IN DEPTH | EPISODE 23 | RHYS MCKEE

Summary

Dave sits down with Cage Warriors Champion Rhys McKee for a chat about his fighting career so far.

Transcript (youtube_captions)

foreign [Music] up so obviously to get to this stage there had to be a beginning so what led you into MMA in the first place yeah so like many kids in this country um I started kicking the football um you know played football at a decent level like kind of under 14 under 15 so nothing nothing senior and from there I just uh went through the motions like you know it wasn't making much progress and pre-season come up and I fancy trying martial arts there was a local gym with Rodney at the time and I remember you know giving them our government I had to give them a phone call and see if I could call in and done that and I just got hooked you know from there it's um I got beat up more than I beat anybody up and uh I just hooked Hook Line and second Ireland you know a competition come up and I think that was the first time I knew I'm not going back to football and I never did yeah and they like that a lot of people go on to football and it's a team sport and like that especially with going in Tampa Bay you get out to work you put in you're not relying on people people aren't relying on you but you said something interested there like you got beat up more than you were beating people what made you hooked about getting beaten up yeah like I so I was never like people think of being a fighter and a better professional fighter that you must agree up you know fighting and I never had a fight in my life I never you know never had confrontation avoided confrontation at all cost and then I think I think one of an Endeavor may I realized that I was very vulnerable you know probably more vulnerable than I even believed it was I knew it wasn't um that able to defend myself if need be but I didn't know I was that vulnerable so when I started seeing it um happening and seeing probably what could have happened if you know it wasn't skilled it's probably scared me a bit and you know and and and an egotistical way I probably wanted to be capable to defend myself yeah because like that they always say like it's better to know and not use it then to not know it better to be uh what a warrior in the garden and a gardener in the war yeah exactly that I think that's a joke well as much or organ but everyone uses it so going through there so obviously you with Rodney uh you're going to and like talk us to about like did you know you wanted to compete when you first started doing it or yeah not at all it's like um you know there's a wise tale and Rodney he's a gem of like where you get this text from Rod and it's you know as he always says like hey boy and you know then he then they ask you to fight then I remember getting my texts and basically just you know asking what I fancy he always calls it a run out you know it's always made the sound less formal and what it actually is he's like do you fancy a run out on this date and I just happened to get that text but uh that fancy run out and I I never really like I didn't have aspirations to fight until after my first fight so up until I was fighting I never had that like I need to make my Debbie it was it wasn't like that just very much happened there was training you know seven days a week you know multiple sessions a day at this time I was 15 and so I think it was very obvious for everybody else I just never entertained that fault so Rodney did text me and he asked would I fancy Megan with Debbie and at the time it was in chaos um I mean my Debbie was a flyweight um and that was it like once I get that moment then I kept training and all the fights started coming but like until then I never aimed to compete and then tell us what was that like if I'm not aiming to compete to stepping into chaos which is like it's one of the promotions around here that I really like it's it's it's on every year like twice a year like going with chaos just tell us what was like the buildup come not to the fight was there nerves was there excitement what was it like and then when you actually had to step in the cage and your your face to face with someone for the first time what was that like you know what I I can remember pretty much everything about it like you know I remember seeing the poster going up online and thinking this is the coolest thing ever you know I'm fighting someone and there's our pictures and there's a bit they're writing a bit of a bio but Rhys McKee from Rodney's and Daniel Thompson from this gym and you know I just thought it was so cool that like this was our moment so the training went well you know I was probably very very naive um it was very naive you know trained to the best of my ability but once it came to fight night and and this is the thing I can remember everything from the day I can remember who I got there with I can remember the car during the conversation I remember the sound the smell and the hall I remember it like literally remember it all it's quite weird and but then the minute I stepped in I just I mean I just I just crouched myself I suppose you know it's um I remember walking in and feeling like you know I remember taking my t-shirt off as I went in and never feeling that sensation of the the air hitting like you know my back with no t-shirt on like I just I never trained with no T-shirt like you know I was 50 16 never treating