IN DEPTH | EPISODE 20 | DANNI MCCORMACK

Summary

Dave sits down with Invicta Fc fighter, Danni McCormack for a chat about her career and her upcoming world title fight.

Transcript (youtube_captions)

foreign [Music] okay so I'm here in Relentless gym I'm here with Daniel McCormick who's got a title fight and a Victor coming up very soon so we're just going to go briefly through her career today the ups and down the highs and lows so I want to thank you so much for your time today uh how are you how are you feeling with the title shot coming up yeah thanks for coming down to Mullingar I didn't have to go too far and yeah I'm great I got one training session in this morning having a chat with Chi and then I'm off to SBG Tullamore after this to do some Jujitsu so yeah the mood is like really high uh really enjoying myself and can't wait for like the next seven weeks of fight camp perfect so obviously you didn't just arrive here so we want to Circle back to the start I've watched a few entries which you you were actually Into Horses for for quite a long time and after it was nearly two decades I want to say nearly about 20 years that you gave it up uh how was that being involved in something for so long having to give it up like what was that like and then how did you transition into MMA yeah so like since I was four like I was riding horses back home in Roscommon and um that's pretty much all I did like I did a bit of GA and camogie and stuff but I was out every night riding the ponies um didn't have any interest in anything else um I wanted to be a vet then so I went to grind school for three years to try and get the points for veterinary and uh I I repeat in my leaving Source I did my leaving sir I didn't get the points I repeat it might even start and I missed them by like 15 points so um that was like a big knock um I suppose that my first like real knock of my life back then when I didn't get those points and I decided I was going to go to the car and ride out in the horse racing industry I was already um working in racing yards at that point so like you know you start off riding ponies you do a bit of show jumping a bit of hunting and then you just keep developing I suppose if you're good enough so like at the age of 15 16 I was riding racehorses at weekends to make some money and when I didn't get the points I was 19 I didn't want to do anything else I was really an assault to be honest like I didn't put anything else on my CEO and went off to the car and worked for Desi Hughes for six years um in horse racing and yeah I really thought when I went to the car that I was going to make it as a female jockey I don't think I had a clue what was ahead of me I don't think I really realized what the level was because I was riding out in Galway in the west of Ireland but when you go to the east of Ireland you go to The Courier go to these big race and counties and you don't realize like even the level of the girls that were there never mind the men it was um and there's no such thing as female races well there is female races but there are there's like 10 a year and so you've got to be able to hang with the lads it's not like fighting so um that went on for six years but in the first two years about two years in I broke my pelvis and my mother sat me down and said you got all these points in your leaving source and you're on the back of horses around the car like you're not going to do that for the rest of your life so I want you to go to college and so she picked physio for me and um you know I got in with my points because I had gotten such high points just missing out on Veterinary so I continued to ride out in the car during those four years of that degree and it was during those four years that um you know it was it was really rough I was commuting to Dublin doing a degree I was broke and um I was trying to work to to make money to like survive during this time and then I was still buying and selling my own horses so I guess a lot of strange things happened in those last two years before I finally said enough was enough um so my two best horses died of a liver parasite they both got it from the same same pasture and then I crashed a horse box into a bridge and nearly decapitated a horse in the process but didn't didn't she she survived and I also had a newborn fold who died of tetanus a few days later and then I had a young lad living in my house from Dublin and who was from a like a really rough background and he brought some people down from Dublin and they robbed our house and they took a load of cars and laptops and money and stuff so all of these crazy things happened in a really short space that I'm in the car and as it was I was already like kind of on tender hooks with the whole industry and then I just didn't have any more energy left you know that was it I was done and um yeah it probably we took a year after deciding I was done to actually to actually get out of us because I had to sell up I had to rearrange my life my whole life was was around these horses so the final year of my degree that was the year um it ended and I qualified I quit my job in in the car and I went to um to visit my brother in America and we went on a on a trip around America and then we we lived in Canada for seven months as well so I'll stop there that was a lot of history it was good it's nice to get that background as well and like I said the last like a lot of crazy stuff did really happen the last two years I think I would get I would have been like you know what I'm out so like having to give that up was obviously obviously hard I actually speak about before that he said like you didn't know what you wanted to do then um then how like how did MMA come about like yeah so um like I suppose the things I didn't speak about um to other people was that during that time like I I definitely was depressed like I was really anxious and depressed and I was making rash