Paul Browne interview

Summary

Paul Browne is a Bjj black belt hailing from Team Ryano, who throughout his presence in the combat scene has been a referee, Judge, MC,commentator and more recently has added media member to that long list of accomplishments working for fighters only who host the MMA awards, he…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

I'm here with my good friend Paul Brown who was recently over in Vegas for the MMA uh awards as well. Looked like he had an absolute ball of a time. How are you? How was it being over there for the event and obviously being for the MMA awards and the event. You looked like you had great crack. You talked to legends such as Shenan, Frank Mir, Sister Durant, people like that. What was it like being around those people and actually going to the event when you knew you were going? What was your kind of your reaction? >> It was insane because it had been coming for a while. like the company I work for, write for, produce content for fighters only. They run the world MMA awards. This was the 17th edition. So, this was originally supposed to be happening, I think, last December. Um, a few years back during co what they did was they switched from running it in the middle of the year to running it at the end of the year slash January something to do with there was a delay in it one year, whatever. Anyway, they decided this year um because what was happening with that was the voting period was instead of you voting for the winners of the MMA awards from a calendar year January through to December. It was kind of complicated because of the change that had come around in co the voting period was from like the 1st of July through to the 30th of June the following year. And they were finding that that was creating a bit of confusion. So they decided this year they were like, "You know what? Instead of having it in December or in January that we'll we'll have it in the middle of the year. We'll go back to what it used to be." So um when the idea for me to go up to it first came around, it then didn't happen in December. And if they were going to do it in January, they were going to do it in February, they were going to do it in March at the Miami Card, but it didn't kind of fall into place. They decided, you know what, we we'll have it at International Fight Week. So then they're like, you're coming over for that, right? And I was like, I had heard um on the grapevine over here at that point that Conor McGregor was going to be fighting International Fight Week and it hadn't been announced. So I was thinking, damn, that's going to be a hell of a week to be over in Vegas, you know. Um so yeah, once it all sort of came to like I wasn't sure if it was going to because it had been kind of pulled a couple of times or the plans had changed and then it it eventually fell into place. It was like the stars just aligned. Yeah. I got to go to the awards when we got there. I got to work at the awards on the Wednesday night, meet loads of the big names in the game. And then obviously then I was free to attend everything else UFC 329 related for for fight week. So um it couldn't have really worked out any better for me, you know. Uh just just what a blast. It was very very surreal. I was as busy as hell over there because there was stuff on every day. Of course, you had the International Fight Week, so you had the Hall of Fame awards on the Thursday afternoon. You had the press conference. You had this official weigh-ins, the ceremonial weigh-ins, and then the fights all day Saturday. So there there wasn't a moment to draw breath. Uh but yeah, just a magic week. Really, really insane. >> Yeah, it looked fun. Like I said, you were talking sudden and he brought up the Mr. in between thing as well. I thought that was quite a little funny segment. My son actually said that to me. Yeah, I'm not telling Browner because Brown will fold them up. >> I get that. I get that everywhere. When I used to work for Cage Warriors, like you you'd be uh bumping into new fighters from all over Europe and stuff, you know, and you'd be meeting them all backstage and some of them would just pull you aside and go, "Did you ever see Mr. In between?" And I was like, "No, no, but I'm going to have to go and watch it." So, I went off and watch it. I was like, "Oh, this this show is class." So, yeah, I I started getting that a lot, you know? And yeah, Chale Chesen is Chesunning is Chail Sunen whether he's there with a camera in front of him or you're in a room alone. I found that out pretty quickly. I was at the awards and like he presented it and then there was parts where other people are representing the awards. So Ch's in the back room with me and I'm I'm just kind of trying to edit some footage quickly and it's me and him and I just realized, oh this this is not an act. This is just his personality. He's exactly the same person. He's hilarious. He's great crack. So uh it was it was brilliant, you know. It was cool to just get to chat to people like that and just meet some of those characters. But yeah, he's definitely right up there, you know. >> Yeah. No, he's like that. I would imagine he is like that constantly turned on all the time. I found that I met Wonderboy, Steven Wonderboy years ago and he is exactly what he is on the thing when you meet him in person as well. Um, but like when you start like obviously like you we've talked about this a couple of times that you you weren't aiming to go kind of this direction. Everything you kind of had done though had