IN DEPTH | EPISODE 32 | EIMEAR DARCY

Summary

Dave sits down with Compound martial arts professional fighter Eimear Darcy, for a chat about her entrance into Mma and her career to date.

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] okay so I'm here with IMA Dary uh who had a fantastic 13 months in the MMA scene last year she came in uh she came in like a house on fire she went five and two she's on the cusa G Pro now as well she picked up two belts in the process she also has two belts um previous in her K1 so um how are you thank you very much for joining me and uh what led you into to martial arts in the first place um so thanks for having me um so I started kickboxing when I was like six um doing semic contact so I did that from about 6 to 16 um and then I stopped for a couple of years as teenager adult the usual life and other things come a priority um that shouldn't be um and then I fell back into it and started training a compound okay and obviously you've got usan here you've got Alex you've got Ryan and you've got a host of other Fighters here was it like training the compound why did you pick this gym to come back there um it's great I love training here yeah and the first day that I came up I felt immediately welcomed in the class and you could kind of see that everyone was welcome in that sense as well like you didn't feel like it was just for people who were going to be competing it was like a place just for everyone um and I used to compete when I was younger so I had gone back with the intention of just you know training and seeing what it was going to be like but in the back of my head I always kind of knew that competing again was something that I wanted to do so it coming here it still had that kind of like drive towards competing too so yeah that's why it was it was here and O is just such a great coach that I immediately just wanted to come back again next day yeah yeah it's like that that Competitive Edge is tough to get rid of once you have it so you never going to come back and just train like you're always going to come back and and you were going to compete eventually but like you said oen I've talked to oen many times and I think he's a great mind for MMA and he's a great mind for for Combat Sports in general um when you come back and you start competing again and you you're competing in uh kickboxing what's that like to get back into it after been out for a few years did you just pick up where you left off yeah it kind of I like part of it reminded me of say when I was younger and I would have been compete like that kind of nervousness was still there but I had knew I knew it was something I've done before so I was going to be able to do it again and I'd remembered when um one of the days I was here and we were training and I think Ryan and Alex were training for a fight or maybe it was Ry and Lads they were getting ready for fights and oan had said that if people if there's anybody here um that is looking to um work towards titles and that they want to get titles and stuff like that we I wanted to come and talk to me and I think I was here a couple of months and maybe like three months or something like that and I was like I I want that like immediately I was like no this is yeah I want this um so then he would have started to get me into SPM with different bodies and stuff like that so I can start like moving towards just getting some fighting um and then yeah just start the process there yeah so it was good how did you feel after being away from all years your first fight back I'm assuming it was in K1 cuz obviously yeah that that you've got a lot more fights than MMA and you just came in what was it like coming back to fight what was the nerves still there was everything else still there yeah I get nervous before every fight so even my fights now I will get equally as nervous as I I did on my first fight that still stays the same but it was more that I had the confidence of the trainer behind me to be able to go out and fight so it was more that even oen and the lads would be saying like that it's you do this every single day you go in and you Spire every single day so it's going to be the same except for there's just people there watching you um so nothing is really different to what you're going to do so yeah it was it didn't really feel like it was it felt like it was the same as what it was before if that makes sense but it was still something that I knew that I'd be able to do so it's okay yeah yeah and with with obviously you're saying back and the nervousness you do it on a day-to-day basis do you think the mental aspect of fighting is is hugely overlooked cuz I think like you do it every day you always hear about as well fight was in the gym then they get to the the big stage and kind of it doesn't work for them do you think the mental aspect is overlooked sometimes by Fighters and it should be looked into more because it seems to play a huge part in the actual when you get out there to fight yeah I think like I think now obviously because there's social media you see people more kind of putting up pieces around like you know the mental side of things your mindset and different pieces and oen would be the big like he would push that mindset piece on us too so I think I would hopefully think that now it's not as overlooked as maybe it was before but like I 100% think that the mental side of it is so important and for me I felt like I had that mental peace even just because I felt nervous didn't mean that that mental piece wasn't there it's just more that I knew that I had the kind of tools to be able to use to overcome those kind of nerves that I didn't let it kind of come of the way yeah yeah so obviously oi it sounds like oin as well as technically mentally he he prepares you for going out he prepares us in literally out any single way possible yeah but that's the best and you see that with the likes of Alex Ryan and all the guys that are going out competing um you picked up a