Frans Mlambo interview fansviewmma

Summary

Frans Mlambo, is a veteran of the Irish scene fighting on multiple promotions and is fighting 10 years, he takes part in the PFL event in Germany, this interview was recorded before his opponent pulled out but were still expecting the same outcome

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] [Music] thank you okay so today I'm joined by Franz malama who comes up he's gonna be fighting a pfl and he's gonna be fighting in the rematch against someone he's already defeated uh he's been around for quite some time on the Irish scene he's fought in so many different promotions and I want to take time out to thank you personally for coming on because I know you're a busy man it's coming up to fight week how are you I'm good man I'm good I'm good no complaints feeling good ready to go not too long left now until my fight so uh yeah where's the Goldman perfect I would assume most of the hard work Stone up until this stage so I know it's not funny what does fight week look like for you what does it entail I know obviously there's a wake up what way does it work you manage fight week nowadays compared it's just kind of like uh you taper down really isn't it like it's tapering down and you're just kind of really concentrating on getting the last few pounds or whatever you have left uh basically yeah last week is way cotton obviously then when I get to Berlin on Wednesday and we'll get the itinerary and all that kind of stuff but fight week is just your chairman just getting ready for for war at the end of that week perfect you've been here many many times before what like does how would you help manage your weight what now does it an easy way or is it hard way because it's something you've managed throughout years because I would speak to mostly AMG Fighters and they talk about it being disasters when they first start and and was that similar for you is that something as a process as a fighter that you just have to kind of go through to to find the right fit and do you have a nutritionist or what way does it work I've been doing it so long and that is just uh it's just so I just I have like a certain routine kind of I I maybe go into where it just it just falls through like uh I don't know it's way easier for me I find than other people I see around me like you know can't wait and even fight week like I feel Savage like last week there like when I actually was like right what's that cotton now one of the days ended up dropping three kilos into one day where I actually only planned on dropping the kilo in half you know what I mean and I only had like four kilos so I had to put on some more weight it's not too late you know what I'm saying so I'm flipping Grand when it comes to wake up man it's just I don't know whatever way I do it it just it just works for me like you know what I mean it just works that's good that's good you have a routine I've never heard of someone drop in too much weight and then having to put somewhere yeah yeah yeah it's usually people stressed out Bob sees like you said you've been doing it for so long and you've got to a stage where it's just routine for you it's easy so yeah and when you come up to a fight I say flight week and you just like you're just dying to get in there or have you learned yeah that's that's another thing like do you learn to manage those I don't want to say nerves but emotions um I've wanted to get in there or you just dying to get into the cage and get that scrap done yeah well that's the main thing really fighting really you know what you're actually thinking about is weighing in and then once you're weighed in and all that stuff you're you're hydrated or your food is in then you're thinking oh [ __ ] now it's time to go you know what I'm saying yeah like tomorrow it's going down and then that evening you're going to sleep thinking I'm gonna wake up and then I'm gonna get ready and then we're gonna do this you know what I'm saying it's excitement for me it's excitement you know what I mean I I've come to a stage now where the nerves aren't there no woman I have to kind of like psych myself up or try to make myself nervous nearly because it's good to have nerves I want to have the nerves for I'm just too chilled when I get in there nowadays like in the last few years anyways so um yeah I'm just chill I'm just ready to go yeah I think I think it's because you've been around for such a long time I think so yeah I've done it so like I've done boxing and then I've done a few Pro kickboxing fights obviously amateur MMA and then Pro MMA been doing this a very long time I know I understand certain aspects of it real good you know what I'm saying still learning obviously certain aspects for waycon and all that kind of stuff if I have that down to a t bro that's good that's good yeah we've talked about your Beating so long your first fight was in 2013 so you've been going out of 10 years just talk to me about what you've seen in the ways of evolution and MMA be it training skill level like you've been around for a long time what have you witnessed like have you just seen it just go from strength to strength obviously it's quite popular now compared to 10 but the likes to train and rules that safety like has that improved dramatically what's the one of the biggest things you've noticed in that time yeah now definitely like like you said everything is has gotten more official like you know what I mean and like the guys like