kind of prepared you for like it kind of everything you had done qualified you to do what you're doing. When you started doing your commentary gig, did you ever envision being out at Vegas, especially for like a Conor McGregor fight week? Obviously, it went the way it went, but a Conor McGregor fight, whether people like him or not, is still a big a big uh spectacle, a big occasion. Did you think you'd be going to something like that way back when when you had your first commentary gig or was that even in the in in your vision? Maybe in in your kind of wildest dream, most optimistic version of your dreams, you'll end up doing that. But more often than not, that doesn't really happen, you know. But kind of just threw myself all in into this stuff over the last couple of years, you know, like I kind of um the previous line of work I was in running my own gym and stuff. Knocked that on the head in 2023. And I kind of had to pivot then because I was kind of um I was co-parenting and solo dading it at at times. and I had to find a way to work and make it work around the the arrangements that I had regarding that part of my life. So, I kind of figured out look, I could do I have the the skill set. I commentate on fights now at the weekends. It's becoming busier and busier. There's other things I can do in that um in that line as well. And I ended up doing that little bit for Cage Warriors like I mentioned. And then it sort of trickled on to doing a little bit of writing because I had dabbled in that before. So, I ended up sort of Yeah. All of the the bits just fell into place, but like at the time you're like, you're going, "Right, this is grand. I'm just trying to get by here." But it's quickly snowballed, you know, because like it's like anything else. If you go all in at something and you really commit to it, um you can end up being rewarded for it, you know, and I found that that was last week was just a nice uh Yeah, it was a nice example of that. It was just good to to get to enjoy the whole week and just really just walk around. I was bit on cloud nine all week just enjoying the experience because I've covered live events like loads of them for different promotions big promotions Bellator PFL and UFC over here like let's say I did like the London event earlier this year a fight night or whatever but being there on one of the biggest cards of the year in Las Vegas like the epicenter of the fight game and just walking around and seeing some of the biggest stars in the game just within touching distance h getting to ask questions to some of the biggest stars in the game, getting to just have casual conversations with them. It's It's different, you know? It's different to work in a fight night in London and whatnot when the card is maybe a little less star strewn or whatever, but just yeah, wild. You just have to take it in your stride and just keep going, you know? It's uh it's definitely something that I wouldn't have maybe wouldn't have maybe realistically thought would have would have happened kind of that quickly, but in the space of a couple of years, it's kind of coming around pretty quick and it's not going to be the last time either, you know. Um, what did strike me as surreal was I'm over there working. I'm in the media uh section at like they have the media room. It's like a kind of like a tent kind of thing that they have built outside the T-Mobile arena and you're there on the day of like the the official weigh-ins are held there. You're you're kind of parked there on the day that the the press conference is on. You your desk set up in there and my friends start sending me screenshots of and clips from UFC embedded and I'm on it and I'm like, "Okay, now things are starting to just get weird." That's that's um I couldn't believe it, you know, but little moments like that are kind of pinch me moments. But yeah, you're you're you're so busy in the middle of it, you don't get a whole lot of time to uh to to kind of overthink it. But when you get back, then you're trying to recharge the batteries. It's like, did that just happen? That was insane, you know? >> Yeah. I could say when you got back like that because you're so busy and then you get back, it's just like it's kind of like decompress, breathe out, and it's like that just happened. But like you like like that you went there you I seen the the little bit with Nina drama as well talk out the hair stuff like you just seemed like you kind of just fit in there so way you just kind of slid in and a lot of people like you said when you go to London card obviously you'll have big stars from the UK and Ireland and place like that but like when you go to Americ said you're going to have your Frank Mirs your ch sons and stuff like that a lot of people might be could be intimidated going over to that but you you fit right in. If there was someone that was just say going over to that for the first time, is there any advice that you would give them that might because obviously you don't have any anxiety going up and talking to these people or this show is maybe people that might be a bit younger in the game or or might be the first opportunity. Is there any advice that you would give to them if they were going in and they were anxious? >> Having a couple of sort of template questions ready to go that aren't just like boring ones or whatever, but I mean when I was doing the back the interviews on the red carpet, it's just basically you don't even know who's going to show up realistically. So you're just sort of it's like