Ross Quearney interview

Summary

Ross Quearney is an amateur fighter out of Cmac, who has been fighting since 2015 but had a five year break and returned two years ago and has been extremely active since one of the stand outs at last years four nations he goes head to head with Elvis Luka this weekend at cage…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

so I'm here with Ross query H he's going to be fighting at cage Legacy this weekend against Evis L he's fighting since 2015 so he's here he's an OG in the amateur game um how are you feeling uh for the fight coming up and how does it feel to be so long in the game yeah I'm looking forward to I look forward to this fight um this is going to be a good fight two good finishers maybe maybe the two best finishers in the country at the minute amate our level um Coming head to-head so it's going to be a good for you for sure and um what was the second half of that question sorry I can't remember myself um how you yeah you know what it's actually it's mad uh I've been only thinking about this like past couple of weeks or whatever like all the sacrifice you make on this sport or whatever but at this stage it's just this is just my life at the minutely you know what I mean there is no sacrifice there was a stage where there was sacrifices and I had to make conscious choices for things to sacrifice but like all that's gone now and this is just like this is just the way it is this is the way my life is and has been for the past good few years like you know what I mean yeah and and obviously that grows over over time and like talk to us to so for the normal average civilian person who's not a fighter because there's only 1% of the population that actually competes in Combat Sports at the start what kind of what you have as a normal life now but where sacrific what kind of sacrifice would it be make like going out seeing your family um food stuff like that what were the biggest sacrifices you felt at the time when you first joined Combat Sports um at the time back a while ago it would have been a lot of um just not going out which I which I made as much um not being able to eat the good field missing out on whatever holidays trips away whatever it is all the lads could be doing you know what I mean and eating uh eating good field going out with the drink uh loads like but um as you kind of get older you realized is like what's important more so you know what I mean I want to build from your future so like these sacrifices are they have to be made you know what I mean yeah exactly and with that obviously uh once mma's over and you retire which is a long long way away there's different routs then you can go coaching there's different things you can do you could travel the world with it uh know other sort of things whereas a lot of stuff you named there when you're young that might seem important to you but as you get older you realize it's not really that important going out going and drink we all like to go out and enjoy ourselves sometimes but it doesn't really benefit you wholly whereas what you're doing is gonna help like you said build your future so um that's it and like that sorry remember on uh was me 18th birthday I was in the gym my 19th birthday I was in the gym my 20th Lally all my birthdays have been up in the gym SP like since 18 like that just shows the level of dedication that you do and also with that that you Corner a lot of the lads as well when you go to shows CU I see you there quite frequently what's it like obviously being on that side of things as well how do you find that as a person like because you are a fighter and obviously you've got your own career but is that a fulfilling thing to do as well to be in the corner for those fighters to help guide these young Fighters coming into your gym through these stages definitely yeah and I think that's H that's a big part of our gym anyway like the kind of community that we have in the gym like we all look out for each other and you know like I someone that's been there and don't for so of course going to hop in and help one of the lads and talk them through what they're feeling you know what I mean I know exactly how it feels to go through all this like on a f i mean like you know what I mean so like just keeping them a checker whatever like I know kind of know the things to say and we know how to make someone like feel good about themselves and like especially when you're training with them every day like you know what I mean and we're all so close we we know each other so well we know how to walk each other and help to help to get each other up on a high like you know what I mean and um coaching wise as well look I love coaching H I feel like it helps you even with your own game cuz like it's hard to explain early but like you look you're almost looking at it all from a completely different perspective then and then when it's your turn to F you can carry them things over on how things looked because things look a lot different outside the cage and they do inside the cage Inside the Cage is mad and you might think someone's super strong and super fast but once you're sitting outside the cage coaching somethingone you kind of see how Like These people aren't that fast and you can see these little things like you know what I mean like so I like Sting on that cage as well definitely yeah yeah like that you've done it for a lot you've got a lot of youngsters coming up too I'm going to just touch on CAC for a minute because it is one of my favorite gyms um I think it's one of the I don't want to say I don't I don't want to sound disrespectful when I say small gym but it is a smaller gym then when you've got your like we are yeah sbgs F and I've been I've been