IN DEPTH | EPISODE 19 | HENRY FADIPE

Summary

We sat down with Irish MMA Veteran Henry Herculeez' Fadipe to chat about about the ups and downs of his Career, and what the future holds for the Fantom fighter.

Transcript (youtube_captions)

foreign [Music] OG of the Irish MMA game at the minute Henry Felipe he's after coming back on a bit of a streak we're going to go through his career today the highs and lows and the ups and downs so what got you into MMA uh I actually started Thailand yeah I was in college doing a engineering course and Alan toffee from SPG was in my class he came in with a big bottle of water and asked him what's that he told me he was cutting away for a fight and then just got into the conversation and go from there and then what was the first gym you went into and then how did you find walking into a gym for the first time so those uh the college I had an MMA team and it was started a Emory team in the college and we had a coach was friends with Tony Carrick from MMA Lucan and he brought us there one time and I was like I lived in Lucan so from there I started memory and then like but as like had you done any sports before that like yeah I've done boxing I've done wrestling I've done karate I was I was I did Karate I was a karate Korean belt before my leaving Circle um actually I'd like to go back and become a Blackboard karate well yeah so that's that's that's another thing uh that you might be doing in the next few years that hopefully um yeah so once you once you kind of joined it how did you obviously you said he's done boxing and stuff before so you used to like training and then Combat Sports but we're MMA what did did it Fascinate You that like because it has all these different disciplines mixed into one what did you make if it's starting out you see at first I was just a striker and like I did a bit of wrestling but I didn't I wasn't a big fan of the whole Hogan and takedowns and all that kind of stuff but uh I started watching MMA I watched the Madison silver and Jon Jones and then they may be fall in love with it and I wanted to be like them so I started trying to properly yeah Jon Jones is a legend and I can't wait to actually see you man see him fight again it's been a minute so with that when you went to soccer competing um obviously it was hard to find stuff on here but if you had five amateur fights so when you walk in for your first amateur fight let's say um what was that feeling like going in to actually compete uh very nervous you know even till today I go in very nervous I don't know what it is I think everybody has that has a lot of nerves um until the cage is short and then it's like tunnel vision but now it's a lot of nervesment the excitement is there as soon I think as soon as they announced the fight I see the poster you get you get the the fire the butterflies but then a few weeks towards the fight you get the nerves kick in and yeah it's Madness and then obviously once you get into that cage and it's uh is the nerves the nerves still there because obviously you're standing across from your opponent and with the light to the crowd and stuff does that drown out or does that affect you in any way can you hear it or do you just focus on your opponent once you're in there I don't really hear the crowd it's background noise trying to listen to your coach trying to think trying to listen to your own thoughts um just trying to slow down your heart and uh the car don't really come into it though no so you won your first fight then and then he actually went on a streak of five for your amateur I believe that is correct yeah and it was all all knockout uh kotko five amateur fights um at the time MMA wasn't as big so I couldn't really get in my amateur fight so I had to turn pro at 18 straight into the deep end fighting title fight after title fight we're fighting the wrong way the wrong guy is the wrong time you know yeah because obviously in Ireland at that time there wouldn't have been it wouldn't be like you said what it is now would you wish you had an amateur scene like we have now back then yes definitely a lot more experience to to be gained before I turned Pro a lot more fighters to to you know to match the time but I can't do anything about it now yeah you can't go back and turn back the clock so going forward obviously when you said you went into Pro there wasn't like that it wasn't huge in Ireland so there wouldn't have been a huge amount of education and stuff around it so you said you went in and fighting like what weight were you going and fighting at work where you're making bad way cut stuff like that is that what is this yes so um first of all it started I didn't have any Grand game at all we started Japanese jiu jitsu or less different cigar crap um yeah I was walking around at 80 80 I think I was walking around 85 84 fighting at 84. for titles you know it was crazy but like I I was learning what the thing is I I myself I'm a coach at the time we were learning and I was using my career to learn I didn't think about the future I didn't know it would affect me as much as it has in the future you know but I can't do anything about it now so there's no point kind of a and how hard was that dueling coaching and like you said you're using your your own career you probably didn't expect MMA to blow up the way it has now like how was that trying to balance the coaching and your own career at the same time as a pro as much then it's