right this is where you are on the red carpet and I'm next to like Mike Hec from MMA fighting.com and then there's a few other people kind of in line up there and we just wait and see who rocks up first. So there's like a two-hour window at the red carpet. Sorry I'm silencing me phone here. There we go. Um and you're just sort of waiting to see who comes up. So you sort of have to do things on the fly. But then like the first couple of fighters came in. It was like Gabe Green who fought Ian Garry a couple of years ago in the UFC. There's John Dodson who I watched for years and years. So you're you're kind of just asking them, you know, are you excited to be at the awards and you know, international like big fight this weekend? Give us your prediction. These are kind of basic questions. So having things like that ready, but as well, I think you kind of want to you want to have one or two questions for people when you're doing something like going to a postw press conference at the UFC. Like have something that's not just the same that anyone is going to ask either. Do you know what I mean? you don't want to um you got to sort find a way to strike the balance between asking the generic questions that are just not going to get an interesting answer and um asking something that that that's going to matter, you know. So, when I turned up like for the for UFC 329 before I'd even left my hotel, I grabbed a little notebook and I filled it for with questions for Conor McGregor, Patty Pimlet, Dana White, Max Holloway, four or five questions for each of them. So, in the event that I get to spoke to speak to any of them at the postfight presser, I have something ready. And I had one or I got I got the opportunity to ask one or at least one or two questions to uh to Patty Pimble, Max Holloway, and Dana White, which is good, you know. So, it's just crossing your tees and dotting your eyes and being prepared and things like that, you know, and not allowing yourself to just get caught stargazing and and watching the whole thing happen and then not being a part of it, you know. >> Yeah. You know, and that's that's what I was actually going to bring up when you were talking about Patty Pimmer. Like the question was probably one of it was actually it was obviously we all know Nikki, me and Nikki were talking. He was like I think it was Paul that said that he asked the question about every time you know when Patty goes to fight someone they're going to beat him but as soon as he he beats him they're watch. Do you think Patty Pimlet doesn't get the respect he deserves? I think I think that victory he had was sensational. I've never really seen uh a submission like that before and he got it so quick. Do you think because of the way he goes on in his antics, do you think people downplay him or or is it that maybe people don't want to see him do well? But you can't deny him now that like that victory is is a like Cone in his opponents. I was like, man, this is a dicey one for Patty and Patty made it look easy. Do you think he's he's overlooked or people put that on him because of because of his character because he's a very lovehate kind of person. It's kind of a bit of both, you know, and I'd be guilty of it because even in the leadup to the fight, I'm thinking, okay, this is the day that Patty gets caught now because I was saying this to people when I was discussing the fight, even on fight week, and I'm a Patty fan, like a really likable fellow when you actually talk to him and and whatnot. Um, like I've I've met him a bunch of times at backstage at Cage Warriors events and whatnot. But as regards analyzing him as a fighter, I would even on fight week, like I said, I would have been just thinking this one's a step too far because at that point, he had fought for an interim title. He had yet to beat a single top 15 ranked UFC opponent. The fights he got through were fights you would expect him to get through. Not often with great performances. I mean, um, Jared Gordon was a a do of a performance. He fought Michael Chandler. Mike Chander looked horrendous in that fight. But as I said to Patty, like when we were picking for that fight, the the week of the fight, a lot of people that I was discussing it with, I was on podcast with people and we were making our picks and a lot of people were leaning toward Chandler. And then when you when you smash him, all of a sudden he's washed. So I was like kind of maybe criticizing myself for having that analysis at the time as well. And then he's coming in against BSD. And a part of me just took that into into account and was like in me head. I was like, he could get smashed here because BSD is on a really good run now again. But then like he just makes it look easy, you know, and I I just said right now, okay, now I'm convinced now Paddyy is despite all the faults he has as a fighter and he has them. Um he's he's he's so dangerous, you know, he's proved against Justin Gagey. Like I I thought if a lot of people watching Patty over the years will watch him, he does things wrong. His chin's up high, his hand, you know, his hands are down. He gets hit way too easily. And we all thought I will knock him out. And then someone like a BSD, Justin Gachi might knock him out. Uh BSD might knock him out. But then I'm looking at him going, "Right, if Justin Gate can't knock him out and look what he did to Ilia." I mean, obviously, he's just got that extra freakish bit of resilience. And look, he um I was watching the fight with unbelievably and very surreal. I was