Matthew O'Rourke interview

Summary

Matthew O'Rourke joined me today to speak about his upcoming title fight on IUR FC He is the defending champion, with a 7-2 record, we speak about his entry into MMA his team Myalo martial arts plus plenty more

Transcript (youtube_captions)

Okay, so I have Mr. Matcher up. This is someone I have been dying to get on for a long, long time. You probably remember me asking you two or three years ago. Um, and then it's finally happen happening now. You've got a fight coming up this weekend, a big fight, another fight on your fighting championship obviously where you're the champion. Um, how are you? Thank you very much for taking time especially so close to the fight. How are you? And uh, what does this week feel like for you? How are you feeling? Uh yeah, it's it's really nice to actually sit down and fully have this conversation again. I know we did talk about it a little bit and you know, scheduling and stuff kind of got in the way, but yeah. Um I'm good. It's, you know, any other week it's it's the same as the usual grind kind of just ramping it up a little bit, but you know, same as always. and and fight week obviously the kind of week before the the week of fight week you kind of taper off and obviously there's like a lot of people need to manage their weight and stuff like that and different things. How do you manage fight week? Is it hard cuz like we talked just before we went on that you're constantly in the gym in the gym in the gym you're training and obviously you need to taper off. There's no more hard sparring or or rolls or stuff like that in case of injury. Uh you have to focus on the weight. How hard is it to switch off when you're constantly going like that? You said your your life is training. How is it hard is it to switch off for that week or or does that give you a chance to get into the zone? >> I mean, I find it very easy to be lazy to be honest with you. I I'm very good at taking opportunities to be very [ __ ] lazy. Um, no. I mean, like like I was saying to you, I um I spend a lot of time in the gym. I'm either coaching, training myself or or you know, doing odd bits just finding myself in the vicinity I might be in the gym. So, it's essentially I'm part of the furniture in there as is, you know. So this week now coming up to a fight and tapering down. It's more so just I want to hit all the marks. You got to hit all the marks when it comes to weight, you know, getting the water in or getting the the sessions that are important. You know, maybe, you know, tactical sessions where you're talking about fight plans or, you know, just the small like, okay, let's get a little bit of sweat going, get, you know, get the engine moving a little bit. you know, these these kind of small things leading up to a fight that are kind of different from the daily grind of being in the gym are really the only thing that's kind of been added, you know. >> Yeah. And then like that a lot of fighters say they find it hard to just switch off, but you you've had nine fights now. You've like you're kind of this comes with experience and time and you're going to be fighting a very good opponent as well. He's our hulahand which is a like obviously Patty Hulahan's a legend within within Irish MMA. Um, do you look at fighters yourself or do you let your coaches because some fighters think like that they get wrapped up in them and you know yourself as an amateur fighter how much you can improve one fight to another. So what way do you approach your kind of game plan or or or does he leave coaches? >> Uh well it's it's exactly what you said. You know at the amateur level especially on the comeup it's so difficult to get a read of someone when we're constantly evolving you know. Um I personally uh I'm not a fan of reading uh looking at tape or anything like that. I never really I've never really watched tape now. I have I've seen Callum. I actually, funny enough, I was up coaching at a national league a couple of years ago and I saw Callum get into the cage and I was kind of like, "Oh [ __ ] you know, this this this might be an up and cominging dude, you know, and I never once thought that I'd be coming up against him myself." So, it is it's an honor in that way. But, um yeah, when it comes to watching tape or preparation, I'm very comfortable kind of trusting my coach, Miles Brace. He um does a lot of the study. He kind of comes in with, you know, this guy's really good at this. We have to respect this when we're in there. We got to watch out for this. Let's push on this, etc., etc., you know. So, it's it's building a healthy respect for what could be in there, but I'm also given the opportunity to build my own assumption when I'm in the moment, you know, and I find that that's a game changer in a sense, especially just for myself, you know. I I find, you know, people like to study their opponents, know what's coming in its entirety, but I'm more of a fan of just kind of, okay, this guy, you know, take take Ben for example, you know, solid striker, you know, probably going to be heavy forward pressure, good aggression. We're expecting that, but I don't want to try and pinpoint it to, okay, he's stepping this way and he's doing, you know, I'll get a feel for it when I'm in there. >> Yeah. And like that fight IQ is something that that grows over time. And like we said, you