Solomon Simon Cage Warriors Dublin

Summary

Solomon Simon is a professional fighter with a 3-0 record with all finishes, he competes at Cage Warriors Dublin this weekend. We speak about the benefits of his amateur career which has helped him propel into the professional scene in the manner that he has, he tells me about…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] okay so I'm here with Solomon King Simon with a three and 0 record looking to make a 4-0 next weekend fantastic fighter uh I've watched him fight in person loads of times and I can't wait to see you fight again how are you it's a just a week out how are you feeling feel good like everything is like the camp has been good like I don't know if it's magically different it's just I've important in the work like I always do like always thr like I feel significantly better than I was last than the last fight and better than I was a first fight like I've just I feel like I'm growing more and more but main as well is like showing it in there I'm just getting better in my head on translating what I know I can do and translating into the cage I feel like that process is running smoother and smoother for me and every fight it seems to be picking up that little bit that little bit so I'm excited to see what this one's going to be like yeah so we obiously you're both going in you're both finishers you talked about um translating what you do in the train room to the cage um and I've heard of a lot of people that you you say you've heard them that they're really good in the gym and they don't seem to translate it like what way does that work for you is that just a mental thing do you think for because obviously in the training room you're in you're around your teammates you're drilling you're doing whatever do you think sometimes for people that might be the occasion that might get to them and they can't translate it or how do you find how did you work it yeah like funny I was listening to uh Jesus for his name what of his videos uh Gordon R oh my God didit a guy no his coach how the [ __ ] I my brain is gone and I haven't even said well um J this G piss me off I'm going to have to remember it but it's going to piss me but we just talking about confidence and how that translates into like um the cage because like we know exactly what you're saying we know a lot of people in the gym like they killers and then gets on the big stage and it just doesn't translate as well and the perspective he has on it is like for sure what I believe as well like it's um like the techniques that you have with the skill set that you have like when you're in the training room under a there's no pressure on to fail per se so like if you're doing something like and like let's say you're throwing a jab just something simple and like every time you throw a jab like you will get encounted all the time in the training room it's not a big deal okay like whatever so you're willing to even throw that technique in the first place but when you get to if you're not confident in that technique and then you try to translate it into the arena where there's people watching you there's pressure and now there's consequences of failing like if you mess that up you could lose this fight you mess that up you could get knocked out different things like that if you're not confident enough in your Technique or you haven't practiced it enough or you don't believe in it enough you're not going to be confident enough to use that in uh the arena itself and this goes to anything like so he was saying something like if you had like 100 techniques and like you were okay at all of them but by and because you're okay at them once you get try to get to the arena side because you're like oh I'm not sure if I could do that you lose nearly 90% of your Technique because you're just not confident enough to use it in there but even though in the dressing room you're throwing it out there anyway you're not willing to translate that in there and said that's what the confidence come from just belief in the skill set that you have but also like evidence-based belief like I've done this very well and I believe I'm good at it and I know I can make it work not like oh I could make it work sometimes so in my case like I've been practicing everything I've been doing over time like like this this has been years of work to get where I am now and I've been repeating different things I've been getting better and like it's similar not tense you mean similar uh how can I put it the techniques are not like madly different like once you get to a point like you know most of what you know is just getting better at it making it work at different scenarios and whatnot I felt like I've been through the rular and all throughout the years to like be confident in my skill set to know what I'm doing to know that I'm good at what I'm doing and like I made it work against higher level people so I know like ah now the only difference is I just have to do that and the public Arena but I've done that thousands of time I'm good at what I'm doing so yeah long story around that but I believe I think if you if you're good at your things and you practice your skills well enough you should be able to translate it in there and I've been doing that for years so I'm just going to repeat what I've been doing do it on the biggest stage yeah you've been around for a long time especially around the IR scene you fought like the Who's Who and you could see you improve like over time even during amateurs do you feel those improvements even now do you see them in the dream G and and can you see the progress you make fight on fight fight on fight like what the progress I see is just my translation of my skills is coming out more and more like as in like because again in the gym like I feel like I've been feeling good for a good while like I know what I've been able to do all time but like it's just the progress I'm seeing is the translation of it in in the cage and like that's just mad because like there's so much I still that there's so much more I need to learn to the point whereby I'm like once all of this things start to like work together like as long as I could bring a technique bring it straight into the main stage and make it work like it's going to be terrifying for a lot of people to have to face me but like I'm translating everything really well right now and like