of times in this game to understand that right it's time to rebuild reassess do what we're doing wrong dial will come up to me tell me what I've done wrong and we'll just fix that and continue on with the with the program you know we have some implied and it's not like I'm trying to become the greatest amateur of all time like you know that's not the goal yeah because obviously there's a pro career in the future and amateur is is really kind of you want to not that you want to pick up losses but you're better to get these losses here and then obviously you you learn things from the losses going forward one thing that I actually like about you and your fighting is that because you've Decay one background everyone wants to take you to the ground like you've so many like submissions like how does it feel when people do you think people do underestimate you if they look into you think oh he's a kickboxer and then they come and then you end up putting them out I definitely do think like people underestimate my grappling day Locker like even the gym and they see how we we are very striking focused as a lot of people think because what Dara likes to do is if you know you're under 18 at the time when I was training and to get ready for anime there was no teen MMA at all you know like there's body shots and takedowns there was none of that it was just K1 you're 18 fighting you know so we use K1 as a preparation for striking getting used to the shoes and all and getting used to what it what it's like to get hit and everything so um we just we just done a lot of K1 fights and thankfully once I turned 18 and then came the Titleist opportunities and and we got the season you know yeah because you actually have a clan wars title yourself isn't it yeah so tell us what it's like to fight on Clan Wars what kind of I've heard they're very good shows it's very well ran like if you fought on there before how are you looking forward to fighting on this next one yeah so my first Clan Wars fight was against Mickey Dorne for the k-163 and a half kilo title it was announced the hall as well which to this day I'd say is probably the best uh I mean iPhone it was the walk everything was just unbelievable it was just after I won my European title over in England it was like three or four weeks afterwards and the way it was it was like a lot of people expecting me to lose Mickey Dawn was a heavy header a good fighter like bought it was a care one fight and came on as my game so done the right things used the right attacks use my job well and kept my distance well so I ended up winning at the whole walk and everything was amazing the clan wars they are very good at setting up a good show especially with like an arena like Ulster hall or even when they were at I think the baker Stadium up up past Belfast away but even that was really well set up so they do really have good shows and they love fighting on Clan Wars it has a good Buzz to it and also obviously you're gonna be fighting for the title again it's gonna be another really good fight um going forward like go go on past that you've been to the oh sorry going past the fights you've talked about yeah you've been to the IMs tell us about your preparation that uh how you really got on there and your biggest takeaway from from the whole event well with the imaps uh I didn't really Propel specifically for the imaps I fought Mario three weeks later we went to the imaps right um I didn't really think too much into it I kind of went there and was just like right we'll go and do what we need to do and obviously I was going for the win but my mentality for it wasn't the same it wasn't the right mentality to go into that and I even went away class Above So Darren was telling me Oh you should die at Angola 66 kilo fighter fat away you'll do it like it'll be a better opportunity you know like and I said now I want to do 70 kilos I'm 70 I'll walk around the 70 you know he's like well there's going to be boys there that are going to be in sauna so it's sweating at like five or seven kilos off and in some sense I should have listened to him because there were some big big boys they are like seven days walking around looking at everyone's like see my awareness eat my way trying to figure out who I'll be fighting and all but I ended up fighting a very good restaurant with a good strong ride so went into that fight a bit too like too lazy and and made a few mistakes didn't uh then be aggressive if I wanted to be and I learned a lot from I watched a lot of the the boys are from Bahrain or Pakistan or whatever way you want to title and but I see in their Style and I started understanding the grappling game on and I said hold on a minute all right now we need to really really focus on my wrestling and all and that's what I've been doing a lot since the IMAP so people are seeing that now you know my grappling has started to catch up to well the level probably catch my strike a level because it's so good but it's catching up to me making me a lot more as a mixed martial artist as I can be I want to be complete so after the imass it was just literally laser focus on the sport get ready because even before the emaps I was standing down like oh I'm ready for pro I want to go pro and on and he's just laughing at me like shut up you're beating them up at like you know yeah no and then obviously your coach knows when you're ready when you're ready uh and obviously you weren't ready then um like with in regards to wrestling you see now especially wrestling is if you don't have wrestling you need to have at least a defense part of it because it's such a major Factory in MMA and you've been improving that so do