could watch tape on Callum's last fight and he could be completely different because obviously him and Patty are going to go and correct the mistakes that were made in that fight. So those mistakes might not be there. And obviously you mentioned your coach Miles Price, another legend. I met him coming back from a show and I went in to get sandwich in the center and I think we stood there for an hour talking about MMA and it was just the coaching woman that was like, "Dave, we need to go home." like so she she was obviously in the conversation but like coming up to this fight you you've come so far I remember watching you years back um your only two losses are Conor McCarti obviously you seen what he's doing and he kind of set the amateur world al light his last year in it and he's kind of gone on to pro Sam driver which was a rematch with you originally but all your fights most of them have been uh finishes as well talk to us about the start what made you kind of go into MMA what brought you into MMA >> um well it kind of a an easy path for me. I I moved around a little bit when I was a kid. Uh my dad was a guard so it kind of uh it became a thing of like I guess in one sense I tried to create a new version of myself. So you want to be the new kid coming to a school. You want to come with like cool stories and you're kind of like I did this said it. It's all [ __ ] You know, everyone kind of makes up stuff like that. And and for me one of the ones I latched on to was like oh yeah I've I've tried a bit of martial arts. never stepped into a martial arts gym in my life, but I kind of ingrained that in myself when I came to this school. Yeah, I've done that cool stuff, you know, and then um I kind of actually turned 16 and about a month after I turned 16, a friend of mine said, you know, there's a there's a gym across I was living up in Caven at the time and he said, "There's a there's a gym across in Monahan, so do you want to tip up and we'll give it a go?" And I kind of went, "Yeah, all right. Okay. Yeah, sure. We'll jump in. We'll give it a go." And sure, as soon as we showed up, you know, it just blew up from there. I mean, when when I was younger, I think everyone has a movie, you know. I think any martial artist that competes has seen a movie when they were younger. It's either Blood Sport, Kickboxer, whatever. You know, I I saw the movie Never Back Down, which is a terrible, terrible piece of [ __ ] It's got Amber Heard in it as well, which is just a [ __ ] no no as is, you know, poor Johnny Depp. But um uh I saw that as a kid and it's about a guy going to a new school and he meets a bully who always who already does martial arts and he you know through training and a bit of character development he overcomes a great kind of enemy in a sense. He comes over overcomes this kind of bully in a in a way and he ends the he ends the the fight in the movie with this big headkick. And I remember for months I had these, you know, these old terrible recliners in the house, the big [ __ ] cushions. >> For months I'd just throw round kicks at this [ __ ] thing. >> I must I must have been like eight or nine years old, dude. And I was just throwing around like, you know, me mother's slapping the [ __ ] head off me cuz I'm kicking the furniture around. >> But ever since then, it kind of just left that little grain. And when I got the opportunity, I really just kind of jumped at it. I was like, "Yeah, I've always kind of looked at videos and looked at YouTube videos and sure, why not?" And then I think within a couple of weeks we jumped into the advanced classes and you know that was it. It just just fell into place for me. >> It was just it's mad that never backed down and sounds kind of similar to your story except there was a martial arts. Maybe you could. >> Yeah. It resonated so deeply like that. Do you know? >> Yeah. Know it's kind of cool. And did you know once you kind of got in and like you said you went to advanced class cuz a lot of people would assume when you go to an MMA gym it's all fight is the scary it's intimidating but what people don't understand is most what keeps those gyms alive and keep those gyms going is just normal members who do jits who do just striking or it's just a release is it's it's not all fight like it's it's only you know you said it's only a small percentage in in a lot of gyms that would fight. Did you think you were going to compete? Were you doing it just to do it or or what do you remember the moment when you thought, you know what, I I'd like to have a go at this and fight. >> Well, you know, it's funny you mentioned about, you know, the first day you walk into an MMA gym because I and I I say it to new members in our gym all the time. It's a story I bring up all the time where I had that exact thought. I was going to walk into this place, it's going to be full of gigantic tattooed Neandertholic dudes who are just [ __ ] you know, staded. They look like eight circles in a [ __ ] singlet. But um I walked in the first two people I met was this little stoner couple like just the name name was Dan and Jen and they were both five foot tall and they were massive stoner purple belts in jiu-jitsu and I walked in I kind of went oh you guys are coaches that's really weird and then they spent the next hour beating the [ __ ] out of me and I think from I think from that moment