Billy Sutherland interview

Summary

Billy Sutherland will try to become two weight champion at the historic clanwars 50 this weekend We speak camp, what winning the belt would mean, recently he's been cornering his teammates and the plans for the future

Transcript (youtube_captions)

[Music] so I'm here with Billy suland who's going to be fighting this weekend and like it's GNA it's a historic card it's the 50 installment it just shows how strong H Clan Wars has been through the years he's going to be fighting for a second belt to become a double champ obviously there's an opponent in the way but um thank you very much for your time uh it's fight week how are you how are you feeling yeah no thank you for bit of the platform to come on um I'm feeling good uh no long just training to be fair so like I said I'm busy all the time in and out of the gym uh yeah I feel great um like I'm always on point with my waight and things like that so it's not like I'm ever drained or feeling rough or anything just busy guy yeah yeah obviously you've got family life work everything else and then trying to do this in between and you we you talked about obviously you do everything right and uh the weight and stuff obviously you're going up the weight class for this do you feel any difference in the feeling of fight week as you for a flyweight or is it just more the same so I've kept I have a satellite um program I stick to because I know it works for me I know I get the best results from it and I'm very kind of regimental on how I do things anyway like I'm quite well disciplined that way so I've got the exact same blueprints as I normally have and I've just moved up that's what it is nothing's really changed there's no big difference had loads of time um obviously I walk around quite light anyway so like my walk around waight for flyweight would be 61 62 anyway 63 be my heavier and uh but I've took the time obviously between now coming into B and wait to put a bit more weight on a muscle mass on as well so but apart from that that just meant increasing calories enjoying a bit more food that i' normally cut out before now and uh just weight training in proper strength conditioning with one of my sponsors that's that was the only real changes I've made apart from that everything else has stayed the same yeah and it's good because obviously you said uh you're putting on the muscle mass and you're putting on so obviously your strength going in is going to be much more a lot of people would just use go like if they' gone up a higher weight class they'd just kind of go right I'm not going to cut weight whereas obviously you've you you've cut weight and but you're building the mass as well do you feel a strength difference at the moment in training yeah massively um to start with it was because I was I I was trained I am trained a couple times a day all the way through and to start with because by the time I'm train at night you are a bit lethargic a bit tired but as the week went on I started to notice massive massive difference where it be trading with some of the the guys that are like I say are really strong or that bit heavier and then being able to hold my own and out wrestle or wrestle along with them and keep up and just have be able to match them for strength like things I wasn't able to do as a flyweight before so strengthwise yeah massively big difference in the strength Department um still exposive nothing's been like sacrificed to be stronger everything else is still said said the same I'm still like explosive still got the speed still got the movement nothing's settled in any way just the same fighter I've always been just that little bit heavier and obviously you're known for your your punching power especially at flyweight because there's not many that can generate that sort of power do you think you're going to have even more power at bantamweight as well have you been feeling that when you're hitting the pads like how do you feel when you turn turn the hands yes so like I said I always try to focus more on speed getting to the Target first and just being sharp um and reactive but the the power difference is is notable like sound like the sound from hitting the pads the power generated on the heavy bag and that Aqua ball um and then just in a few of the hardest bars and that being able to just like match the bigger guys with power and things like that as well yeah I'd say a noticeable difference yeah and obviously you're going to be going for that to become a two-way uh champion in Clan Wars talk to us about clan wars and what it means you fight on this card because it is the 50 and is in his H historic C and you have a chance to make a historic moment for yourself so just tell me about the uh the promotion to you and and being able to compete on this card yeah so I got into MMA slowely to get f i was I came away from like the bodybuilding LIF and weight wasn't really happy got into MMA just as a means of a different way of getting fit so I didn't have to go to the normal regular gym I started watching plor I think it was one of the shows it was the one of the shows I had in the oler hall and I think it was the one that it was Mickey and Loan um fought main card on the main fight of the of that show and from then I think all all three of the cargan brothers f on it as well and then from then it was H I was like okay maybe this is what I want to do so I that's when I started watching clam Wars and seeing the production then when it was in the nor pole and all the way along but finally getting on the show myself like I've made it kind of my my home and stomping ground and it's it's just mostly clam Wars it's just been very uh like natural it's been good and just to see like this 50 like what's gone into this show like how big and how like prestigious the show will be compared to what's normally H for like Regional n like National kind of MMA it's this would be a big a massive milestone for like the amount of work G on behind the scenes for what this is going to be like especially a lot of the fights the matchups must become like