there's some of the guys that are used because I actually remember just there I actually kind of had an idea where um Aaron Clark was still in the bags right and I was like Keith daddy like you know what I mean and then uh not just in general like not just on the box just in general and then I was like I actually remember like him and his brother back then they were coming in and they were just the kids coming in you know what I mean I was still kind of I wasn't a big dog but I was I was there already and then now he's flipping huge you know what I'm saying and he's doing daily and um so yeah things like that like I I've seen so many kind of guys coming up and all that um not just in my gym but in in the sport in general there's loads of flipping guys coming up that are just flipping Savage man and then obviously in that kind of line I think and then I'm thinking um what's it when I was in the immaf's it wasn't so as official as it is now and now everything is way more official you know I mean things that I did before it's different now it's more proper now do you know what I mean um I'm kind of losing my point here but uh I think I'll let you move on between safety official um I like that you were saying when here now came in they were just kids and now you see what care is doing he's seven and all um Bellator and like you look at the likes of Nate Kelly's from your gym young Nate yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah do you look at him he's been training like what what's coming up underneath like from those like teen years coming up now like what do you think the future is going to be it's because it just seem to be when they're coming out 18 19 at the answer now they're flying out the gates oh mate there's flipping but I'm saying like they are like if if I had to give you the next month there's so many guys like that you're looking at you like like even like Dara Kelly there right I was training with him and I was like so strong like you know what I mean there's just loads of guys like yeah yeah the sports just getting harder and harder and better obviously like even that goes with the training as well obviously like the more skills there is the more skills very kind to learn and to like you know to get out of certain things or to to to to to gain certain things you know what I mean so uh yeah it's not boring in any ways yeah no it's it's you've been in a good while and talk to us about why you got in in the first place what led you to martial arts because like we said it would kind of around time you got in it would have been it wouldn't have been as popular now a lot of people would have frowned upon it still frowned upon in some places as well what led you to martial arts because a lot of people go down the route of box and kickboxing what legendary yeah that's what actually what I started in was uh it was boxing like I I came to you and made from boxing and but I was like the reason I I stayed in boxing for so long is because like I I genuinely at the start I just wanted to try it out and it just so happened I I I was actually good enough at it like so I kind of just stayed with it and then like I'm not sure boxing month starts getting flipping hectic I don't know especially in Ireland or is that's just the way it is anyway but it's very political you know what I'm saying there's a lot of background kind of stuff you kind of have to deal with oh two different MMA but obviously we're boxing it all them things are just more in rooted in it you know what I'm saying so I just started getting sick of it man and then I ended up getting an injury uh at a point where I was about to like you know what I mean start trying to like you know looking into tryouts for the Olympics and all that kind of stuff and then I was like no I'm not gonna wait another lady in the year or whatever I mean four years you mean for the whole team to come around again then I took like a year off but I I was always into mixed martial arts like um end up in that period of time is when we were all watching the UFC see what I'm saying and so it was just a no-brainer for me to go into a month and when I joined SVG uh it was just deadly so I'll just stayed at it there since you know what I mean yeah like you said about boxing it is quite political there's a lot of kind of dodgy stuff I know there is parts of that in MMA but it's not run through whereas I thinking yeah yeah yeah it's very rooted in boxing that's what I yeah yeah it's very corrupt you look at like Gary Coley he I know he lost recently but Gary called he's one of the guys that's kind of coming up at the minute and he actually didn't do the Olympics because he's seen what happened to McConnell and he said really yeah he said I'm not going he goes I'm just gonna go pro and start making money I'm not going to go I just go to the final and get scored against when it should be scored yeah I believe so yeah that kind of stuff happens a lot even at the local levels man it's it's just Madness like it's just it's not right especially because it's a sport like at the end of the day all that condition makes no sense for yeah it is that it is anyway it's in the past for me and SPG what led you to SPG and how did you find it there because like the bodies you have in SPG and they seem to be growing and growing I believe John kavan has over 100 pro Fighters I believe um white SPG and how do you find it training their day-to-day um initially like I just had one of my