just like I said like like you said that the government Mission wasn't as big as it was now so there's a lot of learning stuff the coach I had at the time was learning I was learning and we were going against guys who kind of already in the game in the scene so there was some uh catching up to do yeah and he said you went in at 18 years of age you're fighting for title fights you fought on numerous different promotions as well what is it like especially when you're going in the 18 and you could be fighting a guy you potentially find guys late 20s Early times that's what happened you know what kind of as an 18 year old you still you're still quite young you're still not mature what's it like going in to fight a grown man as such in these fights at that stage like you talked about to notice the amateur what was it like going in to fight someone like that I'd been forced into some um Street scraps before that so I learned to kind of mask it to kind of Shadow it and just this isn't a street fights but in MMA he didn't it didn't turn out as expected but yeah no like it opened my eyes to a lot you know it opened my eyes a lot like fighting in general um if I could go back I'd like to go back and change but I can't but at the same time it's taught me a lot so yeah because you wouldn't be who you are today and that's what we're going to get on to later to change is that you've made and what you're going to do going forward because you look very impressive since you've come back so I was sorry I actually because I'm friends with a lot of guys I've fought before I actually asked a few of them like come on give you give me a rematch you know they're like no no you want to build up an old man because most of them are retired now so something I'd like to just to you know clean the sleigh a little bit just kind of wipe it get it back to zero and then go on um yeah I know it's when you first actually you had a win you had two losses or and then you had a win and then another three so you went uh two and five as an early pro at that age like AE 1920 going into those years like did that affect you mentally at any stage did you think maybe I'm not alfredus or did it spur you to go on and do better to improve um it broke me a little bit but at the same time because I could see myself regressing a lot so that guy I knew I still had a lot to learn I knew I was very far from my Peak so it didn't put me off as much I just I tried to rush and I was jumping in like I said I was jumping into the to jump into the fire shot away but yeah no um I knew I had a lot to learn even so now I'm still learning stuff I've been doing it how many almost 15 years and I'm still learning new stuff today so there wasn't an issue yes and you see that even with the likes of coach now like the likes the Jiu Jitsu and all day you can see them just uh evolving as time goes on as well like there's always something to learn there's always something new around the corner so um you know with that like to start your pro career going into it like you've had runs of when you go on a win streak then compared to you were saying it kind of broke you a little bit but you were still progressing when you went on a win streak I think it was four then was after that what what kind of feelings you get then the highest damage so um the at the start of my career I had the the few losses on my record and then I started fighting in South Africa my first fight in South Africa was a middleweight and I thought this guy tomorrow must put a big tank of a guy this is the guy I had to draw with and backstage one of the fighters come up to me rental Nell came up to me and it's like what are you doing fighting the middleweight and I was like what do you mean he's like have you not seen the guys were fighting so explain to me about the weight cut and he's the one who told me like like you should not be fighting a middleweight so from then I dropped out to 77 and the difference was crazy like it took because I didn't know about the wake up and how to do it properly so it was a struggle to get that at the start but soon as I got there like in the fight the difference like gas pushed over case you're able to do stuff back you know I mean you don't have like guys who have 10 10K Journey pin into your cage is a big difference so when I learned that and I dropped out to 77 that's when my career took off I was smashing everybody I won the title like it just changed everything and that's mad something that like so when you were in there obviously when you were fighting a middleweight and you were fighting the middle late race like you said you were walking around at the eight four yeah and the thing as well because back then I was mainly a striker and like my amateur fights were all stand-up Knockouts so when I got into Pro guys everybody took me down pretty with the cage take him down people keep him down this was this is this is how to beat for deeply and I didn't really know much so when I dropped away it wasn't as easy to keep me down yeah and you know I was much like I don't know if you just changed everything and then once that happened then you start winning again just to come from the start bringing back of course it is um but when it conference starts coming back uh because I see it with a lot of Fighters and they spoke to me about Percy as well do you start is there any at any stage you start to feel overconfident or do you have something to contain that dude I