yeah I'm I could ask for a better show to be fighting on and the fact I've got the opportunity to fight become two Division champion in quite a short time um just like kind of Legacy stuff and it that's just something I can tell the kids later on by the way I got two two different weight classes on the biggest show that's ever been held in the country yeah no it is a fantastic show and like I said the production value and what I've noticed uh recently they' they've got some new in as well it looks like to do the production and the production looks very very sharp watching at home on pay-per-view um and watching the Clips back they look really good and and that this card there's some Stompers on this card you've got s Sam Simon versus tar suvin I really like that matchup then you've got the heated one between Hal peny and uh mccardy you were there for the the press conference which I really like for that like you said they're pulling out all the stops what was it like doing that press conference is that kind of like getting you ready for when you go pro that sort of stuff like and how did it feel to be a part of that and then obviously the little bit of Madness yeah so everyone on that panel is like there will guys you'll see on bigger shows later on I think personally um and that's the type of things that you'll be involved with so just have like the professionalism have just turned up at the right time the right Manner and obviously conduct yourself correctly on on screen for some of us and uh yeah it was good it was good just to have that bit that bit more buildup that bit more exposure because as amateur MMA fighters other than your friend you friends and family it's hard to really build that unless you're really good at social media like some people are hard to really get your name out there for the bigger shows later on down the line if you do want to start fighting in the Pro round yeah it is it's unfortunate that like you have to use social media but that's just kind of the way of the world now like yeah some people naturally take to it some people just want to go and fight and it it depends on where it is some people get someone to manage their social media but it's I like the fact that they've done that because it brings a little bit extra to the show um like it was really well like it's apart from obviously what happened with the two boys like it was just it was good you were getting to answer questions you got to feel what it was like and and I really really really think this show is going to be a hit it's a fantastic fantastic show but um like you said this is your stomping ground this is your home and obviously there's going to be loads of Ls from your gym on this card what is the buzz like right now in Jim in on fight week what's what's it like in gy uh everyone it's always the same everyone wants to see everyone do well everyone's sharp staying sharp making sure obviously first things first nobody's getting injured or anyone doing anything but the morale the marer the whole pushing each other on because there is a lot of guys that coming out we've got a lot of guys now I think on the novice we've got guys that were fighting novice in the previous show that had great fights debut in amateur and everyone just wants to see that progression so everyone's just pushing each other on and then having the experience there with myself as well help develop some of the guys that are going to be on this card it's great to see and obviously you talked about the novice and the amateur debuts and stuff like obviously you've been fighting a little while what's it like what's the levels like coming up from the younger ones when you see these guys at 18 19 and they you just look at the levels and you're like wow like how far the sport has come do you see that and go Jesus Christ I look at them and think I wish I started then because could be fly and see some of the guys coming through now even guys that have only been training six months per year the development and how well-rounded they are and how I say a lot more of the fight IQs like force them like MMA has become complete different Beast now you don't get away with that one that onedimensional thing you need to be good at everything and the guys coming through it's not just they're turning up and training once or twice a week they probably even the novice guys they're training five times a week their nutrition is on point their strength conditioning is on point the training alongside the amateur impros they get to see how it needs to be done at the higher level as well and they're getting that early exposure early on that's before they've even really decided if they're going to go amateur so by time they hit amateur they they're well-rounded good athletes like they're well more defined than what it would have been 10 15 years ago yeah like you didn't have the nutrition years ago you didn't have this like and everything like just evolves and and the way it is now it's so Technical and just like you said you can't unless you're khabib yeah I think he can do the kind of one onedimensional thing it just it doesn't work you're G to get found out very quickly and it's just it's MMA training now as opposed to strike in or this that other but um obviously you're looking to win uh the belt this weekend your opponent obviously he's he's undefeated um he's coming in what you make your opponent and what's what's I don't want to go into your game plan but obviously you have a game plan for him so uh uh M Mickey's good so I've watched Mickey come up as well and Mickey's actually been training the same amount of time I've been training for I know he's not been as active and competing as much but we're speaking about this at the press conference if everyone anyone ever for the people that watched it would have you ever seen two people figh each other sat next to each other like it doesn't often happen so that's how kind of lay back and like we we're not enemies we're just professional what we want to do they fight on the day and create some entertainment um anyway uh yeah Mickey's