couple of titles in K1 cuz I remember talk to you I think it was our first interview you had a fight and the fight by decision didn't actually go your way and then it actually got looked at and you had to rematch so talk to us about what was it like getting to the titles in K1 yeah so like I from when I had started here I could see like the is belts on the wall and I wanted one of those and I I wanted one of those not just because I wanted the belt but I knew the hard work that kind of came with it and I wanted to be able to like execute everything that you needed to do to be able to get one of those belts um so that was something that was a goal for me so yeah the fight in it was last September I think yeah it was last September that was going to be for my first belt so that was like a really big moment for me um and the decision obviously hadn't gone my way so that was a bit of a a tricky night but that then got brought for brought forward to the ISA and the fight was shown to them and stuff and they had said that there needs to be a rematch for the fight so then I got my rematch um just last April and yeah that was okay I won so yeah the right cuz I remember that but what it like after like you said all that hard workor everything you put into it and you obviously felt on the night that you felt you won but for it to be Tak taken out of your hands like that with the judges how was what was that feeling like then to go back to the Dress room no one knew had won that fight but you didn't get the decision yeah it was hard like I I had little cry ate some dff cakes at the same time that was fine um and then I knew that that wasn't going to be the end of it so I just knew I just had to get back to training and I needed to put the work in to fix that mistake um so yeah there was there was no I felt like you know I I would come in my head and I'd be like thinking about a little bit and it would kind of get me down but I wouldn't let that start like I still had to show up to training because I knew that something needed to be fixed so that's what I had to do yeah so like mentally that kind of part like those maybe like one or two months after that like mentally that was quite hard because I it was something that I was so excited for I was really like and that I I had won that fight I I know I had um and everyone else knew I had but it was just like certain judg and that that kind of interrupted that but um I knew that it was something that I just had to kind of par true and and fix yeah and then like that you went on and you won the belt what weight class was that cuz you hold two belts in two different weight classes the rematch for that in April and then it was the February just before that that I had fall for the 58 kg uh is belt and I won that one so I won that one in February and then the other one a and then you got the rematch in a what was it like to when you did lift the one in February after what had happened previously what was it like to actually get to lift the belt yeah it was it was it was a lovely feeling um but I knew something else needed to be to be done so I still like okay and it's like after every fight I know that that's not the end there's something else that there's always something else for me so it's a lovely feeling and it's it's a nice kind of goal that I've achieved but I know that there's something else that I need to do so yeah so yeah there's there's always another goal after that goal to keep you motivated cuz I find a lot of Fighters say uh when they have a fight they're all motivated for that fight and then once that kind of plateau once that's over whether you win or lose if you don't have something lined up you don't have something next it's not hard to stay motivated but they're just not as as as pushed but you seem to have everything kind of detailed yeah and it's funny cuz it's sometimes it's like that it doesn't in the moment say when I've won even with the belts like it's like it doesn't sink in then it's some for me it could be like I could be cycling on the way to work and I and then I'm like like oh well that was really cool that that happened like that's great and it's like then or I could be in the gym and I'm like well or it could be like just a Sunday and it kind of like sinks in a little bit there sometimes it's not like in the moment that it sinks in for me don't know if it's maybe because there's like kind of so much going on and stuff but it's it's more when I'm by myself and I and like I think about what I just did and I'm like well that's cool yeah and then like that you you've added quite a few belts to the existing belts that are here as well so what was that feeling like getting getting those belts to to add to the wall and you've picked some more up in MMA which we'll go on to and talk about as well what was it like to add to the collection here already yeah it was great because that's obviously something that like the collection something that I looked up to when I started here so it was great to be able to and like the people that added those belts to the wall like oen obviously speaks about them in like high regard so it's great to be one of those people now that has belts on the wall too so yeah yeah no it's fantastic to have them up there we're going we'll talk about the MMA one shortly but at that at that stage what what made you transition into MMA so um obviously me and O had been talking and we were talking about like kickboxing and moving forward with kickboxing and looking at going like professional in kickboxing then and then he had mentioned MMA and MMA was always something that was like mentioned to me but it was something that I just wasn't like I think mentally it probably was that piece of like oh am I going to be good enough am I going to be good at this I almost felt like I had to be good enough to do it so even when I was coming back to training I used to train just in like a normal gym I was just like hitting a bag in a gym because I was like oh no it