mates that was trading at SVG and he just kind of brought me down like I just wanted to join an MMA I didn't know anything about SVG or any I just it was like I wanted to join an amazing one of my mates was in it and he brought me down I mean just kind of fell in love with the place in it and then just stayed away the sense for like like I've I've changed but I've changed building where SBG three times like I started off in the long Mile Road you're living with all the flipping oh geez like the Chris fields and the party Hula Hands or you know what I mean all them kind of Carl pendred I mean ashtabash remember yeah he's kind of the Trailblazer for women in Ireland and yeah yeah not just women MMA in general exactly yeah and uh yeah so I went I went from them guys like and then we obviously moved on moved on people different coming it's it's been it's been a service journey man foreign yeah right now like obviously just finished a class but yeah there's loads of probes to train with so many guys from everywhere that you you get to just move around with like you know what I mean so it's daily because you look on the mat and you just you look around you just have so many options and so many different styles and you know what I mean so training is just fantastic man yeah because having those many different bodies like you see there is smaller gyms that really good Fighters come out of and then sometimes once we get to a certain stage a lot to move to the likes of SPG or your fais because like that you feel you need those different bodies and for small would you recommend that they cross train more maybe to help them rather than potentially losing their their starfighters yeah yeah no that definitely should happen for the I think the the madness then with that is that like he's fighting each other and then you just get to be trained with each other as well a lot that's probably what that won't that's part that's probably why that wouldn't work as good but at the same time there is some James I do do that like do you know what I mean um it's usually cross sports like I was in like MMA guy be going through a boxing gym and [ __ ] like that and loaded it loaded the guys from here go do boxing and other things in the other different gyms like but uh suppose that's cross-training but um MMA gyms training with other MMA gyms I don't know you're kind of training with a lot of people you're eventually going to be fighting before I suppose that happens anyway I don't know yeah because I know one or two like SPG it's a little more on CMAC I think days travel to each other regularly and they've all right number four right yeah yeah yeah um see but then then entails if their two top amateurs end up having to like being top and then they have to fight each other does it happen like right yeah yeah yeah it is interesting it could it could be that like say if like say them to the so you do that and they just it's not a thing to them fighting people they train with but I don't know it's a problem to me it'd be weird especially if it's hold your gym but if obviously you wouldn't fight someone in your gym but sure you had a fantastic amateur career you ended up obviously with the eye mask talk to us about that experience talk to us about going all the way to the end and what that meant to you at the time yeah my name was Savage like obviously you know it was just at the start of it but at the same time there was a world championship and I was amateur it was it was good like obviously before I did it I was over in Vegas for a few weeks already trained and they're on a camp so um I did it it was great wanna it was good you know what I'm saying it's just that's that's what this was what it was they did it yeah it did it's obviously in the history books and all that but like like now you're looking at it and the flipping guys are getting paid for it you know what I'm saying and all the time so Madness so I just flipping did it and had to pay them for it you know what I'm saying um no it's good though you know I mean nobody can ever take that away from me and [ __ ] but yeah that is what it is now just so long ago man it's hard to get excited about it now you're not all right yeah I can imagine if I speak to people just after they win it and they're over the moon and then obviously it would be yeah yeah it would be for sure as time goes on that's kind of like the peak of the amateur career and especially now what like you said has improved so emotion then you went on to Pro and your first fight was in a very big venue talk to us about that and talk walking out into that Arena tree Arena and what your very first pro fight that's in my eyes that's massive yeah no it definitely is but the thing is that's kind that that was what I was expecting do you know what I mean after after my amateur career and obviously ending it then with uh winning the World Championship I was expecting that kind of you know what I'm saying like I'd expect it to be in the UFC not too long after my first profile you know what I mean or not too long after and you know what I'm saying and obviously it didn't work out that way but yeah I was fully in with that like where when I got into when I got into the street Arena then was walking out I was like yeah this is right you know what I mean this is what it's going to be now from now on and obviously we've had up and downs and [ __ ] like that we're right we're here where we are now but uh yeah man it's all been you