Louise Brady interview

Summary

Louise Brady will enter her fourth amateur fight with a chance to win the first ever Cage Conflict women's title. We speak about the start to her amateur career, the buzz in the gym and what it would mean to lift the belt this Saturday

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] here we go okay so I've got Louise Brady with me we're coming up to uh kage conflict this week she's gonna be fighting for a belt if I am correct I believe it might be the first women's belt that they've ever had yeah it is yeah so um thank you very much for your time H I really appreciate it how how do you feel fighting for a belt you you've had three fights you've kind of come in you've kind of blown the door off the Amer game to start off with and to be fighting for belt after your four fight against someone like Chloe how does it feel to get that opportunity on on such a good show like K it's class like I was fighting I think my second ever amateur fight which wasn't that long ago was this year started this year kind of um was on cage conflict and it was unbelievable show like it was so well ran even like the just the atmosphere up there was great crack like it was so good fight it was good experience and we were kind of you know I had a good oppon at Mel at the time and I was so nervous I remember walking I was like oh God like you know was only my second one and the first one was in CLK which I was nervous for as well in front of the home crowd but I'm excited to go back up and have that atmosphere again um but like for titles I don't know is it just like is it just a kind of me thing or something but I just I just don't even think about the title I'm like obviously that's great and all but it's just I have to get through this fight um that's the main thing I'm trying to focus on just you know minding my own training making sure I'm like the fight the title is great bonus you know um especially like I think um Liam was on to me uh he said this was the first ever one ever women's title fight um which is unbelievable um for for women on the scene anyway like you know it's a big thing to to do like yeah so your said for Chloe you're obviously gonna be written into history in case conflict uh yeah and then obviously the winner will be the first one will have a little bit more history and and what you make of the women's scene at the minute because it seems to be blowing up like when I first I want to say three years ago just over three years ago it was very hard to get two females matched whereas now like it's just just I one of the shows recently had tree I think it was your did they they had Tree on it like to have Tree on the show was was unbelievable what do you make of the women scene and how it's progressed and and what you put down to that progression is it is it the people the likes of Danny mccor M Shan Aban and as years before what you makeing the scene and where do you think this kind of explosion has come from yeah I know it's it's it's such a difference even to when I started when I was a kid like you know I remember like I was fighting boys and everything when I was a kid trying to get fights like it was hilarious you know you'd you'd walk into some of the jiujitsu events and you could have an 11y old girl against a 16y old girl because there was no one for them to fight you know um but I think as well like it's a lot it has a lot to do with the promoters and making women you know making sure there's a woman's fight on their card and you know they they really like certain shows definitely push for it um and they do try and bring women along and it's nice to see that as well nowadays like you know it's not like it is still hard don't get me wrong but it's it's a lot it's after getting a lot easier um I don't envy the likes of you know the women in Ireland that started it off and and had to kind of go through and they had to travel a [ __ ] ton to get a fight like you know whereas we're kind of Lucky they there's a lot of girls in Ireland now and in England as well like at least it's not that fair you know yeah I believe Danny mccor when I was speak she had to travel to the UK to get most of her fights before she went pro and and then she still found it hard to get match and like you said it's there still like if you look at just say the welterweight division for men you probably still wouldn't have as many females in that but there's a good standard there's a very good standard at the minute as well and but what you think has kind of brought all the females to kind of start going obiously we've seen Joe who has a lot behind she made her debut that was very anticipated and then there's like there is a lot of Buzz around the women's game what what do you think has brought everyone to it what brought you to it um I think it's just like I think gyms as well have come a long way like it kind of it starts in your gym it starts like kind of women are different to men that's just you know that's the way life is like it's just there's no kind of um and I think once you don't avoid that and you know a good coach in a good gymm means a lot you know they don't avoid that there's a difference between men and women they they kind of meet ahead on and I'm able to train with the likes of like Aaron McGuire Jack McGuire Brian Manning and even though