think the fighters actually in front of the camera especially after a win I get a boost of confidence and because I know I have a lot of belief in myself and I know what I'm capable of so you get the confidence but at the same time you know you're still human and you know it's like from my losses I know that I can be beat so this is the balance link so obviously once if you feel like you're getting carried away get everything back yes exactly I remember when the guy was smashing listen to this that's from John Shields from when I was 19. so like when I eat now I hear that so this is a constant reminder that I'm here so every time you eat you're constantly reminded of John Shields and what exactly was that that happened there you break the jaw was that uh no I didn't break it um so he got me on the ground Mount and dropped an album that happened and it's been doing that so that's that's one of the most it's a constant reminder yeah that I'm mortal okay so obviously you said you didn't know too much about the Waco and when you start doing the wake up and what did that feel like on the body with the discipline not being able to eat the kind of food you like it was tough because like I love food I love to cook as well so this is difficult for me but it's part like you have to discipline yourself along with so many other things um something that has to be done something you know um a few couple of weeks before the fight before I have to make white I cut out the carbs reduce portions you stop eating at seven o'clock to the intermediate fasting and like everyone is different as well so you have to find a system that works for you um the first couple of times I had to do the salt pass at the end salt baths and the the saunas and actually fainted I fainted once in South Africa doing it uh but you get it you find what works for you and yeah because because everyone's different obviously your body's going to react different ways to different views and you're only going to get that over time now you said about the the salt baths and the sauna so you do them now the last time I went to 77 um this was I had 404 years and I was thinking oh to make the code was going to be difficult whatever and I actually made the cut without saunas without bastard but I was just training so hard that I was I was 76 before the day before the way in just some training just because I was that eager to come back I was Daddy I was like I'm gonna this is against Ali McLean so yes I made it without Sounders or anything that was your comeback fight after four years I said you had quite a few fights uh before you you came back in 2021 like is there any highlights in in the first portion of your career that really stand out obviously we've got the chance with the Jaws there any wins any Knockouts yeah I think that stands out yeah when I won the title in South Africa against uh dino what actually made up stand up for me was it wasn't even about to title this about what I went through before the title like Ator uh a few couple weeks before the fight I told my MCL and I thought I was gonna have to cancel it and I put in eight months go to eight months of proper training and I thought oh this is the end of it because one of the guys at the end of a session one of the little guys I was running with wanted to show off and rip my knee but the fact that I went into the fight with one leg and I still wanted that for me it was more than one of the title so that's a big sign of me yeah because that show was like mental yeah like like to go in and then obviously you said one of the new guys do you find that a lot in gyms with new guys that not that maybe they don't do it purposely but they probably don't realize that they're doing stuff wrong what it was I think is because at the time in the gym I was the the guy and it was kind of wanted to prove him so oh I'm wrestling I'm grappling with him you know so yeah he went for a leg lock at the end of a session yeah I would assume leg locks would be something that you wouldn't really be doing exactly exactly and he didn't even know what he was doing so he just yeah but like this is this is all part of the whole learning as a gym now now I know not to be grappling with beginners before a fight you know yeah because obviously yeah probably you want people at your level they know the experience because you need your training Partners to take care of you obviously yeah you're in Fanta now when you came back in 2021 were you in Phantom den and what made you come to Phantom because it's it's a very good gym after you've got Pavel um so I was with husaria before [Music] yeah and because I was trained with Marius and this is strictly uh guys I got used to doing a so I was going for a hill hook and forgot I left my face open and got yeah that was a big uh reminder um and then obviously when that happened because that was just before that was the last fight before you came back wasn't it yeah yeah yeah yeah so then afterwards that was off the back of the drinkers cancellation so yeah I was going through depression I was going through a lot at the time I kind of just wanted to fight and I just jumped into the fight and uh yeah that happened so obviously you had a break for four years and then I've kept seeing Henry 2.0 with the new Henry what is the new Henry and and how is he different to the Old Henry um I'm not as hyped as I used to be and I'm not as uh I'm older and smarter I analyze things a lot