Eoin McDonald interview

Summary

Eoin Mcdonald is a fighter competing at Cage conflict this weekend, a rematch against Ruairi Burke for the interim bantamweight title. Eoin has been out for a bit and is looking to start the year off with a new belt for an active year ahead

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] perfect so I'm here with all MacDonald's we're just we we're exactly a week out I don't know when this will be released but we're exactly week out week out from cage conflict one more week and you're back in that craziness of the devonish how does it feel to be back fighting you've had a little bit of time out um but now you're back how does it feel this time next week it's not going to be this quiet around us it's going to be packed to the rafters and it's going to be roaring how how are you thank you for your time and how does it feel to be back no problem sir um it is good to be speaking to you again um I am super excited to be back um fighting again um even though like I wasn't really out for that long to be honest like and it's just like it wasn't as if I was out of um like everything like I was out of the gym for this time like I I uh I have I've been around the gym and I've been training for a long long time I just haven't been fighting for a bit um just because I've been getting I've been having stuff outside of fighting um but it is good to be back um and no B show to be back on the one and only kids conflict which I love I've been called H I've been called Mr kids Conflict by by a commentator before so I'm going to take that that's a ni that'd be a nice nickname to take into into the bigger ranks into special career help promote cage conflict as well but it doesn't need promo because obviously you've had like the Paul users come out there so many other Fighters and what I like is there's so many amateur fights on it they really really give a platform for for the lads not just fi just's like you've got there's a lot of Samsung from down in Cork I see they have a lot of people on the card H SBG CL like it's a platform for so many fighters how does it feel to have that on your doorstep you know what I I believe the kids conflict is the highest of the highest level amateur and pro like you look at them cards like that's not disrespect to the other cards as well like um recently um R MMA is absolutely booming um and it's brilliant to see as well um but like you're looking at kids conflict they're doing things that other cards aren't doing like like like National ways like um they enough a full Pro main card all title fights like all boys are getting the chance as well like I know I know the kids conflict that it is part um L and pots um show but like it's not as if there's any differences made or anything um it's the best fight the best and that's that's why I love it um so I I'm actually I would be proud to be call Mr kid conflict because it is the best fight the best and like you may have your own opinion but uh I I believe that it's the best show on like I I think allo are fine I think uh K conflict and your Fighting Championship I think two they really really match them like Dey doesn't give his boys and Torres an easy goal and Pat and shando don't give ye an easy goal like fighting Rory Burke who's an an incredible fighter and it's going to be a fantastic fight and like that no one gets the easy goes because when you go to Pro if if if your career's been padded to that stage you're going to be in for a shock the boys know what it's like at Pro level and know what they need to do which you so they're doing it well um in regards to your opponent obviously Rory he's been on the show a couple of times have you looked into it we all kind of know Rory from around the scene do you look into Fighters much or do you just worry about yourself and your own training I just I I just train like me and R fought before um and it was a good fight but obviously we both came up along uh like Leaps and Bounds um but like in terms of looking into the feds like at amateur stage like I just focus on myself like I improve every day I'm in the gym every single day working with the best people so I don't really need to look for something that's not there do you know what I mean like anything really is going to throw me I've seen before before like you know what I mean it's and at the end of the day it's fighting it's decision making who makes the best decisions under those LS and at that time do you know what I mean um I like Roy me and Roy actually got on quite well he's sh guy a lot of respect for him um but at the end of the day it's his business um and I'm coming to take what's what's rle mind like the that b title yeah that's what I was going to say Obviously when you're in amateur a lot of Fighters say it that um just worry about your yourself don't worry about kind of the opponent and just improve your own game but you're fighting for the belt as well how does it feel to be fighting for the belt it's good um yeah like I just believe I believe like like the reason that I mat this belt and Rory as well is because well more me because it's Lam and poo um and they know my ability um like this is the start of a big year for me this isn't just like oh like went Bel here and then that's it like it's the start of a big year for me um and my name is going to be getting talked about across AR MMA um trust me on that there by the end of this year people will be talking about my name B with um an arish MMA amateur and pro um so yeah we we're pushing on here from a big year um and this is just the start of it yeah I'm excited to see how the year pans out for you what's it like in FA at the minute uh obviously from your weight class there's so many fighters from the flyweights especially there's so many like just the whole gym what's the whole gym like now at the minute yeah the whole gym is absolutely um is buzzing um like it's just everyone's just improving at a rapid rate like every day like you're coming up and you're you're training with I would like these younger boys like and they're absolutely unbelievable like it is ridiculous like there's so many young Lads up there that are just absolutely excellent every day and it's because they're showing up um and they're trusting in the process with fed Academy Ireland um which all of us are and now everyone's starting to see it um pushing on and following the legs of Paul PTY reace Joe like all these boys you know what I mean like this is what we're looking up to this is what we want to be it's not like we're just here to sort of take part like you know what I mean we're we're here and we're doing high level things like do you know what I mean um but yeah it's I love the gym like we always emphasize it and