you think like people still that's they still try to take it to the ground I find that strange but we're all the subs um yeah well I feel like if you if you know how good of a striker I am it's a high risk High reward game to be striking with me and all and and you feel like you might get a better chance of taking me down and controlling me that's fair enough like just don't make any mistakes because I will capitalize on them and we've seen that now I have six wins five of them are submissions I have one decision win if I'm in there for a fight I'm looking for the finish I'm not looking to go all the way with the opponent you know yeah no because then I'll see you make statements uh with the submissions and it's mad obviously being kickboxing it's like it is our submissions I just I I find that quite good but it just goes to show the the scale on the ground people think they're going to take you down and beat you and then when they get down there like um that doesn't seem to be the case so like coming up you've got this fight you fought Rory Library as well on chaos tell us what that was like in there that was in the Millennium Stadium yeah so a couple of weeks before I thought Rory we actually grappled and uh he was very good so it kind like whenever Darren said the fight to me I was like that's gonna be tough like he's a very good Grappler and Isaac but I know I'm a very good Striker so it's a great matchup and I took the fight because I'm never gonna sit like if Darren says to me there's a fight tomorrow do you want to fight I'll say yeah like I'll never say no to a fight it's like I just can't I can't say no I love fighting and it's just any fight comes up I'll take it it doesn't matter who the opponent is so I knew what I was in for what Rory I knew he wanted to get a hold of my legs keep me down and try and compete me and the whole preparation for the fight and all like I was really focused on counter wrestling and stuff like that he ended up uh we started off um striking obviously I threw like a body shot at right hand and straight from that but once it ended that body shot I felt really comfortable I knew it was going to be my day I knew I was winning the fight just something clicked in me from that moment and my movement and everything I think I just appears that I set kind of shocked and we didn't expect it as much and then when he shot in I was just cheeky enough to get that choke on and then I wasn't letting go of it for anything I ended up going to sleep which was a weird feeling like I've never hired someone who will sleep underneath me but once he went limp I was just like he's actually yeah and like it just shocked me it was but it was it was a mad feeling like yeah and what was what was the venue like actually because everyone told me about the venue the van actually the Millennium form oh now I have to think it's also Hall better than the Millennium forum they're very different but very I very much alike because one of them's a team or the other one kind of has like teared or seating in it but uh I'd say Millennium forms my favorite one I fought in MMA and then also I'll be my favorite in K1 the reason why I like Millennium form is because it feels like you're in the Coliseum or something everyone's just High rised above you and you're just everything centered on you when I walked out even I walked out to uh Life Is Life did you know that song it's like a Maradona whatever man yeah you know that's all yeah yeah so I walked out to that and everyone was kind of cheering on no I left her and I just started feeding off the energy of the crowd and all that was a big moment that boosted me up as well like so it was good yeah and there was actually the first time I actually met I seen you fight in person was you stay ready all the time was that cage Legacy he rocked up uh someone's I think it was David K's opponent wasn't it are you like within five minutes or something or a couple of well enough five minutes but yeah you got there to the venue and we're like okay yeah I'll fight your ass to fight so we're actually constantly ready like that to fight it was we were myself my dad were setting up the cage for kids like see because he would he would he would have set up the cage a couple times for that and not helping us and I was there though the whole day like and then uh we were just chilling out I'm good mates with Solomon like I have a lot of time for Solomon I train with him a good bit and I'm signing off with Bobby as well Bobby's a good coach and he's and he's sound to me so I just said it to him like I was like if you just want to do a role or something I don't mind we can hop in and do a roll and then Bobby was like he's more of a striker so I said we could do K1 like demo or whatever and we can just hop in and then they're like yeah nobody saw a commercial and a green guard and then got my hands wrapped and went in for the scrap but it's a good one it was it was funny because I kind of was like thinking of it as just like always power and all and I'm knocking it down and he goes turn around there this fella doesn't take it as far I turned around and David's standing there already yeah but I was like okay right it came on so it was it was fun it was really fun it was different as well because you don't see many people doing that and like I didn't mind doing it it was it was something it was a different experience you know one minute you're just chilling enjoying the show next minute you have to fight mode so it's a good test you know that's crazy and then like that occasionally actually that's what I love about cage legs he has this mad energy about like there's always an atmosphere