like that so it was very new and then I got in the cage and everybody was looking and the lights were hot and the sound and it was just so surreal and um I remember a boydy at the time who cornered me alongside Rodney he showed at something and I was looking down and but it turned out it wasn't what he thought when it was Rodney I was so like like disoriented that I thought Rodney was talking through body it was just it was so strange and lo and behold Daniel came in and you know he's given me the mean most stare and I just I wanted anything else but being there I just wanted to go home and lasted a minute and 41 seconds and I got Guillotines and I was pretty glad to go to that cage to be honest well at least you're honest about because a lot of people wouldn't be so honest to say especially Fighters I've seen down here that said it before he didn't want to get into a fight in one of his things so after you get guilty and you felt like like that it feels like a strange situation my situation but it felt real for a year like you said with your coaches talking and stuff like that then what made you want to go back for the second one and then how did how did that go the second one I think I remember crying like the baby backstage and I think then it was probably when I knew you I was like you know I I need the experience what it's what it's like and it was just very like again it wasn't much of a thought process although like in the cage it was so uncomfortable I knew it would never happen again but I think I needed to answer the question if I could get over it more than anything like I feel I feel like surely everybody couldn't have been everybody couldn't be this nervous everybody couldn't feel like this because if they did nobody would do it yeah um so I ordered to myself then and I just started training again 16 17 now at the stage like a demon just doing as much as I could and like at that stage I was having a lot of success like amateur Fighters were coming down to the club to train and like in the nicest way possible I would get my way with them and they improve Fighters come down in the stadium only like one one and oh or oh and one sorry and you know like I'm having success with them so I just knew yeah I knew I owed it to myself and then I did get another fight matched up when I remember it was just the the best feeling ever because obviously went on I think he won he went on a little streak then on a terror I was like like one minute six or um and like I started like dropping people like like knock on the bike and I was like flip like I'm a 17 year old but like I remember thinking I was so powerful as this is amazing and I know what it was it was really really really fun and you know I was never egotistical I I respect everyone and never wanted to hurt anyone but really really enjoyed dropping people well that's that's part of Paris into the game and like I said that's 17 like if you look at now compared to them with like the way the amateurs this is so safe it seemed a little bit out there like were you fighting like grown men in their 30s late to any stuff like that is that not like when you're going into that is that not kind of like what like this like because obviously they're fully grown men you're still kind of growing interested at that stage like is that not a bit off I really [ __ ] enjoyed it I remember I thought at the show I think it was the last ever show Immortal and they were on the show and done a goal and um I thought a fella and the original opponent pulled out so they got this guy to step in and uh I remember walking in the car park with the hotel and I never seen the guy who was fighting I knew he had tattoos which at the time I didn't but no I do at the time I didn't and he drool that not like a beamer like a free series uh BMW and I was like sport drives and I actually remember when you walked out in front of his car and like at that moment that was another one of them like do you want to do not and I was like that's a class I'm gonna like beat up a guy with who drives the tattoo probably a family like and I really enjoyed that I really enjoyed that so for me it definitely didn't fuse me in fact like I I kind of I kind of like that I'm being honest that's good and then like to end your amateur career you actually went out and you won you were in tournament that we fought twice in one night which links into your pro debut but how did it feel to like because the tournaments was slightly coming back now I see into the amateur game what was it later fight in the tournament fighting twice in one night and then to end up winning and that was the end of your amateur career I have a lot of time for tournaments you know I think um they play their part and I think if the fighter is the right level and you know has a lot of skin in the game then then it's sensible I think for younger fighters it might not be the smartest idea because and do very very bad and even like if the medical things aren't up to scratch you know like you can take a lot of damage in your first fight and still fighting the second so you need to be careful doing them but at the time I done them I remember I found it like an experiment on November uh I sparred four or three minute rounds at the time took 45 minutes and no swear just resting and and then sparred number four around so I loved the like how will I feel how do I try and mimic this and see to be honest