was that classic like I need to get good at this before I go and do it which makes no sense because you could just go to the place that's doing it and get good there and then just train and but for me I was like oh no I need to get good at this before I can even go so even like starting off here that was was kind of put off by myself a little bit so I think mentally even with like the Jiu-Jitsu and MMA I was probably putting that off a little bit mentally too um and then oen was speaking about maybe like the ceiling for for kickboxing could be a little bit lower you know I would have more opportunities in MMA so then I started to try MMA and yeah now I love it and and how did you find the ground game uh when you first started doing it as well because obviously coming from a striking background you'll stand there waiting and then to kick or strike or punch or whatever it is and then someone takes you down like what what was it like were you what was it like first transitioning into the ground game um it's equally as confusing as it is now and I don't think that's ever going to change like cuz I even when you're introduced to and like there's the lads are like higher belts and stuff like that they're all so confused and I'm like this is just something I'm committed to being confused about for the rest of my life in different parts of it but like it's great I love it yeah so I think it's just it was at the start it was it was tricky because I was so bad so I was like am I always going to be terrible at this um but I think it's actually just more getting comfortable with the idea of actually not knowing everything and that's also quite exciting as well because then something clicks and I'm like oh that's cool and that starts to make a bit more sense and this starts to make more sense and then everything doesn't make sense and then start again and then it just doesn't make sense again so yeah it was it's it was it was good yeah yeah cuz cuz like that it's still evolving like MMA as well cuz I talk to jits guys all the time and they say what was good or kind of like a finishing move a couple of years ago is not now cuz whenever someone creates an attack someone always creates a defense which opens up but that's one of the things that struck me throughout like your your like the 13 months that you've been fighting is you haven't gone to the ground much you're your defense for someone to get you to the ground is so good especially from a standing position uh you were able to clinch up you're were able to to stay on your feet um how is that like how have you excelled so far to that stage so quickly is it because you really don't want to go down there no we've just invested a lot of time like I I work really hard and I put in like a lot of time to my training and and that would have been and obviously because striking is my background um that the wall wrestling would have been something that we focused a lot of time into at the same time as focusing in jitu as well but like i' would be up at the back of the mats by myself sometimes pretending that there's somebody and I'd just be going through technique so I would I would put like a a lot of time into into the wall wrestling and into like mik Clinton and and and just trying to get into position where I wanted to be um but at the same time now I've been putting a lot of time into my Jiu-Jitsu as well so if it does go there too that I'll have the the skills to be able to kind of get it to where I'd like it to be as well being comfortable in an uncomfortable situation which essentially is kind of step in in MMA or Combat Sports but you you you started off you fought on the fight project against uh Mary bet Taylor was there any difference between preparing for a fight for MMA to K1 no no uh everything would have been quite similar yeah I for me I I would work equally as hard as anything it would just be more things were probably a little bit newer like the jitu pieces that everything was quite new um and then and probably just that I was in a cage rather than in a ring um but the preparation everything would have been cuz I would have had I don't know how many fights I've had in K1 now but I would have had probably like five or six definitely before I had that fight with Mary Beth um so yeah everything would have been the preparation pieces would have been quite similar I would have prepared my body the same my my mind the same um so yeah it was just more the technical aspect just more the actual just adding in Jiu-Jitsu while wrestling and um and then even maybe different pieces of my striking game towards MMA so yeah yeah trying to mix it all up together yeah then your second fight you had someone who had I believe nine fights it was keran oh yeah my second one was a keran yeah so that was you went up against quite an experienced opponent and you went to distance with her although you didn't win the fight did you feel as that fight as a win in general because of her experience level cuz I believe she's about to go pro as well yeah I think she's gone Pro too yeah um yeah no I was definitely it was a it was a mentally probably a good fight I knew that I was I had the capability to take like to stand up and fire her um on the feet as well it was the Jiu-Jitsu pieces maybe that was something that we knew might be a way of testing myself but um again it was just more experience in the bag and the fact that she has a lot more experience she would have had like maybe different things to show me in the as well um and from the from starting MMA I knew that I wanted to go all the way with it so she's a good person for me to kind of test myself against because she had so much experience as well and she's a great fighter so yeah and do you feel like you found a lot about your game at that early stage against her like she was showing you different stuff that maybe other girls might not show because of experience did you find did you did you look back on that fight and learn a lot from it yeah I would