I I didn't think about competing from then but I kind of went yeah these are these are my people the you know this this this is a great community. Um, the competition side of it, man. Um, I never really thought about competing to be honest with you. Um, I just I looked at movies and and TV shows and I was like, man, I want to do the cool spinning thing. Then I like, you know, I saw a judo throw for the first time and if you've seen any of my fights, I [ __ ] love hip tosses. So, it was it was the same as the round kick, man. As soon as I figured out how to do it, I was just doing it to everything and everyone. It was the party trick, you know. Um, for me though, competing really came into fruition when I came down to Kenya first. So, I took I took a bit of time off. Uh, I think I trained from 16 to 18 and then from 18 to 22. uh hit a little bit of a rough patch, put on quite a lot of weight and um fell into a bit of a pit, you know, and I'd been to to at the time it was team Rhino Cena, now my um I'd been there a handful of times, not enough to kind of get to know the community or anything, but it was actually COVID that that really kind of changed my mind and uh I decided to get into shape. I decided I want to lose all this fat, stop feeling sorry for myself, that kind of thing. And I think it was like the first or second time that lockdown was called off. I uh messaged Miles to kind of jump in. I want to start training. He goes, "Yeah, how do you feel about fighting in August?" And I kind of went, "Uh, yeah, yeah, why not?" Yeah. I was like, "Yeah, it was like, yeah, kind trying to psych myself up like I wasn't [ __ ] myself." I was like, "Yeah, what? Yeah, 100%." Man, yeah, let's go. Let's go. And uh yeah, that was Publock and Failer up in Belfast. And uh I think after that it was just yeah, this is this is what I want to commit to now. This is it. What a show to to to go on to as well. Talk to us about that show cuz obviously Premier had done one have done one since. Um but that one was kind of was kind of the first one on the island. Obviously Premier would be Down Republic, but for me it's it's it's all one. Um and I'm not getting political or anything, but you know what I mean? It was the first one on the island and it was a big show. It ran from really early to really late. There was so many people. I believe Shauna Bannon was on that show as well. Maybe >> there was a couple of like fighters that are now gone on to pro. Talk to us about that experience because I wasn't there. I wasn't in the scene at the time and I look back that's when I kind of got into it. I seen that and went wow what is this? Um what was it like for you as a fighter especially with the nerves and everything the first time going in to fight? You've just been asked to fight in August. What was that like the whole buildup to it and then the experience in that venue? >> Yeah. Um I mean buildup wise it was everything was so new so it was it was fairly exciting. You know the weight cut was fine. I was already we were fighting at a weight that was very comfortable for me at the time and you know the buildup was a mix of that excitement nervous energy just kind of unexpected. I didn't know what what I was going to be facing, you know, and in a way I'm really grateful to have an experience like Pock and Fail as my first fight because, you know, we it's a big festival stage. There's a couple hundred maybe thousandish. I think there was 3,000 people at it. Uh big festival stage in front of everyone. You really get a feel for what could be ahead if if choosing a pro career because you're walking out, there's music, there's flashing lights, there's everything. And for me it was um yeah the one thing that my mind goes straight back to was there was a little warehouse that everyone's getting warmed up in and there was like a van that would bring us down to the actual stage. We go behind stage, get warm and then go up. And I remember sitting in the van with uh Miles and Mick Brennan, another uh coach coach or former coach from the gym. And uh it felt like the scenes in the movie where you're going to like bring in a prisoner to be executed. So like you're sitting in the back of the van, your hands are all taped up and you're sitting there like, "Oh god, oh god." Like you're stopping the van in the middle of a field and you're like, "Oh, this is it. Shit." You know? But um yeah, in a way, as soon as you get out there, you see that crowd, you see the cage, and you're making the walk, the mind just goes. You just completely blank out. And for me, it was like television static until I get in. As soon as I get in, I have one single thought, which is something along the lines of, "All right, one of us is going to die." And then you just commit to it. You're there for 10 minutes. You may as well just go for it. And I think in that fight, I look back on it, and obviously I look back on it from the the the standpoint that I'm at now, and I go, "That's so sloppy. That's so all over the place." But for for how, you know, uh young I was in my in my career at the time, it was uh it was raw just energy. It was raw kind of adrenaline. Just just really committing to I'm going I'm going I'm going going to get this guy. And it was the first real experience of that. You know, I I had never really had an experience like that where where, you know, I'm