in your facility and it is a massive one but that just goes to show you don't need all the wills and whistles and bells you just need good coaches dedication and hard work because your producers of talent there that's it yeah and anyone that's ever been in our J and seac has been from like the local area has been from blanter town you know what I mean we don't have anyone coming up from different counties in Ireland never mind other countries coming over at the try with us like you know what I mean everyone that's in seac is is a local L and has been there for a good while and we all push each other on to do great things like you know what I mean so I think that's why it kind of stands out a little bit like yeah and it is it like over the next year it's going to be quite exciting obviously Do's yourself Jord bra and ke K who would be kind of the senior amateurs in the gym ke's already announced his uh going I wouldn't say you and Jordan be far behind them obviously if you don't want to talk about it it's fine but I think you want a couple more fights that amateurs that the plan are you looking at Pro soon or you want to just keep going am ready i' would be looking to transition to go pro next year definitely I've had like a long amateur career well I've had I've when I say long it's been a long career but there's a lot more more on me you know what I mean I've not I've not damage taken in enemy fights I always come out of a fight safe um and look at earlier on I was saying that I took a bit of a break so when I first start fighting I was only fighting for a year and a half maybe two years and then I took I took three years out which turned into five years after Co because all the shows were shut down and all so I lost out on a lot of time competing was there but it was always training and always in the gym and then since I think came up as a memory today on Facebook um two years ago I had fought Gary Roy that was my first fight back at amateur so I been back competing amateur the last two years so i' be looking to transition to go to Pro next year to be honest really yeah definitely yeah I would I would have thought so I want a fight to come back to as well after such a long spell Out Gary Rooney I remember being at that show but with Co you talked about Co obviously prolonged the competing when that happened was was that did that have any effect on you want to come back to compete because obviously you hadn't competed but then that was restricting your competing did I think right if we if we come out with this crazy situation we're in and we can fight again did you think right I'm going to go for it now because it was kind of withheld withheld from you potentially when you wanted to come back after three years absolutely and I think the whole gym felt that way everybody was raring to go as soon as the shows were announced back we we actually like we've been nonstop since Co with happen like you know what I mean as soon as it came back it gave you that CH for what it is that you do you know what I mean you know that it can like seeing that it can be taken away at any moment like that just being shut down everything and like it's going to happen again soon like there is going to come a day where we're all told you can't fight anymore or whatever like so it was kind of like a a taster for that nearly to give you that grat Shield to just Chase it now and while it's here while it's now get after it like you know what I mean well we can and you most definitely have because you've been very very active uh one of the things I want to talk to you about was the four nations talk the team that went out there I think everyone came back with gold except for I believe chenade and chenade had potentially to fight night with shenel dyer who you see yeah yeah what she's doing at Pro spinning elbows knocking people out so there's no shame in chenade losing to her but that was a fantastic team that went out talk to us about your performance and involvement in all because that like you really really excelled in that to like you got the finishes you really really excelled how did you feel going into that and how did you feel cuz you like the international tournaments a bit more than the regional I've noted you you always want to kind of compete in them um how did you feel in the country again and how did you feel uh in the tournament and how do you feel you doing overall yeah yeah no it was great I love getting out to represent the country um it's just a shame that it's not recognized as a sport by by the country you know what I mean I was listening on the radio there the other day and there's a tug of war Ireland did you know tog of war is a is a a a recognized sport in Ireland that they get grants for and they they have all this fund you know what I mean but like that just it spores us on even more to know that we're doing all this for nothing we're doing it for ourselves you know what I mean there's no one there's no one p us on the back here it's like we know ourselves what what career choice we want and like so that's all preparation for that so like I love to represent the country but I wish we'd be recognized for it um and then the second part of that question I felt great going over you know that was a great team going over the Dream Team over in Liverpool we had was me Jordan Keith h H Muhammad made his MMA debut over there I think he had two two knockout well he knocked someone down he two Knockouts he was he was bleeding deadly and Solomon was over there I think they might have been his last amateur fights before he went pro he did very well as well and um yeah as you said yeah everybody meddled uh except Shen but Shen had a great fight against Chanel D and she she fought