watching the fight with former Olympian, former world championship boxer Wayne McCulla. And he was kind of going, "What? tell me a bit about these two guys because, you know, he he likes a bit of MMA but on a sort of a a casual sort of fan basis. So, I was explaining to him like they're both really good offensively, neither of them brilliant defensively. So, someone's getting mil here. Um, what likely happened is one of them will just overcommit to something and get caught and 30 seconds in that that's exactly what happened. So, uh it was it was interesting at that moment. I was like, "Right, okay. Now I'm because I'm convinced Patty Patty could be a problem here and if he does fight an Ilia it's going to be very hard to back against him given what we've seen out of both of those fighters last two fights you know so I thought it was it was a good time to maybe ask him that question and one thing I wanted to say to him was like on on a similar line do you think that people look at you as a personality who can fight rather than a fighter who has a big personality but the question I did ask him was kind of in the same vein anyway and uh yeah yeah he was he really cool with his answer, you know, he just knows, look, the goalposts are going to get shifted all the time. It doesn't matter what I do. it. Let's keep this train rolling. And uh he was the star of the show at that show, Dave. He was like, having watched his walk out in the arena and I just watched the footage back on me. I I um I watched it back there at the weekend on my uh I got it on my camera and it's insane. The atmosphere was electric. Just I've never seen a reception like that for a fighter. Um they he joked at the the pre-fight press conference as well. Someone had asked you know you're getting a big reception here probably bigger than McGregor and he was like no Conor McGregor's still getting it. Not really. I was there and I think Patty Pimlet got a bigger pop you know. So I think the UFC will be very very happy with what they have on their hands now with him you know. >> Yeah. No 100%. And that's what I was going to ask you cuz I watched it at home on my phone and from like that you said the entrances the entrances like cuz they all lit up and I think someone said it on the commentary it might be whoever was doing commentary said you can't hear this in here but you don't understand how loud and especially and then everybody doing the Patty dance and he come out what was obviously you've commentated on so many shows and like you said you're in Vegas. What was it like being in Vegas what was that atmosphere like? Like was it like hair standing on the back of your neck kind of stuff? Like did that feel surreal cuz like I said we've you've done shows from all the region here in Ireland and then to go over like I said you've done you've been over to UK but America Vegas being in that venue. What was that like? What was the atmosphere like? What was the crowd like? What was it? Did you take it all in or did it all kind of just go so fast? >> Yeah. So on those fight nights and like what what can usually happen is you're in the sort of media section like there's there's a buffet in there and you have a big desk and whatnot and that's where the fighters come after their fights to get interviewed and whatnot and that can be going on through the night. But the issue with the T-Mobile one is it's outside and then you got to walk outside the door there through the doors around to the front into the T-Mobile arena find the elevator go up five floors and then they have around the other side of the arena so you got to spend five minutes walking around. Looks like a big bowl. On the very top level, they have a row of desks for us. So, it's literally you're on a balcony. You've got a comfy seat like this. You've got a tiny desk space in front of you for your laptop. And then you're looking down on top of everything. There's no one up higher than you. So, it's looking down on the whole thing. Your view is perfect. But because it was such a trek, I was like, I'm not going to be going back and forth interviewing fighters. Becca, I'm just going to stay here, watch the entire card, and then just take it all in. And at the end, usually what they do is the winner of the co-main and the main won't come out for interviews until well after the main event is finished anyway. So I was like, I can get away with not interviewing all the other fighters. I want to interview Patty Pima if he wins and I want to talk to either Connor or Max if he wins. So I stayed there all night and myself and me friend Rob Hines who writes for the mirror. We sat there and we watched um we watched the entire card from that upper tier like sitting there looking down on it as the the crowd built up and up and up and it was just a brilliant night of fights. There was I think the most first round finishes in UFC history or at least tied for it. I could be wrong on that, but it was just exciting finish. Brandon Ryal and Lon having a fight was just an insane battle. Um and there wasn't a good fight on the card. Everything was class. Robert Whitaker had a great win. Guys just knocking each other out, submitting each other all through the night and everyone part of the main event was in nuts. The Patty walk out, Conor McGregor's walk out, getting to see that live for the first time since the last fight I was at his was 2014. So, I got to sort of take it all in and I had my um I had my little handheld DJI Osmo there. So, I was just getting great footage of it, you