Clifford Francis | Evolution Fighting Championship · ข่าว Ireland

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Step back into the cage at EFC 11 with standout Clifford Francis from Top Pro Carlow! Clifford opens up about, his meticulous weight-cut: water-loading, sauna sessions, and creative layering to shed 2 kg, key takeaways for his striking game, his ambitious roadmap for the…

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Post-fight interview with Clifford Francis at EFC 11 after a victory where he earned a medal. He says he trains heavily in jiu-jitsu, was afraid of being struck, and despite dominating every round he sees gaps in his striking, nerves, and ability to control range and pace against higher-level opponents. He describes a difficult weight cut: a Monday–Thursday water load that failed because he is too lean to shed water, then layering clothes, a plastic bag, sauna sessions on the day before and day of the show, and needing to drop about 2 kg from 88 kg. He trains jiu-jitsu at one gym (coaches Brian and Darren) and striking at Top Pro, is 19 and currently a white belt hoping to earn blue after the win, and outlines a long-term path through IBJJF competition and striking before a late entry to MMA with a short amateur phase then turning pro. He recounts starting powerlifting at Best Body in Carlow at 14, strong teenage totals, a shoulder injury that ended powerlifting, then finding jiu-jitsu, losing 15 kg, and drawing motivation from Charles Oliveira and Tony Ferguson as people rather than as idols to copy.