and then that was something different it always seems to be something different agencies well you fought on so many different promotions as well like and then the last one being Premiere with that big cage tell us what like the room like did it feel much different to fighting in the cages you fought to previously so I don't really notice much of the room because I grew up with most of the fight yeah right but I noticed that with the way I fight my movement that I have what they're known would be not hitting the wall I just I felt so free like I felt like I was even on the mat here just having like a one-on-one spot with someone using the whole mat or something the cage was massive and I I usually am someone who fights off the countdown and kind of have money back towards defense but this time I had him pressed up and I had so much space where like he was never really hitting me much but I couldn't see anything the lighting wasn't the greatest at the show was you see in yourself so I kind of was just like if I can't see a box I could put me up you know it's always the ones you don't see that that hurt so I was like right let's start grappling and then after he threw like a body body kick in the first round I called it and took him down went in was controlling him well but made a wee mistake and he ended up getting a triangle on me now that was probably the tightest triangle I've I've been in in my life apart from whenever I got choked up but yeah I got lucky in my hand got caught so my hand was kind of on my chin on my neck and it gave me a little bit of time to like try and breathe or whatever bought air to even Jason down around the corner and they probably thought it was nearly over voice in my head was telling me to TAP it's over and everything and I said no I can't lose to this fella it's like nowhere so I ended up relaxing myself composing myself and he made a mistake himself because he turned around the day with hickey and said oh I think he's out and he kind of loosened a little bit and I went no I'm not a I'm still I'm still awake you know what I mean just to let the Ralph know before he does something that like it's like it's going to ruin the fight on myself and then I ended up turning out of it and just getting out of it so I just stood up and I was like I'm not going back in now and then hit him with a leg kick and decided to dive back in for a take them but it was a very good experience I really enjoyed like the the UFC size cage and I shot at home you know that was you talked about your composure there in the when you're in the Triangle like talks if that was you earlier in the career in your amateur career would you have panicked a bit and try to and try to move and and so just explain to people like if you're trying to move when you're in a triangle like that does it actually make it worse you need to just wait for the right moment to try and pop out so what that triangle like I was right beside the cage so I didn't have much space to move either like I had to like really really calm myself down he underhooked my leg as well which when you're on the hook a leg or the triangle it's basically game over it's very hard to get out of a port somehow I just ended up kind of sitting on me off letting him let my leg fully extend out and I was just able to like just resent on myself and just calm down and and I knew like right we're not tapping here if we go out we go out on a shield that's it then the story bought he was welcoming like full on straight away so I was like he has to burn his legs up it's all about who's gonna be able to last longer so I just knew to stay calm and stay relaxed get breathe when I need to breathe and hold on when I need to hold on and he ended up giving up on it and making a mistake so I ended up getting out of it but it was very very close it was the longest 20 25 seconds of my life yeah I can't imagine what it was because it looked pretty tight from my angle as well um obviously you won that fight there's a bit of controversy at the end they called out the wrong name or something like how did I feel when his name got called out first and then you're like so after after your performance you obviously knew that you'd won and yeah well he presumed you'd want I knew I won I felt like I won all three rounds the judges ended up scoring him the first round because of the triangle but I still don't like it's like me attempted to jab you in the face and getting scored for it you know what I mean like if I get out of a submission you can't get many points for that it doesn't in my head it doesn't make sense but I ended up one in the last two rounds I dominated them in the in the second I landed a lot of open Clean shots that he used that were all answered and I felt like the fight could have been stopped there but he ended up Surviving it second the third round as well I ended up dominating him slapped his head off the cage and everything whenever I had him in a body lock so I knew I won the fight I was certain so we're standing and they say oh in the blue corn or in the Red Corner whatever they raised his hand and I kind of looked and I just went someone's joking here kind of dropped my knees and I just said I'm not doing this sport anymore I literally said to myself because I'm not doing this sport anymore like how am I after getting robbed this body like like what's the point and then I was like I kind of just got up and just walked out didn't want to shake hands or anyone nothing okay I think I said well done to Victor can't blame him for anything you know like it's it's not his fault he came in the fight he fought his heart out whatever so the wild one walked straight I