the time we've done the fight it wasn't exactly like that I went out I'd done two rounds it was the guy valderram who was nine and one other night I know what the time nobody wanted to touch him and I knocked him out in the second and then went back sat for two and a half hours probably and then fought wondering the final and beat him so it was like I got the experiment was answered and um like yeah like I think a part of me as a person is I'm very curious and need to know about stuff and you know I need to know how I feel when I do certain stuff and that was just another a game I suppose or an experiment which obviously you pass for flying colors and then did you know then that was gonna be the end of your amateur or no like I was always hiding Rod I was always like you know there is a finger Rodney's where you have a red t-shirt and the red t-shirt Pro t-shirt it's a big deal like it's it's your black belt effect of the MMA and and remember Heinen Rodney man can order a red t-shirt and whatnot and um no so like at the time it wasn't officially set that I was going to win this and then go um nor was I even really talked about it was just at the time I was working a full-time job and again another one of them Rodney texts came free um eight days before what would have been my approve Debian Obama yeah which links into your last soundtrack because he actually Corners yeah and then you went into John Redmond and then looking back and looking to uh because on this no one wanted you to take that fight I haven't thought you were crazy I know his record I think he had a losing record at the time when it happened but Johnny is still Johnny and Johnny is a firefight like to go in as like as your debut against someone like that like you obviously trusted in Rodney trusted you and UMC trusted and Rodney go ahead what was like what was everything going around were people saying here you crazy like what was the so like I remember at the time like I was at the time I was or sorry John was five and nine so he had 14 pro fights which at the time for me like I never even thought at that time well I did think it was going through but I never even knew if I had a 14 or 15 proof fights in my whole career but he had a lot of fights so I was never really that worried like I seen John I knew he was a character I knew he had a social media thing so he was bigger than he he was bigger than he was if that makes sense and no disrespect but I just knew he wasn't as good as His Image was um so right you know Rod texts me and he said how fat are you at the time and like at that age and you know playing sport my whole life has always kind of fit so we said do you fancied in five minute round and that was like oh that must be Pro and it must be time for the red hit and I was at 100 I was like yep when is it next next Saturday in free Arena is that sure well better way to do it than at that time I was just off a favorite fight and this fight was at wilterman which was my Pro Debbie and I had no right being fighting at fair or will early at that time like you know I couldn't even await well I wait on my heaviest day I probably walked up 74 kilo at the time and um yeah took the fight and just remember there's a buzz I remember Rodney get ridiculed and I get ridiculed and you know what does Romney think he's doing doing this and Rodney just was very silent and Rodney Rodney's very calculated man he doesn't make decisions on a whim and um you know sometimes people are probably confuses quite like his sense of quietness as a mistake but he was confident I knew what I can do and he I said he seen me beat up proves coming from other gyms for years he's seen it all happen he knows what I knew what I was capable of I ran through everyone on that which was seen pretty much um so it was the time and he trust her and um together we laughed about it and you know it all played part on on that night like it happened to John too yes like that was like to come in at that if he seemed that happening now I'd probably saying be like what's going on here but obviously uh Rodney trusted you like he knew your skills you know your skills going in and what was going to happen but like so talk to you he told me about your first amateur fight or was like going into like the tree in Arena for your pro debut was a pretty big deal on Bama like what was what was that like obviously there's gonna be more crowd like or did any Aphasia at the time you know what I was I was always like and I'm not like but I'm gonna blow my Praises or anything but like I was always out of duck to water like it was never I've never found anything a mad transition like I've never bought that first amateur fight I've never like none of us have ever got anywhere flat this isn't for me I remember like like when I was fighting the the free Arena against John I was I was home for half one I'm in bed like I remember just flicking through my phone on Facebook after the fight like that's how casual it was it wasn't like you know it wasn't an after party and it wasn't like a big event and we stayed it wasn't like that it was very casual I'm just going to fight on a Saturday night and go home and so like before the event I knew it was an arena show I knew the walkout song would be a bit lighter and but it was all like it was all like very much for me it was very like natural um so like as unfortunately it's a boring answer but like none of it