decisions and I seem to be constantly on the phone to my mother and I remember like coming home from work coming home from college and just getting into bed and wrapping duvets around me and some of that was because we had no Heating and I was broke but some of it was because that's how I felt my mood was just so low I felt like even though I'd gotten all these points and I was able to handle myself and I was able to buy and sell horses and I had done a lot with my life I felt like I had gotten nothing out of it so um yeah I I really needed a change so what I did with what most women do when when they're in a bad part of their life they try to get a man because that will surely fix things and give them something to be thinking about or entertainers so I downloaded Tinder and I swiped a fighter uh just coincidentally and um I met up with him on a date he was training in SBG under John he knew Conor McGregor I didn't know who Conor McGregor was I didn't know much about the sport I think I knew there was some sort of thing with cage fighting and there was a crazy Irish fella in it but I really didn't know because I was so in horse racing there was no other news on my news feed just just horse racing so um he told me all this and my eyes just lit up and I thought God like imagine just going into a cage and fighting someone else and there's no horse there's no money there's no politics nothing it's just you versus them and if you're good enough you win and you become successful and I thought that was as simple as it was going to be and so I I said to him how would I do this like what would I do and he he actually sent me the name of a gym in nice and said go in there and start training and nothing happened after the date we stayed like friends um but it just took off so that was again the final year of my degree I started in January in nice and I trained until the summer then I qualified and I went to America and it was when I went to America I first met John and what that that's that's actually a deadly story I have heard it before but I tell you so they need to sponsor you I've seen you say that I know it changed your life for the better uh I like that because you've had so many things come out of it which will get on to so like you first you said you first met John over in America yeah yeah so how was that first meeting John did did you was that a planned meet did you bump into them is this yeah so we like my brother knew I was doing MMA in these six months and he could see like a real like do an MMA I was rolling as a white belt and I was like hitting the bag um he could see this transformation in me so he said I'm in Canada when you're finished your degree I know like you've had a really tough time lately so I want you to come to America I'm going to meet you in America we're going to tour around and then we're going to go to a Conor McGregor fight because he knew MMA and Conor McGregor it was the same thing so um he paid for it all and we landed over and I seen Connor fight Mendes and I remember like sitting in the audience going oh my God like this is crazy like it was just the fans like I'd never experienced anything like it before it's like the whole of Ireland just landed into the MGM in Vegas and we're just going crazy for this man like and um I was really like a really set a fire under me that someone from Ireland could make people react like this it was just insane so after the fight there was like text messages going around among the Irish fans saying oh there's a pool party and Connor and John's gonna be out so we went in and um there was like meet and greet like you you could go over and ask them for a picture so I got a picture with Connor and um I didn't say anything to him I think I said well done but it was crazy and then I got like a few moments with John and I just said hey I I do MMA as well and I'll be a fighter for you and one day in your gym and he was like oh well good luck and he's like show me you'll do it you know he didn't brush me off he encouraged me and I remember thinking in my head I'm going to follow through on that and I did I I joined his gym maybe seven months later after I had lived in Canada I came home and the first thing I did was join SVG and when you got to SBG did he remember you no from that no he didn't remember you forever I know and I didn't tell him I was too shy I was too embarrassed like that this girl in Vegas in a bikini with like a belly on me and a vodka and Diet Coke sitting looking at him like you know thinking these people are amazing I was like no way I'm not telling him and so I didn't tell him and then when I got to the eye math final the world championships final my brother arrived over and he shared the picture and posted about it and it was only then John realized uh that that about that encounter so um yeah that was when it came out in 2017 like uh two years later actually really like that story I like how you said it and how it's come true and we're coming to full circle now as well so obviously so you joined John's gym uh like you said you've been horses you you didn't even know what cage fighting was you've done the training but when it comes to your first amateur fight tell us what your expectations versus the reality was like how are you going in like what did you expect going in and then what was it like when you got there to actually be like to make that walk and be locked in the cage with someone did you have any regrets any second thoughts going out yeah like I competed in a good bit that year leading up to that first fight so I did K1 with Carl Cannon was in my corner and I did loads of Jiu Jitsu things like that I did wrestling competitions and then I asked John I think he was actually over with Conor at a camp at the time and I texted him and said can I do the Europeans at the end of the year and he said absolutely So I entered um the Europeans and I remember going over like