Armand Herczeg interview, Fnsviewmma

Summary

Armand competed in the Oktagon challege and came up against Jake McHugh finishing him within 34 seconds via submission, he will now face Jake again on the 27th of January In Newcastle. There's been a lot of trash talk leading up to this fight and Armand is hoping to gain a…

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] I'm here with Mr Arman herzeg as as you can see on his background he's going to be fighting again in octagon it's going to be a rematch a rematch that I wasn't sure was going to happen it's going to be a fantastic uh it's going to be a fantastic fight I think it's going to be a lot different from the first one because I don't think many fights can go the way the first one went but talk to us about how you're feeling for this fight and for people who might not seen it why this rematch has come about obviously with the the Octagon show talk to us about the show what happened in the show and what has led to this rematch so like I guess the rematch kind of made sense for octagon promotion wise and everything and and like obviously from my aspect when than 34 seconds like how much better can you do or what better can you do than that but I like the match up against J because he also is my age so it's not like I'm fighting someone who's already grown into their frame it's it's kind of like someone who's just gone pro just like myself so we're on the same level it gives me an opportunity to like fight someone who's around my level of experience even though I've had a lot more fights than him he he's a fairly experienced lad he's he's a high belt in Jiu-Jitsu and all and I know bels mean [ __ ] all but when you start getting close to that black belt you have to respect it you know so I think it's just giving me the opportunity to like show myself against someone who's who's similar to me in a sense we around the same age as I said and and we're coming to the same position in our career it's both of our second fight all this nonsense and everything but it's not exactly the fight that I wanted I kind of want to be fighting more of the Eastern European Lads and the Eastern European side of the roster then hly fighting UK or if they bring in Irish Lads trying to get Irish Lads to fight Irish Lads it's it's something I've done all my career so it's it's not necessarily as appealing to me obviously Jake has um wouldn't say a vendetta but he wants to prove himself to maybe himself and to his team as there isn't immense pressure everyone's definitely telling him to to make sure he kills me and make sure he finishes me and all this other M talk because I've talked enough [ __ ] about him already so I think like for him it's a great fight it's it's for him to get Redemption and prove himself and see if he could do it and for me it's a it's a way to close the chapter yeah and like that with octagon like you said with the show 34 seconds what strikes me and what what kind of makes me laugh is because obviously with your striking background everyone keeps calling you a striker like and obviously I know your amateur career very well and then obviously with the show again like you're you're more of a submission I don't want to say more of a submission artist like you you want to be on the feat but obviously people take the the ground but You' have no problem when you get down there in putting people's lies out you've done it in quick succession I think Rory Larry was another one that you put out very quickly when you went into this initial fight with Jake the kind of feeling I got from like the talk on the show was they felt like maybe not that Jake was going to easily beat you but it felt like the english team felt you were an underdog obviously they were always going to feel that did you feel that they taught that of that you might be the underdog in that fight well to be honest like I went on that show not really like giving a [ __ ] how it goes to be honest I didn't really care like what it was I was just like get the get the first fight and we see what happens after that if we if we win we win if we don't we don't I came off a long layoff I wasn't training or nothing as well so it's one of them things where I kind of had no expect expectations or anything so I think that's what came in my way and helped me a lot because mentally I didn't really give a f I just was there to fight someone and I was happy enough to to be away from Ireland and be be in a place where I can actually focus on on training a bit even though it wasn't much I got that opportunity to just be my own Zone be around people that are doing the same thing as me you know so it was just one of them things where I just went right we'll go out and fight if they think I'm the underdog fair enough I knew what I'm capable of I know my abilities and I knew the english team wouldn't know much about me because even on tapology when I was fighting at amateur I wasn't high on the rankings and all because I always had a fight I won I maybe won a couple fights in a row and lost a few in a row and all because the the missing Gap that I had in my fight was basically me anti grappling and me wrestling which I've worked a lot on now and I'm fairly confident in getting back to my feet and and doing the right things in the right positions whereas back at amateur it was more all right someone should tell me I defend the guillotine and if it doesn't work I'll try and get back to my feet now whereas now I'm not as trick or happy with Guillotines I'm not trying to jump on them straight away so I'm more aware of what way to defend stuff and and I'm happy enough with how much I've progressed now this given the opportunity in the actual fight I can do do that now saying I'm a striker my last performance I don't even know what type of fighter I am do you know what I mean it was it wasn't I'm not happy with that performance at all so this gives me an opportunity to show the real me to the to the fans of