Brian Manning | UFC Plans, Paul Hughes KO Win & Caolan Loughran Joins PFL | The Energized Show

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What is up and welcome to The Energized Show! On this episode MMA Cork's Brian Manning joins us to discuss his UFC Plans, Paul Hughes KO Win & Caolan Loughran Joins PFL. Like, Comment, Subscribe & Hit the notification bell for more Energized Shows! Youtube : Energized Show…

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Kind: captions Language: en Diana Joy. Okay, here we go. It's time. Okay. What's going on, guys? Welcome to a brand new episode of Energize, brought to you by Orc King Competitions. Rough, are you intoxicated or something? introduce their guest, man. Today we are bringing you the hottest free agent on this island. It's the one and only. It's the lamb. It's Brian Manning. Brian, I feel like you are the hottest free agent in Ireland right now. Yeah, I do, man. I really do. I think there's no one doing it like me at the moment. You know, inside the cage, outside the cage, the walk outs, the performances, five fights in a year, finishes left, right, and center. So, you know, there's there's no one doing it like me at the moment. Yeah. What do they call you now? The jiu-jitsu fell. The jitsu fell boy. The chalker, brother. The chalker. Yeah. And I think the prospect the biggest prospect I think in Ireland right now, you know. Yeah. Welcome. Welcome back to the show, man. And second of all, we have to get into the fight that you won last week at Virtuous. It was a short notice fight. Can you tell us how this all came about? Cuz you were saying that you were going to go to Cage Warriors. You're saying Octagon was another option. And then all of a sudden you're on Vertus. I know we'll get into the K Drivers thing in a couple of minutes time, but we'll go through the Vertus Vertus thing first. It was like um me and Shanki going back and forth for a long time. He wanted a fight. I wanted to fight cuz he was talking [ __ ] and it came to a stage where Cage wires was going to happen and it was agreed with Jumbo Sausage. It was agreed and he got injured and then the interest was gone from cage wires and I said I I'll keep tipping away. I'll keep training and um I'll see what comes up and all of a sudden I actually this is mad. Listen to this boys. I was in a gym sparring on a Friday, right? I was sparring away and I knew that El Hoochi whatever El Bum fell he was fighting Sean Kelly, right? And I was saying to the boys in the gym, I was like, you know, no, but what if your man put your man could pull out of that fight? I say, I'll step in, no problem. The next day, we see news that your man pulls out of the fight. Your man Luchi and [ __ ] Lamb stepped up to the plate. Do you know did you did you reach out did you reach out to Virgos or did they reach out to you? I just put up a story, man. Remember, do you see the picture I put up? I put up a story saying, "Oh, yeah. I might know a guy." And then he was all straight away, you know, it was it was 80 kg and we're trying to get 81, man. Trying to get 80, maybe 82 to start trying to get 81, but they were just wouldn't budge. And I said, "Fuck it. Let's do 80 kg. It's going to be horrendous, but let's do it." I was 93.3 that day. And um yeah, that's how the fight came out, just Sean Kelly. And then my promoter or my manager was on Vertus and then we got a we got a deal in place and it was done the next day. Happy days. Fast moves from the O' Calahan fella was far alpha fighter management. The best around more people coming our way. We were we were actually speaking to Jerry very briefly at Cage Warriors in Dublin. Uh the week or when was that? Was that the day before? The week before? I actually can't remember the exact dates, but uh and uh we he I was saying like like you you hit gold getting Brian Manning on the card versus El Hui as you call him. H cuz at the end of the day like that that was you know only one side of the coin had interest on it. People were there to see Shan Kelly get the win. Exactly. And now and now the whole script has been flipped on its head like this is the fight that has the main island. Yeah. The whole island's talking about it. You know what I It was voted It was voted the main the people's main event when Do you know what I mean? It was and even like from from everything that happened it was seemed like the main event. Yeah. And like like we actually had loads of people texting us being like is the Bright Man and Foy happening? Is the Roy man happening? Like is he is he on the card? I'm like I'm like I was like I was like all signs are to say yes like like I've heard from the promoter and stuff like that. It's more just like to me the only issue was like oh jeez like it's an 80 kg so like that's that's obviously tough cut you know what I mean so we were seeing that and obviously look uh you made the weight and and that but I suppose like this this fight got very personal do you feel like obviously you guys fought at amateur as well was there was there beef from then or the start from here it was just kind of fight beef and amateurs you know just kind of bit of trash talk and it's that but this guy this didn't get personal now it might have been more personal to me than him. And like as I said, we said some things in messages that weren't very nice and we mentioned some personal things and family got involved and you know and it was look like you can always kind of wasn't it wasn't to a stage it could be McGregor where there's hate you know what I mean but it was I was I was like going to [ __ ] I was I knew I wasn't going to be all handy dandy with him after the fight even you know and it just it it boiled over and as I said I went from the way cut and just how they how they kind of were were treating me with the way cut and then with the point ones and point 2's and laughing at me in the group and while I'm nearly killing myself there doing a weight cut you know what I mean my cheeks are going like that and my [ __ ] I look tiny and then the boys are just just trying to do everything they could to hinder me which is look smart from their point of view too and it nearly [ __ ] did it nearly [ __ ] did hinder me cuz I did feel a little slightly off in there even though I performed well I felt my poor my big right hand wasn't clicking as much. I was just a little bit like slower with my reactions, I think. Even though I got a good performance, but I think I'm I'm a different animal at 84 kg. I'm just a different animal a little bit. Yeah. No, no, you you're definitely uh definitely an animal in there. They don't call you the lamb for nothing. The l the laminal they're calling me now. Yeah. At fair, we even had people text I had people text me after fighting like Broy Manning is is the funniest man in Irish MMA and said he's the most entertaining man in Irish MMA and like these are these are texts I'm getting off people who who like the gym like have never trained with just like random people just texting this like gez the the fella is uh turned into a superstar on this island really is tell us this h actually Barry Barry you're the one who actually noticed it the walk