have learned a lot from it in the sense of that she's she's quite strong um I would have been able to see that even like that my standup game like I my hands my striking um is quite good even against someone who's a good Striker as well um and yeah just that trusting in my technique and that it can work and also every fight that I've had even K1 any MMA fights that I've had it shows me gaps that I need to work on so that definitely would have shown different pieces of even like being on the cage of positions that I need to work on and hand position in different pieces so yeah no definitely there's a lot of learning from I feel like from every fight I get so much learning like I don't I even after fight I'm like if I've won whether I win or whether I Lose I'm like I need to fix this I need to fix this I need to fix this there's no kind of like that was I would be like that was amazing i' be like okay I need to work on things now yeah so yeah do you find that maybe Fighters don't look at their wins as well cuz a lot of Fighters said they look at the losses to learn from it do you find that like you said you you look at every fight so yeah do you think that might be something that's a Miss with people that they might win cuz you're never going to have 100% perfect performance cuz if he did it'd be a quick fight be over so like you gain as much from looking at your fights where you've won then you've lost and so do you study your fights much um I would look at them yeah like I have and like I'd be like I like look at them I'm like that wasn't great and I'd say so then that wasn't great and and he would be very he would be really good at kind of looking back and seeing what I need to fix and stuff but automatically like straight after I have a fight I will like the minute we walk back I'm like I needed to do this better I need to do this better I need to do this better and like I'll have won and I'll still be like looking at things that I need to change because there's so many different things that are coming up from it like there's I'm getting caught in certain positions like I'm still getting like hit in certain positions I'm not moving my head properly so I need to be able to like recognize for me I need to be able to recognize that straight away and know what I need to fix yeah it's fantastic I'm going back to train and then like two days later so there's no point of me going back to training and not knowing what I need to kind of work on so yeah yeah it sounds like you very good self-awareness of yourself and then maybe I don't want to say deficiencies but holes kind of in your game that you're looking at to build because if you look at everything and think is perfect you're never you're going to get to a certain ceiling and and you'll never go by that but you you represented Ireland as well you went over to the four nations what was that feeling like I know obviously you lost the fight in the end what was it like to travel as team Ireland obviously you had the guys from the north and south and it's it's all one team what was it like to go represent the country in MMA and go over there yeah it was really nice I think it kind of shows the like the community like aspect of it and even like that I wouldn't have known if few had people going over and like everyone kind of comes together and they're there to support you and stuff so it was really nice and it was obviously like it was a great feeling to be able to represent Ireland and over there as well so yeah I felt very proud to be able to do that too um so yeah that was it was great yeah yeah no it was it's a good I like the four nations cuz it's you're not having to go to the IMs which could be Bahrain could be Dubai only in wal expense of those competitions quite much so obviously on the on the financial side it wasn't too bad it was only across the water but what was your biggest kind of takeaway from the event as a whole whether it be traveling over the the team unity the fight what was your big is kind of take away from um I think it's like it's all preparation I feel for me it was like the preparation of going over um that experience of fighting in a different country what that was going to be like I also oim wasn't there so that was I think my first fight that I wouldn't have had him there for as well so it's known that I can trust in the work that we have done here to be able to go over and do that there as well um so I think just kind of that confidence piece I felt was something that that I definitely took away from it um of being able to travel over and do that so yeah it was great yeah cuz obviously we're ushing you work on techniques and positions and different move sets or skill sets that I know in certain gyms they might have a code word for did you feel obiously like how big of a Miss was that for you that they didn't have them there yeah definitely like it's it it was strange not having him there um but it's understandable that he can't be at everything and that's something that is needs to be kind of like known as well so I have the confidence from the work that we do here um and also it's like I can hear his voice in my head so that's helpful and so I can it's like I can hear what he's like telling me to do in them moments now there's definitely stuff that I should have done in in the moment in the fight that I didn't um but yeah it's still I know that I've put the work in here and I'm here all the time and I'm listening to what he's saying so I'm able to kind of bring that with me wherever I'm I'm going as well to the best that I can but I'm not being there so yeah yeah no and like that after that then obviously you went on a little bit of a streak you picked up two belts in the process you had two TKO victories I believe or want say so when you started going on that streak um like you for the was it Dolores first no so after oh yes so I had far fear before I went to the four nations yeah and then it was the four Nation and then I fought Dolores in Akuma