there's no women turning up I'm fighting these lads who are bigger than me they're men you know and I'm not coming out riddled with injuries and traumatized from my last session I'm coming out we're both getting something from each session do you know um cuz when I started it was just in our gymm it was me and FIA um and now there's a whole group of women um but it's it's about keeping the women it doesn't it doesn't necessarily matter like how many women are in your gym it's kind of more the attitude towards you know welcoming them in it's a little bit harder it's a little bit more daunting unfortunately um and I think that kind of it's it's more it's more kind of the Gym's approach rather than like let's say you know if I want to stay or not it can kind of affect even like I'm coaching classes now beginners classes and you know there's women will come up to you and say like oh Jesus like this is not at all how I expected this to be like I was I was expected to be intimidated by you are this that and the other and you find out like the likes of you know these big characters in gyms are they're actually just normal people and kind of normalizing the sport it's not this crazy thing like it's just two people enjoying a sport that are going in for a fight and it's a sport it's not like I don't hate the person across me it's just have I have to do it to win like do you know yeah and like you said that's why I kind of started doing this is because I wanted to see people for like the likes of yourself you're at the end of the day you get up out of bed like I do and everyone else does in the morning you have to put your socks on the same way we do you know but then you've got this added pressure and then I just wanted to highlight what you do because I just think like what especially when you're amateur and people are working and I seen like Emily from your gym is someone who does crazy hours she works she's literally like just before I came over for the interview she was lying on the couch in the gym she said tell Dave I said hi lying on the couch trying to get a kip before the before training starts like that's the dedication that these athletes have to go through like and anyone that I stand across from the cage like I have major respect for do you know it's kind of like you you know what they're going through you see it you know yeah cuzz it's it's an unfair like cuz obviously I have good relationships with people and sometimes when there's two people that I'm really friendly with at fight I'm like this is so hard to watch cuz I know what guys or or girls have put in to get there and unfortunately there has to be the one winner and 99% time you will see the respect after's very few and in between and and do you think obviously with cage fighting you've talked about the way the gyms welome people in do you think the perception of MMA is is diff like people expect it to be violent like these people that like unsavory characters whereas I find I've been in different circles where it's GA soccer whatever I find Combat Sports are probably the nicest most humble people and is that the surprises people get when they come to your beginnner classes how friendly you actually are and welcome and open like I when I was younger I was in everything like I was in G I was in soccer swimming everything you could name I was in everything and I the attitude was kind of like sometimes I found it was kind of who you knew rather than what you knew and there's kind of politics of playing soccer as well like who's getting picked for a team were they actually deserving of it or were they you know were they the cult that the other you know yeah so like I find especially like walking into a gym as a female now a lot of the beginners would would say like do you know it's even if we see a girl come in it's like oh my God another girl we want her to stay we don't want her to leave we don't want to traumatize her we want to you know we want like we want more women and it's it's becoming a thing now where people are seeing the benefits of having more women to train with rather than kind of like making it a competition between their training Partners as such yeah because it's about getting better and enjoying the process and and like that everyone that goes to the gym is going to be a fighter like people think all these gyms are just all fighters I'd say the vast majority of gyms are made up by people who just want to do jits or they just want to do something or another so I like your approach to it but obviously you've got this fight it's a fantastic fight against Khloe H what you make your opponent I think she's very good she's very tricky on the ground she's beaten some good girls and and her losses have only been to the likes of Sarah Elliot JMA Al who's now professional what you make of Chloe and what are you expecting from this fight because I I it's gonna be a crack yeah I think this fight is going to be really good like I'm really looking forward to I think it's like definitely my biggest test you know as as a fighter like it's it's a big test for me to fight for a title and you know in the Belfast I think chlo's from Belfast she's from up around the yet she will have a lot of support though because it won't but I I she's yeah she's from Rodney's gym so he is be forgive me I don't know exactly