out Barry how funny was Ah, yeah. The way you decided to use Mr. Big Stuff and Sean actually used the same song as well. Like like you're literally there for the ass. Yeah. No stone is left unturned with Brian Manning when he enters the arena. No. No. That was brilliant, man. The walker. I just I had that planned and I said, you know, it's very short and is to be dressing up in a mask and this and that. And I said, I know exactly what I'm going to do here. I'm just I'm going to use his song remix into war and then the bum stuff. And then at the back cuz it was like bum stuff and then you know the song goes who do you think you are and then turn around Mr. Bum stuff. So I kind of just played in everything played perfect and the way so it wasn't even so the way I was doing this like I knew the camera was going to be on bump stuff and I was like I have I have to hide it for a minute and then I started doing the rocking with the tune and then Liam behind me start he was in my car my teammate he behind me started doing the same thing rocking with the tune and then that just clicked that just something that that just happened and then like out with bum stuff and it just clicked well man it was one of my best walkouts I think to be honest. Yeah, sometimes the simplest are the most effective. You know what I mean? And whereas people expected you know and it was the expect it was an unexpected walk. People expected me to come out and [ __ ] there was people texting me right from north up from [ __ ] and they're like what mask you going to wear this time. I was like you know just it would have just to expected so to mix it up would have been good. No the great the walkouts were done very well as well. So like were doing a great thing there weren't they? Average man. Yeah, in fairness, one thing I will say that the production and like uh watching stream on man so so good. Really really compared to K. Sorry. Go on. Chris Chris really really big fan of it. I thought uh I think it was just content I think at the lads who did it. I think did really good job. Yeah. Brilliant man. And the way they show the walkouts like cage conflict and a couple of other promotions in Ireland they miss the walk outs. Do you get me? They they don't show the walk outs which is a it's a big part of fighting like the walk out into the fight. You have to see the walk out like what what are fights without walkouts. You know what I mean? What would be sh same like Paul was doing like his walk out was massive massive buzz and it just creates a different atmosphere. You need a big walk out and other shows I think should take a leap of ver book and start recording the walkouts and everything leading up to the fight. You know Gladiator tears did that as well the walk out as well. They record a walk out properly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just trying to remember who else. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and and look again like you know I mean like every promotion does things different you know I mean and like I always like to think that the promotions should be looking to constantly develop and learn and like you know what I mean and I and you know I think different fight promoters have a different like mentality and a different approach to it like you know what I mean like I feel um and like this is me not saying the other shows aren't but I feel like uh your fighting championship and cage conflict are like sort of pure like all about the actual in action if you know what I mean about the others aren't but I feel like they are really putting on the pinnacle of Irish May and the others are as well like obviously you versus Kelly is like an absolutely unbelievable fight every promotion up and down the country would love to put on that fight yeah great domestic great domestic fight yeah it really was and just another thing to touch on with Virg as well because I know last week you know we sort of spoke about the Shan Kelly incident after the fight and we can get that in a second and so sort of maybe it was portrayed that's why everyone's here man yeah yeah that is why everyone's here and you know what it was portrayed that we were being actually negative towards virtually wasn't the point of it the point of it was when you turn pro there's standards that you should be adhering to and at the end of the day like they said like this this was their first professional fight so obviously they're going to learn and develop as time go on as well that's doesn't mean that they did a bad job it just yeah of course knew things they they didn't probably perceive and they probably never put on because they're not only doing amateur fights. Rarely amateur fights will have that level of bad blood. You know what I mean? So, like it's things to learn from. But again, like I think uh another one in the Lamb's checkbook. This was the most pay-per-views Virtuous have ever sold for their four shows. Are you serious? Get up. Get up. And I got I got a little bit of a little bit of that for it. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. And I'm pretty sure I made it, boys. I made it. I'm pretty sure abuse and I'm pretty sure it was the most uh tickets that they've ever sold for show. Even I got messages off them like that. I'm I'm a big reason for the success of the show, you know, and I and I I feel like uh they they felt that like they got uh some some negative backlash off and look unfortunately when things like that happen sometimes that's the the talking point afterwards and when like that's not what people are looking for. You know what I mean? And then that happen people look deeper. That was my only kind of regret of it that the performance was talked about of course but so some it does get overshadowed like when Kabib smash McGregor like no one was talking about it they were talking about this the mele after it you know what I mean? Yeah. Dylan heads. Yeah. Yeah. Whereas I could just What is that? Dylan Danis being jumped on by head. Yeah. Yeah. Right Danis. He's a [ __ ] clown there. But um yeah, it was just it's just sometimes it gets overshadowed. I know my screen's gone a bit dark. Sorry. It's all right. I don't know. But uh yeah, and with the in regards to the show, like it was a great show and and like all the stuff afterwards now, I think, right? I have no animosity towards Kelly, right? And I think he was hard done by if I'm going to be honest. I was promotions trying to ban him for 12 months. I know it's not really official, but a shows are like shows won't put them on for 12 months time, which is a bit harsh. Look, what happened happened shouldn't have probably happened. And again, I'm not making any apologies for it. You know what I mean? I was I was I was got the piss taken out of me and there was a lot of trash talk and this and that. And I did what I did like did it costa Pereira does it McGregor Kabib. these things happen and the reaction afterwards like he reacted bad but it was just handbags at the end of the day man like you your Jess was in there wasn't it for security reasons whoever the [ __ ] is talking that kind of [ __ ] saying like that Jess was in there to separate fire Jess is