the brain like the confidence is growing with that and like when I'm saying the evidence of what I'm doing in public and I'm saying it work I'm saying what what I'm telling myself in my head I'm proving it out there as well I'm like yeah okay this this is working out like the process I'm going through like it's all working the systems I have in place they're all working the people I have around me it's all working my team it's all working so yeah again like I said what I'm saying to build is like the translation of my skill set it's coming out more and more yeah know and obviously when you went to Pro you finished off in amateur you were quite active towards the end um and then when you start in Pro fantastically like what you put down your your starter is it all those years of practice like you always took the hard fights you always wanted the international competitions the best person you put a lot of how you start through the years of training and to a sense your amateur career the fights you took the adversity you went through and and stuff like that for sure John Daner that's his name John Dan that's the guy I am going to flip if I remember that yeah so like the pro the like on the I me like I just took whatever like I didn't really give too much [ __ ] because that's again it's a it's it's a bigger stage of the training room if we're going to use that as a example like in the training room like I said there's not much um consequences in there I could lose as much as I want the amateur scene is like obviously still a bit more pressure a bit more but it's a bigger version of that so now I'm able to like practice what I was doing in there so when I have a chance to fail with no real damage to my career per se like why not take advantage of that go test yourself against all the big boys test yourself against all the great Grapplers the great Strikers the great whatever so I know okay that works there that doesn't work that this is where I start to troubleshoot what I need to do you know so on the other side of things and then another part of that is like I stayed at like lightweight for most of that because like I just didn't want to cut the weight so I was confident to fight the bigger people and I felt good against them as well and then going into the FED away side of things right now like I just I feel so like they just don't feel that much to me like I've seen like I've walked I've faced I've faced Giants across the C like [ __ ] Dennis PR for example like I'm looking up at that [ __ ] like trying to come my I'm like Jesus so like everyone now they just look like look it's just a body there I've seen I've seen bigger bodies I've seen stronger bodies i' like at this early stages of the career as well like I've seen more skillful body so that that would be a lie because that last day was quite good I WR so but um yeah I just think I everything I've done like have just given me so much confidence and every time I look back at that I'm like you know what like you've done [ __ ] so like now like let people start knowing like who you are yourself now now just like start taking heads off start taking SCS SCS like and that's what I'm doing TR man down and many more to go yeah no like that three fight three finishes my cameraman Ron would have trained kind of around the same time you were training and he always said when we watched you amateur or we were looking at your fights he said professional is going to suit Solomon so much more for his style did you find that when he transitioned over that like the the longer rounds the elbows the knees you did you know once you transitioned and especially going down to featherweight that you were going to be a monster to these guys coming into the cage yeah for sure like uh I I like the pro things just CU they there's some people that would take um Ste risk in the Pro side still don't get me wrong like some people the Army the 10 is like with that short time frame a lot of 10 people do it but they just Sprint Sprint Sprint Sprint like they just like coming at you I like having time to see and like uh judge and then build up off of that and like I could be on the back for for a bit just to like gather information what I'm doing and but once I have what I need I will rapidly take you out well like in TR minutes I don't have the same time to do that but also in three minutes when if you're striking and start hitting someone like it's fairly quickly for them to put you up against the fence and no matter how good you are like once you're up against the fence it's going to take a little while to get the technique right and get yourself off the bence and like in a TR minut around like if you spend 30 seconds like trying to P up for under hooks you try get head position before you do you know a minute is gone like and they pin you on the fence for like one minute now you have to start thr your way back so there's a lot little things like that but now on first side I have the elbows like used to score my points while I'm on the fense I mean the elbows I have the knees to try and neate some things like that as well so yeah like I do I think I think that I like the time I like having more time to see things the weapons as well like very useful so like overall yeah I would say suits me better but I think I'm not the I'm not changing I haven't changed much drastically I think the biggest change for me so far I think it's the kind and you can see that in a lot of their fights as well like my first fight it was like a third round finish the second one like a late second round finish and the third one is always like a late third round finish like I will the longer it goes like the more information I have on you the more confident I am against you like you will get [ __ ] up so I will see very quickly that most people's probably gonna try to start rushing me try and take me out that way which that makes it even that little bit easier because now I have weapons to create crashes that would do a lot more damage than I can do in the AM side this because in the AM side just rush me and push me against the fence but now you can't do that cuz like you will walk into something that might leave a permanent sty in face yeah obviously if they're coming in to try and rush it you've got the knees when you're up against defense now you've got the elbow to try and negate and and damage them and get them to lose the