but like do you know it's it's nice to like I obviously experienced from the shows in cark being in CLK you know having lot of support myself it's nice to see the other side it as well I for me it takes a little bit of pressure off me not having like my whole family there to watch and stuff but it's like it's definitely you know I'm I'm ready for the test I've been you know I've kind of upskilled in this Camp um 100% you know of everything like small things that you wouldn't think of like your nutrition your you know I was always very good I kind of managing all that anyway but we're having a whole team now and kind of built around me and they're all kind of focusing on this one so it's it's a different feeling to like my first few amateur fights which you're kind of trying to feel it out and you're you're just learning now it's kind of like okay pressure is on now like this it's kind of All or Nothing kind of thing so and like Chloe is a top level opponent to be to be against like you know she's a strong girl she's she's tough out like you know yeah I I've watched a couple of fights and they've always been exciting fights as well but one thing you probably don't like is probably the drive that you're GNA have to do what kind is the length of the drive do I want to say five and a half six hours five five I think it's about five maybe that was when I was driving up the last time I think about 5 so yeah yeah that's like what time like do you leave in the morning do you come the night before or what way does it work in the morning up and down in the one day that's that's that's like more than a day work and driving alone and then having to fight and does that affect you in any way or or do do you do you drive physically drive the car yourself or do you have a kip in there or are you just kind of mentally preparing like have you that that journey I this time around I'll my coach will be driving I'll be going with him as well um and yeah just asleep in the car really get out then stretch do the usual have a walk around and get the legs going again you know it's scr yeah no it's it's going to be a fantastic fight and cage conflict like if you were to to lift that b like you said the belt for you is more about the test but if you were to lift the belt and be the first person in history to have that belt like what kind of a feeling do you think that would evoke from you at the time or unbelievable have experience I like I don't even think I could describe it now like it's it's going to be unbelievable like to have that to have my second fight on the show and then to only two fights later lifting a belt fighting for a belt insane do you know yeah no it is going to be good and and obviously I was at your last fight where you got the the TKO finish and once you got in position you looked there was I kind of knew once you got uh mount it was going to be over that was a fantastic fight like once you got into the mount position did you feel that like this is and you dropped some bombs as well I I think I your still as well um once you got into that position do you know at that stage that I was going to control this girl and and it was going to be over from there how did it feel get the finish on the home show um I think like with you know with my style of kind of ji- Jitsu anyway like it was kind of I had the Russian arm tie kind of and I was you know she was scrambly it was the first round she had a lot of energy and I was kind of waiting everyone said it to me after we were like it was like you true punches and then you realized you could actually hit her it wasn't training anymore and then I just rain down the shots it was like you know was my first time ever doing a TKO do you know in in front of people on an actual fight where you can hit hard and it was like the switch went off I was like oh [ __ ] I'm I'm hitting her like you know it was it was weird it was like it was because I've never done it before do you know um that's how like new I am kind of learning these things and but like their experiences is that I think just send you up levels you know um and amateur as well like it's it's a big thing of like you know people are focusing in on people's fights and watching them and stuff like you changed so much if I if I was looking back at all my fights like I could be a different person in all of them because it's a completely different approach to each fight but um yeah the Finish was class in front of everyone like it was it was unbelievable like the the adrenaline I literally there's there's a clip of um of me about to walk out and I turned to Aaron and Jack and I was like [ __ ] this I was like I hate this I was about to my song start playing and then I was like [ __ ] this guys they're dancing in the background to my song and I'm like white as a ghost being like I hate this like why do I do this walked out and I was like okay we're going like it's fine do you know it's like a switch that you learn to just turn on um and yeah it's kind of a repetition thing like this camp that I've put down I feel like this stage in let's say my last wake up I was tired I you know I was I was bait and not that it was much of a difference in the wake up but this time around I'm feeling much better and these things play definitely play a big part in like your attitude in the fight as well um