yeah at the end of August how did it feel to get the to get the finish in the fight and especially with a body shot as well which you don't see many people put out with yeah how did that feel cuz it was you're very good you've obviously you come and you've won too but when they start covering up you really RI to the body so when you seen her go down with that you like yeah that's nice it was a nice feeling yeah um it's something that um obviously we we work on body shots here and stuff so it was something that I was happy to be able to kind of put into practice as well um but even at that I'm like there's still stuff I need to fix on that fight now I still need to fix certain things um but yeah Dolores is she's a really tough fighter so it was it was a nice feeling yeah and then the your Fighting Championship uh you would you're the first Women's Champion the only Women's Champion obviously now that you're going pro uh there's going to be another fight for that how did it feel cuz that'll always be a part of history with that show and especially the fight really lived up to expect you went against Sarah Elliot who's probably not far from going pro herself um in a fantastic fight we were talking about just po like 35,000 views or something like how did that feel to get that to get that fight and get that win because you went through a lot of adversity in that fight as well yeah so like it was great for us to be able to fight there because we had planned to fight a couple of times and and hadn't worked out so to be able to just to for us to actually be able to fight that was great in itself cuz I knew that would be another big kind of test um and another opportunity for me to show everything that I've been working on um and to really level up my game as well but um yeah it was a mad fight so it was it was fun um obviously I got dropped in the first round um and that's the first time I'd ever been ever been dropped as well so it was it was not good that that happened but like I don't want that to happen again so again there's another kind of thing that I need to fix um so it was it was that and then obviously coming back from that and coming back after that first round as well into the second and the third it was it was great yeah when you get dropped yeah and you're lying there and for a split second Sarah did it looked like she was celebrating she thought she I think she knocked you out what's going through your head there knowing that she's going to be coming down on you like her wrestling and everything is so good I'm say your is not but that's kind of you would have been El strike and she would been what's your feeling when you're on ground going right she's coming down here what like are you just still is the brain fog after getting knocked down um well I was just then she was on top she was taking Mount and I was just thinking I was I wanted to be able to say to the ref I'm okay like don't stop this cuz I'm fine um and he knew obviously like he didn't St he knew was all right and so that's all that was kind of going through my head I was like okay well I need to execute and get back up to my feet and if I can't get back up to my feet how do I keep myself safe until I can get back to my game and get back to winning this fight so that was what was going through my head so I was just trying to stay in that head space and get my body moving to be able to to get back in the second get back in the third and also get back in the first as well so yeah yeah cuz cuz like that being dropped for the first time in any sport is going to be a peculiar unusual situation for you so so to be able to fight through that and like said Sarah was on top you and I remember at one day thinking if it keeps coming down this this could potentially be stopped um and obviously like that I think I was right beside you and I think you were saying no I'm good I'm good I'm good I think it was Dey L and ref in it as well I want to say and then when you come back up you get to the corner what's gone through your head and what's us saying cuz I know he doesn't scream or shout he's very quiet and he's very the way he just but he explains it so well and he puts you at even just talking to him I feel relaxed s of way he knows I need very simple instructions to follow like he knows so he is able to kind of talk to you quite calmly and just tell you what you need to do like he knew I needed to get back in the in the second um he's kind of like okay that's done there's nothing you can like there's nothing that I could have done about that that's already happened so I just need to execute our plan now in the second and in the third so that's what I did and then when that goes to a decision um because when it came down to it it was quite tight when I looked at it initially I'm not going to lie I thought maybe that was a 10 round the first round and I had you for the for the the next two rounds what was it like going to the decision like what was going through your head did you know you'd won the fight or was there a bit of this could go either away um so I any time now when I fight because of what happened in sept like when I had my Isa fight I'm like this could go anyway so I just in in those moments it's with anyone like even if I like even sometimes when I've like knocked one by knock out and stuff I'm still stand there and I'm like okay I want this kind of part to be sped up cuz it feels so long when it's happening so I was just honestly I was just standing there thinking I was like this is this is so long I really want this sh kind of decision to be made um but I felt that I had done enough in the in the second and in the third to be able to to be able to win so yeah yeah cuz I believe she took you down in the third end as well and she had you for a bit got back up yeah you got back up and that's what stuck in my mind and that's probably what stuck in judge's mind that you got back up and you started obviously using your strike and again like I said it's good head