really fears me whatsoever I just I just knew you I was like this is this is fun I enjoyed it a lot don't get me wrong I really enjoyed it but like there was never a point where I was like this is a bit big yeah so like you fell at home basically in the whole city like that to go home and just casually scoring through Facebook I'm going to bed now that was it and it was so it was as casual as that and I woke up the next day and showed the showed the fight to my family and went for Sunday lunch probably like it was just very casual like um going on from that you went on a bit of a run then as well like you did in your amateur career and then so you went on bit for one Bama and then you actually came to your first last talk to us what it's like as a fire because obviously he had lost his Armature but to lose as a pro didn't mean more did it mean less and what do he actually go through when you get lost because I don't think people understand they see the 15 minutes or whatever it is and then they because they don't see what you've done for the months the years and then how does that affect you like going into your next couple of weeks and your next Camp yeah well funny I am I picked up the title I thought Jay Herbert uh to go 5-0 and then Obama and the time they're coming back to Belfast which of course was out great well and that's where you're defending and um it was all fine had a perfect fight count everything hunky dory that kind of went better you know sold maybe over 200 tickets at the time and you know it was all good and then I will go on fight day and I was just sick no I woke I went home after the weigh-in and I went to bed which was very strange and like Rebecca at the time was like we always went for dinner on like the Friday night which was way in night then you know she can start eating again of course unless you know you're fighting tomorrow it's a big event you sold over 200 tickets everyone's there I actually like lay in bed and I remember like waking up and Rebecca's like jogging with food and I was like no like no chance I just felt so well it was so sick and then so forced myself to go eat food to try and force that's normal feeling back and um that was all right couldn't eat anything didn't eat starting to be sick woke up and fight there and you know that feeling like before you open your eyes where you're like I'm gonna open my eyes and everything's gonna be gonna be fine let's fight there like fight day is a big day for a fighter like anybody will know it's like you wake up and fight then you just feel like Superman I didn't know I feel like Superman I felt like I felt like I was dying um you know being sick being being a lover ways or how you can end there too much but like not I couldn't drink any water or come out um I couldn't eat any food I couldn't even the food made me sick and you know I have a situation then we're like seven hours from fight now what they do they fight they're not at the time of course I'm gonna fight and you know I remember getting to the arena in Belfast everyone there started people started knowing I was sick and that night was just never going to end well I remember talking to Rodney backstage and I think Rodney's still a wee bit guilty for this I'm not like I don't find him good I think he feels guilty for it and we taught and I said listen I'm gonna go out and try and Flatline them in five minutes like in that first round that's all I have like I didn't warm up didn't take my coat off until we're walking I remember we forgot to put my sponsor t-shirt on because I had the coat and I said I need to change his T-shirt but even the thought of taking my jacket off to put a t-shirt on what made me like made a big stress and so when I went blew the tank for four or five minutes had an off in there and Tim Burnett finished me and at the end of the first the last second in the rain with a knee in Belfast and um I was got it but I was glad I put myself in that position um like that that annoyed me more than anything you know it's I like there was nothing I could do I was just sick and it's like genuinely it's like not like one of these ones oh oh I just had a stomachache I think this was like you know I went till when I fought when I weighed in the day before I was 155 which was a championship wheel it was a title fight the day of the fight is 156. like yeah you should be putting on yeah I mean I I normally would have went back in there at 172 at that stage in my career like 172 once up like yeah like 16 17 pound and I put one pound on um next day I had to go had a broken orbital film on my face the day after the fight so which is it yeah quite a hard time in my life you know and I was five and I was finishing everybody was Untouchable you know is he going to go to the UFC before he even has to do anything and at this stage I'm 25 and I was so early but I like you buy into your own hype of course um and I remember after that last me in Rebecca went and stayed in a week like quiet hotel in Port Rush when he's up the coast and just like kind of head for a few days like not ahead because there was a massive media demand or anything like that but you need a break I was like 21 22 and you know felt like the world was crumbling off of something that's so small when you look at my career now but at the time it was a big deal um so we head there for a few days and then I think you know when my stomach was normal and I