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[Applause] All right, everyone. Welcome back to EFC 11. I have Mr. Clifford Francis with us today. Um, first of all, congratulations. Thank you. U, what's uh what's it what's it like to, you know, have that victory and have that medal around your neck? Um, I do a lot of jiu-jitsu. Yeah. And uh I was I was definitely very scared of um being strike like getting hit. Okay, I definitely need to be more active in terms of striking. Obviously, I did dominate every round, but um there's definitely 100% a lot of things I need to work on. Um and I definitely need to shake off those nerves. Um like I don't want to like I'm not like downplaying anyone or my victory or anything like that, but I feel 100% if I was to fight someone that was a lot more higher level, there definitely would have been repercussions to the way I acted. 100%. But like good victory nonetheless. Like it's good to have that um you know kind of perspective of yourself and your your uh your game there. Um is like is there anything specific that you're going to take away from this and work on? Um 100% I want to get used to being at range and being like I'm I'm a very controlling guy in terms of jiu-jitsu, in terms of striking. I want to be able to control the pace. I want to be able to control the range and control every aspect of the fight. And I feel like if I'm not, I'm losing. Okay. So, I definitely want to I definitely want to focus more on being at range and uh getting my straight shots in, you know, and things like that. Right on. Um, talk to me about the leadup to tonight. Like, what what was this last week like for you? How how did you kind of stay composed, stay relaxed, uh, you know, and stay prepared for today? Um, I've competed a lot in jiu-jitsu, not as much as in in kickboxing, but um, I've definitely gotten used to um, nerves. I'm very I'm very used to, you know, your legs feeling like they're not there. You're shaking, you're you're sweating and just things like that. I've I've I've grown accustomed to it and I've I've learned to be able to breathe when I'm not able to breathe, you know? Um, but the wake up Oh my god. Don't [ __ ] wake up. Oh my god. What did you have to How much did you have to do? Oh my god. I did a water load. Um I did a water load from Monday to Thursday. Oh my god. Nothing came off. Um and I I only realized literally this morning or late yesterday that the reason that the water loading wasn't working is because I'm so lean and there's there's no water. There's no water to cut. So I literally had to adjust to everything. I had to put on like three layers of clothes. I had to wear a plastic bag. I had to wear like three layers of of bottoms, two layers of socks. Oh my god. It wasn't bad. I didn't want to I didn't want to overexert myself. Yeah. Um but I hit the sauna I hit the sauna twice today and yesterday and I was wearing um I was wearing um a towel. I had to be in the 15minute swim. Oh, it was disgusting. Is the the sauna that you go to is that like are they accustomed to fighters going in there? Um I'm not sure because it was just it was just tal but it was just a leisure. So I was just staring. I was I was staring I was staring outside. I was making sure no one was looking inside because like I was like I I I I thought they were they're thinking I'm trying to kill myself or something, you know, like I was I was I was trying to not scare, you know, like the old men that are in there and and and the ladies that are trying to, you know, just just be there to be help. I was just staring out. I was looking at the kids. I was like like don't like I'm not trying to kill myself. I promise. But um I knew that I didn't have to dig deep because I was I was 88. So I knew I only had to lose 2 kilo. So I was I was chilling. Do you know what I mean? All right. That's not terrible. 2 kilo is not that bad. Yeah, it's a big poop. Yeah, I know. Yeah, it is. I I actually pooped out 6 kilo this morning. I swear to God before and after you. Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. Um [Music] well, what what are your plans like? Uh what's next for you? Um I want to I'm with Jiu-Jitsu right now. Um and I'm with Top Pro for striking. I'm with Jiu-Jitsu for for jiu-jitsu, of course. Um, and I want to go as far as I possibly can with jiu-jitsu. Okay. If that's if that's world class. Obviously, I'm not there. I'm [ __ ] I'm a white belt now. Brian and Darren. Yeah, I want my blue belt after today. But, um, um, I want to get as high level as I possibly can. Purple belt. I want to be competing at IBJJF by this year or next year. Um, and just really work super hard. Compete against the hardest people I know. like like the hardest people that there is and take obviously striking to the highest level as well. Um stick at that for like I'm only I'm only 19 years old so I'm probably going to stick at these as individuals for for another seven years and then try to get into try to get into MMA and then have a very short amateur career and then go straight to professional. Right on. That that that that's the career path for now. It's good to kind of have that uh that focus that you kind of already know, you know, where your vision up to. So, yeah, it's good to have that. You got your goals and you know, you know what you're going with. Exactly. That's great. Like, um, so like what is it in general that kind of got you into combat sports? Um, to be honest, I was doing jiu-jit I was doing um powerlifting. Okay. Um, with um with with Best Body um up in Carlo and uh I was very young. I started that when I was 14 years old and I was very successful in that. When I was 15 years old, I benched 150 kilo. Wow. Um squatted like 200, deadlift 200. I was very strong naturally and um I stuck at that for about 2 years and then I I messed up my right shoulder and then like I was being coached, everything like that. I was getting ready for competition. I couldn't compete. So I quit. I that day I walked out and never came back into the gym for another two months. And then I found out that at jiu-jitsu and I stuck at that for 3 months and then I lost 15 kg. I was 110 kilo, lost 15 kg, went down to 95 and I and then I just I got obsessed with jiu-jitsu. I got obsessed with Charles Olivera as well and just started watching UFC. Um Charles Olivera and Tony Ferguson are definitely a big inspiration to me. Not because of oh I want to be them or anything like that, but because of just of just what they stand for and who they are. You know what I mean? Yeah. Absolutely. Like they represent what they represent more. Yeah. That's awesome. Um, you know, like if you could uh if you could tell someone who maybe they don't know anything about jiu-jitsu like jiu-jitsu is my sport. That's what I and uh you know what would you tell people you know to get them interested or maybe to get them to try it? Um what I would tell people is that it's not kickboxing. It's not boxing where um you know you're going to come into the gym and there's going to be people that are getting ready for obviously maybe there is but there's there not every gym is going to have people getting ready for you know like an Irish title and things like that. There's they're going to there's going to be 50y old 60-y old people 40-y old coaches you know people that are not even competing. They're just there because jiu-jitsu is just just jiu-jitsu. There's people that are just doing jiu-jitsu because they love it. You can be obsessed with it and not compete. That is the beauty of jiu-jitsu. Whereas with obviously striking, you know, like if you go into a gym and you're getting hit, you're going to like, well, I might as well get paid to get hit, you know? Whereas jiu-jitsu, you're just doing jiu-jitsu, you know what I mean? So that's that's why I would tell people jiu-jitsu. Just jiu-jitsu. Right on, brother. Look, man. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. And um I look forward to seeing you compete again. All right. Thank you. Yeah. All right, man. Thank you, bro. Have a good one. Heat. Heat.