brilliantly to be fair we really really surprised by her and it was a was a great fight yeah and like I look I do I feel more focused when I'm away when I'm abroad to represent the country or whatever I don't know what it is I just feel a lot more focused and um that was that I have performed better when I'm abroad when I'm away and when I just when I really Zone in on that focus of just performing with no distractions yeah I've actually had a fight it's funny you bring that up I had a fight say to me recently like that when they go away to these fights not that there's pressure on you when you're fighting at home but you've got the issues of tickets you've got all this you've got all that whereas once you kind of get away the week before a couple of days before you kind of fully dial in would that be the case that's it yeah 100% that's the case like that is it like you just you have no distractions you're you're only in that country for one reason and it's to go fight and to go win you know what I mean you're not there to go eat and go field you're not there to be doing whatever you could be doing here whatever distractions are here you know what I mean you'll have none of that you're only there for one Mission and you're wa you're way your team and they all have the same Mission as well so some B getting abroad to represent yeah I'd say it is I've seen obviously they're going away there's a lot like the four nations was a good idea they were talking about the four provinces this year that didn't happen um but with in terms of the IMF like I wanted to touch on what you said about being recognized because I think like I said a took a war that's that's that's a bit of rope and a bit of couple of rubby Lads pulling a rope in a field that's all that is you look at what I see with the Greyhound Scandal like two or three years ago maybe it was more and then still getting funding um if these people actually came in and and and spent a week two weeks with the people like he and see what he did because I've never come across I've been in different circles whether it be g sock or whatever MMA I've never felt more welcome I've never felt more accepted for who I am Joe and the way on or how I I present myself there's no kind of you will always get one deckhead in a gym or one deckhead in in in a community that's just the way it is but overall you're the most humble nicest welcome people in the world I feel and they think the sport is is I think it's because they think is violent um I think it's more safe than boxing overall because you're not getting continuously punched in the head over and over the ref is there to stop it um yeah yeah I think if they spend a week with you or a fight or something they might change the tune hopefully we're getting closer to that stage so I believe but at the moment we can only we can only deal with what we have but moving on to the fight um sorry on that as well there um over in the world championships there the youths the youths in the world championships were I think forth on the medal table over the whole world for like how many medals they brought home and all these countries that we compete against are funded we have like some of the Saudi countries that are heavily funded the Russians uh like aot even Estonia and a lot of these countries have a national MMA training camp that they'll be government funded and all the whole team will be out paid a salary paid like giving all your meals giving everything everything to succeed you know what I mean and then we have the oeland team going over with ham sambos you know what I mean making way like no fund and just there for like for a dream really just chasing a dream and to see how well they do every single time just show us kind of how like how good the talent on this Loy is like you know what I mean yeah know it's fantastic and like that you said you're funding yourselves like when it comes up I don't know how many times I get tagged in Gund me to try and help fund them I'll share all of them um I can't donate to all of them because there's so many it's mad that or like people might have to get loans uh France milambo told me he had to get LW he his his girlfriend at the time had to get money send it over to him when he was in Vegas to actually compete and stuff like that it's mental yeah I believe it the kids like you said notic that that like that they're bringing home medals to beat the band every time they go away under Danny McCormack and Alan McCormack who obviously are doing a fantastic job you're in the gym what do you see of these levels coming up now like when you look at where you were at that stage compared to now because obviously it's more known now it's more technical like when you look at them their age now compared to you you going like me these are coming up fast yeah definitely yeah man I was on Instagram earlier and I seen some kid over in England and he has like 9,000 followers and he's like I think he's only like seven or eight years of age and his techniques good he has good wrestling technique good so like yeah it just makes me wish I started training as soon as I was born nearly you know what I mean that's that's the way it's going yeah but obviously they're starting younger I think what we're seeing now is kind of the fruits you were fighting obviously before uh he actually really really hit it but Conor McGregor I think we really see to his labor because as many people want to say maybe it wasn't him to start I think the kind of Boom did start through him and this is kind of we're getting the the fighters coming true now but the fight this weekend cage Legacy is always a crazy show it's always a great show you're in like I said two finishers two this is going to be a potentially