more than I used to that I used to I'm hungrier because I know time is not on my side anymore and and with that obviously because you're getting older and you see the way MMA is exploding do you see this is now where everything has gone on before the waves exploding the opportunities that you have this is the time for you to make you know because you had three fights in two months which is pretty unheard of as opposed as well yeah yeah I was supposed to have um actually I was two fights offered in December but I couldn't make because my um my residency card expires in March so I missed another at least one I was gonna take one one out of two in December so I was gonna make a four or four in in three months um yeah man I want to bang them out as much as possible I want to keep like I said time's not on my side so I want to take over before it's too late yeah and then you've been like obviously you thought uh was an MMA attack in Poland wasn't it uh that looked like really well around sure you come back then off the back of that uh Richard Kylie's pulled out from cage Legacy Johnny Jensen's looking for a fight you literally get off your flight make a video like and a week later your fight it was a week later wasn't it yeah when you see Johnny looking for it you fought Johnny obviously previously you want to get back in to take a fight on a week's notice it's very short like did you know obviously you could make the way and and everything yeah so the fight was on the attack was on was it Friday or Saturday and we kind of partied over the weekend so I put on a bit of I went a bit overboard on the food on Monday I saw Richard Kelly pulled out I was at the airport and spoke to Paul and like listen uh Chinese ago I'm gonna go let's do it so I put the video out he accepted it um about the weight um I wasn't too far off anyway so that wasn't a problem uh Johnny missed weight I made a way uh yeah it was fun John is a scrapper like I love Johnny he's a scrapper I knew he was going to accept the fight because he's like I'll fight anybody anywhere that kind of attitude so it worked in my favor you know yeah because Johnny just just loves he loves crap yeah he loves the scrap I think his quote to me was where can you go and fight and not get arrested so um but then obviously with that you picked up another band uh and then on the back of that you go to you've been signed to ksw can you talk about uh the internets you have a modified deal then obviously it's a huge promotion I think it's very underrated and not talked about enough how has your dealings been there so far yeah I think the re personally I think the reason why it's not as talks about is because of the language barrier um but my manager is Polish so just he does all the talking for me when it comes to that um yeah it's a big promotion it's a big promotion it's very underrated the guys there are really good they're really good um I've signed a 45 contract is open though so I'm able to fight outside of it as well so this is really good gonna try and jump on one of the big shows next uh cage Wars coming I'd like to go on Bellator but um I'm not kissing anybody's ass I don't kiss anyone's ass so I probably won't make it under better soil but cage war is going to try and jump on there before cagewise would be a very good show to get to the cage was very good and like that with ksw as well with that fight that you actually had on it you've done something that hadn't been done in Poland before to prove your necktie where did that come from man so like I'd I'd teach my students that that that's a mission but grappling was the last thing on my mind going into that flight because I had like I was still coming up for injury I still had some injuries that didn't really play play well with the grappling so I was doing a lot of takedown defense counseling his takedown with the knees and that was what I was ready for was for some reason uh that happened and then once you got it and then you realized it was the first one in case overview and then after you realized it was the first one in Poland like you've made a little bit of history there how does that feel or is it just like it's just another day at the office for you it's nice at the same time I think if I was with a different gym it'd be covered a little bit more um but yeah it's nice it's nice it's nice so no it's not a nice little feather in the head but yeah it is it is I like I seen a few people share it I liked the set when something like that happens I think the community should get together and all share and all and try and give everyone from Ireland credit so um with the gym you're in now how do you find Pavel as a culture what does he mean to you as a coach I was my manager he's awesome man yeah awesome yeah my coaches because that is crazy and it works everywhere that's yeah exactly it's crazy and this works for me because this that's that's the type of person you're working for you know someone is ah who's everywhere so this is a perfect one we're like a I went to different gyms I went to um right now I went to the SPG I went to a couple of gyms Rhino is really nice but it was kind of a way out and I still felt like an outsider I was there for a while and I felt outside uh I could visit her the whole time when I went to Madison claim it was more welcoming because everyone's foreigners or whatever so I felt a bit more welcome there here when I came here same story like everyone's kind