just in there to do her job to clean the face and all that and then it kicked off so she was right in the middle middle of it so I don't think she's the type to like run away oh you know she was just trying to stop and then she just kind of got gored over like and straight away cuz he face he was like [ __ ] you know I didn't mean to do that and he was apologetic And like I will I haven't spoke to Kelly yet, you know. I haven't spoken to him, but I'm sure we'll speak in time and like I like to squasher with him. You know what I mean? And I do think he's after improving. He's definitely after improving. It was a tough fight for me. Like even though I I land I landed more. I was clever on the feed. I I was I was damaging shots. I got to finish. But he he like he he made me work, man. And he was a tough bit of stuff in there. We go from b stuff to tough to tough stuff. You know what? I was actually thinking the same. I actually figured like Sean Kelly's doing very well in here. He actually landed some really nice uh leg kicks as well there. Like your leg kicks were sort of the the difference maker. But he was he was landing well. He like he was as you said he was making you work there. like at certain stages I was like I was like jeez cuz obviously watching the first fight and then like you know you can only sort of go on what you've seen so far and see your pro career versus pro career he fought your man Jordy Heath you I felt like you'd fought higher caliber competition in the meantime and I was like I was like look Brian man's going to be a heavy favorite going in here and I thought you made it very competitive for the for the he put up a fight he certainly put up a fight and like the like the first round even was closed up he he whipped up a couple of head kicks and like a couple of lumps on my [ __ ] head all week. You know, my leg is is fairly sore. He got me a couple of big kicks, big leg kicks and a few kicks and he was he was better like his clinch his clinch game is strong. He's a strong clinch. He's very good kicks. He's good grappling. I think his purple belt or something. That's why I didn't play into the guard too much. I didn't really go for the takedowns this time because I was nearly caught the last time. But what I will say to him now, I'm I think I'm on a different level, boys. I think I'm on a different level to every middleweight in Ireland if I'm going to be honest. I think I'm [ __ ] I nearly UC ready right now. Right. I'm going for the contender series fairly soon. That's the plan. And get to UFC with the next year and a half. But for Kelly, right, if he wants to make some to the game, my advice to him is get a boxing coach, do a rake of pads, do a rake of boxing spares, get better at boxing, and have better conditioning, his cardio. If he can prove his boxing and his cardio, he can do something in this game. Cuz I I outworked him. I had more cardio. That just shows the level of work I'm putting in. And I I was slightly like my cardio was definitely a bit hindered from the way cut and uh I was still able to push more you know I had more in the engine. Do you get me? So if he's going to listen to this that that would be my my advice to him to improve his games. Tell us this. Would you ever extend the olive branch and invite him down to Cork for a bit of training? We'll see. We'll see. Maybe so. Maybe so. We have to we have we we'll I'm sure we'll talk in time, man. As I said, we didn't speak a word yet, but I'm sure I'm sure we'll talk in time. Yeah. Let bygons be good by gangs by That's exactly it. Like look at look at the result look at the result of what happened. Like obviously things got like as you said it turned into a bit of handbags. Yeah. Um like like it was like it's a fight at the end of the day. Like things are going to be heated no matter what. And now it's just like boyons are boyons. You're willing to move on. I'm sure Sean will as well. It was the only issue we brought up last week. It was just like the pros need to realize that like a lot of people were tuning in to see that fight and like when something like that happens, people are going to have an opinion on it and like look it takes away from from that what we're actually doing. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's exactly. We kind of look like two [ __ ] street fight look like two street heads, you know, just Yeah. Like it takes away from the art the art of the game. Look, it it is what it is what it is. But we are fighters at the end of the day, man. We are fighters like you know. No, it's it's a tough one. It is a tough one. We're going to like this is what sells too. Like remember Dana White? Oh my god. Disgusting. Kabib or Connor putting a Dolly Shundo and then he is [ __ ] the Dolly video embedded. You know what I mean? Promotion. They use as No, like these things happen. We have fighters like and it's not going to be the last. You know what I mean? Like these things these things do happen. But it's just it's maybe it's good in the buildup when a after the fight. It probably should be just nipped in the bud there and then you know what I mean? Yeah. Free pre-flight good power fight not so good. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It is. Yeah. Sean Kelly won't be the last person who's wound up by the lamb either. Patty McRi. I Patty McRi texting the alpha fighter page. I'm jumbo sausage trying to get on to me. I have the whole FBI wound up. I'm winding up everyone in. Yeah. Every middle thing is Yeah. That's the thing we have to get into as well. When you were leaving the cage, Jordan O'Neal came up to you and he had a back and forth as well. Like what? I had a broken hand. I was just after doing [ __ ] heavy rounds, you know, about n eight minutes of fighting come on occasion. He does it just for his own social media just to be like, "Oh, I'm the tough man. I go up and face off with Brian Manning trying to get a fight out of him." What happened in April, bro? What happened in You were injured, was it? So, right. How am I supposed to take this FI guys serious? I have a fight booked to Shawn McCook, right? And he gets injured six days out. He gets injured and then I knocked El Marila out in violent fashion. Jordan Neil I'll fight him and next thing he gets injured what am I supposed to do so yeah that's that and then cage just skip by and then I got the vertus fight and now I can do whatever the [ __ ] I want to do so you were originally meant to fight Jordan in yeah it was it was agreed yeah that would have been a great fight we agreed I agreed and it fell through well you did that that obviously didn't get on the card then McCari fight fell his fight fell out as well. Yeah, imagine I jumped into that. Oh, stop. But look, at the end of the day, I think I I think Brian Manning versus a FAI fighter needs to happen at some stage. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And Jumbo Sausage is the one I love. I'd love to take that fight. I'd love to take that fight, man. I fight him in my [ __ ] back garden. And we see like when I him come up to me in the cage like that and I [ __ ] talk online like I if I see him outside too, it won't be too friendly. You know what I mean? So would that would that have to be would that have to be on Cage Warriors or that's that's the only bo like he's coming up to me thinking he's my manager. Yeah he signed for Cage Warriors bro I don't have to do [ __ ] all you tell me to do pal. Yeah. So you know think of it man I like cage or is definitely an option there right? But I love [ __ ] fighting all around the place. So going my go to this promotion, that promotion. I'm like a dirty, filthy [ __ ] getting tossed around from promotion to promotions, you know. And that's the thing, that's the thing we were saying last week, Brian. We're like that this fight yourself against Jordan Neil would be a huge fight for any of the promotions to put 100% have to be cage runners. Like yeah, I don't have to think right now. It should be like trying to book you as a main event anywhere in Ireland, let alone cage. Yeah, that's the thing. It's not it's no prelim, is it? It's no pain and fight that fight. Yeah. Be a great fight. But like realistically talking as well, like let's say now I'm injured, right? I have a broken hand. Like I don't know when I'm going to be back. All right. I don't know when I don't know how bad the break is and my knuckles going to flatten and stuff, but I'm still going to train a wrestling going to be fit. So when the time is right, then I'm I'm going to come straight back and whatever option is there. There's options. We're talking about Spain. We're talking about going abroad. It might be just one fight deals in places. But realistically talking, boys, right? And we might have a couple of contacts here and there. Who knows? I'll say no more. If I get another knockout or another two knockouts, I'm aiming for the contender series. I'm to be honest, Contender Series at 5 and06. There's fellas, they're looking for bigger guys, too. Middlew weightights, liveweights. They're going on the contender series at 3 and 0, at 2-1, at 6-0. You know what I mean? I'm that already. So, I'm looking at on the contender series, going in cleaning out the buys on the Contender Series and getting on to the UFC. That's my next year. year and a half, two year plan, do you know? So, whatever way it comes about, I don't give a [ __ ] But I chase no one. There we have it. There we have it. Amazon. How about that? How about that? How about that? Brian, that's pretty entertaining, man. I can't deny that. When do you actually think you could be back competing? I know you said I know your hand your hands you broke your hand, but like when are you sort of looking? Cuz like the people want to know when are you going to be back fighting again, man. Yeah, 100%. And it just look I I like to keep the momentum going. But you know it gives me perfect time. I'm going back to back to back to fights. I'm fight five fights in one year. Five and0. And like it's good now maybe to take a little not time off training but trying new out things even getting better again cuz you see every fight my level goes up. You see way I'm way smarter in there now. I'm way more composed, way more calm. I land landing killer shots. And my mind is always on the finish. You know what I mean? The decision motion is gone. My mind is always on the finish. So I'm a different animal now. And if I can improve even more, you can see my elbows in that fight. Did you see the elbows? Yeah, savage elbows too in that fight. So, I'm improving these little things bit by bit, I might throw start a couple of knees because a couple of times Sean Kelly, right, I I I had a right hand going for right straight right and he duck he duck and kind of shoot. But if I was just if I had my knees going, if I could right hand and he shot and I' I'd kne him in the [ __ ] face, you know? Could have got a a KO. I love a KO. I could have got a KO, but my hammer's broke. But like, do you know what I mean? cuz I'm as tough as nails, boys. Round one, I blame my hand. Round two, I get to finish. So, yeah, we'll see. We'll see what's when I'm back in there. I'd say August, to be honest. I'd say around August. And tell us this, if if Cage Warriors came back to Dublin in September, would you like to get on that card? Just just profile. Maybe so. Maybe so. If they if they come back to that was my real appeal to Cage Warriors, man. Cage Warriors Dublin, Ireland, have my own crowd will will [ __ ] march up there, you know? I'll have a big crowd going up there and this and that. Whereas I go to Octon, even Knockdown is still a viable option, but like who's gonna go to [ __ ] PG, do you know what I mean? Who's gonna go to [ __ ] you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. At this stage of my career, you know? I'm slowly be I'm slowly going to build into a star, man. But I'm not there yet. Like people aren't ready to jump and spend their weeks wages on me watching watch me fight just yet, you know? But I will get there. So like, yeah, K Dublin is a good is a good if they come back, maybe that could be an option. Also an opportunity at Akuma Fighting Championships on the 23rd of August as well. They that would need a main event as well. Who we going to call? Lamb Chop. How much did you love that Ghostbuster reference? I loved it, man. I absolutely loved it. I I straight away I was on cutting out heads and put myself on the Ghostbusters thing. Brilliant boys. If you if you had more time, you definitely would have worn a Ghostbusters suit, wouldn't you? 100%. I was actually I was on Amazon searching Ghostbusters gear. [ __ ] sake. as walking out my little Ghostbusters pack will be gasped by like you're one of the most entertaining fighters in Ireland right now for a reason. Is there anything you want to say to the people tuning in right now and they're actually looking forward to seeing you back in action? Just keep watching keep watching my content. Keep watching what I'm going to do next and I'll always I'll always keep you on your on your feet and um another another big performance in the next fight. I'm always looking for a finish and I'm always up to something outside the cage and inside the cage. And a shout out to my gym, MMA Cork. Where would I be without him? Nearly five years at this game now. I'm a different person. I'm a different man. I'm a different animal. And uh shout out to them, my coach at Magoyo. And shout out to Alpha Fighter Management. And shout out to Bario Kalin. And uh we're going all the way to the top. All the way to the top, boys. Absolutely. Sorry. Actually never touched on it. Absolutely terrible by us, but even worse by you as a teammate. Jack Magguire with won the big with a big win at the weekend. How proud was your How proud were you of uh Jack getting it done in one in the most random fight location over in random and even the stream like even the stream looked like it was unable 3210 sick and next thing I like I'm very proud of Jack man he's a [ __ ] beast and and you know I knew we all know where he's going to like he's going to the UC as well and and he's just a different animal even sparing I have a shocking time sparing him half the time you know what I have shocking time his pace and his just how good his like people see his striking his knock is down all the time and get