octagon and other people around the around the world you know so we have to see if they thought of me as an underdog fair enough I kind of thought of me set as an underdog but I looked at Jake and I seen I of all the lads going on to the show I had to be more um I had to have more of a plot and a plan do you know what I mean I like if I want to get to the finals I need to try and structure this in a way where I might fight their weakest link and then fight one of their better Fighters if I went straight in and I went no I want to fight George he's the best here like it would have just been silly of me you know because I had to be self-aware of how much training I've done how fit I am and I looked at Jake and I was like right he's someone who I've done a bit of research on with Dennis when we arrived at the at the hotel before before we went to the Villa I L I said it to D he's probably the easiest person for me to beat his style it's just it's just the the worst style coming up against me because I have that antie grappling more of the submissions and all threats and then I have the great striking which he doesn't he still can't strike so it's one of them things where I seen him and I picked him out and we both agreed that we'd fight we're both fed really so we're both walking around the same way it made the most sense for the both of us I think he kind of had the same idea that I had that the work out for me I didn't work out for him yeah like that it's it's mad how you went in you like you said you had a bit of a layoff but since you've been on the show and also what I liked you said was the the situations with being on the ground now you're more comfortable being in those uncomfortable positions and being a lot more calm but since the show like you said you want a break before did it really light a fire on you to right this is this is it we're going forward now we're going with this and octagon done a fantastic job on the challenge and I think overall I think I said this before the way they they promote stuff tell stories do their reals do their social media they're quite active and they're very good at what they do how does it feel being with octagon and has been with them lit fire under you again to to go full force into this MMA career well like when I took that break I didn't think I was going to fight again I I was struggling with my mental health and I had a lot of [ __ ] going on where I couldn't really think of fighting you know I I completely took a step away from fighting I didn't think I was ever going to go back then um one of the days I don't know I was just I was in Walking I just one fell started up working with me at an apprenticeship and he done like a bit of kick boxing and all and you know when like new people start a sport and they're like pretty okay at it or they're winning fights and all and their ego goes really high and they're like oh I'm an unbelievable fighter all I'm just sitting there like lad I I get what you're saying 100% but this is you're saying this technique wrong or something like that and it just started lighting a little fire in me i' be walking around Shadow Boxing and I right I need to go back and train so I went back to D I went back to sand and trained maybe two or three times and then I trained twice down in Patty Hans as well and Patty rang me just before I went down to him and train with him that there was this show on so I took the opportunity Dar told me about it as well and we went on it but I think I think it's just all in lined you know I had no other options uh there wasn't much El going on for me it was either I do a 9 to five and I live a normal life and fair enough I start my own business I do carpentry or whatever and and and then I sit down and my kids ask me about what I did when I was younger I was like oh I used to fight I could have went pro that's never been me you know like I I dropped out of school to chase this I I always had no plan B my plan B was to make plan a work and then I got gifted this opportunity by God that's the only way I can put it there's no other way like you know um God sent Patty to to get in contact with me and and forever I am grateful for Patty for thinking of me and getting me on the show but it was just an opportunity that knocked on the door and whenever these things happen you know you don't get opportunities coming to your door and telling you yo you have this chance of being on this show and everything so thankfully so I did and I took it and it's more after that I fought obviously your man radic where I trained for two weeks and even then I was kind of half arser not really half arsenate but two weeks training you can't really do weights conditioning all that other stuff it's tough you have a week of training and then a week of cutting weight so I kind of just last halfway if I would have won that fight I'd still be doing the same thing as I'm doing as I'm doing before that fight taking the piss you know what I mean so everything turned out the perfect way I'm I'm fighting the correct way now I'm training the correct way I'm putting in the work now I'm sparing with the right people I'm thinking of the tactics and everything so my whole development of it has led a whole new fire into it because this is the only option I have I have nothing as going for me you know so when I step into that cage on the 27th it's going to be Jake's going to actually have to put me into a hospital bed or he's going to have to kill me because I'm not leaving there unless I'm winning like if I have to bite his ear off I will go full Mike Tyson you know let's hope it doesn't come to that but I like that it sounds like that loss obviously although it was on two weeks notice uh so you couldn't have a full training camp but if it seems like it flick the switch which it this obviously is your pro career like we seen you amateur all the time Jump in here like coming in on you get to a venue can you kickbox today and you're