was able to eat food and drink food and not go to the toilet every 90 seconds you know I came back to normal life and I thought that was sorry for myself yeah and then obviously with that you've obviously learned from that because obviously at the time you would have said that you felt like your word was coming you'd have you taken that experience and brought it Forward because obviously there's more losses that come further down the line too which we're going to get on to fairly soon but you have to you take that experience and feel like it's not to be all and end all it is a [ __ ] part of the game but it is what it is yeah of course you know I'm like I always like I never wanted to be a Floyd May whoever who was on on or like undefeated this whole career like someone was about for me like I want to fight the best fighters and prove that I'm better than them and you know on a certain night if I come up a bit short then I'm just not better than him on that night at that time so um yeah like I very much accept that no you know defeat is a very readily available option it's not my First Choice by any means but at some nights you're going to meet a man that's better than you and that's that's just the way that's just the way it is like I mean I definitely learned a lot from that fight I learned not to put myself in position that doesn't help you know I believe on me and Tim went out rematched two or three fights after and it went exactly how I knew it would but at that time I put myself in a very vulnerable position and you know I've got a tattoo in my leg and it says the sufferer must help himself and it's you know if you're not prepared to help yourself and make these decisions for yourself then you're a lost cause yeah well that's good that's like because you had belts in Bahama Bama eventually just obviously folded um and then what were you thinking then like were you like where would I go Bellator just cage Wars yeah like what was it like for just to fall like that and then with the options like were you ever uncertain about where you were going next yeah like that was the strange like time in my career like one I've never actually talked about like Bama at the time was like just where I work to let you know as soon as anybody Works a job at Tasco or anything like bomb was my place of work and I had the word title and then I lost I was the very last fight in Baltimore technically I mean Tara is the title fight he took the title of me so I'm coming off a loss and then that's like where do you go so we we conversation with like ACB at the time it was a Russian crowd and I didn't really dig that we had conversations with a few European ones obviously they're not that big because I can't even remember who they are we talked to ksw at the time and it very much nearly did work um which which still excited me or I'm still excited even thinking about what could have been but cage Warriors then Graham bought a messaged me and just said listen if you need a new home the yellow gloves are ready for you and I think at that time I was training and I was just like you know what let's do it and you know what it was never real I knew what I wanted and that was the UFC super Bellator and stuff never really entered my mind we had offers from from Bellator and stuff and we didn't even I don't even know how nice they were but I'm sure they would have been good but weren't even interested like it was the long game and the UFC was always the way I was looking Warriors is a great like you look at the Champions that have gone there into like the corner of this being like everyone who's moved on and and obviously you moved on there eventually so when you go into cage Warriors and and you start winning and then talk is what's too late because everyone you see everyone going oh Uncle Dana ring me how does a UFC call actually come right and that was your end God how did you feel when it when it came yeah like I mean I knew I was doing all the work so like you know I remember I would say popping people away like pretty pretty handily to you like I didn't feel like I was really stressing too much and and then lockdown happened at that time and weren't really training like doing bits and pieces and I had a conversation with graham before that because I signed his management which I never was before um and then and I'd just be really honest and I'm not happy but anyway or I don't believe in like certain mad things but I had this feeling that I was fighting uh this thing called fight Island I just had this feeling like I'm not that person I'm not spiritual I don't believe why you buy a Waggy about yourself it's not me but I had a feeling and I knew part of that did would require me to sign the Graham and maybe that was to be on his nest or to be in you know as conversations and lo and behold I signed that contract with Graham and two weeks later he facetimed me um so I was just bought from training that was exactly 12 weeks before I was judified Adam Proctor in Manchester uh for the Willow Ridge or title and um Graham said he was going to message to give me an interview which no looking back it's like what did I really think I remember I remember people asking did I know but I just know I met that I was like I genuinely didn't know like I remember I can't even remember having like oh I wonder is it this yeah like I didn't have that which surprised me because I'm very like you know