taking shots and nose. I was bleeding all over myself. got kicked in the head at one stage and it was just kind of like this is a [ __ ] brawl and like you get that spike and you're you're you're going going going. Now obviously the come down afterwards uh when the adrenaline was gone I thought I was going to die. I think everyone experiences that you know at least once where you feel amazing then the energy comes down you feel all the pain you feel like you're going to die. that that was a a big one, a big shock at the time. But, um, yeah, I I' I'd like saying that it's it's a piece of history because it is it's it's the first open uh outdoor MMA show uh in Ireland. And what a what an absolute privilege it is to debut on that, you know, and to be part of that kind of Irish history for MMA. It was even enough. It was enough for me, you know. I did at that stage, I wasn't thinking career. I wasn't thinking like that. I'd say, okay, I left a little stamp on it and that was great. And then, you know, the next offer came in and it was kind of like, yeah, all right, let's try this again. You know, let's let's get on the the hype train again. Let's get the adrenaline, the nerves going again. >> Yeah. No, like you said, to be a part of history, if if like that if you never fought again, you would always have that and it could never be taken away. And and what a place. I don't know if it was probably better that was your first fight. you didn't know what to expect or if you were a couple of fights in you might have been a little I know you said you were nervous but like you might have over taught things a bit more you know as as you progressed with your skill assess and career and mindset as well but like that you've been on a really good run and you've you've fought some really good people and I remember when I kind of started paying attention was the Ryan Higgins fight cuz I remember he was kind of on the up and you both came together >> and then it was when I seen the knock I was like whoa like like you hit hard and you you talked about going for it one of the things and I you before we started when you talk like you're so intellectual, you're so well spoken, but then I have a video of my phone and you barking at me in the cage. Do you know like it's such a contrast? Talk to us about what happens when you get in there. It it just shows that you do lock in there. Do you feel different when you step in there? Uh well, first of all, it is it is the greatest compliment in the world to me for someone to have a conversation with me and then you know once or twice um I have an actual memory of sitting beside the mats in the gym and I was just talking to one of the guys. It was his first night and I was saying, "Oh yeah, it's a bit nervous stepping into the gym, all that kind of stuff." And then he kind of turned around and went, "Do you fight or are you just like one of the receptionists here?" And I I had a little bit laugh. Some of the teens that were in the class were laughing a little bit as well. And they were like, at this stage, I'd already fought Ben. I think it was only earlier this year. And have you ever thought about fighting or anything like that? And I go, "Um, yeah, I guess a little bit." you know, you try not to to crush anyone down with it, but it is an absolute compliment to uh to be told, you know, I couldn't I couldn't tell that you were a fighter. You know, it is a great compliment in a way, but um yeah, there definitely is is a is a change. Uh I would say that that kind of locking in like you were saying. Um I don't know, man. It's just I think when it comes down to it, uh the way I always describe it was always um it turns very medieval towards towards the end of the week on fight week when you're thinking about stepping in and and like I've said, I'm used to the nerves now at this stage, but at the at the same time, I never not want to be nervous, if that makes sense. you know, like any any of the new guys, even if they're competing jits or uh national MMA Leagues or they're having their first amateur fight, I always kind of say, okay, you don't want to fight the nerves. You know, it's it's great getting those nerves there because they lock you in. You know, it I I I always quote um The Dark Knight, that that Christopher Nolan movie. There's a line in it that brings me back to feeling nervous for the first time, which was um how can you move faster than possible without the greatest impulse of the spirit, which is the fear of death. And that that for me is always if I'm super confident, if I'm super comfortable, I'm going to be slow. So, I need those nerves to to kick me in a little bit. And I would say it's almost the nerves that kind of bring that out of me a small bit. You know, when I'm comfortable, I'm easy going. I'm a bit lazy. I kind of sit around, I'll chat, I'll have the crack, be a bit stupid, you know, but the little bit of nerves of of realizing like, okay, this guy's, you know, he's not coming in here to have a laugh with me. We'll have a laugh afterwards and I'll give him all the respect in the world afterwards. But as soon as I step in, there's 10 minutes where, you know, like I said, I get a bit medieval. I kind of go there's 10 minutes where you're trying to [ __ ] kill me and I'm going to try and kill you and one of us is leaving here and you know you can look at it