literally kickboxing like two or three hours later it seems like obviously it's l fire on you to get all the right pieces in place which are there for you with your gym with your coaches and then it's just your mindset seems to have been has been more focused and obviously as well with your pro career the two weeks noticing I think is is kind of not that you should not that people should pad their records but you need to be careful with it as well taking short notice fights unless like that I'm not saying it wasn't a big opportunity but like that it's MMA is a very fickle sport is what have you done for me lately you know that sort of a way if your last fight was a loss that's the last thing they won't remember the five wins before that they'll remember the last which is is kind of [ __ ] do you find that in MMA that it's it's kind of you're only as good as your last fight when it shouldn't be there's a body of work that everyone has well it is a saying you know amongst everyone you're only as good as your last fight because it's the last time you performed and it's the last way you have performed so I do believe that and it's also a thing where like I need to be self-aware and I need to actually be focused on always improving and in my last fight fair enough it's the only fight where like I properly mixed it up with grappling and and take downs and striking and everything like that but I fought someone who's very very beatable and I made it very hard for myself I went in and I made a lot of mistakes and then obviously I wasn't fit enough so when you're dancing around and you're looking up at the time and it says two minutes left and you're like oh [ __ ] me boy I just want out of here so going have a point instead you know what I mean but it was one of them things where I just had to pop on and and this is my career like I don't want my career to be in a few years where I look look online and it says I have four losses and never won a fight and I stopped fighting as well so it's it's up to myself at the end of the day I can bring anyone into my corner I can have any coaches I want behind me if I'm not there mentally and if I'm not prepared for it mentally and physically then it's not going to happen you know so that's that was the biggest less lesson and it's it's what I have to do like like if I fought radic on on the 27 I know I'm beating him I've done the preparation even though I completely different style fighter I know what he can do and what I can do and I know I have a lot more weapons than him I know a lot lot more weapons Than Jake but it's one of them things where I need to actually be there at the right frame and the right mindset and the right physicality yeah and it sounds like that it sounds like you've matured as a fighter and as a person and one of the things that you're saying is self-awareness and I think a lot of people would say they're self-aware but you sound like you have it like one of my things is I'm too self-aware and I always go I'm not good enough at this I'm not good enough at that I'm not good enough Jo a sort of way but I find when I have that mindset I will always work on those things then to go forward and go okay well I've got that sort but I'm lacking here and it's it's a tool that doesn't just come naturally either it well it does come actually some people but some people it's hard to work on but when you're going into into this fight obviously with Jake I've seen there's been back and forth uh I've seen obviously with the combat wizard which I thally enjoyed I wasn't expecting you to come on with the background there was obviously bits of back and forth you apologized at one stage then you kind of kept going into them um what would you say is the kind of I don't want to say relationship but what's the the between two you is there tension is there bad blood or is it kind of just kind of banter ramped up it's it's it's a father and son relationship you know like Jak Jake's my little boy and and I have to be harsh on him for him to learn that the world's a big bad world you know not everyone is um going to be nice to him and not everyone's going to treat him fairly so I think that's the lessons that I'm trying to teach him you know and obviously as as I said it's a father and son relationship as his dad I do respect him but he needs to he needs to learn that even if someone does respect you they're not going to be kind to you just because of that and he needs to realize that it is a fight like me and him are going in to hurt each other and at the end of the day he want wants to physically harm me and rearrange my face if he can so why would I be sound with that person if me and him are fighting cool how are you Jake are are you doing well training going well do you want to train together no problem we could do that I'll be S but if you're fighting me and you're fighting me at this stage of my career where I'm professional I'm trying to get somewhere with it and I'm trying to build my own career I'm not going to sit there and be like let's be best mates I'm going to be super respectful and everything and and if I have the opportunity to get under your skin I will and like with the back and forward there really isn't back and forward it's just me saying something from him just putting me to he's he's actually putting me to sleep more times than I have him with the way he talks he's the most boring individual I've ever come across the wall behind you has a better personality and and that's that's another aspect of why I wasn't really like excited for the fight because I knew the hype for the fight he's not going to be to get any hype out of it like the the people that are like watching it anyone said it to me he's boring like after the interview few the boys said to me like oh I was like oh he's so boring like I couldn't get nothing out of him I can't really get a conversation out of him never mind like him taking something back to me and then the boys like oh