Graham tastes mean I am still like oh is this yeah you know but at the time I just wasn't um I think because the fake contract was signed I signed a contract with Proctor um and then so it's just by it was first year income we're having a barbecue meter back a real nice sunny day again we're in lockdown so as much as I was feeling I'm still not on the waiting for the call and then Graham pops up and he was asking me a bit short notice stuff I'm about fights blah blah blah he was like how would you or what would you say to someone offered you and I said yeah I would I would do it but like and then I think at this moment it was like well you may pack your bag and I was like flip this is like like I remember like that was a very like fur Dimension or like fur person view you were like in my car for a minute I'm like like this is just like insane at all like it was just it was just very very real and um yeah like that that was it it just turned in this real Whirlwind for the next 24 hours I got released at the UFC that was on that night and so I guess like in my mind I got signed at like five or six o'clock when I found for Graham at midnight I wake up to my phone buzzing being tagged Reese McGee is fighting hands at shamayev and it was just like it was pretty insane but again pretty cool like pretty much everything I signed up for like when I when I when that's what I wanted that's what I wanted if that makes sense yeah I love the madness I love the Mayhem I love the John Ramblin fights where he's not meant to win I love the last minute sign ins and you know I mean yeah it all seems like a bit of a bit of craziness in your career so far with that then you're going in obviously you said you're gonna have a barbecue obviously said you weren't near the weight so obviously I would assume you didn't have that bar because how far off the way it was was it how much did you know about your opponent and how easy was it to get the weight down um so first question was I remember I said to Grandma I said who is it like who or who is it and it's in the video I've never watched that video but because I cry and I'm like I can't watch it back and it makes me cringe of it but I know I've never watched it um he's I I remember at the time frankly said kamikaze like that was just in my mind I was like I've never heard of someone in the UFC called Kamikaze or and but it turns out it was comes up but like you know it's probably how much life was yeah um so like there was these few hours where I was like Googling like EFC Kamikaze like whatever I remember talking to a few people and saying like like dirty and stuff at the time and he was like it's not the boy that fought John Phillips last weekend and I was like no he's a middleware like I don't think it's him and you know I said to I then text Grandma believed him and said who who did you say it was and he said oh hands up I said oh okay and then looked them up but I didn't know like I didn't I never heard of cams up before or never watched this fight with John Phillips didn't watch it until after the fight of me and him anyway like when I watched it because at that time it's done like a sign that does it's not really going to change anything although my opinions have changed a bit more I probably would have watched it but um yeah I really didn't know who it was um so the weight I was I think at the time I was 187. I I when I looked back I walked pretty light at that time so 170 was pretty easy and I feel like my body like was so like like riled up with the fight and stuff like my appetite was crap all week so the weight just fell off and like I think in Abu Dhabi at the time I done one bath no one one session of sweat and I didn't even use a bath that's how easy it was to get the weight but I feel like the body was just like probably wasn't eating as much with being the finlands but no it was easy that was the last thing in my mind to be honest and then when you get in there I know it's not it was uh on quite Island so I didn't have all the Vegas rings and bears and whistles like what was it like getting stepping in through a UFC cage I then seen him and obviously we all know what happened like yeah looking back on that now like you're like Reese got a bit of a bag on the UFC so with with the two fights I think because your second one was a lot more competitive I was like stepping into the UFC cage and being backstage yeah like again like for an answer but it was so normal like I just felt like did not feel like you know I remember like UFC staff coming up and handing me t-shirts and I wear this at this time and wear this here and you know if other people might be oh this is cool I would never like this is cool I'm like yeah cool thanks like not like another ungrateful yeah or anything but like I just felt like yeah of course I'm in the UFC now like this is what happens like you know you win fights you come here and this is what happened so you know very very normal but amazing to be there like very proud like insanely proud to be there like you know at this time your articles from home and every Irish MMA report in the country is looking for an interview which is you know this you know the support the Irish get their own so it was all like very cool and but again yeah like my mindset was like yeah this is this is my time now and I'm here now so the other member after or before the weigh-ins we got to go see the arena and