Evan Horgan interview

Summary

Evan Horgan is an up and coming young talent fighting out of MMA Cork, he competes in a compelling match up this weekend against Youcef Oukacine for the super lightweight title at Elite fighting championship

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] okay so I'm here with Evan Hogan and head of another fight night so um he's fighting this weekend he's fighting for the super lightweight title it's a really good fight it's a really really good card I want to thank you so much for your time it's we're only a couple of days out how are you feeling H very good very excited thanks very much for having me on as wellit it's perfect it's perfect and after like this fight actually got made in the cage from the last fight yeah was planned or was that just because of how the two performances went on the night was it spur the moment um I'd say it was just spur the moment yeah it's um yeah he kind of Paul R said it'd be a good fight I it's it's brilliant fight to be very waer but I don't know I don't really I don't be like a [ __ ] like calling people out J know doing not any of that so it was a bit weird like to keep like the middle ground but definitely I can't wait now for the fight no it's it's a really good fight and and like that the last time you fought was your first time fighting on Elite before that has been Dublin and Nori how did you feel to fight in Cork oh it was it was actually unbelievable like even walking out it was like okay like I've done this so many times it's fine and then I heard like all the shouts and the screams and it my ears actually started hurting because it was so loud out there it was ridiculous best thing best feeling ever I'd say to be honest yeah I can imagine cuz like that you do have to travel a lot and and especially yourselves and down that side of the country you have massive Journeys uh before fights so what was it like to have that that you weren't too far from home as well like before for your preparations did to make it easier not having that long journey in between definitely yeah like um especially when you go up to NRI and Northern Ireland and stuff like that long care Journey takes it out of you you know you need to either stay up the day before or something cuz when you get that car like you're stiff as a board and you're tired and you're not ready for a fight at all whereas after my way and there in the last show I went straight to sleep like I woke up ready for all then like you know so it's complete difference like yeah no I'd say that like the travel up I can only imagine because you have to get there early to get your hands wrapped and if you at the bottom of the car top of the car it's a long day so it must be good but going into this fight you're on quite a streak obviously the last time I think I we talked was just for using you got the finish in that one which was a fantastic finish like he couldn't answer the Bell then you had the cork one and with the Run of fights before that as well how confident are you um going into this fight um I think um I'm actually I'm very confident going in but I don't think it's from the fight you know I think it's from the training just consistently training like I know doesn't matter which way the fight goes you know hopefully it goes in my favor but I know I'm putting in the work and I'm training consistently dedicated you know so I think that's where the confidence comes from Mostly but yeah just keep training away no matter get the fights as they come yeah no and it's a fantastic fight he's someone I've liked watching for a while H you're someone I've watched for a while now as well um prepare for him or will you just work on yourself and your game plan and what you want to do or what way does it work leading up to a fight when you have a certain opponent yeah um that like the start of the fight Camp it's not really a fight camp but I just call it that like when my opponent gets announced I like kind of look at them just to see roughly what they're like you know I wouldn't really study them or go deep into detail with them but I'd obviously pick out a few things that I'd like to focus on like their weaknesses and stuff but I wouldn't like do a deep search into their weaknesses and all their habits and stuff and I kind of just focused on myself then for the whole time just constant Pro like especially at amateur I think I said this as well on the last interview so I'm going to repeat myself a small bit but especially at amateur I'm not trying to trying to like beat someone in a fight I'm just trying to get better as a a fighter as a whole like you know just constantly improve everything you know not just one one aspect of a fight just to beat one fellow amateur just looking for the experience and to get better you know yeah and that's probably the right way to look at it work on yourself as opposed to trying to stop someone else's game imp your own style sort of a thing um MMA cork obviously there's a lot of Fighters on the card talk to us what the buzz is like right now because on the home shows you always know the buzz in the gym is just fantastic talk to us about what it's like there at the minute oh it's unbelievable you like you have the pros like Brian uh Liam and them then you have all the title fights like all the lads are buzzing and uh it's unbelievable to have all of us on the same show in our backyard and like we're all just hping each other and bringing each other along like can't compare it to anything really yeah I know and one thing I noticed about the venue was it was packed from the start as well and the atmosphere in Cork I thought was fantastic everyone every cork fighter that came out even if it was from SG cork or if it was from Samson martial arts everyone got a pop from Cork i' say that's an amazing feeling compared to like when it first happened it kind of shock you a bit you were just kind of like I'm used to just walking out a few people being there for me as opposed to a whole whole venue oh it was ridiculous like and I I don't know how like the UFC fighters do it because there's like thousands of people there for them like there was a couple hundred people there screaming my name I thought I was king of the world like you know so it was unbelievable yeah know it was I like I like being there and obviously Brian always has his entrance uh Johnny Doug and someone who gets a massive pop as well yeah I just I love the cars and I love the atmosphere uh this is going to be your fifth fight I believe this year am I correct I think so yeah I think so yeah I think from February on until now this will be your fifth fight are you looking to take that activity levels into next year as well and and just trying and get as much experience as you can definitely yeah you know as I said before I'm just trying to improve as a fighter as a whole so I feel like getting as much experience as I can while keeping myself healthy is the best way to go about like my fighting career this early on so I'll try and keep it up obviously injuries and stuff might happen but hopefully they don't and I hopefully I can fight as much as I want next year especially with the cork show as well like hopefully they'll do a good few shows next year I can just sign up for them instead of traveling all the way up to North and Dublin and stuff so that'd be so handy but try to keep active anyway with everything yeah and and like that they've had three this year and they only started this year so I can imagine what the plans are are for next year it's it's gone so in the first three shows um like that going forward like said there's loads of other shows as well obviously if you can't make a c show how does it feeli to have so many options now compared like this i' say maybe seven eight promotions that you can potentially get on how does the field have that many options uh it's brilliant and not only is there just like seven or eight different promotions they're all high level good promotions like you know they're all well supported everything's perfect you get so much exposure with them like probably the same for you like being in the media you probably get so much like exposure from all the different shows you go there CU they're all so popular so big so it's actually it's it's unbelievable especially in Ireland to have that many shows and that many well-run shows you know but yeah yeah know it's that like you said the production value on them are Savage they're well run they're usually run by Fighters as well so they kind of understand what e what he want yeah exactly um but no it's gonna be a fantastic fight this weekend um I don't know if 100% I'm going to make it I have to work but if I can make it down I will hopefully if I do I wish you best of luck um is there anything say before you go and thank you very much again for your time thanks very much for having me no just share it all my teammates I think um Young Jack and Jacob or I think it's Young Jack and Jacob are the two teams fighting all the lads in M cork Johnny um who else is fighting I think Patty at the pull out but um Sam Aon Liam Bryan Barry Barry Kennedy definitely all the lads and all my fans uh friends and family at home just supporting me debb at the show as well so shout out to everyone if I miss any shout out to you just just shout out everybody everyone yeah but no thank you so much for your time uh best of luck this weekend and I whether I'm there or at home I'll be watching the fight regardless all right thank you so much thanks very much