knockouts but his grappling is insane and think of he's been around a [ __ ] long time you know what I mean he's been around a long time and yeah he's world class man he's world class and three finishes now since his return so we maybe two of us you'll see two of us on the contender series yeah on the series catch way about we're doing yeah learned everything he ever knows from Johnny Dugen yeah That's it. Johnny Dougen as well. Shout out Johnny Doug. He'll be fighting as well soon. There's a lot of activity coming our way out the gym like we know when it's quiet there for but everything's going to be kicking off now again. Do you know something else will be big? Obviously you're you're the man in Cork at the moment and a leaf fighting championship is coming back again soon. No. Well, I know. But have you have you discussed with Barry? Is there a role that you can do there? Whether you're on comms or whatever you're on? Yeah. You want to see just just just a walk out? He was want to see just me walk out. No fight. Yeah. Well, like like who knows who knows what you do, but I I I feel I feel like you should play some part in the show one way or the other. I will. I I'll be I'll be cornering. I'll be helping out. I'll be You'll see me on the streams and stuff and you'll see me a lot at the show. Definitely, man. You have to get down to a show, boys. You should get down to them on the shows. Yeah. So, we're going to make it happen. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. You don't like Tell them. Tell them like alarm. We don't come cheap. We don't come cheap. You know, the finest escort room, boys. Yeah, that's it. That's it. Brian, what a man. For the people tuning in, make sure to check out Brian's Instagram page. Like, he's one of the most entertaining people on this island right now. And he's undefeated for a reason. So the best media platform, the best Irish media platform around Energize Show. Check it out. Energize show the Enjoy Show up the So Ross, that was Brian Manning, your favorite Corkonian. Yeah, he's uh on fire at the moment and I can't wait to see what he does next. Um, I suppose we dubbed him as, you know, Europe's and Ireland's uh, hottest free agent and we're going from uh, Brian Mannon being the hottest free agent to the former hottest free agent who is now the face of PFL Europe. He is the one and only. He is big news. Paul Hughes, he headlined at uh, PFL Belfast at the weekend against Bruno Miranda and he got it done and won. It was an absolute sensational finish and just the whole show from the walk out to the buildup, it was all centered around him. Um the fans were there in their droves pre-party, postparty. Um this man is really uh he's really taken PFL by storm. And I think you touched on it before, Baz, I don't think PFL knew how much of a star they had when they signed Paul. And now they know. Like if you didn't know, now you know. Um, seeing the reception in his hometown is something that we haven't seen in a while that that to that scale. Basmo. No, it was unbelievable performance. Um, like last week I thought he'd probably bring it into the second round, but I saw in the buildup he said it was going to be a first round knockout and uh, he got it done quite sharpish. I think it was under 50 seconds and uh, the arena erupted. Um the question is like where does Paul go from here? Because he proved like Miranda's not in his level and like he called out Usman Nurmagamedov next. Like do you think the Usman fight is the next fight to happen for Paul? Absolutely. I think Paul showed his level of superstardom on Saturday night. even from you know when Foy Vance took the stage to to sing him out and when the way he made that walk very few people uh if any we've seen that be done for in PFL PFL are behind Paul use as one of their biggest stars that they have and the only fight there to make is Usman or Magamed off like at the end of the day there are other fighters at leweight in PFL but I'm not dying to see Paul use versus Brent Primis. I'm not dying to see Paul use even against AJ McKe again. I think the only fight that makes sense is him versus Usman Magamov. Usman Magamed off told Paul use to go get another win. If you want to come back, Paul went and done that in Fatx style. And let's be honest, like Paul is once gave he didn't eat one shot in that entire fight. He's after knocking out um Bruno Miranda. Like why not turn around soon and do it this summer? Why not do it in maybe July, August? Paul Hughes versus Mander Mag made off too. And look, do it in Dubai, do it in Belfast, but I think the fight has to be made one way or the other. Yeah. No, I think that's a great show. Um, can you see Usman going back to Belfast? Not particularly. I don't think that would be his call. But if PFL want to make it look like the biggest show and make it look like, you know, their guy Paul is the biggest star they have doing in Belfast, seeing that hometown crowd reaction. That's what the fans want to see. And look, Paul has cement himself as one of the faces of European MMA. H cement himself as the face of Irish MMA at the moment. I think he's the guy who the people are behind right now and people are absolutely dying to see Paul use fight again. I feel like because he finished it so quickly, people didn't actually get their their fill. They wanted to see more, especially after how like how sort of I was going to use the word barbaric, but it wasn't quite that, but how like highskilled and highly contested his last fight was. I think people were dying to see more of Paul Hughes. Not a gone in 60 seconds Paul Hughes. You know what I mean? He he's uh he's the people's favorite. He's the referee and the judges favorite because he sent them home early. He's the promotion's favorite. Um the SSC arena. It was on wheels uh Saturday night. And that's down to one man and one man only. And that's the big news. Paul use Yeah. And then I saw after he got a a bonus for the performance of the night and then he said that someone on the undercard should get that and then also a bonus that he was getting he was given to a mental health um charity. So Paul Hughes is doing everything right right now. Yeah, he's making every single pure move in the right direction. And I'm not saying what he's doing is a pure move, but if you're his public relations guy or you're, you know, uh, from the chosen advisory, Tim Simpson, you're one of his managers, you like just keep doing what you're doing. You know what I mean? Everything he touch turns to gold right now. And Paul, Paul is the man in PFL right now. He really, really is. And a lot of the times with PFL, you feel like they're homegrown stars like Dakota Deva, like Bren Lochn, they've all sort of had a lot more fights than Paul. They've done a really good job in making Paul feel like a PFL fighter even though he sort of earned his stripes and cage wires, but they've done a very good job making him feel like a PFL fighter. No, he's definitely on fire at the moment. Like how how soon would you like to see him back out in action, Ross? Cuz like I'm sure PFL would love to book the SSC Arena again this weekend. Yeah, absolutely. I think get him out there