that way. But yeah, there's there's definitely probably a few fellas in the gym that would argue that I get like that in sparring sometimes. But uh yeah, no, for me it's just a case of when the time comes and realizing the reality of the situation is okay, if I don't if I don't be smart here, if I don't lock in and get a bit violent, then I'm going to get hurt or worse, you know? >> Yeah. It's basically like you said, medieval. I go like caveman like like need like real instinctual like is kill or be killed. we're in here together for for that amount of time and like you said rather him than you. Um, what you said about the nerves I really like as well cuz when people say to me I'm calm as a cucumber and I think if there's anything important to me in my life whether it's a job interview or or just say I'm doing a sit down interview for the first time or something. If I didn't have those nerves for me it would feel I could be wrong now cuz people are different. They think differently and that's what makes it so interesting. But I think those nerves is what makes me think okay you really care about this you know that sort of way. And I think but then sometimes people just have this thing they could offset but I think nerves is a good thing. Like I said, it will make you like like it'll make you do the things correctly. It make you lock in more, focus more, make sure you get it right because then you if you don't if you do all that and then you do fail, at least you've done all the things. And I think the nerves do set that off and and like I said, I've seen so many of your fights. I've been there in person and it's just like it's I remember watching I just like wa this is just like I love seeing you fight because it's just and I love seeing the big people fight and I know it's going to be a war and even when you fought Bradley Rice but that was another war like it's just so good. How did you like going from fight to fight you like obviously you get better and better. Do you notice that during your your training camps or is it when you kind of put your kind of training into live competition where you actually notice the incremental uh advances in in your skill set? Like do you notice it as you're training or or do you have to wait for live competition to see how it works in in a live competition if you get me? >> Yeah. Uh well, first of all, that Bradley Rice fight, uh I think one of my favorite videos is a cage side one you took. I'm almost certain you took it where, you know, it's not the greatest camera work, but it's there and all I can hear is, "Oh, oh god. Oh, oh [ __ ] >> that is me." >> That was that was I thought that was very funny. I thought that was brilliant. But, um, yeah. Um, for me, my my whole mantra, I guess, for the first couple of fights um was was that kind of medieval thinking of get in, kill or be killed. And for me, it was like, I'll take more punches to the face than you can. I'll drag you to depths that you can't go to. I'll take all this punishment and give it back. I don't care. And I had I held that belief in that kind of system of fighting for a while. But um I really I really have to give credit to a man named Gavin Burke who's um who's been working with me uh up until only recently um about you know the the mentality of fighting and the mentality of competition and where your brain should go and the idea of uh the amydala and how to to you know frame off the amydala. But, uh, that fight orflight kind of idea of of competition. And one of the biggest differences I noticed was just before the fight with Ben in December, um, we sat down and we kind of talked about, you know, okay, this is your, let's say, your personality when you're fighting. You have Matchu and the Hound. So, for me, it was always the Hound is going in there and I'm going to drag people to the depths and I'm going to be vicious and I'm going to be violent and I'll outlast you. you can hit me as much as you want and that's it, you know. And Gavin kind of thought, okay, the one thing he said to me was, why do you feel the need to do that? And I kind of thought, well, that's how I feel like it's been earned. I feel like that's how I earn a fight or I earn a win is I go digging for it essentially. So, take the Bradley Rice fight. Bradley dropped me in the first round. I thought he took me down. That's how quickly that [ __ ] hit me. all the respect of Bradley Freddy. He hit me with a probably one of the cleanest onetwoss I've ever been hit with. But you can see when I land, I I go to to hold my legs and scoot back because I think he's taking me down. And I look up, he's running at me, and I go, "Oh shit." And I get all the way back up. >> After after that first round, it switched into big swinging arms and and going apeshit that way. And I think someone said, someone recognized me and they said, "Did you win a fight recently?" you know, were you this guy like that? And I went, I think that was me. Yeah. [ __ ] Uh, so I had to try and evaluate that. And we spoke on that a little bit, myself and Gavin. And um, you know, he he kind of said, okay, you feel like you need to do that to earn to earn that win. But, you know, is there anything lesser about how like a samurai would win a fight where you just unchath one cut and you're done? Like is there anything that you feel like you wouldn't have earned all this