stand up beside the cage at that time we didn't go on up but yeah it was just so nice but it was just so like like this just makes sense like it just it's just as normal and seeing like I think at the time it was Laura cycle at the time I didn't know who it was but now I know who it was and oh there's the girl from TV and you know you've seen the reporters maybe at the time of Paul Felder and stuff up in the box like doing interviews and everything like it's a thing I realized I'd probably like so I'm not really Starstruck by anyone and met Dana and or not Diana Sean and it was cool like it was very cool but just nothing to get me that like oh but you know no one scared me like I got scared of the flyby at my Debbie yeah no I don't I think after that scan I don't think anything else this day obviously when you finish that fight and obviously you went away when how did you feel after that you think right were you actually signed for just a one fight did you get multi-fight or were they giving you a shot and then see how that went and give you another shot it was a four fight contract which in hindsight we know doesn't mean four fights but um after the fight and stuff like you know I was never there to lose I was there to win um you know conditions and higher training before definitely didn't help you know all that stuff but I lost the fight I was gonna like when I lose and if I you know I've got it it was no different but it was very much like you know a lot of people with this mentality oh well at least your end now and I was like yeah but yeah fair enough but I've lost so but so it was all eyes on the next one I said to Graham you know that fight was in July I want to go soon like I want to like rewrite this so I got like I end up getting a fight in September which is another thing with hindsight I would I would change so much I see these Fighters get in the UFC not in short notice and next thing you know for their next fight they happen to be injured and they'd prolonged their next fight I'd say is Oliver and them boys are trailing in the wings knowing that they're not having to just go in straight away and risk getting another loss because we all know what happens if you get two or three in a row I probably would I probably would play the game and hindsight if I could but I didn't so I thought and no sorry got the fight and I got the fight in September I got the news of Defense term and I fought in November so July to November not a lot of time for two UFC fights you know and um but my intent stuff was like going into the next one I was out like in my mind I was gonna knock on Stone dead and um again circumstances probably didn't help that one either and it just all builds this perfect storm and that storm has been eventually getting caught and then like you said once you were there everything felt normal the fact like you've been winning Obama you're winning on cage Warriors this was the next step so what was that like for that next step when obviously like I said four fights or something four fights when that's pulled from underneath you like what's that feeling like are you thinking I'm not going back to cage Warriors I'm not like did you have an air about you that like well I've been here so I'm not going back and how did it make you feel like because that's everyone's dream like your dream is gone obviously you didn't perform oh well not that you didn't perform obviously hamzat was an anomaly that no one knew about really at the time he was on his way up the second flight was closer and then I think it was a bit of a rough goal that you got but how did that make you feel that it's gone now so remember walking back to the change rooms with the Murano fighting like I'm so beat up like I remember Maleficent like it was horrendous the shape wasn't I remember saying to like Rodney and Ryan at the time I was like that's me cut 100 and they're at no chance no way like you'll not be cut but in my mind like I was like yeah I'm I'm I was just accepting that I would be cut and um yeah like then I went home and uh you know a few months passed or a few weeks and it's like nobody knows what they're doing it's like loads of fighters in this position where like you're not cut people think you're cut the day after you fight or you the day after you lose you're not the USA doesn't work like that they're like they have a little you know they have meetings and then they met their cuddles and their Cuts so like maybe it was I'll tell you that it was November 14th I thought and I believe I was caught on December 16th so I mean it's four four or five weeks so a month and a half two months and I remember I was driving out of my estate to come here funny enough um to get internet installed um and I got a text from Graham and I said you free and I was like yeah and he just texted me and said good news and bad news and that's like oh [ __ ] here we go that's really just a bad news to text isn't it yeah there's no good news the good news part of it was they wanted to go and develop but let's be honest that was a day record um and yeah like it was very very hard I remember Sandra Rodney and Ryan we were back in Vegas I'm not going by the cage Wars they're just this like I don't know what I'm gonna do like like not no I don't know what I'm going to do in a way where like this is the end of my life yeah but like fight wise as I'm I don't know if I'd be that movie that to go