position but with your opponent coming up you're both of uh you both have an equal record you're both going in with with all finishes do you uh research him much would you leave that to the coaches and just focus on yourself obviously you'd look a little bit into what he's good at what he's not but would you leave if your coaches do most of the research and kind of game planning yeah like I like having like good knowledge of my opponents as well I I've done that with the last three like my coaches as well they would watch the videos and like give me tips on this and then said like it will focus on this or different things like that but on my end for sure like I I watch them like I I want to know most things about them because again it's more like the uh I don't I don't want to go there with just thought process of what my coaches have saying I want to know what I've saying as well and at the end of the day I'm the one that's going to be in there so the more knowledge I have on that the better it's going to be and again me watching everything and I mean like I will try to watch as much of your fights as I can like I woulding put in slow motion and try to see what you're doing and different things like that but like all of that doesn't mean much in there when we're in there like I have rough ideas on what you're good at or what your go to and different things like that but when I in there I have to start gathering information on what the current version of you is as well which is that's why I like but those that information I have that it gives me like a good idea of like if I'm doing this this is what it normally does is it still doing that what I'm in there oh now I have an answer to it already different things like that so like I I like watching my opponents I like and it's it just it gives me that little bit more confidence is what going in there that I've seen what most of your main game don't get me wrong they could come in there and be completely different but the fact I know what like you've done most commonly it's hard to break and habit and that's the same with myself I presume people watching like my shade as well like I advise them to be watching my shade because that's the only way you're gonna have an advantage in the end it makes it difficult now when put videos out every [ __ ] five seconds but look that's a different story yeah and I like the fact that you said when you're in there you're downloading the information and and seeing what they're doing like you f you see if he's going to move this way so you can counter with a certain strike but it's going to be a fantastic fight you talked about your content I like the you're doing a lot of content recently like kind of your meals and stuff like that um your training camp and I really really like what you're doing what made you decide to do kind of like the food sort of things would you want to just show people what you go to on a daily basis as a fighter because a lot of people see you for the 15 minutes or however long you're in there and think oh yeah and they go oh yeah there was a camp before that but they don't realize what you guys sacrifice to live this life because it's not an easy life you're not getting these this massive amount of money like what made you decide to come with the with the content like that cuz I find it really interesting for one yeah like they what I'm just bringing everything I'm trying to like even with the I have a YouTube channel as well like Solomon King Simon go find it subscribe and [ __ ] but like um and with Instagram as well like what I'm trying to do for myself now really is just documenting my journey myself I want to something I could go back and watching be like oh I live that life or like I did that like that because like you said yourself the 15 minutes the fights are going to be there they going to be the main things to see but there's a process that got to that like uh the food and the nutrition side of things I find it quite interesting anyway like I I actually enjoy and like I started a go of it as well like and then I have my strength and conditioning coach now like Alpha Fitness like um Inon is his name but like he sent me stuff and then I just use the information I have with him as well and then start making food or whatever it is like I enjoy it so I'm like I'll record it as well and like it seems to do well sometimes so I'm like I'll put it out there but overall it's how I'm how I'm viewing it for myself so far is just I want to document my journey I want to like see like what got me to where I am because sometimes I go back on my Instagram and I go and watch just watch some old stuff that I posted I'm like I could remember where my mind state was at that point where I posted that uh video when I posted that Post in general whatever it is so I could go back and just reminisce through different things and like again it lets me know where I was and where I am now where I'm going to be going different things like it's a it's a good documentary for myself again that's how I'm looking at it so far so we'll see how it goes and then for sure like the extra part is like you know now like the social media game and all of that is a big part of the sports per say now so you need to get that get that following but get that part of it up as well so yeah all of it works together for me I'm documenting my journey and then if I grow more out of that that also uh puts me in a better position in the future yeah no and I like that I like that you want to look back on and you see because like the journey is probably the people always obviously you want to get to certain stages UFC Etc but when you're enjoying the journey like you are kind of and taking it in bit by bit I think some people try forget that and try and race to the end whereas it seems like you're enjoying it as it comes and and you've been enjoying it and doing very well obviously you've got this fight ahead of you and you're not looking past your opponent but if you get another finish here another one or two more finish would you be looking at potentially competing for the cage Warriors fedway title if you keep going on the run you go because surely if you keep finishing people it's going to have to happen at some stage yeah no like uh that's the goal like I like the near term goal is to get that c War built like so like I'm just going like like you say all I have