convinced that I would go over I would win every fight and I would get a gold medal and I'd come home and pretty soon after I would turn professional like I thought it was going to happen all that quickly for me and I went over I didn't really think about the fight itself um what would it take to win the fights I talked more about the rewards and I suppose like created a lot of pressure on myself by doing that and I went in I fell flat on my face the first exchange she threw me she took my back and she choked me straight away in like a minute of the first round and I was so so upset like I felt assaulted I was like what's after happening I can't believe it not that that stuff didn't happen in the gym because it did because back then it was only me and SHINee Cavanaugh that were the females in the gym there was no one else so that happened regularly in the gym I just didn't imagine that was what was going to happen when I went there so yeah it was a big wake-up call a big shock um and yeah I was like devastated about for a long time so when you go back to the gym after that obviously you didn't give up because you're here now what was your mindset that's not going to happen to me again like what was the feeling and then going on to winning your first few fights because you had I believe it was six and three or six six and three amateur records yeah yeah so obviously you went on to win a few then you went on a little run what was it like going back to the gym and then getting getting wins like I went back to the gym and I like I quickly realized that this is um I'm not in like a Rocky movie just because I train hard and I imagine these things are going to happen for me it doesn't mean they're going to happen um every mistake counts every training session counts My Level had to get higher and higher and higher and um when I see people say especially at amateur level I just didn't know that technique or I just got caught I think at an amateur level that's not a good attitude tab because I could have said I just didn't know how not to get thrown but I also didn't know how to defend the backtake I also didn't know how to defend so that could have happened in lots of other scenarios and so yeah I went back like a realist and said My Level isn't there I need to train really hard I need to get better and if I want this bad enough then I have to push through this adversity and I like went and fought Polish Girl in in March then who had a good bit of experience and lost that fight too but went in three rounds gave a really good account of myself and it was a really close fight so after that then I went on a tear and I started to win a loss and that was that was great but I still don't think back then I really knew what was happening I think I was still constantly thinking about the future I wasn't actually living in the moment fighting these girls yeah so like you said you were thinking about the reward but not the steps basically to get to that what each kind of fight as it comes yeah so exactly you went on and you actually meddled then and yeah you actually got the to say what did it feel like to actually win a medal coming from everything he'd come from before and having to give up everything to start and this new career and then getting a medal at like it's the highest kind of it's the highest achievement in amateur is to go to the imass and metal what was it like tell us about that feel and tell us about the setup again I went to the imfs the same way I went to the Europeans I was like I'm going to go over I'm going to win every fight I'm going to be the gold medalist you know I was convinced this is happening um and each day I won I made ways um and I was like so stressed because all I could think about was get to the end just get across the finish line and get your gold medal and it'll be all fine but like my mind I don't know where it was I was in like a total Haze over there I was just remember getting on that bus thinking about fighting this girl coming back on the bus like my face was completely rearranged each fight um in the semi-final I took like a masters course from a clash of heads I had something like 25 stitches in my head and I it was glued together and the next 24 hours because we had a day off was an argument with John with Alan and with Dan Healy to let me face and they Dan was probably the main man in my corner saying letter at us and the rest of them were like no you're not fighting well done you did Grace but we're going home now that injury is too big to go into the final and I refused I was like not your choice I'm fighting in the final uh do whatever you got to do glue me up some more and let's let's have a crack at it um again I went in I I got the silver medal um no I wasn't happy no I didn't appreciate it now I do back then I was so annoyed and I was so upset like the minute you get you lose in the final you have 30 minutes to turn around to get on the podium and in those 30 minutes they were gluing my head and and they had to put loads of internal stitches in and I was just bawling while this like is going on and then they shove you up on the podium and the only person crying is the silver medalist because the bronzers have already accepted their face yeah and there was that girl with her gold medal and I was rage and I was so annoyed it's yeah it's it's quite a short turnaround to get you up there like to deal with the emotions of losing the fight is is hard every time but especially like I said you actually for your own team to get to that fight to actually have the fight and then to lose obviously and then be pushed up there so earlier then yeah it's I wouldn't say it's a nice feeling but but after that you went into when you started your Pros like actually just with the amateur like with the scene now there's a lot shows and there's a lot of stuff but you actually the way uh with the amount of fight you had it looks like you