back um and then yes we got caught dealt with that very [ __ ] few weeks you know before Christmas wasn't ideal not that I would have made a difference um but then I took a lot of time off to a year off like trained got like this realization of like real life and like you know what are you gonna do like just lie down and be like you know what are you going to do lie down and just not fight again and I was never for me so I had conversations with Graham and you know talked about options and lo and behold I'm about the cage Wars so obviously with your last fight um you fought at the SSE tell us what that fight was like it was a fight with like a lot of heart and like it was a whirlwind what was it like what's it like for a fire up north to fight at SSE and what was your feeling after that fight yeah like to fight in the SSE as someone from the current realize as magic you know I couldn't tell you how many times have been there as a kid how many things I've watched how many times have stood in the same Isles and everybody else watched the fight like amazing venue so to headline it like was unbelievable um and then the fight it was and like how many tickets I sold there no it's not just a mad event the run-up was perfect and mad and crazy and you know it was good but when I won the fight like I remember just thinking like this is just like this will be hard to beat and I stand by that like you know I'll fight in the MGM or fighting the T-Mobile wherever it is in Vegas or or whatever country in the world like and Belfast will be hard to talk you know um they're just just amazing like really really magic the fight you know from the depths of the Fate to nearly one into losing again to them get your big punch moment and it's just like when I if you've seen that fight in a rugby movie you wouldn't be confused like it would make sense for a rugby movie and yeah it was me I took a lot of punishment gave a lot of punishment showed more strings from Arsenal than I ever have and walked away with a strap so that was the main thing yeah it was a role record like you said if that was in the movie you'd be like that wouldn't happen in your life but that was a real life fight that really happened that you can all watch you can all watch back so um because obviously you have the fight coming up you're gonna be fighting uh Judo Jimmy he's got he's got quite he's got quite nice I think he's fighting since like 2005 or so yeah so that's gonna be another test for you we look forward to that but two two questions before I let you go one is what will be your favorite fish I think we have your favorite fight would be the last one I would presume um or what beef like that you learn from the most and what would be your favorite finish um favorite I mean yeah you're right with the favorite fight um favorite finish um my favorite Financial I probably I fought Jai Herbert and I was a time after my dad died and that fight was like eight weeks after and I remember thinking that that fight was real Mega break time it was like left or right on the road and I beat him but like it was a hard fight and I remember if I can flip I don't know if I'll do this and I caught him like the sweetest of left hand and I remember being so relieved even though but I think with the whole scenario and the build up and the whole Arena was behind me that night so I think that's my favorite finish for obvious reasons and my favorite fight um you know what like or sorry the one I learned the most from um that's a really tough question um would it be your first one maybe you know what I think I think there was a lot of lessons in my first fight for sure I think every fight I learned something from I could give you a lesson from each and every single fight um you know I learned a lot from the Justin one learned a lot from the malakivi that whatever fight it was and the very first fight you're right you're you're not wrong like that that's probably the biggest lesson ever and the first pro fight as well because you like learn that you're you're more powerful than you probably believe so um a lot of lessons and fights a lot of lessons yeah it sounds like that first amateur fight set the tone for the rest it set you up for the rest of the way it went on uh one more question before we go when you're finished fighting uh what would you like to be known for your legacy as or as a person um so it doesn't have to be as a fighter as a person what would you like people to remember you for when it's all said and done yeah I think like when when it's all said and done and wrote um I want kids of Northern Ireland and Ireland to look at me and be like will he done it you know and I'm not raised from my background of money I'm not readers from and being hand I are given everything's earned and often given and I want to be no one as one of the flybearers for the people that like really did make it out of like hard work and afro and determination that's what I want to be knowing that I want to be one of Ireland's greatest ever Sportsmen you know when people talk about George best or Conor McGregor or Carl Frampton or up north or so if I want people to say Reese McKay and for me that's what Legacy will be and you know we're well on the way to writing it so a few more chapters just to stomp in here perfect it's been a good few chapters so far and I can't wait to see the rest has been an absolute pleasure thank you thank you so much