know I mean it's all it's brighter is where we are basically yeah and your story just like you said there's so many twists and turns up and downs you've been to so many promotions Brave Bellator uh you won they caught you went into that tournament come back they how much did Ryanair charge you to bring that trophy back hey I literally never seen that I left that in Miami never seen it them boys never wanted to send it over yeah they said they said it when I was over there and I was like are you guys if I win this do I get it they were like oh yeah definitely you get it man definitely you win that dude we're gonna send it over never got that one never gonna see it again you know what I'm saying it was it was it was a charade he was part of the UFC um yeah yeah I remember you going in and then it was just like all of a sudden you went in and it was just boom you won it and then yeah you know for quite a while since then if like obviously if you're not comfortable talk about has there been a reason for if you can't get match-ups where you're injured did you take a bit of time out or were you waiting on combat day were you contracted to fight then after with them or that's actually a part of the story I kept forgetting to to tell man I had a few interviews on kept getting Nutella yeah after winning though I was supposed to have a fight with the champion obviously and because he wasn't in the tournament he got injured or something and he wasn't able to be in the tournament because the winner of that tournament is the champion really that's how it goes in it because you'd have to beat the chat you know what I'm saying so anyways he wasn't in it I was meant to fight him and I ended up getting injured or something and then just trying to reschedule it for not too long after we did that and then when it came around to fighting him then he was like uh he got injured or something but he had taken a fight like five weeks out from uh our fight like a kickboxing fight but the organization let him do that like come back Global let him do that they knew he was doing that and they gave him the go-ahead five weeks outside of a fight which if it doesn't make any sense ends up getting injured then they're telling me I have to wait another whatever like and then kept going and gone and gone and then we were like here look uh where I am where I'm at now right I don't want to fight for this title win without gonna win at all right and then have to be and come back over for another two years you know what I'm saying I I didn't want to I wanted to move on to bigger things because I was obviously was just with them to kind of Chase that uh background and stuff like that and at the time when they were promising good things like it looked good but there was other strings attached where it was going to be working out negative for my career I mean I must say I'm not knocking the organization or not they're a very good organization it just wasn't good for me at the time you know what I'm saying so I hop I I ended up getting released from that then and then just waiting around for to be to work because then now it's a free agent because what was stopping me before was because I wasn't a free agent you know what I'm saying so now that I was a free agent I was waiting and then nothing was happening I was like what's what's what I mean what's going on here I could have had all these fights but I was told I needed to be free but now that I'm free nothing's just happening and that just kept going and going and gone and gone and gone wasn't here nothing from now on and then ended up getting on the ultimate fight with them a few months later like I'm talking about a good feeling dude nearly a year later and then as soon as I get on that played a few hours later I hear that the pfl that they give me a good a good deal and I'm like hell man so now I have them two options to to come back to contend against uh you know long story short it was where it was working out to be way more Awkward to do the ultimate for other teams and the pfl was just it just seemed to be an all-brainer you know what I mean an 80s seemed too good to be true to [ __ ] they're offered um as to make it more clear is the consistency like that did that they gave it like right now I have three fights lined up do you know what I'm saying yeah and and then I have an opportunity then to make all this quid which is only available for next year which is even more creative more activity you know what I'm saying so it's flipping it's working no ground man it's working out really good and uh I can't wait to just get it all gone yeah I can imagine like that combat a I've heard one or two things about them and I obviously power hand is there and it seems to be good for him and like you said at the stage of your career you're at You Want To Be Active Health frustrating was that that right these fights were coming in but you weren't free and then you were free and it wasn't happening especially like you said you wanted to be active you want like how frustrating was that for you going I just want to get these fights in and get it going again yeah now I think that was my biggest problem with come back at all because even going with them initially that's that's that was the biggest thing was like you know I mean he had gotten like so many fights in the year and I was like oh they're giving out fights so that's what's gonna happen and it just didn't work out that way for me you know what I'm