body head body the way you're able to mix it up is fantastic but you go on obviously you fight a fit to fight then as well it was initially supposed to be like a four woman tournament only yourself and Mel actually signed up um what was it like when na cuz I know obious Mel I think uh came in overweight was there any inkland that you weren't going to fight because the way was missed or were you was going to fight no I was always going to fight I didn't really well not that I didn't really mind I didn't mind to sense that I wouldn't want to fight um like if she' missed the weight that's more kind of her piece of you know that's just a lesson for her in the sense of making weight and stuff like that but for me I didn't mind I just wanted to be able to fight so yeah I didn't mind that that was okay and in that fight as well you showed your striking skill and she was extremely tough she did she didn't no matter what you hit her with she just kept coming back what it like when you're striking someone with all you've got and they just keep coming back and I believe it was it was a standing and TKO wasn't it in the end because the ref obviously looked and said look this isn't going to get any better for Mel what was it like fighting someone that just kept coming back like did you think a couple of times like this is going to be stopped and then it just she kept going yeah like I could obviously see kind of um cracks in in where shots were coming true and stuff so I knew that was an opportunity then for me um but she's just really really she's very very tough um so yeah I was I was happy with the win yeah and then you get the second belt um obviously you're on the CP of uh professional now um did like you're obviously I believe you're going down to flyweight for for that and what was the decision to go down to flyweight is it just because when you go into the pro ranks there's so much that stake and people are cutting the weight what would the wake up be like for you cuz I talked to you at Banton weight and you said the wake up like isn't isn't that bad but you've got nutritionist on board yeah would you've liked to got an amateur Fighter Fly Away before gone pro yeah to the plan was to get an amateur fight I fly away before G Pro um but that didn't work out there it was it was hard to get match um but I have made 58 before um and I have a really great nutritionist that I work with as well Lauren so she's deadly um and she we have t we had talked about Flyway cuz like once I started working with her a couple of months ago we kind of talked about my goals and stuff like that and I said about going pro for MMA and that I'd be looking at going Flyway but for the time being we'd kind of up an we um and then she didn't have kind of any issues with the Flyway piece and she'd be really kind of like she's very in line like looking after people's like health and she knows the effects that that can kind of have both like physically and mentally on Fires too so she wouldn't want to do anything that's going to put your body in any kind of like Jeopardy or anything so she was saying that flyweight is is like definitely achievable um so yeah the the CT will be it's well it's happening now it's okay yeah so it's going to be and like that it's it's exciting that you're going to be going to fly away unfortunately I would have liked to seen it an Am figh pro but or am to fight at flyweight but obviously sometimes it's hard to get match especially being a female in irland there's not a huge amount but you can see that getting bigger and bigger over the two years I've been doing this you can see that getting more and more and obviously someone you train with would have a lot to do with it Shauna Bannon was it like training with sha I've seen you training a couple of times she's currently in the UFC kind of where fighters aspired to me was it like taking her brain and training with her yeah it's great Shan's Shan is great she's so nice um and she's great to train with so um it's just like it's just another great training partner to have um she's very encouraging she's very supportive so I feel very lucky to have met the people that I've met through training to be able to kind of train with them and like that I pick their brains if I need it and stuff as well so yeah it's really introduced me to some really like great people so yeah it's been been brilliant yeah and like that you've you've trained with Sarah who you fought with and I think I think especially because the pool of ladies is so small within the country I think that needs to happen essentially like um going forward cuz you don't want to be just the best in our you want to be the best in the world obviously yeah that's that's the plan is to be the best in the world so yeah I I need like these amazing people that I have fought to be able to do that and vice versa the stuff that they'll be able to get from me and the stuff that I'll be able to get from them um and everyone is just generally really nice so it's great to just be able to train with them so yeah yeah yeah so the female scene is getting bigger what do you make of that yourself obviously it's not just sha the likes before leam MC sh chenade kav Ash da started all years ago how do you feel when you see more women getting into the sport yeah so I remembered when I was when I had started in K1 I think people were kind of saying that there wasn't lots of girls but I felt like that was maybe before I had started because then when I had started I got loads of fights in K1 so that was great and then it started get a little bit harder towards the end and then I know I had talked to people about going over to MMA and they had said that it was it was hard they had talked about how it was hard for them to get matched um and then once I had started I felt like it was fine I it was so easy to get matched um and then obviously maybe towards the end a little bit of going down to Flyway it it it was harder then I noticed that it was hard but now I