know, and I was putting together my vlog. I was editing it up and uh obviously a lot of the stuff I got in the arena you can't put on a YouTube video because the copyright and music and stuff but the Patty walk out and the the Connor walk outs I've got and the the announcements Bruce Buffer's announcements for Connor just real chaotic moments and you can see the whole arena just lighting up and the atmosphere. I got some great shots of that. So I've kind of squeezed those into it. But yeah, it was just magic. Just magic. That'll be kind of a memory that I'll always have, you know, just a sensational night of fights. Yeah. Know like cuz cuz I got that feeling through the t like through the laptop watching it going, "Oh my god." Like I was getting goosebumps even watching Patty's walk out and cuz they had the the French flags, the British flags and they had the flags and I was just like I could only imagine what it was like going in. But in terms of what he said about the card, one of the biggest criticisms I feel over the UFC is is that the cards haven't been so good over the past two years. But we've had two backto-back cards. We've had the White House card and no matter what people's land on the side of politics, that is a spectacle that'll never happen again. And I think that was a fantastic card. I think they were all finishes as well on that card. And then you've got this one. Do what do you make of the the last two cars that they have. And do you agree with some people that maybe cuz I feel I wouldn't be as interested anymore, but the past couple of uh shows I have been and obviously Strickland when he got Hamza as well was such a surprise. Do you think that the shows are getting better or do you think that's just people's perception of it? >> Difficult as hell because in the early part of the year they announced the White House card and then they were talking about having so many title fights on it. It was going to be all title fights. We're going to have nine title fights. That was the original thing. And it was like they sort of went through a period where they were waiting to match that card and holding off all big fights. So there was a month or two where the UFC cards were a little bit lacking in star power. So people were complaining about it, you know, but I think eventually once that card took shape, then they were able to sort of sprinkle other big fights and title fights all around the place and things started to really pick up. So there are fights like I mean the fight card that's coming up this weekend is like I looked at it and it's it's not great whatsoever. And then you've got hot on the heels of that we've got UFC 330 where Ian Machado Gary is fighting for the title. That's an amazing fight. And you've got um McKenzie Darren defending her title against Jillian Robertson in the co-main. But outside of that, I looked through that card and it's like it's nowhere near the one we just saw at T-Mobile Arena. So, I think they can be still hit and miss in regarding quality. Um but yeah those last couple of cards back to back and then like you think of the big moments as well big consequential moments like what Justin Gatey did against Iliadoria this the whole storyline of Connor and the injury you know there's there's a lot of headlines coming out of that and there will be for months off it you know but even moments in the card like Patty's breakthrough like we just discussed was huge Robert Whitaker's announcement or his arrival h at 205 pounds so plenty plenty of memorable moments there, you know. But yeah, like I said, it'll there'll still be ups and downs because they do have a lot of filler cards unfortunately going forward, but um can't wait for the next big one. I'm hoping that uh we get a huge one. Even Shadow Garry's of course one that we're going to be hugely interested in, isn't it? >> Yeah. No, and that's what I was going to ask you. I was reading something today as well. It was a comment someone put in and we all know how good is Damage, but I think I think I agreed with this person in theory. People think that he's just going to run through Ian Gary. I don't think that's the case. I think Dean Garry has height. He's got really good strike and then he can use his distance and also Machev is going up and this is kind of Gary's like well he's not going up but obviously this is Gary I would assume would be the bigger man or like on a day-to-day basis walkound. What do you make of the fight? I think Ian Gary obviously doesn't like because of some of the things he said or or things that go on but as a fighter he's phenomenal and he's he's elite and I think he can be a champion. Do you think people are like some people think thinking that Islam will just run through? Do you think that is a bit naive or do you think that is a possibility? >> 100%. I'm um I'm I haven't spoken to a lot of people like a lot of the interviews I did at the World MA awards, I made sure to sort of get their predictions on the Conor McGregor fight, but also to get their predictions on the Ian Garry fight. So, I can sort of have little clips now that I can drip feed out in the leadup to uh to that where I'm getting people's predictions. And a lot of people are kind of saying like that just Islam is going to be just too good for him. He's not going to be able to handle them. But me personally, I think that Ian has all the right tools to um to cause problems for Islam. Um and again, I interviewed Ian in Dublin here a month ago when he was over doing the match room press conference