didn't have that much trouble getting matches I could be wrong because I wasn't there at the time but there seems to be issues a lot will get girls getting matches now but what you make of the amateur scene now in the country compared to what it used to be do you think it's improved with the amount of shows and stuff we have um there's more Irish girls to fight Irish girls back back then there was no other straw weight my weight so um I had to go to the UK but at the time there was a good load of girls in the UK that were similar weights to me some of them are now flyweights are pro and some are straw weights so we all seem to come on the scene at the same time and we all fought each other so all I had to do was go across to England to get myself fights then the imath tournaments you're always going to get match-ups as girls so um yeah there's more Irish versus Irish fights and there's also loads of girls in England I think if anyone's struggling getting matchups they need to make a link with a promoter I made friends with two promoters pretty quickly and I kept hounding them and messaging them and asking them will he put me on your show and you know I'd offer to like pay for my own flights pay for my own hotel like not make it a deal for them to have me so um yeah they have more opportunities in in the country itself but I don't always agree with that either I've often said I don't think the Irish girls necessarily need to keep fighting each other I think training together would be more benefit and that's challenged these other girls around the world instead perfect so from there you go on to Pro contrast the difference between your like amateur debut and your pro debut obviously sound a bigger stage uh there's more of a crowd like what's because obviously in the IMs is no good but what's it like what's it like walking out and doing the workout for the pro debut yeah so it's like fake it till you make it you know I had like a nine week camp or something for that fight it was you know I knew long long time out that I was going to be fighting I think I knew like 12 weeks out I was fighting and then I got matched nine weeks out so all in the lead up to the three arena in September 2019 was uh fake it till they make it I you know I kept telling myself I have this huge opportunity like it's like time for me to be like a rock star to like come out and everyone's shout my name and I was trying to imagine what it would be like and I kept telling myself that like I was born to do this I've bought in the work to get to this point um and and I think that that's probably a sensible thing to do you you can't presume that this is normal it's not normal so you might as well just keep telling yourself lies uh that it you know it is normal and you're you're going to be all of this um until you start feeling more comfortable with it so yeah it was crazy crazy feeling walking out was awful not good um I was like head down didn't hear didn't see anything just focused on the fight and the minute I won the fight I remember like saying well done you you got through all that stress and nerves and then looking out on the crowd for the first time when the fight was over and I was like man this is cool then I enjoyed this did that take you back to when you went to see Connor like looking out at that crowd because obviously he said the crowd of economy couldn't believe that someone was going that mad for someone and obviously the crowd in Ireland is electric as everyone everyone knows like did that kind of take you back in time and go like you made these people go like this yeah but I wasn't surprised so like whatever is in me since I was a small small little girl I always um presumed that I was going to be big I was going to be successful I was going to do something great with my life so even though it was like God imagine you thought one day in Vegas yeah I can do this I did actually really think that so I wasn't surprised that I was the one in the cage now when people were shouting my name I guess I've always had that kind of delusion since I was really small you know my mother would always say that that you know no gold was big enough I wanted this goal and that goal and then the other one like I'm never stop looking when I started MMA she said can you please make this a hobby you've never had a hobby it'd be really nice if you just went to like unwind and de-stress and and deal with your anxiety rather than can we not compete can we not like try to be a professional advisor but that lasted a whole of like one day so anytime you go to do what you're doing a property or you're not doing at all basically 100 so when I'm finished fighting I'm not doing nothing else you know I'll be like even missing I'll be like is there a missing World Championship you know could I become the world champion that's missing whatever it is and bacon I've always thought I'd love to go on the bake off and win the big bath you know so uh yeah hopefully it stops when I finish fighting and I I get a past time I think that street will stay industry forever to be honest I don't think there's gonna once you're competitive like that I think it's always going to be there um but you went on you went on a tear that um you went 5-0 uh like you're fighting on the show like Bellator you didn't notify Germany like tell us what it was like like to go to Bellator for those fights so early in your career like because obviously you see now when people go probably fight on a lot of regional scenes or Regional shots wanted what was it like like to get onto somewhere like Bellator like obviously if you see then you've Bellator like the second biggest promotion in the world obviously you want to get you you're going for the UFC but what was it like to go on to Bellator straight away like I guess two things one I'm extremely grateful for for getting on us and two it was like really useful thing to do so I'm grateful because