good trades man never blames his tools and then two minutes later they seen the interview and they're like actually never mind you actually have a better conversation with a plant so he's one of them fellas that I think he can't um Express himself correctly CU he just um either he's very awkward in front of cameras or he's not used to it you know he's he's only had five amateur fights how many interviews has he done whereas I'm doing loads of interviews with you I'm used to being in front of camera I'm used to doing this and I'm a very outgoing person I like talking so it's easy enough for me whereas I'd say he I'm more he's more introvert so it's harder for him to to get going with conversation and all and expressing himself but that's fine like I can I don't mind promoting it myself we we'll have to see how it goes the fight's going to be great I know I can get a few viral moments out of it maybe he can as well if he's if he's good enough but he just needs to learn to build that character as well yeah and like that I know you we've we've interviewed watch this probably fifth six maybe seven time now at this stage because I've interviewed you to your amate career we've done the sit down MMA in debth as well you were one of the first in the first like five or six I want to say or seven or eight in the first 10 anyway so and I like that I see your shows I see you talking to people um with Jake I don't really know Jake that much I've watched him from the show um as a person I think he's he seems like a good guy he seems he's a good fighter he just wants to go he seems like he just wants to fight he seems like he doesn't want all this around it whereas at the minute as it stands with the era we're in at the minute unfortunately doesn't always go by who's the best fighter who's this you do need to build stories and that's what promotions want you to do is they want you to build a to you need to Market yourself you need to make yourself a brand Jo a sort of a way you need to you need to do that way and that's obviously what you're doing do you think he's going into just like he's going in he's not saying much obviously you're both going to have full camps for this how do you see the fight going and obviously I don't want to say oh I'm going to finish him here I'm going to finish him there but um what are you expecting from him this time because obviously last time you didn't get much from him well he says he's going to finish me in the second so my plan is to finish him in the first so doesn't get to the second you know then then there isn't an opportunity for him to to even be corrected that sense but I think um it could be definitely a tough fight like he he comes out pretty fast I come out pretty fast so it could just turn out to be whoever's a bit more patient you know and I can bring that patient game into it and be a bit more relaxed let him kind of try and gas himself or push the pace a we bit but the fight starts standing it's at my rhythm it's at my style straight away off the B he needs to work to get me down which is a lot harder to do than to keep the fight standing you know trying to constantly pull someone down is tiring you know we we've all been in the gym trying to wrestle against people and it is tough so it's it's one of the things where I think it can go decision I can get the winning decision happy enough with it if I get a finish I'm happy enough if I was to submit him again though I would want to see him uh getting that brown belt taken off him so we'll have to see how it goes though if if if the submission comes in it's either he needs to shave his head or he needs to lose his brand one or the other you're coming for everything you're absolutely coming for everything with the fight being in the UK do you expect a lot of hostility toward yourself because of how you've been with Jake in in the house and in the lead to this fight uh no because he's so boring I don't think many people are like a let's go Jake we want to see you Inn this is the problem right so obviously I can't compare him to this person but Demetrius Johnson was unbelievable but he wasn't really great at selling himself because he won so many fights but didn't talk [ __ ] he was very respectful and all but the problem was that he wasn't selling pay-per-views and and he got obviously traded off to one Championship it suits him better that more respectful style and all people like that more over that side of the world so I think for him he needs to like but obviously his whole team and and the people around him want him to win but if you look at it as a casual fan you might look at me and be like oh this fell is disrespectful or whatever but you might be like oh but I want to see him win or I want to see him lose either way you're going to tune into my fights whereas if you watch Jake like you might watch him a bit or or or someone's clicking on him his style is boring so he's just the grappler grappling is boring anyway like people always find it boring unless you're kabib and you're actually smashing people and you're making it entertaining but if you're just holding on to someone taking them down and submitting them and stuff like that it's not the most exciting style to watch it works it it gets you to win and and that's what we're actually trying to do here we're trying to win we don't we don't need to entertain people but I think like I don't have any hostility I think I I've got a good few UK fans as well a lot of people have texted me saying they need to I need to shut them up again and put them to sleep and everything so I think we have to see how it goes if I walk in and get a few booze I turn them into chairs at the end but I'm happy enough with whatever way I've walked out plenty of times to hostile crowds while fighting in Ireland so we have to see how it goes it's nothing that ever like pushes me away even when I made my debut the whole crowd was chanting for the other fell I loved it was it was a great