of more welcoming because they're all everyone here is almost all foreigners so there's a bit of more acceptance here but I think that's smarter have you as you've been in the country so long like I've been in the country so long but I'm still you know you still it's yeah yeah racist thing it's just it's just how it is you know it's just you don't conform with what people people would accept well yes I don't talk like this all the time yeah um so you've said obviously you've got that you've got the four or five deal the fact that it's open was that something Pavel got for you or is it something they offered to all the fighters I'm not sure actually it's perfect man it's perfect it works perfect for us because we don't live in Poland we're International so we kind of always like like now because my thing is surprised in March so I don't know how long it's gonna take me so if something opens like kids words you know I mean I could do that so I'm not blocked it works perfect for us yeah because there's gonna there's gonna be like that you're going to have cage wires and stuff coming over the next few months I'm really excited for the next part of your career you've come back with quite a bang but if you look back to your your whole career is there a favorite finish a fight that are going to or two questions one a favorite knockout or submission that you have it probably gonna be the the necktie now that we've talked about but is there any fight that when you left that fight that changed you that made you like that you learned the most from um actually I haven't thought about that for you or if you want to go away is there a favorite finish that you have would it be the necktie no I think it would be the van starting fight yeah because that's the only fight I ever went to pissed off like I normally don't find angry this this is the only time I went into a fight with intention of actually hurting him um yeah so he got a little bit personal I just had my daughter Robin at the time and he got a little personal because I missed the first fight the first time was scheduled to fight against because of the travel issues then the second time he started going oh are you talking real personally I actually brought my daughter into it as well so I got really pissed off yeah I went in there and remember um yeah I was unified I've seen yeah I smashed them around a couple of times I don't think he I don't think I don't know he caught me once he hit me once in the solar plex that's only time then I got him on the ground and I ripped his knee out I remember the sound of the new ripping it sounded like a ripping of  like so basically don't get personal with Henry yeah that's all the timer for angry and and that's obviously like we talked about Yahoo and like everyone else when someone brings a family member into it which I think I think if you want to go at someone's skills their ability stuff like that I think that's fair game I think especially when it's someone that's that young they can't defend themselves like how did that make you feel as a person like were you like I gotta kill him like I knew he was trying to sell a fight I know he was trying to Hype whatever but he got a bit he got too personal like me and him were friends now he's good he's a good skin but at the time I really wanted to hurt him so that one stands out the most to me as you finish and I don't know have you is there any fight that changed you or or that like made that you learned a lot from that you needed to change things after um done it to change things yeah it would be yeah all the losses because I knew how to how I lost and the things that everybody knew at the time everybody knew how to beat me because get him stick him to the cage bring him down it was textbook kind of stuff but you know so after that I started focusing a lot of my I'm grappling a channel Myers doing the grappling then having to mix the grappling with the Striking and knowing where not to leave your head open like the bomber fight all that kind of yeah opened my eyes yeah so then obviously where every loss she picked up something exactly and then you corrected it and fixed it and that's where we we have you here today um there's one more question I'm going to ask before we go as well if you want it to be remembered whether it be as a fighter as a person is there anything that you'd like to be remembered by yeah in the future I'm gonna bring out my story there's a lot of stuff people don't know about like I've actually started writing and uh writing a book um there's a lot of stuff I haven't spoken about that will come out eventually and what I'd like to remember for is you can hit rock bottom and still he's hit the skies you know so so you want to be an inspiration exactly you can always come back from wherever you think you are and when you write stuff like that down does that help you like figure it out in your own head yeah because you when when you you know when I'm in my head like I'm asking questions I'm talking to myself and I'm asking myself it just gets all jumbled up but when you write it down it looks like see it in front of you you know I think about Clarity and like put everything aside so yeah writing down stuff has helped a lot perfect well I look forward to seeing what you've got written I want to thank you so much for your time today I know it's precious and it's been an absolute pleasure to talk to you my friend thank you very much thank you