and it was good to just pick his brain on the fight. One thing we were talking about was like how the fact that he has got the opportunity to fight so many southpaws and a couple of really good wrestlers already in the UFC means he's he's spent like camps full training camps preparing for the specific problems that Islam Makv is going to bring. So he's he beat a lot of southpaws. He's demonstrated like a lot of the breakdown videos I would have done on Ian Machado Gary would have been around how he just has performed really well against Southpaw in the standup. He's very difficult to get to and then you know the fights against Shavad and against Bal he showed how he can deal really well with that kind of type of wrestling pressure. So I was kind of saying to him like does that help the kind of star does to you is that the stars aligning? Does it feel like that? And yeah, he spoke about that saying, you know, things could be just falling into the right place at the right time here. Like Islam is getting on a little bit. There's rumors going around that Islam is kind of already thinking about, you know, walking away soon enough as well. And when a fighter starts thinking like that, sometimes you do see a little dip off in their in their output, their performance level. So there's a lot of little factors like this playing into it. I think Ian's ability to manage the distance is better than anyone that Islam has ever faced before. And not just that, but his ability to dictate where at what distance the fight takes place. I think that's a that's a really big thing. He's like a he has this kind of snake charmer effect where he there's little details that go on with it. Like the way he uses his jab, he sort of instigates uh an exchange, a fighter resets, and then comes in to re-engage, and that's when he cracks them. and he's really good at making them dance to his beat. And I think I'm I'm just interested to see how it plays out. Like if Islam gets through him, I think he gets through anybody because he imposes different issues like a a far higher IQ, a far higher level issue than a lot of other fighters will have. Like Morales brings knockout power and of course he can catch him, but I think what Ian brings is a more complex puzzle. And I just can't wait to see that fight. But yeah, I'm backing Ian all the way. I might be I might be in the minority on that one, but it. I'm I'm backing our guy, you know. >> Yeah. No, 100% as we always do. And I think he might fall victim to kind same kind of thing as Paddyy because he's his personality is kind of can be very unlikable. You know, the sort of way I think sometimes people find him hard to like, but I think he is elite. I think he is very good. like you said uh and I seen Kabib saying that Islam's never fought someone that big and you know that much that whether for reach and stuff and that much distance uh but I think I think he's going to pose a lot more problems and I think Ian could beat him. Like I said if people are thinking about the going away they might just kind of dip off but I'm going to let you go in a minute but is there anything else that you have planned for the rest of year? Do you have anything else like what you've just had or is that going to be will you be going back to the MMA awards next year? Um, and >> is there any big plans for the rest of the year for yourself or is it just usual back on the grind around the regional arena and and putting out the content for fighters only? >> Yeah, so with Fighters Only, we've um we've some big coming, but I I'm not really allowed kind of say much about that, but definitely definitely back to the World M Awards, which I assume will be um International Fight Week again next year. I think that's the plan. But um looking forward to you know becoming more involved there as well. And then like the next couple of months are really busy on the pro boxing scene. So obviously your work as an MC and in pro boxing here. So we have a trio of big big international promotions coming. So Queensbury is is it next week August 1st then Zofa in the tree arena again on August the 8th. So I'm going to go to both of those. And then Katie Taylor in September. And then later in September, h the company I work for, JB Promotions, were running a massive pro boxing card in the National Stadium September 26th. So, some huge huge domestic fights on that. And that's sort of that's the sort of feeder league for all of those big promotions. These are the guys that are producing the the next stars. So, um it's the the level the the level of fights, the standard, and the the production is always brilliant there. So, that's the next two months or so is just going to be insane. I'm going to be busy with all of that. And then obviously all of the regional MMA stuff is going on in um in Ireland and I'm a big part of all of that, you know, your your your um your different promotions and whatnot. So flat to the map for the rest of the year. You know how it is. It's been a really really busy start to this year. It's probably been me busiest one yet, but it looks like it's not showing any signs of slowing down thankfully. >> Yeah. No, no, that's good. And actually before I do, let's go. Cage Warriors as well. We've only got a couple of fights announced, but two of the fights that are announced are Irish on Irish violence. And I know Andy Stevenson, he's all for it. I also would be as well. What do you make of KJ Wire's come back? And obviously you've got Solomon versus Kenny and it was announced today, Steven