coming into the fight like mentally as well so yeah yeah cuz like that if you've got your nutrition down you're coming in lighter and all these kind of you're checking off these things as you go along obviously it's going to make you feel a lot more calm going in and rather than kind of getting to fight week having to do the we and you've got a good team between obviously I know uh there is people in is it Sean does nutrition I don't know if he does yours yeah you've actually got a good like team of not just coaches and stuff but like other things that are needed to be a fighter like nutrition you've got management there you've got a company as well so know you've kind of it's a good group there what's the gym like at the minute obviously Brian H made his Pro debut there you've got Jack who's going to be fighting who's going to smoke this boy on octagon God of round one but um what's the gim like right now cuz the talent is just streaming at the minute insane like to train with these Lads Like You Know Jack pro Brian to be even in their company just to watch them spare like Brian and Jack were doing fight rounds yesterday Bank callay Monday fight rounds and watching that those rounds like you learn so much picking up from them and how they you know how professional they are and how they go into things and like it's also the thing of like you know like we Evan haran yeah unbelievable like what an animal like he's like just tearing through the amateur scene um and then like we also have really good women like we have Jodie Emily um FIA like all top level girls that you get to train with and kind of have more of a an equal kind of you can kind of match yourself to say okay these are girls that are top level in in the country like so if I can go with them I can kind of go with anyone really like so yeah and it's good like that that there's no one like that there's not one person here there's not one person there you're all kind of around the same and you're all consistently making each other better and like that is I don't is there a gym that has four females with that level I don't know but but maybe there isn't that that will get better over time but like the gym as a whole talk to us about the likes of Aaron I've met Aaron and Jack and and I've been beside them corner and all just just tell them what they kind of mean to you as a coach and as a mentor going up because for me they're Top Class People oh come here like they're insane like they're the gym is like they're like my family at this point do you know um they practically rared me like I was in the gym since I was 11 years old like you know so it's it's good to have people there that you can 100% trust and that are like your teams you know it's like same as um Alpha fight management my fight manager like you know knowing these people for so long and having complete trust in them that I know like if Iron's saying we're going to do this I'm like yeah no bother there's no questions asked because I know like how much he's invested in me and you know um but yeah they're they're great people and besides from that like they the gym they created was the vibe is just completely different to anything I've experienced before like you walk in and and it's not this big serious kind of you know dictatorship kind of thing that goes on you know it's just everyone's equal it doesn't matter if you're on your first date or you're a pro fighter you're all the same and everyone kind of you know respects that and everyone everyone can learn from each other that way do you know there's no kind of competition with your training Partners you know there's healthy competition we'll have the crack and whatever but like it's ideal you're like a sponge then you know you're all just learning from each other constantly so yeah yeah know I I love the gym and I love the people in it then when you have to like Sur Bri Manning I can only imagine how how crazy that can be crazy um and then he's a character in himself but like it is a fantastic gym you're doing fantastic things and and like that I always find the boys are quite fair and they're quite honest if they feel their Fighters losing they like they don't try to tell you like they don't try say like oh you're doing well they're like Lise just say if you're losing Lise you you need to finish like you like it's here and and I I haven't seen to complain so much but like I said I love the gym I love what's going on right now I got to love watching this fight um this could be potentially one of the fights of the night in my opinion I'm going to let you go it's been an absolute pleasure is there anything you want to say before you go or anyone you want to shout out and thank you so much thanks so much for having me on um I I suppose I have to shout out people now so CLK obviously um Aaron Jack um and all my teammates helped me you know um one of the lads Devin has been one of my key Training partners for this so he's every Wednesday he's has to do fight rounds with me and he's injured and he still has to come in so thanks to Devon um my nutritionist Sean and my fight manager Barry um Alpha fight management Alpha clothing apparel and again thanks so much Dave for having me on no an absolute pleasure I can't wait to see the fight I will see you on Saturday and best of skill perfect thanks so much much