always talk about it how much of uh like a family we are and we are like a family like you could go up to the gym speak to anyone at any time um the gro like the growth is just rapid like you've like everyone talks about like uh lemon pot they're so high level like and then you're coming in and you have the legs of Adam as well and you have the legs of Eden Davin like you know what I mean like Adam aity by the way um you have all these Lads that are just feeding off and their own twist and their own spaces to all the all this like all this stuff and it's unbelievable and it's great that everyone's feeding off each other and pushing each other on you know it does look good Adam's one who I've come across quite a bit I know he has a he does a good bit with the the younger guys that likes to daming and stuff like that and i' like just I've just seen him coaching and Corner as well and I think he's absolutely fantastic as well as ERS I think Pat and Pat and lie obviously get the they're known as the head of it but there's so many don't like the go followers yeah sitting at the desk inside but you've so many good coaches trickling down then you have so many good training Partners um but with obviously like you said the likes of like Paul you've got ree uh you've got ree in the UC Paul who should be in the UC and you said you're looking at those guys when you see those guys do it and they're on that stage does that help with the belief in you as an individual and as a gy as Fighters that it can be done if you put the hard work in yeah 100% um like it's just for me it's just trust trusting trusting and like there's no point in me doing this sport if I don't trust who who Who's basically I'm in their I'm in their hands you know what I mean I'm in all these boys like I'm in their hands I trust them every single day everything we're learning I trust because if if I didn't then I wouldn't be I wouldn't be there do you know what I mean um and you can see now the grow and the growth of like all the boys joining um they trust in it too and they know how good it is do you know what I mean um this is a start of like an insane year for fate Academy um it's just going to excel bigger and bigger and better and just constantly improving um and I'm excited to watch it be a part of it um like it's just it's just brilliant it's a great environment to be in and it's a great uh it's a great place to grow yourself as well um do you know what I mean like outside like outside of the gym too like outside the MMA it's a great place to grow yourself and meet like a a support system that that s for you too do you know what I mean yeah no and that is good as well because like that it's not all I've talked to coaches about this is it just technical advice you give or you there as emotional not emotional support that people are coming in but you know when someone like that is having a bad time you've got that support system around you that have may been through these things you're all look you're all in there for the same goal and you all want to help each other so I say it's good to have that like that family unit is said if there's an issue up with you you can just go here whoever blah blah blah have your say then kind of go on about it but you said it's a big year for yourself and for fight Academy obviously you've got cage conflict coming up next weekend which is going to be massive I think uh you've got Damen mcgan versus Shay Cleland which is one of that that fight is just absolute fire to me that fight is is unbelievable you are Mr cage conflict like he said but like if you're looking for an active year will you be fighting on just cage conflict are you GNA be going out to the other shows because there is like we talked about there's so many other shows how how does the field have that many options even if you are Mr cage conflict um no it's unbelievable no I only J I just heard what a commentator called me at one time and I was just like I was a we bit annoyed and then I was like C to be fair I can't really get annoyed because he's not far wrong like most of my f on kids conflict um but uh listen it's just because of the high level of the show and I'm completely proud to that that they would call me something like that there like if you look at my you look at my record I'm fting the best of the best like I'm fighting the best guys like 90% of the boys that I fought have either fought for titles or fighting guys for titles or have had have had more experience to me every time I fought them um to know what I mean so like I'm I'm far from partner accord or far from um I want to F the best guys doesn't matter what show on I I I'll fade any I'm sure you hear it like from everyone but I will I'll fade any guy it doesn't it doesn't matter to me um because I believe I believe in in myself and I believe in in my coaches and so yeah that's that's that's as far as that goes like yeah and and like that you'll fight anyone to so many shows so there's going to be a lot of opportunities for you so like amateurs get better I I see and I believe from fight to fight you know if you watched like Rory's last fight or he watches your last fight there just going to be Leaps and Bounds how much better have you gotten in the past year that we don't know about oh it's undescribable did that go off or no it's still I don't know just but um unbelievable like well one of the reasons that I I was I wasn't um competing in MMA was because well two I had one I had a I had a baby and two was because I got a surgery so I got a major surgery and three weeks after the surgery I was back in the gym like and I've been in the gym ever since like it's not like my routine hasn't changed the only thing that's different is I'm not actively I wasn't actively fighting because was I wasn't medically clear the actively fit um but I was in the gym learning every single day every single week like all these boys are fighting for titles and fighting for um fighting across the water fighting on different shows I'm there like I'm I'm there like I'm not and I wasn't sitting in the house watching this and going oh it's brilliant to see the boys doing this here no I was with them every through every single training camp and learning as well do you know what I mean um but yeah come on leaps some bones um so happy with the progress of made as well uh um sometimes it just takes a bit of time as well to take out from Axel fighting um and focus on your own growth and I believe that I've done that there really well yeah know it sounds like it w congratulations on the baby which is a a fantastic I know i' I've won he's not a baby anymore he's 18 but you'll enjoy those years as they go through hard work I'm telling you they're hard work babies are