training and preparation all this kind of like tempering of steel to just cut them down in one is that less or more like earned like where where are you finding this satisfaction of earning and I kind of that sat with me for a little while and for two reasons well I suppose I suppose it did two things to me which was made me want to be patient and made me want to pick my shots properly not just go swinging and hope one lands but it also So helped me kind of develop a pre-flow, you know, mindset going into a fight. And for me personally, when I'm watching my fights back, so if if I'm looking back and studying, I see a major difference between Bradley and Ben, where Bradley, I kind of went out swinging, going crazy, the usual style, and then with Ben, I was sitting, moving, you know, potshotting a little bit. And yeah, I think at the moment um it's definitely within my training that that I find uh the development or I try and slow things down a little bit and kind of be more active with my thinking. What am I focusing on? How am I moving? Do I want to break this down a little bit? And I'll spend time just moving slowly to get the footwork and then slowly build it up and up and up and up. And I'll do that with a lot of different techniques just to kind of really cement the the the focus of it, you know, and that for me is just sharpening the sword, you know. But um yeah, the the the major difference I see was coming from the Bradley fight to the Ben fight. And um yeah, hopefully now there's only the development from there. But the only time that I can really see it that I don't see myself being throwing big punches and actually being methodical with my with my fighting is that jump. And hopefully uh it will only develop from there in the future, you know. >> Yeah. Know, and I find interesting a lot of things that you said that I'm I'm thinking about and I'm probably going to think about after we we get off this. I'm probably going to be up on like this. I really like that. A lot of people I talk to now talk to sports psychologists and stuff like that. Um, do you think it was something that I know is coming into play a lot now. Do you think it's something that was overlooked by people? Cuz I think fighting obviously is physical but you know yourself like you've probably seen teammates they can get psyched out before fight. We've seen it with like just say Jose Aldo McGregor years ago like it was like he was defeat before he got in. Do you think that was overlooked for years and because of the evolution of the sport with nutrition everything say like it's all coming in now. Do you think it was overlooked and it's starting to come in now and and what made you go down that road if you don't mind me asking? >> Yeah. Um well I mean McGregor's a great example. You know Connor Connor was excellent at the mind game. We we have to kind of appreciate that for what it was and let people kind of noticed um you know the trash talk and getting into people's minds. But people weren't aware of you know his belief system in himself. Now obviously you can take that and kind of say well look at him now he's running for president all that stupid [ __ ] But back back in the bare bones when he was making a name for himself, you had to respect that he had this plan in place. And he saw a higher version of himself to kind of go, right, this is who I am. This is what I'm capable of. I'm going to push for this. And this is my what's called a telis, which is like your your mission in life. The Greeks believed it was your mission in life is your telis. What you're born to do. And Connor figured out fairly quickly that that was to be a fighter. And you have to you have to hold a hand up to it and respect that he was able to hyperfocus that to like a laser point. That's why he eviscerated Aldo. That's why he went through everyone. He just had such a sharpness to his mindset in regards to competition, you know. But I feel like with the sport that evolved so quickly and it's evolving so much, especially in the last couple of years, it's really really becoming pinpoint accurate with the with the evolution mind games and the psychological side of it outwardly. We could go back, you know, Chel Sunonnen was is one that came to mind straight away. He was great at talking [ __ ] He was great at getting in people's heads. But I feel like the real development is of the self now. I think people are starting to look inward rather than projecting outwards and like you said trying to psych other people out and you see fighters get psyched out still. I think now the difference is sitting with that belief system because no one I think again not to use Connor as an example but I feel like when you let it go too far when you let the ego go rampantly and it kind of takes over then um then it becomes an issue in the opposite sense there's too much belief and not enough substance you know so finding that line of pinpointing it with like a laser precision is very important um and I outwardly it's been there for years. It's definitely been outwardly like messing with other people's heads been there for years. But yeah, I think the real development is is only coming into fruition now for the for people themselves seeing sports psychologists or just like you know another example would be like I guess I'm have to draw a [ __ ] >> inwardly or outwardly because