I got to experience fight week I got to experience photo shoots interviews being in the Gibson Hotel like just getting spoiled and all these people come and looking at you and on top of that Bellator pays so well like checking my bank balance 10 days after fight I'm like are you joking this is what I do like this is crazy um and then so great grateful for that is like big but then the more important thing was it was really useful so early on in your career I think it's nice to like settle in you know three five minute rounds uh try out your style against like lower level opponents but I was thrown like bomb into the deep end with 11 000 fans and sold our Arenas like some people that's what they get at the end of their career and that's all they get so I got this early on and that was really useful for my mindset for my confidence and learning to deal with all all the pressure that that comes with that so it was a even though it was you know it was difficult at times you know the pressure was difficult I feel like it was you know a huge bonus that I got to do that yeah because like I said if on the Regency you're not going to get that fight week you're not going to get all that press you're not going to get the photos all the media obligation stuff that come with so and then the workout and stuff like that like that and probably be like a second part of someone's career like you said they don't get it to the end and that could start a little more Daenerys could get them but you were thrown straight in you went 5-0 you're on absolute tear and then obviously the loss came in Dublin um what was the feeling straight after that um like oh typically me I was like lying on the stretch or like really really badly concussed and I was like give me a phone someone give me their phone and they were like no lay back and relax I was like no I want to watch what happens give me the phone I need to check out what happened so I can deal with it and I looked and like straight away I picked out the technical errors that went wrong and I was like okay so I made this mistake and because of that it all unraveled so once I worked out that it was just a mistake and it wasn't like about me or my my Identity or that I wasn't good enough then I was okay I was still obsessed you know Alan was upset my brother was with us he was upset we went on an ambulance to fidia in um tala to get a brain scan and actually in the ambulance the guy left the top window open like and it is smashed and all the glass come in it's like that's something like thing I always remember was like it's lying like a next thing just getting like um like rained on with all this glass it was kind of funny but coming back from aphidia I went on my phone which I shouldn't have because I wanted to put a post up on Instagram straight away to show people I wasn't done I was like I was going to get through this and we were going to come the other side and while I did I seen like there's loads of comments on my previous Stars so I was like why are people coming to my previous ass like strangers so I went on and there was all the hate I was like oh my God this is gas like these people told me to retire I was God awful I did a great job at blocking punches with my face all of the above and I was I was really sad for them because I thought you know that girl Stephanie page that was one of the biggest nut fights of her life and why didn't they comment under her status and say Well done you were class instead they like they picked on me and uh yeah that was they were like things I remember from that night and I remember Conor McGregor saying you'll come back from this Danny you'll come back and I like had my head like this I was like don't even look at me right now I was like oh I was just so embarrassed and I didn't want him saying anything to me but I remember him shouting and like trying to make eye contact with me and I was like oh just let the ground swallow me off yeah because you can actually see there's the visual of him in the crowd when it's happening and he's holding on to his hat and stuff like that um kind of like you're saying with the stats thing as well I actually like how you explained there because obviously you didn't really let that affect you because I think people tend to forget you are a one percent of people that do what you do 99 of other people don't do what you do but you're still humans at the end of the day and to go as far as to say stuff like that I think I think people really need to look at themselves like said go come myself like be positive but the people who are saying that stuff are never going to say to your face and then and it's probably people who will never accomplish anything in their life so I like the way that you handled it um and that you didn't let it affect you too much but what I found interesting was you'd said that like obviously it was embarrassing to happen but the next fight in Malta you said was was that even worse for you yeah like that day I went down to fight Stephanie page I still like really thought I was going to win that fight even though I had like a big adrenaline dump when I landed into the the cage because of the walkout that was the first time I actually looked up and took in the walk out I like made myself do it I was like come on six fights later you need to take it in and I think I was probably reading too much of Brian Moore's statuses because he's like this is the stuff you're gonna remember when you're on your deathbed so I thought I need to remember this stuff so I better look up but I shouldn't look up because when I looked up I was like woof just adrenaline so um yeah I I still thought I was in the Stephanie page fight but just before I left from Malta like the night before we were due to leave I had like this panic attack and uh it's weird because I never had a panic attack in my life like I'm far too like switched on to be having panic attacks