hard work they are very hard work see it depends my young l used to sleep through the night so he wasn't too bad so I didn't have to wake up and do a night feed I'd be gone before he was back up half the bottle bro half the bottle yeah but it's it's it's fantastic just to watch them grow so congratulations on that and then obviously you took the time out and what I like about what you've just said there is you didn't just sit around and go I've had a baby you were there H you were there uh with the team in training probably training as much um and then that's going to bring your progression on leads and Bounds you find sometimes when you don't have a fight coming up and you're just training and you're Drilling and you're training do you think sometimes that amplifies and speeds up maybe the process of learning new things because you're not constantly in a fight Camp yeah yeah well it is good and it's a bad thing like not well not a bad thing but it's a good thing because the pressure is off of a fate like you're not constantly analyzing every round and every situation do you know what I mean so you're able to grow and try things that you would never try in a training camp because you're like why why would I do I wouldn't do it for this F I wouldn't do that at this time you know what I mean so you can try new things so it's good but then again you're like working and working doing all the hard work and improving and going well wor I get to show all this hard work wor I get them show my improvements so then that's when the fake comes in and you get to show your improvements um but yeah I'm looking forward to a big year um uh I'm getting my name back out under the rmma um I think it's it's a long time coming for me to be honest um so very active this year um hopefully pushing towards professional and see how we get on yeah that was my next question actually uh you said you want a big year you have a number of fights you want to have an amateur and youve just talked about obviously turning pro that will I would presume depend on how many fights you've had and how the results got do you have a number of fights you want to have this year at amateur um performances not not really more performances like like I'm I'm happy with the amount of uh fights I've had at the minute like as I say like all the guys I'm fighting going look going look at my record like they they're no there's F there's no mugs are like they're all great guys you know what I mean like I I I don't turn down f um sometimes like I it just it just sort of depends you know what I mean I'll just keep I'll just take I take one fight at the time and see how we go um like there's no like I don't want to have like oh I I need to reach this number of amateur fights before I turn pro like I've had eight or nine amateur fights now against high level boys like if I go and perform a couple of times and I feel like I'm ready and my coaches feel like I'm ready then we'll turn professional and start taking over the professional scene yeah like that OB J's gone and he's just signed with brave and there's so many options at professional now how does that feel for you obious I know there's the merge between bellor and pfl pfl had uh because I was talking to am de and we were talking about Bellator was a majority SBG um and pfl kind of has a nice mix of B and cage wiers actually doesn't have SBG I think it'd be better if everyone just mixed Jo if there was different on if SBG were in cage Warriors and other Fighters were in belor but you've got them you've got Brave you've got other bigger promotions around Europe as well not I don't want to say bigger like sry more Regional promotions but that were on Fight Pass as well to have those options going into professional as well how does that feel compared to years ago it was kind of regional cage Warriors UFC that was the plan but there's so many more options now how does that feel like potentially heading into professional by the end of the year no it's great um having all these options like obviously like uh you have to build experience in professional too like it's not like you're going to enough three threes of absolute chaos like you're going to have for three fives of a more conclusive fight against someone who's had more like a lot of experience too so um it's about I think personally I think it's just about building yourself up at that level um and then pushing on to see where you want to go as well like a lot of people think it's like conventional all right I have to go cage Warriors to go UFC yeah 100% that is one road there's plenty roads as well like I think k out Maya came from went from Brave to the USC like there's so many roads too do you know what I mean like um but I think it's brilliant that um all all the promotions are espe they come the bast too it's great to see uh the Bator and pfl um come to Bast um and yeah so it's just it's brilliant to see all these promotions and it just shows the growth of MMA too and how much how much respect AR MMA has yeah octagon MMA is one I forgot as well who after Matthew ellot was on that and it's good like you said it's good to see that the within this island the recognition of the level of Fighters because like you said t and lock and I spoke to about an hour ago like he was another one who he went to fbii and he had that last performance and it was after the last performance where everyone kind of went now it's time to turn pro so uh it's going to be a good year for you I can't wait to see you this or next Saturday I G let you go but is there anything you want to say before you go or anyone want to shout out and I want to thank you very much for your time um in terms of shout outs I want to give a shout out to my family and a daughter um we've done a lot this year and it's good to um it's good to like it's to get back and have their support as well while doing it um and I also want to give a big massive shout out to my brother who I love very much um who passed away a lot of years ago um and one massive shout out to uh my other brother ran ctis um I love you bro and we're all behind you we're family and I miss you in the gym I love you brother sorry for your lost in your brother and in regards to Ryan ctis all the pay-per-view Revenue all the proceeds from this show is actually going to be going towards to help Ryan obviously if you don't know what's happened to him he had he had a bad injury in in training and we're just trying to get him back so he can have a normal life again he's an absolute gentleman and absolute showman and one of the best around in Ireland so uh thank you for your time thank you for your uh little pieace and I will see you next weekend yes brother good to speak to you peace you too thank you