went to the medical room and then there's a bit of commotion going on and when I sat down to the medical rooms the doctors were like oh please calm down don't do nothing I wasn't gonna swing the chair at him or anything but I was calm and then in comes uh the referee Derek and he's like right there's been a mistake uh our man's actually the winner here's the score cards children and all let's just touch your mind see you later he's just buzzing them so changed it changed very quickly but to not get your hand raised in the cage it it didn't feel like I still didn't feel like I won do you know what I mean yeah I can only like I can imagine what your freedom but I can imagine what he's feeling then as well he thinks he's won a fight he gets to the back and then he's told this I can say his emotions went from like yours are from down here to up there here's where then vice versa and unfortunately sometimes eating things do happen it's unfortunate but at the end of the day uh the result came out the way it should have um caught talking we talked about your own skin is that something you'd like to do actually going forward or as is the IMF chapter closed for you uh I would like to do the imaps again definitely I'd like to go in there with a different mentality the mentality I have now and the experience I have now I feel like I could go in there and actually like meddle and do something with it and finish even first but right now I just want to clear up Ireland and win as much Irish titles as I can and do as much in Ireland as I can and then look towards the imfs or see what's next that's up to down really yeah because he's obviously the best person to know when when it's time to go pro obviously I'm not going to ask you I was gonna actually I was gonna ask you when you think you go pro but obviously that's gonna be taken a step-by-step process as as we just sat down we'll figure that out when the time is ready um I can ask you a couple of questions what does Darren actually mean to you as a coach like your progression on under his under his guidance well Darren he helps you in train and outside the training like anything you need like down down would be like another father figure as well to me even though like obviously my dad's around and all but like if I ever needed anything from down like he he'd always be there for you he's only he helps a lot we're coaching as well like he's he's so obsessed with the game that like uh the energy he gives out it just comes to you and you you get so obsessed with it as well like everything he coaches and does like he makes sure it's like the correct way it's the right way if you're doing something wrong and if he doesn't like it he'll make sure you do it right and he always wants what's best for us he always like does try and get us the hardest fight sometimes I won't mind the can or two but he does he does always look to get us the hardest fights and and make it as tough for us but at the end of the day if I full trust in him and I know what he is doing is odd for the bigger picture like we're not coming in here to rule the amateur game we will take over the amateur game soon but we're going for the next step we're going for the professional scene and people will see that we're a young Club but I feel like I honestly think we probably are the youngest Club in Ireland and we're still compete in what like all the bigger clubs that have loads and more bodies and and cool and cool better bodies and all this talk there's only at the moment where there's like seven or eight of us getting ready for fights now and we're just pushing each other to the limits and and we're doing very well and a lot of people see that now you know like a lot of us are 18 19 20 21 22. I think 22 is the oldest active fighter on on the team wow that's it that's a young gym so then especially with the way they're learning now they're gonna it's just as they get into the later years you can only imagine how scary and how uh progressed they're going to be and terrifying but it's all thanks thanks to Darren like he's put all the effort into us and and he means it means a lot so does the gym so does everyone around us but he is a a good man you know he's and obviously like you said you I know your message saying about the cans but if you look at like your losses in the home Mario Andrew like Ryan Shirley like they're the best of like they're like they're the best around so that's only gonna benefit you going forward and and obviously he's taking these fights for you so you get put in these different positions in your amateur stage because once you go pro it's zero zero and there's no going back that's it that's that's the plan like like the way we're looking at it is like right I'm gonna fight like say the best Grappler in the country he might beat me he might not but if he does we'll see what mistakes and what style we have to come up against that's why the imaps is very good as well you're gonna come up against different styles of grappling of striking and all and and you're learning all your mistakes here like this is my apprenticeship yeah and like this this is me getting ready to go off and and actually do my job and create my own business and and that's the plan so right now we're just getting ready to become a fully accomplished MMA fighter and a fully complete mixed martial artist and then go into the pro scene we're not rushing anything though so yeah no there's no point like you said and I I love that I am catching your journey at the amateur and I can follow it then through the pro from here um I just want you to recap a couple of fights that uh it like that would interest me like if you give