to do is like take out the man in front of me I keep doing that like they have that price fighter 10 as well coming up which sounds interesting because if I get this out of the way and like if I could jump on that that potentially gives me two fights and like that just di experience in one night as well and like cuz the more like at the moment like 3 and0 like I don't really see them being like oh we're going to put a three and0 four and0 fight against like someone now for the title or what not but but like once my experience start to go up more and like I'm doing what I'm doing like I think it will be inevitable but like I I I am going to get there like I it's not like U it's not a question in my mind it's more of like when I'm going to do it so all I have to do take out this what's it called take out I McKenzie right now whoever the put on me next take that out like if I could get three fights this year like I don't see why I can be calling for the P shop then you know yeah so obviously you're quite active as an amateur you're looking to replicate that then as a professional but you said something interesting there that take out obviousy the man in front you have you ever at any stage looked past a fighter and it's cost you a fight in your amateur days at any stage I don't think so like um I don't like look past like I wouldn't say look past people because like I don't think I have a uh what's it called I don't even know what word to use with that but I don't I can't be looking past because like it's still a dangerous person in front of me either way am mature or not like uh like I like I think something sometimes I have some fight bed ahead before but that's what they is before the fight and fighting now so that could be like oh I'm looking past that person but all I was trying to do is gather experience so at any point I'm not going to look past anybody I'm just going to focus on the present moment see what's right there like like I'm again I have a plan for the future I know what I like where I want to get to and things like that well it's the moment that's going to get me there so I just have to focus on what I'm doing right now what I'm gonna what I need to do right now and that would eventually lead to the end goal so no I don't think I've ever looked B on and I don't plan on ever doing that but I do like plan on taking out as many people as I can so it doesn't matter it doesn't matter you're going to be looking for all heads to get to that title but OB with the drop down like you said you wanted to just fight at lightweight not cut the weight and I think that's the better way for an amateur fighter to fight is learn your trade without the way cut and then kind of use that going towards maybe the end two or three fights before the end just to get your body used to it and get down I think there's too much way cutting in amateur to try and get down as much as you can I think you should just fight learn to tr apply your trade stamp your kind of fight style but with the FED weight what's the what's the cut like is it is it good is it bad you have a nutritionist on board because obviously I know you like cooking and you said you've done uh you've researched it and all so like what's the Wake C up like for you is it is it I don't want to say simple but is it not too bad yeah like it's not that bad genuine like um the first two like uh I was like smaller than I am now like uh and the the last fight was probably the biggest I've came into fight with and like the C still was the same as uh the last was the same as the first two like just roughly how it was and then right now as well like uh like I just think I'm getting bigger anyway but right now as well like I'm like we my Str condition he does this kind like I have like I'm having him for the whole year even just like keep uh routine for the year so like a block up like right now fight now outside of fight I have something to do if it's like strength work or whatever so this will be an interesting year for that I'm going to see how that dep but like it gives me the calories for the cotton things but the right now like I'm just as big as I was the last fight and I still feel the same I don't I don't think it hasn't affected me anyway like I I I do the C the same way sometimes I'm weighing in under the weight that like last I think I waiting at like 143 um and the fight was fairly High paced and like I did not feel drained C wise didn't feel so I think obviously it's hard in the sense of like you're freaking deing yourself like mad and all that kind of [ __ ] but I don't think it's been affecting me negatively which is good and like um I'm I feel like I'm getting better at it as well which is also very good so I'm interested to see how it goes throughout the future and obviously as time goes on things to change with that but right now feels very comfortable don't feel like I'm struggling and like I don't feel like it's negatively impacting my performance either which is the the biggest part of it so yeah it's not bad obviously you're Jing yourself you're sweating [ __ ] hours and staring [ __ ] but that's just B that that's just that's just part of the game obviously that people everyone's cutting down just to get in that way and do you do you feel much stronger in there obviously going down to Fed weight and then obviously you're rehydrating do you feel much stronger then against these guys at fed weight can you feel that difference the first for sure I don't uh I feel strong fairly well like as against most people like in general like weight classes what not I just once I grab people I do feel like I could control them prly well and that deated not deated in training outside training that kind of thing like so I feel good so when in the cage like so far I haven't felt someone that be like oh this guy is like unbelievably strong and like literally TR out my career so I'm not the strength side I think I'm just I'm I'm a fair strong guy so I'm just going to take that as a gift or strength that I have and I'm going to keep that in my toolbox and be like I'll take advantage of it as that so with the FED weights like I think he translate a lot more like it's a lot more domineering I don't know if that's the word like in the sense like like when your mind was shooting against you over and over like there was some point where he had me in the um he had me on fence and he tried