July, August. Why not? Uh whether it's Dubai or whether it's Belfast, I think he needs to be out there as soon as possible. Yeah, cuz No, like because the ticket prices were like cut in half for the SSE and I remember when they were in Dublin, they were doing them some tickets were like €10. So I I think they're going to want to go more back to Belfast right now, especially having Paul compared to maybe trying to go to the tree arena. Well, at the moment the biggest star fights and trains out of Belfast, Ireland. So that's where you go. You go where the star is the biggest draw. Yeah. Not not very much like the UFC, man. Not very much like the UFC. But uh No, Paul absolutely smashed smashed out of the park like um it was he barely even broke a sweat. So as you said, I'm sure the fans are like would have liked to seen a bit more, but uh look, when you're that good, man, you're that good. And then uh Ross in the co- main event in the co-main event that Alan Philpot was back in Northern Ireland competing for the first time in a long time and he's taking on Lewis McGrillin who's seen as like PFL's next big star. Yeah, absolutely. Um Alan Philpot trained over in Australia out of the Lions Den. Um trains in NextGen in Ireland. Uh it was his homecoming and he was given a really tall glass of milk fighting uh Lewis McGrillin. Lewis McGrillin is obviously one of the PFL guys. Um he is someone that they they've sort of uh they've strapped their rocket ship to in terms of uh their socials and their their media and they're really putting everything they can behind Lewis McGrillin. H look he's a top talent. He's very very exciting to watch. She was in fight of the year last year against Dean Garnett. Um I think it was a very tough ass for Alan Philpot. I thought Alan Philpot actually won round one. I thought he looked really really really good. And then obviously come the second round Lewis McGrin got the rear naked choke. It it was an excellent fight. Both I feel like both fighters stock probably rose in it despite the loss for Alan Philpa. And I think the talk of the town then afterwards was, you know, word broke before the event that Ken Lran had signed for the PFL, which is unbelievable news. Great move for his career, I think. I feel like they'll make him feel like the star he is. Um, I felt UFC were sort of treating him as another fighter, I think. And he's not that, especially not in this region. If you can fight in this region, again, you could make him out to be the star that he is. And I think with that being said, him versus McGrill, he said they've sparred before, you know, make that fight in Manchester. That's a big big fight. That's a fight that will get the fans interested. That's a main event caliber fight. That's a huge fight, man. That is an absolutely enormous fight. Um, no. Well, first of all, it's great to see that Kalin's now with PFL cuz obviously it would think we we weren't sure where he was going to go. There was a few options. Would he go back to Cage Warriors? Would he go to Octagon? But like seeing that he's uh very good friends with Paul and that his brother Tieran trains with Paul like trains with Paul, it just feels like it's a good fit. And like Kalin's still very new in his career as well, even though he's you could call him a UFC vet now at PFL. But uh yeah, exactly. The McGrill fight is the one that like once we heard we both heard that news, we text each other and I was like, "Give me McGrillin versus Kale." and you're like midway making the poster bud and I was like there you go. Like that's like that is the fight PFL have to do. PFL they come here they put on a good show like that they just have to keep the ball rolling. They need like another big fight for people to look forward to. And uh McGrillin lock ran like that is the one to do definitely in in that division. Yeah. And shout out to both guys. Massive fans of both. I think u the McGrizzler is is uh something else in terms of a personality to look out for. And then the dawn is just uh probably probably underappreciated on on this island, I think. Um cage warriors world champion. Um went two and two in the UFC, won his last UFC fight, contract wasn't renewed, signs with the PFL, and I think he's going to make big waves there. I'd agree. What What would you like to He said he was going to be doing like more like super fights and not really enter a tournament. Well, I think he said he'd have two showcase bouts. It was sort of what they did with Paul use um when he fought Bobby King and then AJ McKe. I think they're looking for a similar route for for Ken Lran as well that he'll fight two well-known people as opposed to putting them in a tournament. I don't necessarily I'm not like voying to see people in tournaments all the time. The only reason I want to see them ever in a tournament is to win the cash prize. Yeah, that's the thing. Like that is the thing. Yeah. Thing I'm not like, "Oh my god, I hope he's in the tournament." I'm more so like, "I hope you're in the tournament that you could win 100 grand or stay 500 grand, whatever." Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Well, well, it makes a show way better to record when uh Irish Irish fighters are active. And that's why we are here every week. So, if you are new to the channel, make sure to like and subscribe. Um Ross, there was some other Irish fighters on the card. Who would you like to start off with first? Well, I'm going to give a shout out to Decky Molina and Sean McCormack. Both unfortunately didn't get their hand raised. I thought Deky Molinan turned Gino Vancenis from striker into a grappler very very fast. Decky tagged him really hard. Nearly got him out of there. Um he did say after he's going to move back down to featherweight, but uh Deky got an absolute rupturous uh ovation when he made his walk out. I thought that that was an incredible scene to see and I feel like, you know, it was nice to see him get his flowers after being a veteran in the sport for so many years. And then Shawn McCormack, you know, he was three and two going into this fight and he was taking on Haidider Khan. He was 9 and one. Haider Khan missed weight by well, I originally thought this was meant to be a middleweight fight. Then it looked like it was going to be like a catchweight fight and Haidider Khan just continued to miss weight and uh Sean McCormack game was anything took the fight anyway. Um, and look, Haidderan looked that four or five pounds bigger in there on the night and Sean McCormack gave it all. And look, I think uh one or two little tweaks in his game and you know, the fight could go the other way. But, uh, two absolute gamers in there and, you know, hopefully we'll see them back in the PFL cage sooner rather than later. Um and then next I did want to touch on was uh for me you know this one the finishes of the night uh own Sheridan um knocking out Malachi Edwards. This was an absolute clinical knockout. He rocked him early in the fight. The own Sheridan looked absolutely fire in this fight. And I'll be honest on Sheridan like to us like he talks big game. He says he says he's this. He says he's that and you sort of want to believe him and for me now he's