moment I I was happy enough we fighting against the whole crowd as well so it is Grand yeah because once you get in there and I think I don't know if I you do this about but a lot of fight was said once you kind of go in there all that rounds out and it's just kind of you just kind of you're in the moment you can hear maybe Darren because Darren's obviously very loud as as all our coaches and and that's that's what a lot of people is once once you get to that stage and you're in the cage is it is it just like lay tunnel vision and the only people you really pick out in the crowd is is your coaches um I'll tell you the truth when there's like eight or n thousand people screaming you hear them you do hear them you know it's different obviously if you're in a crowd where you're at a show where there's like four 300 people 400 people you might not hear the whole crowd but when it's 8,000 people screaming the same thing at once you're going to hear it and you're going to have to like feed off that but do you want me you want me to turn turn on the light ball because it's getting a bit dark uh yeah you can I'm G to finish off in a second anyways yeah I just want any I didn't expect to get that in that dark no I that's why I have that I have this lamp on my face man that's why I Tred to do them early because when and then trying to go to bed after looking at this but yeah it's it's G to be a fantastic fight I can't wait to see it again obviously octagon when they came in last year and the way they've kind of gone at the UK scene I really really like it I really like what they do with uh their promo side of things they're very good they they pushed that show they pushed sham I know I don't think shem's with them anymore at the minute I'm not sure what this deal with that is but they were the first kind of people who really put a rocket ship to Sham and really wanted to highlight how good he was and his story and yeah like that I like the promotion as a whole but it's going to be a fantastic fight like I said do you think getting under his skin will make him emotional going into the fight do you think that emotion show I think I think he's emotional anyway so I think like because of the fact that like what I done on the show with the the Memorial and all that other nonsense and all that mess and all I think that's already made him emotional him calling me out to fight on the show and then not fighting me like that's already one up on me because you can't if as as someone who yourself you've lived an island all your life if someone says let's go for an off and you say yeah and then they're like ah no never mind they've lost already yeah so this should be this should be Armand her and Jake M number three but Jake didn't show up you know what I mean he he walked down the stairs and looked up at Brad picker and was just like what am I meant to do here bro like can can you help you know what I mean so it was one of them things well I knew mentally I have him bet like he came back on the show and he he came back on the show as like he knew he wasn't fighting again or all so he treated like a holiday he took he basically took the piss with it I know for a fact he hasn't watched the show himself um because I know if if that happened to me I wouldn't be watching the show either you know what I mean it's just it is it is funny though but it's one of them things where he he definitely has a fire built in him he's definitely worked hard he wants to beat me whether he says it or not no matter what if anyone treated me the way I treated him or or the other way around you know then I'd be having a fire bit than me as well yeah no I'd say that I like he's hard to read and he's hard to judge but all I know is obviously he's going to be wanting Revenge you're going to want to go and finish off this chapter it's going to be fantastic fight I'm Gonna Let You Go I can't wait to see it um is there anything you want to say before you go um yeah just tune in on January 27th watch me beat Jake again and move on in in in the Federate division hopefully get another fight soon and big thank you to everyone that's that I'm training with so obviously boys from Sand boys from Fai also um there's going to be a GoFundMe link on my bio that I'm going to put up for anyone that would like has hard about what happened with Ryan would like to donate in any way and help him it would be much appreciated Ryan's someone who helped me as well you know he's giv me lifts to Belfast or from Belfast to get get back home so I want to be able to help him back as much as I can so by that go link on I'd be able to get you to if you want to donate orway support him and his family would be really appreciated yeah because at this time Ryan was Ryan's a great guy at this time his family needs needs it everybody kind of has pulled together so um and a lot of people think oh I only can donate five or I can only donate the fer donate the tener all these little bit if 100 people said I can't all I have is a tener that's ,000 if 100 people just donated so we want to try to do the best for Ryan that we can he was a fantastic charact he is a fantastic character within the MMA scene and like that he's you you can see just the reception when when obviously it came out and how everyone's pulled together the seminars everywhere for the next two or three weeks so we just wanted to make the best recovery can uh when I release this I'll put the go fund me on my story in my link as well so anyone that does want to do it h does want to donate can so I want to thank you so much for your time and the best of skill I will be watching the fight as it happens yeah thank you bro I appreciate it and I appreciate everyone with all the support and love and thank you for everyone that's going to come out and watch it live or watch it from at home as well so appreciate you having me on again it's always a pleasure perfect it's always pleasure to have you on and I will see you soon