crazy hectic fight how how are you looking forward to the fight because I really really like this fight on paper yeah yeah I'm looking forward to it it's definitely it's going to suit the show the show is going to be mad and this fight is gonna be mad you know what I mean it's gonna be it's gonna be some B and I say our fight could probably be loudest that that c and then I seen Dean said whoever like the winner of this potentially would go for the Bantam weight or would go for potentially go for a Titan shot is that something you'd be interested is because it's in keep the title keep the title I'll tell you what I want if I be Elvis little guy I want spot on the cage Legacy game so that's what you want off for grabs you want to be on the game yeah yeah definitely yeah this is like I want to be I want to be a Moralo on the App Store yeah this is like the real UFC know when if it was it when Al came down to Aldo McGregor and it's coming to other Fighters isn't it whoever wins is on the cover game you want to be in the game so we're gonna put actually gonna put that as a clip and we're gonna share yeah yeah yeah but I actually see you at the pfl the day and you were actually sitting with them um talk to us about the respect factor in MMA yeah I was I was working at pfl there night and Derek hickey got on to me and asked me I've done some official walk before for R so I think uh maybe they were down a lad and Derek KY text me and G me an opportunity to go in as an inspector for the commission um so that was amazing you know what I mean I got to see that whole show backstage in and out the walks of it you know what I mean it was that was really impressed with pfl was probably one of the best shows we've seen put on in the tree arena for MMA ever and that's gone back to like between Bame kage Warriors Bellator all them that pfl there on Saturday night was was the best show the TR Arena um and I was just fling through the crowd I think I was looking I was walking through looking for Keith and jordo they were in the crowd there somewhere I just heard a few Ro calling me name or whatever and I turned around and it was Deo sitting there and then I went over and just shook de's hand or whatever I said what's the story and then I just C behind them Elvis was sitting there as well so of course obviously went over and just said how you how you know how you feel and you looking forward to next week and all whatever I think this this oil is too small to be a show bike on the domestic level you know what I mean at the end of the day like I said even there like you could you could have  enemies and then at the end of the year you're going away and you're on the same team together competing the  the World Championships you know what I mean so like at the end of the day I feel everyone on this Island's on the same team you know what I mean like the world's way too big to just make enemies here and have your whole career here you know what I mean yeah like and I like how you put that as well we're small island you talked about the talent we produce and we we all don't sorry we all you all don't want to be just the best in Ireland you want to be the best in the world and the only way to do that is to like that fighting each other potentially cross training with each other and just having respect for each other I you you would be the same as me like I anyone that does media I'd love to see them succeed from Ireland I don't care who they are if we don't get on personally because it just opens up more opportunities and that's that's the attitude you've taken and that's that seems like a team through the gym seems to be team through a lot of the country though as well because yeah those feel like us against the world the small little island and we always go out and con like we always go out and do exceptionally well in in sport in Combat Sports yeah you're right yeah all sports not even not even just fighting all sport like we we do it very well yeah so it's going to be a crazy show next week once I want to thank you very much for your time because I know obviously it's fight week um there's a lot going on but I want to thank you very much for your time I'm going to let you go is there anything you want to say or anyone you want to shout out before we go um not specifically um I love shout out all the lads in the gym you know what I been putting in all the work all year and I think my f my fight will be the last fight for SE for the for the 2023 year we have Nick REO on the same card as well so it'll be Nick and Me closing out the year for seac so uh yeah I'm looking forward to that yeah yeah it's been a very active year for Jim another successful year you seem to be just building on every time I go to the show there's another one I think it was Rory Murphy was that show was it is it Rory mury yeah yeah yeah then like obviously Nick has come true and like you can see there's Jake and guide there's uh Le like I just want to say you're what you're doing in that gym is fantastic and it comes through obviously from Alex and Debs and then the like say you Jordan and Kei would kind of be the senior so you're all fantastic job there and I can't wait to see you fight in person again because I don't get to see it that often yeah will you be there will you be there Saturday yeah yes I think I won't be covering it but I might be going and having a few beverages in the crowd and enjoy and to see out the year so um but if I don't know I might end up changing my mind when I'm there I might just end up doing what I usually do getting into the cave um thank you so much for your time and I will talk to you uh either on the day or after or maybe just before so thank you sweet now hle cheers perfect thank you