shown it. He's shown that he is he is a high level striker. He is a high level mixed martial artist and the injuries and setbacks he's had you've always sort of questioned whether you know will he be the same fighter ever again and that guy went out there and put on an absolute display against you know another great guy who was equal in size to him and also like came out of a great gym Manchester top team. That was absolutely incredible to see. And then the curtain jerker, the one that set the tone for the event. Their face face off was really an intense. Um the chat between these two was, you know, really captivating. Cory McLolin versus the home wedding. Um this was a massive one. I felt like it was more of a must-win for Cory McLolin than it was for the home wedding. He was coming in here on one. Uh I think this goes to show the you know being the more active person can be more important at times. We haven't seen the home wedding in maybe two or three years and then make humlan was was super active and I thought he looked really really composed in this fight really really good and I felt like the ring rush definitely showed on wedi and you sort of saw as it got to the third round where he got maybe got a bit more into the fight he landed some really good elbows. uh and he he cut uh Cory open, but uh I definitely had Cory getting his hand raised in this one. Uh but you know, both guys with super bright futures. Um super elite talent. Can't wait to see see them get back out there again. Yeah. And no, that like that fight was probably the fight I was looking forward to the most between the homey and Cory McLaclin cuz uh Bolaz just knew into their careers and look the winner takes the other person's spotlight and there was actually more on the line than probably a lot of people even noticed because sometimes you look at an early prelim and you just don't take any notice of it. But look, Cory got the win there. And I'm sure boat lads will be on looking forward to another PFL event to get on. And then uh also a shout out to Claudia Pachella from SVG Ireland who got the win as well in the lightweight tournament. Uh Ross, the thing is right, we were at Cage Warriors there a couple of weeks ago and there was about I think it was over 17. Well, I was going to say about over 15 gyms associated with the event. And looking at this one now, it was really only three like SPG Ireland, uh, Fight Academy Ireland, and then I gym for Oh, and team Ters, sorry. Four, four gyms, sorry, excuse me. Um, like when PFL came to Ireland, they said they were going to get more teams involved. Like it would have been great to have more gyms involved as well. So hopefully that happens more over the future as well. Yeah, definitely. I feel like there's a touch of where there isn't actually a hell of a lot of fighters available unsigned who would like to be there. Like if you look at a lot of the Team Rhino pros are already signed to Cage Warriors. A lot of the other fight academy Ireland fellas are already signed to Cage Warriors. Um there's not a hell a lot of pros between SPG Charlestown, SVG N like Andreas Binder was signed there. Obviously he's gone and done tough now. So we don't know where he's going to fight next. Um you know so there's like few of the gyms that a lot of the team KF guys are signed to Cage Warriors. So it's not like there's pros out there who are being left off the cards. One might say Brian Manning. Well, Brian Manning's definitely one, but I I haven't seen him actually express the interest of wanting to go to PFL. I'm sure PFL would bite his hand off to have him. That's true. Well, even Jack Jack McGuire fighting over the weekend as well. Yeah, shout out to Jack McGuire obviously touch on that with with Brian H. And look, maybe that's where he goes next. Maybe Jack McGuire is the next next one up. Well, the thing is you could argue that um John Mitchell was meant to be on the card as well, but his opponent pulled out. But look, I mean, the more gyms the better. Look, four teams isn't bad like to be honest to have a card. I like I think I I think like Cage Warriors took the piss with the amount of fights they put on for us if you know what I mean. And I mean took the piss in a good way, you know what I mean? Um like that's that was an absolute feast of fights for Irish as opposed to like I suppose like also fighting this weekend will be Jordan Bradshaw who's fighting an Aries fighting championship in France. You know what I mean? So like I think Irish MMA is in probably the healthiest place it's been in a long time. I feel that there's fighters in all the top organizations uh across the world and I think like that's that's actually what's best for Irish MMA. See Will Flurry. You obviously have your Reese McGee and Sean Sha Ban Gary in the UFC. Uh you know your your Paul and Co in PFL and then an absolutely abundance of tons and cage warriors like we touched on there. 17 fighters who fought on that cage wire sting card. So look, they're all the best promotions in the world and there's an absolute rakeload of Irish fighters fighting in all them. So long may it last and uh yeah, may the rise continue. As I say, uh rising tide lifts all ships. There you go, man. There you go. Um so we are going to just move into the world of the UFC. Ross over the weekend, Jack Delamelena defeated Balal Muhammad for the UFC welterweight title. The funny thing was in the buildup to this, Ian Garry could have potentially been fighting for the world title. Uh, first of all, what do you make of the thoughts? What you make of the fact that Ian could have fought for the world title and also that the UFC have a new world welterweight champion in Jack Delane? Well, look, he put himself in the position to be there. He he weighed in h and 168 pounds to say the least as well which is uh very impressive considering he was just off fight camp. So obviously he that diet is clean and on point. Uh and after that win if he didn't do backup fighter I don't think people will be talking about Ian Gary in line for Tyler next. I still don't think he's necessarily next anyway. Um, I think Sean Brady's probably ahead of him and I think Islam Machef's ahead of him if he moves up and I think Shavat's still ahead of him depending when he comes back. But look, if Ian Gary wanted to jump the queue, that was the way to do it. Um, to put yourself in that position. So, I think Ian Gary is stock is on the rise at the moment. Long ways. Also, I think he seemed to have got under Jack Delena's skin, which is probably a positive. Um if uh Jack has any say in who wants to fight next, I'm sure Ian Gary is high up there on that list. And as for the fight itself, look, Jack Dalena got Bal Muhammad to play his game. This fight played out on the feet. That's where Jack Mcdalena is better. He really bust up Bal Muhammad. Bal Muhammad is a tough customer. He's hard to get out of there and uh he proved that. But at the end of the day, I thought it was a comfortable enough win for Jack Telena. He is the rightful UFC uh king at the moment and I think his next opponent is already decided. I think it's going to be Islam Machev. It looks like he's going to move up. I think the