is like that's the silly thing people can't breathe and they have to like breathe into a bag or whatever but I didn't know what was happening to me I thought I was actually like about to pass out because of the course even though we hadn't started cutting weight yet but it wasn't my heart rate was really high I felt extremely anxious and it was because Malta it was because what was happening the next day and even though in my head I wasn't thinking about it subconsciously my body was like were done we're not going over there remember what happened a few months ago you ain't going over there to do that again so my mom actually got that nice and like talked me through it and I tried to talk me down off the edge because I was saying I'm not going to go I'm just not going to show and she said you are you're gonna go it's gonna be fine everything's gonna be fine so um that night I came and taught Cubs class here that four and five-year-olds and that improved my mood and made me calm down a little bit and then we went and we went to Malta and I just switched into fighter mode didn't think about the panic attack but the minute I landed into that cage I was like what am I doing here I don't want a second to this fight and I know I can beat this girl but I don't know how I'm gonna like survive it's like that Meme where the duck is above the water but he's paddling like crazy so I was fighting away but in my head I was just having a meltdown I completely gassed myself after one round I sat down in the corner and like I remember John saying to Alan she's completely we have to like box the rest of this fight and yeah I thought I'd done enough to win even though I had forced you know blow power and I had not wanted to be a second in the fight but then the judges gave it to her so I was like that was like two slaps across the base yeah so that was really really yeah yeah after that you actually I think I would say you brought on uh like sports psychology stuff like that and then obviously because I know a couple of fires where I talked to Brian Brian has them as well and they've obviously helped you because you've come back you've had that amazing performance Invicta you got signed with actually tell us what it was like to get signed to Invicta because obviously whatever happened with Bellator you didn't end up going back after Malta then you go to Invicta and nearly all their Champions seem to go to the UFC so when you're getting signed for someone like Victor what was it like like first of all I didn't get released from Bellator um so Bellator couldn't get me on the September card because I fought in July and they fold the card up before I'd even fought so that was kind of my own fault you know I wouldn't put that back on Bellator and then when I wasn't fighting in September I said right I have to turn this around like I can't go until February like this fight coming if I had stayed with them I can't wait till February so I am I asked for a release and they actually fought for me and tried to get me to stay which was like so nice I really like enjoyed that and then my manager went about getting me in somewhere that would move me to the next level so that was kombucha LFA Invicta so we sent out words to everyone and Invicta jumped at it and said yes we're going to get you on our November show and then yeah like it was it was really cool to fight for Invicta at the time I didn't care who I fought for whoever said yes I was going but I wanted to become the champion of their promotion but when I actually got over to uh Denver and experienced Invicta and their promotion and they're totally different to Bellator I I really really liked it I felt like right at home with them so I think it was a really good move for me to go to Invicta yeah it is it's a very good promotion and like I said where people go from there is usually on to the next level then as well so yeah it's mad now because when I when I was looking up and it you said after the first couple of months you wrote and you were like I'm going to be a world champion and John also mentioned that you said you're going to be world champion way back when how does it feel to come to this fight now coming up and actually fighting for a title you know back then I wish I didn't think like that because that wasn't useful I bought myself under so much pressure I definitely didn't take in the journey and I I could have enjoyed myself more like now I think back I'm like I got a silver medal in the eye masks that's so cool you couldn't have said that to me back then like you know I probably have hit you so um yeah now I'm so much more mature I'm like I'm finally ready for a world title fight I definitely wasn't ready when you want something so badly and you think you need it to make you feel whole you shouldn't get it you shouldn't get an opportunity like after that fight and Invicta after working with the psychologists um after working with the mindset I I felt whole like even before I won the fight Invicta backstage and I was warming up to go out for the fight I felt whole I made us I can do this without feeling Stress and Anxiety and I'm enjoying myself I have made it now I'm finally ready to go for something big like a world title but if you're trying to get that to like make that a part of your identity and you know people think of Danny McCormack as a world champion That Ain't Gonna Fill that hole you think it is but I don't think it will so yeah now I'm ready to fight for a world title and it just feels so cool that I'm getting an opportunity a week has a we can't wait to see you come back with that gold with the world title um so I'm just going to ask you a couple more questions just obviously you have the gym here how long ago did you start the gym uh you obviously caused the cadets over what's it like working with the kids and bring them over to competitions yeah so the gym was Island not me um I don't even know what