I I was going to say for inwardly I look at Paul Hughes like he said when he was fighting on Cage Conflict I am the best lightweight in the world And I'm going to show you. He goes, I'm not telling you for you to believe it or for me to believe it. This is what I believe. I believe in me. And like you said, the outward sometimes can be looked at maybe not that the person doesn't have confidence, but or maybe it could be that they don't have confidence. So that's why they want to project it out. But you look, there's a lot of fighters now that are like that. Ian Garry's another one who's like, I am the best. I will be champion. And and like I said, you do see a lot more of that. And it's gone away from the kind of the showmanship a little bit. I said my internet connection is unstable, but you're still there. You can still hear me? Yeah, >> I can see you. Yeah, you're good. >> Yeah. So, I I think I think it has kind of it is going that way. And like I said, the sport has evolved so much over the years. It's mad. Like I said, even from when I started to now the talent that we have. But um I'm going to let you go now. I've really enjoyed this conversation. Um, I would actually like to spend a lot more time with you another time. Um, but I have five minutes left on my thing and I don't I have the free one. But we're gonna talk about the the after this fight, right? Um, what's your plans? Do you have any plans or do you just focus on one fight at a time? >> Uh, well, after this fight now will be 10 fights. So, I always said to myself that I'd be considering a pro career after 10 fights hopefully. Um, but yeah, I want to close out the year with at least another fight after me and Callum go and from there it's, you know, I'm already training pretty consistently throughout the week, sixish days a week. So, I'm I feel like my training is already on that kind of pro landscape, you know, really that commitment to it. So, yeah, for me it's just kind of I like to try and take it fight by fight, but by the end of the year looking to turn pro. >> Yeah. So, yeah. So, turn pro or maybe one more fight in turn pro. Uh, but like that. I think >> we'll see obviously how this I'm actually going to be at the show. It's going to be my first time doing media this year. So, it's going to be exciting. It's going to be good to see you. We're going to see if you're going to be howling at my camera again, which is I showed it to Amy Kelly and she was like, "That is just such an all like and that's what I love about being in the cage after all these things are raw. All those emotions are going through. It's not like you knew you were going to sit down with me today." Do you know the sort of way these things just happen? And that's like I said, we've had these conversations and then you just changed. You said it unnerves some people, but I love it cuz I know the sport and like you said with Bradley Dice when you could hear me, oh, like that's me loving the sport and love watching you doing what you're doing. And that's why I want to highlight what you do and what you go through cuz I don't think I think MMA is still marginalized a little bit from from the general public. Uh, and I don't think they realize what you do and how disciplined you are. And 99% of people in MMA are good. There's always going to be the 1%. But I'm going to let you go. Is there anything you want to say before you go or anything you want you want to shout out on? Thank you so much for your time. This has been such an interesting conversation. I like a lot of your viewpoints and a lot of things and I think we'll have to have another conversation very very soon. >> Yeah, absolutely. I 100% down talk again. Um first of all, thanks thanks for inviting me in. It's always a pleasure to sit down and chat. Um uh I just want to thank some of the the guys coming up in the gym with me who are pushing me real hard. You know, Kale Brennan who's fighting with me at the weekend. Uh we have an up andcoming guy called Kira. He's going to be jumping on the card as well. Himself, Miles, uh Paul Nolan, you know, big things coming for Paul now soon enough. He's been really, you know, pushing push me this this fight camp especially. And uh the team team Rhino Waterford guys, they uh we go up, we kind of uh cross train a little bit. Solomon King Simon, big big fight coming up for him. His brother Sam, you know, Kevin Ko, Lee Randall, a lot of those guys that would really kind of help push us uh when it comes to Spar, you know. Obviously, shout out to all my my my Aloe family, the community up there, the Jits crowd. Uh my my coach Miles Price, of course, got to get him in there. Um yeah, just just got to share love for my community and uh all the people around me push me. >> Yeah, best skill this weekend. I love the way you cross train chain. I think a lot of gyms should do that as well because not everyone has the numbers of an SPG or an FAI and I think like that to just get the bodies and like the people you named Kevin Ko Solomon who for me has been phenomenal and he should be going towards a title shot after this. If he's not it's a travesty in my opinion but >> I'm not the matchmaker. Uh I'm going to wish you good luck this weekend. I'm going to see you there in person. So it'll be good to talk to you again in person and I will talk to you on Sunday. All right. See you, bud.