only thing holding off Islam moving up was Bal being champion. That seems to be gone and Islam is going to chase greatness and try and go up to 170 or 170 pounds and try and become the welterweight king. Yeah, that would um that should be very interesting. Would you prefer like right now say if you're the matchmaker, would you rather make Islam Machev against Tapora or Islam Makachev against Jack Delena? I think there's a lot more heat in Makv versus Taporia right now. To be honest, I'd rather see that. Um yeah, but look, it is what it is. It'll be interesting to see because obviously Maxv went toeto vulcanovski and obviously Jack and Vanovki would do a lot of rounds in together and it's going to be very interesting to see cuz obviously Jack Malena is far larger than Vowski so it'll be interesting to see how that plays out and see if uh see how things go and it looks like Craig Jones um who's one of the best jiu-jitsu grapplers in the world we saw play out in the Vulcanowski fight uh we've seen going to play out now against Bal like does Craig Jones have the answer for Dagistani wrestling? Who knows? We'll have to find out. Let's see if Maxelli gets called up to that camp as well. Uh Ross, also in the co-main event, Valentina Shashenko got the and still Ross, where does Valentina go from here? She she it feels like she's done everything in the sport. Yeah, absolutely. I think um especially the way they were talking about Amanda Nunez coming back um to fight the winner of Kayla Harrison uh versus Juliana Pena. I feel like you know Valentina Shenko is another option there. She could fight Juliana Pena uh trying to become banterweight champion but uh also Nadia Natalia Silva went and beat Alexa Graasso there earlier on that night. I think that's the most obvious fight if she's still fighting that division, but again, it's not necessarily the biggest fight on name recognition. Yeah, that's the the only issue. Um, right, Ross, couple other things that we have to say as well this weekend. Jose Aldo hung up the glove. So, you have to give that give that a mention. Shout out to Jose Aldo. Yeah. What was your favorite legend? What was your favorite Jos Al moment? I actually, believe it or not, I know it' be funny to say the McGregor thing, but uh I actually think uh him him versus Mark Homnik. Um I think that was the fir his first UFC title defense. H that was an absolute baron burner. And I think that was actually in Toronto as well. So that was an absolute epic fight. That was the first fight after he came over from WC I think. Yeah, he's an absolute legend. It It was great the way he got his flowers after the Connor fight because like a lot of people just didn't like him after Connor, but then Yeah, the sort of newer fans like enjoy. Also, I thought he was he was in with a good shout to actually get his hand raised and start the night as well. I know. Yeah, that was the thing. It was crazy fight. Jesus, crazy fights, man. The king of Rio, baby. The king of Rio. Who's the Who's the King of Rio at the moment, man? What? No, Charles Bear maybe. Okay. Okay. All right. This weekend the the action continues as always, man. No, it's keeping us in the job, man. Jeez. Uh Gilbert Burns is taking on Michael Morales. Ross, this is a huge fight. For the people tuning in who aren't aware of Michael Morales, tell us what you think of him and how difficult of an opponent will Gilbert Gilbert Burns be to the undefeated prospect. Yeah. Well, I think this is the litmus test for Michael Morales. Obviously, Michael Morales, undefeated, well, there were climb in the rankings. I think um people were sort of tying him in with Ian Garry at the time sort of saying like who's got the higher ceiling. I think obviously Ian Gary talks more smack which gets him uh more notoriety, but uh Michael Morales has some unbelievable striking. Uh he's lightning fast. He's he's quite a a lean character. Um long arms, big reach. Like his last win was over Neil Magny. Um which sort of puts him in there as you know he he's passed one gatekeeper and I feel like he's on to the next. He is an absolute monster on on the feet. Um and look, I I expect him to get his hand raised in this one. Uh I think he's a young hungry prospect and you know it's going to be a tough night for um Gil Burns. He's going to really want to uh get this to the ground and try and um submit them at the end of the day. Like 170 no Michael Males 12 wins by knockout, eight first round finishes. They're scary stats. Yeah, I was jo I was just listening to um Tom Aspenol on the podcast. What's it called? Um can we look at this void cycles? No high performance. And he was saying when he fights he has that instinct. It's either kill or be killed. And some fighters you see these days don't have that instinct. But Michael Morales has that instinct. Yeah. I mean, Chamay has that instinct. You know yourself, man. You know yourself. Um, and he's only he's only 25 as well. Yeah. Like he's just he's a bad man. Definitely check him out. Uh, also shout out to Paul Craig fighting on the card. Move back up to light heavyweight. Um, can't really there's nothing too crazy else on that card as well. Ross, there is more action from the world of Irish mixed martial arts before we wrap up the end of the show. Um, we'll start off Aries on Friday night. Jordan Brashov finally makes his pro debut in France. That will be live on UFC Fire Pass. Ross, the CMAC athlete athlete is definitely one to watch. Um, also that night, Darren Hill is boxing Darren Stewart finally as well. Uh, then just moving on to Saturday night, Cage MMA, Team KF's Omran Shabban will be competing on that card. He was looking to he was on D uh the Ultimate Fighter. So, he'll be looking to get another finish at Cage MMA. And then Octagon 71, Dennis the Menace Frame Pong and Shamrock aka the Shem Show will be fighting on Saturday night. Man, those guys are some characters. And uh this has been a character packed show. And then also shout out to Cage Legacy Rising Stars on Saturday night. Ross, is there anything you want to say about all the action going on this weekend? Full of characters, man. Jeez. Absolutely. I'm definitely excited to see Jordan Bradshaw. Um he, you know, Semac have been on fire as of late. Uh he'll want to keep that run going. Um the lads all look in serious shape. Hickeyi fitness is doing a great job on their strength condition. So long made that last week and saw Tre Mckeno in the gym there last week. So that's uh always good to see. And then obviously shout out to the Octagon boys. Um, yeah, the Sham Show is is always fun to watch. And then Dennis Shrimong, the Menace is back. And I feel like his last performance was his best to date. So, let's see. Can he keep that ball rolling? Amen. Amen. So, so guys, I suppose just want to say thanks for everyone reaching out over the last couple of weeks. Um, if you have enjoyed the show, make sure to like, share, subscribe. Anything else before we say Basmo? And as always, stay energized. Stay energized. The energized show up the Irish. It's the face that runs the place, Chaos Cortis. I want to thank the Irish MMA community so much for getting behind me. York, the chaos cartel.