Costello versus Jordan O'Neal. Um, which is which is another cracking fight. Do you think we're going to see this more that the Irish are matched against each other as opposed to having one side of Irish fighters and then others a mix of different countries from Europe to across the world? I would guess so because they've so many Irish fighters now and they kind of got to find places for them to fight, don't they? Like we said, there was hints um when the last show was here, there was hints that they were going to have two more this year in Dublin, but it didn't sort of transpire that way. So, there was that night in Manchester recently when Jer and Solomon and Alexander Sullivan and all those guys were on that card. So, they sort of filled in on those dates and now some of them are back now for this September 26th card. So, it sounds like they're they're struggling to fit all the pieces in in into the right places here. So, um I would guess a a great solution to that is to have them all fight each other or have a chunk of them fight each other because those fighter class I mean Solomon and Kenny Makuana is is a banger. Um Costello, who's he fighting again? >> H Jordan O'Neal who's coming from light heavy down to welter. I I think it was amateur the last time I seen him fight welter. Jordan O'Neal >> cuz I think he fought even at light heavy. I think Troy Gibson went up to like heavyweight to fight him at amateur as well. So like the prospect of Jordan O'Neal going down and will that power then translate cuz he's he's a big big boy. Um >> two really talented fighters as well. So that's a that's a great match up and Jordan brings a crowd, doesn't he? I remember that Cage Legacy fight against Troy Gibson. He brought like couple of bus loads of people if I'm not mistaken. That was one of the first shows I ever commentated on. So um yeah, that's a banger of a fight. And then the Maxi and Aiden Steven fight is huge. I think that's the right step up at the right time. Max is ready now. He's had his his bedding in period in the pros and he's had a couple of tough tests. Your man was it Ben Ellis he fought and he's uh he's ready now for that step up. So that that kind of gatekeeper that Aiden Steven is toward the title of the the Cage Warriors title. So one or two tests at this level and then should he come through them, you could see Max fighting for a Cage Warriors title, moving on to a contender series over the next one to two years. It's a big time for Max, but I think he's he's ready now and the opport the time is right for him to to show what he's made of. And I can't wait to see that fight. But I'm going to miss that that that fight night. I'm like I said, I'm working on a boxing one that night. But um yeah, just a brilliant a brilliant showcase for all the Irish talent we have. >> Yeah, we we we've got so many coming out now at the minute. And like you I want I like what you said cuz they would only fight twice a year but they they were brought to Manchester and there was a good few brought and I was like yes that's that's that's nice to see them brought to these bases because a pro especially when you want to get going you want to get moving you want don't want to just fight twice a year and then if you're injured for one of them you're potentially out of it but I got to let you go one more question. Is there any advice you would give to someone who would want to get into country or media? Is there any any advice that you would give them or anything that kind of has helped you along the way to get to where you are? cuz like we said, your journey has been fantastic so far and it's still still so much more to go. >> It's just getting the reps in, getting doing as much work as possible. I haven't had a day off this game since I started in it. And that's not an exaggeration. There is not a day that I have not had to write an article, produce some content, prepare for an event, have not sat down to do some work. I work seven days a week. Um, there are days when I do like loads. There are days when I just have a little bit to do. I get up at the crack of dawn and get some done before my kids wake up. There's things like that, you know, but I don't ever want to be in a position where I was overtaken or missed out on an opportunity because someone else tried harder, worked harder. That's not happening. Um it's just a case of just making yourself undeniable and just turning up, being prepared, doing the work, being consistent, no days off, just grafting. >> Yeah. Yeah, cuz cuz like I said, for a little article, people don't realize the amount of research and the amount of articles that you may have to read cuz obviously if you want to make it legit, you want to make sure that all the stuff is good. You need references sometimes like for a little small article, you could spend two or three hours doing the research just to just to get that couple of couple of paragraphs. But look, I want to thank you so much for joining me. Uh I I'm delighted. I've been delighted to watch your journey cuz I kind of entered into MMA when you started commentary and I just can't wait to see how much further it goes as well. Is there anything you want to say before you go and thank you so much for your time today? >> No, just thank you, brother. Keep it keep her lit and uh good to see you back on camera. Get get keep working. Keep doing bit more. Consistency pays off. >> Yeah. No, 100%. Thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of your day and I appreciate your time. Oh, >> man. Thank you.