to drag me up and I just decided I'm just going to stand there and it could not move me and I wasn't even trying to be too strong so I like I'm fairly strong so I don't and that's the thing with this guy as well like the in is like uh is assimilate from what I'm saying like he's a similar style to the last guy I for but like he's a smaller guy to him as well which obviously has its own benefits in the sense of like he might be a little bit faster which I still think I'm faster than him like it might be a little bit like it might get into places that the other guy can't get into because it's bigger and the size of like just being small like oh but he's smaller than the last guy and I felt so strong against the last gu so I'm very interested to see how this feels again all of this do mention until we get in there that's when we're going to actually that's when the truth is actually going to come out but yeah sorry to answer your question I do feel strong either way like uh I I think it might trans get better with the PED but I've always felt strong strong yeah no that's good and good we were talking about obviously the arena and the occasion occasion uh of the event you're fighting in Dublin again like how does it feel because you've got huge following and a huge support within the country how does it feel walking out in an arena like that an event like that uh and having the crowd and having every Witcher because when I was at one of the shows like there was loads of amateur Fighters that I would have known from the scene and stuff and everyone obviously we're all going to get behind yourself and the Irish Fighters what is that feeling like when you're walking out you can hear people cheing and and they want you to succeed like it's surreal like I just it's unreal like in general it's a like it sort of like affirms what the word you've been doing you know what I mean like so it's like that that's a chance like display all the times that you've been like in the gym grinding and all of that now like I'm coming out and like my family is there my friends are there like just I'm like showing them this is what I've been working on obviously it's my at the end of the day it's still my own selfish Pursuits but the fact that they're willing to follow me along the journey and like uh celebrate with me and like all of that that's like unbelievable like and it gives you that extra bit of like when you're going in there well saying all of that as well like one the closer I'm walking in there like everything does start to turn out a good bit more like it just starts to get a bit more narrow-minded in the sense of like this is the job I have to do now but afterwards like like just getting onto the cage and seeing the people all of that it's like unbelievable it's like Oh wait [ __ ] like there's a lot of people in here I didn't like realize this is what was going on but like it's a great experience and like many more to come and again like I I'm not going to be doing this forever obviously so I'm going to enjoy it as much as I can yeah I I love your attitude towards the game and towards everything about it whether it be uh the good good the bad the learning everything you just seem to take everything and enjoy everything and embrace it as it comes whether it's the good the controversial whatever has happened to you just seem to take it in learn from it move and grow and it's been a pleasure for me to watch it I wasn't there from the very start but I caught the last part of your am career it's been a pleasure to watch you grow it's going to be a pleasure to watch you fight again next week I'm going to let you go uh is there anything you want to say before you go or anyone want to shout out and I want thank you so much for your time because I know you're pushed with time with training and and fight week oh God now no problem at all man like at this point like most of the work is done so I'm just chilling now so it's all good like uh like just shout out to all my sponsors like I like inano like restaurant Italian restaurant in Waterford I haven't been able to go back there for a while now because like cotton and [ __ ] but after this fight I'm going to go back and have the best Italian in Waterford and got slow and steady out like uh in tral right now so like they just came on board so the for them um light to be working with them they my standard condition coach alha inflation we have um Elite recovery for all my recoveries uh like battle ready for my fight gear 17 entertainment like as well for like just I think they they night out and things like that as well there a few people there but like just in general those are the sponsors and then the main people have been pushing it through all of this like my teammate down in waterf my teammate down in open doin as well it's you obviously we have games fighting for the title there now so like excited to see him bring that that'll be unbelievable like Jamie is also gonna be making SP J is GNA be there like so they and all we py Lou there's a good few people on H been help me back in Waterford got Kevin Sam nin we got Z like the David there's a few people back in waterf has been helping through this like I have a master team and then obviously the main men themselves we we Bobby me g w Andy Ryan we have um B red as well like and so just all the coaches really appreciate them arol Kevin thas I just keep naming random people but you know it's just appreciate everybody and like uh for sure my fiance for like keeping up with all my like [ __ ] all the time like conly me leaving her alone while I'm going training that she just sitting there watching TV and she like Bor but it's all good appreciate her love her and then my unborn child on the way like he's gonna witness he or she don't know gender he going to witness magic I'm going to show her show him or her this video of the fight afterward be like this is what happened just before he came here just so you know well yeah I thank everybody appreciate everybody thank you all and this is why I think you're probably one of the most liked people you're one of the most likable people I've ever come across I want to congratulation on your engagement and the upcoming child um I wish you the best uh success in your next fight I can't wait to see you fight and thank you so much for your time it's been an absolute pleasure yes thank very much perfect thank you