me three fights one I'll go with the first one first what was your favorite finish that you've had probably be the Rory one the Rory finish was very good because a lot of people thought he was just gonna absolutely Tear Me Alive like I I've heard a lot of people telling me that that one shocked a lot of people which to me I find a little bit disrespectful because I'm like I'm not a horrible fighter I know that myself but people obviously rate him highly so it was a big win for myself that was a good one I like that finish and I ended up putting him unconscious as well so that that just shows as well like I have a tight choke so yeah yeah I understand um the next one would be what was your favorite fight whether it was a back and forth it was like that another quick finish or what be your favorite fight that you look back can I go Jesus that was I really like that yeah my all-time favorite fight would be uh myself and Owen Kelly for the eska title it was a firefight War like so one Kelly was training out of uh King Kelly's Dream Warriors and uh went in first round like I just came out as a ball combinations on Combos and and it kind of started slowly I kind of took advantage of that but he came back into it messed me up he he was he started trolling these kicks to my back leg because he's a side part and at first I was like how am I meant to block these it's kind of a bit confused in between the fact I ended up learning to check what I'm going to use to stop and encounter it and all but that was a fight where like I had to dig deep I had to really like show off my skills and show off everything I could do as a striker and that was that was definitely my favorite fight it was really fun I wonder can I find that on YouTube on Strictly MMA yeah I'll find that and give that a watch and then the last one what fight did you learn from the most it doesn't have to be the last side or it could be a fight where something happened mid-fight you had to change up or fight do you think you gained the most kind of knowledge or experience from or or where you knew you had to change something um two fights so the Mario fight I knew I had to get a nutritionist because before for my recovery it was horrible and I ended up either getting food poisoning or recovering too much and I got sick I ended up getting vomit in the morning and fighting on I just wasn't 100 and then the fight at the imaps was when I was like I need to prepare myself more mentally for these fights be a lot more focused on it and make sure that like I'm in fight mode so you can't walk around all the time ready to fight but at the time you need to be ready you need to be ready or if you're not then you're gonna mess up and after the imfs and I after tomorrow you'll find out it's like right this is what I need to do to prepare myself and this is what I need to do to step up my train and and then you actually brought Yannick McGee on board wasn't it and he's been on board which is since how did you find Yannick and obviously your waistband on point every time so he's obviously very good at what he does yeah he's brilliant he he's experienced as he's a fighter himself so he's been through it like that's why I always recommend him to everyone he's he's had his own fight he's done his workouts he's he's done all that as as first-hand experience and then what me I've never had a problem with him like I fought his teammate the first time we actually went to the weight cost process and all I was getting ready to fight Rory and he was like look this is walk like I'm gonna help you make way perfectly and all like I'm not gonna try and mess you over or anything like you know so he's been very sad with me helped me a lot and everywhere Cod I've had the recoveries have only been better and better you know the workout's got gotten easier as well but the key part for me was recovering because I had an idea of how to lose the weight what to do with the weight cut and then he made my brain a lot more educated but it was the recovery that I was missing out on and that's what he held me a lot yeah because a lot of Fighters don't understand they go and try and train hard and do this and that and they don't realize recovery is part of the train as well and whatever and obviously she's it's actually mad the way your body works with certain foods and stuff and he knows all that so he's very good um one thing one last thing before we go is at the end of your career like do you have a word or a phrase or what would you like to be known as once once it's all said and done um that's a good question I actually like I have an idea of what I want to do and and how I want to fight like in my head I want to go on fight in the UFC fight for the title then jump over the battle tour fight for that title and then go to one and fight for that title win all three titles and then you know you've won every big promotions title there's only one thing they can call you but realistically I just want to be remembered as like someone who is honest humble a bit cocky is a bit confident obviously you have to be but I just want people to know me like that I've just been true to myself and been myself the whole time you know I'm not trying to put on a front and pretend to be someone else and be a character and all that's not what I've ever tried to do anytime I'm in at the shows behind the camera and I'm just speaking to you I'm the same as I am right now on camera so just what I want to continue to do perfect thank you thanks for answering my question saying it was a good question because the home said it wasn't and I'll [ __ ] him uh no all right thank you very much no problem thank you appreciate it