feel like that there's just there's loads of girls um so it's great yeah and everyone is really really like into fighting each other so it's deadly yeah so it's Grand and it's not in like a bad way no one's like out to get anyone around think everyone just really wants to fight which is deadly because that's what we need because that's how we're going to learn and then we're able to like move up the ranks and and kind of all get to where we want to be so yeah yeah no it is good I think I think it was actually Sarah and krie who actually set up their own fight and went to Dey melen and and said can we fight on your show and it's good that the the female Community seems so close it and so together which is is fantastic but 2024 is looking like a fantastic year for all Irish MMA I can't wait for your professional debut but before I let you go there's just one or two questions uh one is going to be kind of like a three-part question so out of your seven fights that you've had so far am what was your favorite finish what was your favorite fight and what was the fight you learned from the most okay um my favorite finish was probably yeah I really I really enjoyed the body shop yeah not in a bad way just in like you that would have been convic no no no no not nothing ever in a bad way it was just like I that was nice to be able to to get that finish and cuz I've only had two finishes so it's that one where the the one with um with male um so yeah it was the body shot my favorite fight that's really hard to pick because I feel like the one in yeah probably I would say Sarah was probably my favorite fight because there was so much learning in that in the sense of getting knock down coming back from that um and and as well can I pick two yeah you can pi oh no wait what was the T question what you learn from the most and it can be the same fight for a different answer as well if you want I read like so my first fight was the my first fight with Mary bet uh it was more like actually well no maybe probably all of them no I can't pick all them sorry well you can pick all them if you want because if you learn if you learn from all of them it's more that confidence piece after each fight I was like I can actually do this I can actually do this I can actually do this it was like a confirmation piece after each of them it like built my confidence up more and more like I can actually do this so that was something that was probably like something very important to me was that like confirmation in it that I can do it yeah cuz like like that with everyone self-doubt can kind of slip into your mind and stuff like that so and and I felt like I feel like that's quite important for like people who are maybe thinking of certain MMA and stuff you see people when they're fighting and you think that they've been doing this forever you're like oh my God but you know they were training since they were five or you see these videos of them training when they were a kid and stuff like that but like I hadn't done MMA ever before since a year and a half ago and like now I'm going professional so I feel like those little lessons in each fight of being like I can do this I can do this I can do this that's why each fight kind of probably would have been my biggest lesson so yeah yeah I I think your self-awareness and the way you look at every fight whether it's a win or loss and pick something from I think that's what's kind of accelerated um your Ascension to the top of the ranks but um when you when it's all said and done MMA kickboxing whatever uh what would you like to be remembered by if someone says your name what would be the word sentence or phrase that you would like attached to it it doesn't have to be fight related it could be about your personality it could be about your fight style what would if someone said your name what would you want the answer to be back um I would well I I want to be the the best in the world so I want people to remember me for being the best in the world like at my time when when that is but also just that that probably not to limit yourself in those senses like people but put this is far more than one word no go ahead go ahead but like that you don't have like it's it's probably that comparison piece that people might look at me and maybe they'll somehow compare themselves to me in a certain way but I don't want that to ever be a thing because I wanted like to use comparison for a really really in a really positive kind of way because like nowadays everyone's just looking at everyone and everyone's comparing themselves and I follow into that trap as well I'm like oh well they're doing this and they're doing that but more to kind of like look at if people are going to look at what I do will then see that I had never done this before and like that it's easily something that you can do if you're going to put the the time and the effort and the work into it and sacrifices as well so probably that to know that you can you can do things that you might not think that you're going to be able to do but like you actually have to just be willing to put in the hard work and that sacrifice has come with that and you're going to miss out on things and and things are going to get hard sometimes but you can just par through it if that's genuinely what you want to do and that's not just for fine that can be with anything um so yeah yeah you can you can apply it to life as well but no I like that as well cuz people do compare each other a lot and I think the rise of social media has added to that as well in a negative way as well as a positive way so once you said like I said you have your mind right you know what you're looking at but look it's been a fantastic 13 months that I've been watching it um I can't wait to see what the next 13 months has and then beyond uh like myself everyone else is anticipating this debut so I can't wait to see when you make it and I want thank you very much for your time thanks so much thanks for having me thank you