saying so that that's why it kind of was a disappointment really like because I was like you guys are not given what you guys offered you know what I'm saying and and I'm still waiting around waiting for fights um both I don't know money sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't didn't work out for me with them but um yeah we're here now I'm looking to take this new opportunity yeah the pfl have come in they're really really gone across Europe obviously you've got uh John Mitchell who's fighting on the same card you've got uh nay Kelly Dylan's Hoops on the same car you've got will who's with the promotion Nate Kelly obviously yeah yeah you look like they're doing big things this looks like to be the next kind of big chapter of your career how much are you relishing it and how much are you looking forward to your next fight because it is against an opponent you'd beat previously mm-hmm look I'm I'm gonna put it out of the street like this flipping these three fights coming up now don't know obviously I know how to find Dominic but regardless of that like it's just a wrong thing for me for the next year's tournament so I mean that's what my eyes are really set on and all right guys I don't flip and never want to disrespect no one but I don't see anybody beat me now like that man because I'm going in there and I'm telling you I'm I'm not leaving without a victory and if I if I flip this one I'm just calling the Grits I've just come too far waited around too long to just calm now and just fail you know what I'm saying so that's that's the mindset I'm going in there with like you're gonna have to actually drag me out of there because you know what I mean I'm going in there with a whole different mindset obviously fight Dominic and stuff before I liked and kept following them and stuff like that um but unfortunately I have to fight him and take him out you know what I'm saying perfect perfect and then would you be looking what way do you have any idea of what way you'd like to finish the fight or do you just let the fight play out as it happens because so many things yeah you could go in and go I'm gonna do this and all of a sudden something goes wrong do you just like it to play out at the time rather than focusing on am I gonna do it this way I'm gonna do it that way yeah yeah no exactly um I don't know to me it's just mad like yeah I like I like the way you ask that as well because it is smart to like say oh yeah I'm gonna go in there and do this so you don't know what's gonna happen but whatever happens it's gonna be it's got to be a smashing you know what I mean I'm gonna I'm gonna go up there and understand I'm gonna hit him as hard as I can he's not gonna want that he's gonna try and take me down and he's other gonna get choked or they can keep standing up he's gonna get knocked out bad perfect I can't wait to see it we all know everyone else can't wait to see and obviously you said you've got the three fights planned for rest here which is the one for next year so yo with that little spell of on activity we hope to see you go tree and all which are promising and then for me is next year I gotta let you go is there anything you want to say before you go or anyone you want to shout out and I want to thank you for your time because I know it's precious leading up to a fight nah thank you man um what's it called uh yeah yeah yeah Shane Gray it's my mind uh he does lead from Jujitsu there he trains with us as well but you know for a good bit of time there when I wasn't obviously fighting and stuff like that had to work he gave me a job doing a bit of garden which I flipping loved one but uh yeah shout out to him because he flipping sword herself um and I'm actually getting looked uh after as well by uh Chiropractics and black rock and stuff like that they're a Savage crowd man yeah I'm with them they're uh not too long I'm with uh I'm in there once a week getting looked after so as I'm sitting right now not to go on for my flight I feel it's super freshman and then um low recovery as well and one of the boys here started a sneak and it's it's classmate they have the ice spots and all that kind of [ __ ] in fact you need for for after a cardboard during a camp and you know I mean just in general and especially like you know if even if you're dealing like hard labor and stuff like that these little things want to do you mod flipping them but they have daily out conflict you know I mean especially the oil spots get started into it even if it hurts it hurts forget it but yeah so flow recovery has been sorting me out um other than that everybody at the gym and all that I know I'm forgetting wanna grain I want to say I don't know I don't want to say who the second second part of that name is because he wants to kind of keep uh Anonymous sport there's a guy called grade let's go on the boat and he sorted everything else for me man at the start with the contact in the pfl and the ultimate fight or not he he was in all of that and he came out the blue as well and he said France what's the story but anyways uh I'll stop going on there but yeah all them folk have um have have have made sure that I am at the position I am right now ready to go um take this whole thing over man perfect we can't wait for the Takeover this year and we can't wait for the the rest of it then next year I want to thank you so much for your time and we will all be watching next weekend thank you sir have a good one perfect thank you