year he started the GM Jesus I should find out I think it was 2016 because that's what we have on our email address so that kind of makes sense there but um yeah maybe he started in 2016. we met in 2017 uh in like February so um here we already had the gym going a year it was just Muay Thai it was in a totally different premises then I met him in February I didn't start coaching until probably 2018 I started doing a bit of coaching for him and um then I quit my job in 2020 and then we really made the quarters so brought in Jiu Jitsu and wrestling into the program and moved to this premises on our own because Alan was a part of a different gym at the time so um we took on this place even though it's like quite expensive with Ransom and I quit my job and we just took um took a chance so we've got two floors here and we've got 150 kids and we're so so passionate about the kids and like we're obviously passionate about adults staying healthy and fit and all that as well but um the kids really like set our worlds on fire you know we're we're quite happy in here teaching every evening the kids I can see that I've seen in interviews I think it was the outro angle where they were going to let you go and you're like no no I have to talk about this kid this and you were just like name out the little achievements and you could see the passion in it so um what's it like going over and bringing them over and seeing them get the goals and like because he had quite a few from your gym as well then you had other ones from SVG and all over the country like how does it feel for you to bring these and be a part of their development not just your own kids but the kids from the other gyms as well to bring them to that stage yeah so like this year I became head coach for um for the Irish team for the cadets for the juniors we call them I don't think anyone calls them the cadets I don't know why we started that because when they get over there they actually call them Juniors so um or youths sorry yeah and then and then when you go up it's still the Junior on TV yeah so we need to start calling them youths um yeah so this year finally like I got I'm I'm head coach for now um and I'm really really happy in that role like it's a totally unpaid role first uh just just to put that out there because I think some people think I might be getting something out of it but I do I get so much out of it um you know from like a well-being point of view so we brought the kids out to Abu Dhabi uh in August I think we brought six from here and then all together as you know there was like maybe 30 or 40 kids probably thirsty kids um and yeah it was a really amazing experience because when I think about stress that I've had um fighting it's so cool to see 12 and 13 year olds going in to an IMF tournament and like taking it all in their strides like you get really motivated by it and you feel so proud of them like you're like how are you doing this like we got two gold medalists from this gym and it was just insane like I just I was just admire them so much they were both in the 12 to 13 year old category he was just insane and then we had another girl as well who lost two fights but then cut around Robin she went out and she like stopped a girl with leggings and I remember like seeing her face and she was like yes like thank God like I came all this way and I finally got something out of it and yeah it's it means more than than me fighting it does and I know that like might sound strange but when you see little people doing crazy things you just feel like so happy inside like makes you very fulfilled yeah and I believe he had record-break and you hear like what the amount of Melody brought back you I think you're breaking records with the amount of yeah that they were bringing is bringing in as well so yeah I don't think that's like publicized as much because people like bought the youths aside as if like they're not really a thing but like yeah we were the the most medal bringing Irish team ever ever that that youth team was which is crazy because they do have a lot of people in their categories they are fighting Russia to jackistan Ukraine whoever they weren't fighting Russia last year because they weren't in the tournament but we're fighting all the same people um just because they're under 18s I don't think they like necessarily get enough respect for that no well hopefully they will or they will keep going forward they'll get more but I'm gonna ask you one more question I'm gonna let you go if you want it to be remembered for anything after fighting like as for your legacy or even as a person what would you want to be remembered for if they could say one word or one phrase about Danny God one word One phrase like god um honest Direct genuine um like I care like I want people to know that like I care and I'm really passionate about the sport and I'm really passionate about the kids and that I always try my best and I suppose one more thing is that this isn't easy for me um I think people think Fighters are like these different set of people that don't feel the same things that other people but this has been hard and from a mental health point of view it's been really hard but it's also been the best thing I've ever done so anyone out there that thinks oh she can do it but I'd never be able to do it I want you to know that this was really hard and I hope I come full circle and at the end I become a world champion and Invicta in a few weeks time but if I don't I still want people to know this I tried I I've done everything I possibly can to get to this point and and I'm not done yet I'm gonna keep going and I'm gonna see where where this brings me perfect yeah I think people don't realize like I said earlier your Fighters you go to all the emotions on a bigger stage as well so that must be difficult either one thank you so much for your time this bit naturally thank you thank you very much