I think he's five and0 all in um and he's got a good style we've trained together in the past he's been training as long as I have so it's not just like he's come out the wood work this last couple of years he's got a bit of time in the actual gym experience uh game plan wise my game plan's always the [ __ ] same I'll go in there and just adapt to what happens and I'll just [ __ ] bring chaos like like I said it before I'm the only person that will take somebody down get the strikes off make them work and then decide to stand up just because I don't want it to be stuck on the floor for three minutes like I don't think you've seen anyone take me down I don't think I've ever been taken down in competition like uh than getting dropped by [ __ ] uh what's his name Joe I Joe Beck I don't think anyone's everever been able to take me down and KN me down since that a very that was very early on now I've matured a lot more through MMA I've become very well-rounded I'll go for the Flor I'm well-rounded enough to adapt and adjust to what needs to be done on the day yeah create [ __ ] chaos you're like a little world like not little but like you're like a whirlwind when you go in there it's just absolutely like what's going to happen uh between your power your speed as well um you're wrestling everything to strike and it's just I just always wonder what's about to happen what's about to happen but um like you were saying with Mickey it's mad that like there's so much respect in the sport of MMA and that's what I love about even after the fights you've tried to kill each other someone may have knocked someone out like from the outside looking in that could be quite bizarre but talk to us about the respect like why is that respect shown between Fighters uh good a sport we all we all want to anyone that's anyone to fight is [ __ ] mad is they it's not a normal natural thing to do to want to go scrap that's never been normal most people would walk away but I think the fact that we know what we all go through we know how hard the training camps are we know what to put on the line to get to these places that I think that's what kind of does it and at end the day we do we just want to see who is the best on the day that's it there's nothing there's no animosity there's no Badness or bitterness behind it it's just we want to know who's the best on the day who can turn out and put on the better show and that's all it is for me if I I could go three rounds and lose but see if there's a good scrap and people talk about it's like you know that's [ __ ] fight want watch again I'm happy yeah someone actually said that to me they was said if they lost the fight from a decision but it was an exciting fight they'd rather have the exciting fight than a born fight and a win they it's it's because obviously it's all about entertaining the fans and and stuff like that and as you go further on that's what they want to see but um you've got a couple of finishes do you reckon did did cuz Mickey actually has a does he have a record on Clan Wars for a finish I think did he have a very Qui I'm not sure I'm not too sure um I think he's got maybe one I I couldn't tell you I'm always like every time to be fair minus the last time he fought where he he got the headline the fight the fight night they done I've always been either backstage do War UPS or Corner myself so haven't always got to see yeah I I think he does I reckon the will be finishing this fight but I think it's going to be exciting fight and you talked about corner there as well like how does it feel like obviously you're a senior member team to to corner what's corner like at clan war show like what how' you how' you like it so to start with uh kind of daunting originally because it's different when you're in there fighting when you're in there fighting you're just you're there to do do your job but when you're there and you're you're calling things out and you're you're watching things involved you're making reads and stuff like that I think you feel like you've got that bit of responsibility obviously the fighter and your teammates in there you don't want to be the guy that says something but then again I've got a lot of guys and especially the guys that came through novice that I can name off like Dylan Radford um probably a few others that I've cornered and I've been able to make read calls for them really well and they've managed to adjust and adapt and get wins off the back of it yeah no I'd say it's a surreal feeling and a lot of people say that when they're cornered they're more nervous than they would be for the wrong fight yeah honestly man I leave no voice I get more nervous doing that than what I do going to fights honestly it's mad how that is though obviously I think it's because it's a teammate you care so much like you said there's that bit of responsibility and and you want to see them do well obviously yeah I want to go back to a point you were actually talking about a second ago that's what I was going to go on to the fight IQ is what you were talking about and CH like you have a game plan but you you're able to change how important is that fight IQ in a fight because we seen here in the lock he fought there he lost the first round and they were able to change game plan and like he came back and then won the two rounds like how important like that just shows how important it is um what do you make of your fight IQ and is that just something you pick up over time or is it something that's like kind of you're born with um I think part of it can be picked up in the gym through scenario based Drilling and things like that and put things to light in spars and things like that especially you getting any time in the cage and start putting things together and start to make them kind of needs on how to adapt and how to change things uh it's definitely an experienced thing I don't think you it's it's just something you can have it's definitely it comes from just time in the fire knowing when to adjust the game plan knowing when to let things go one of the things I see a lot is people don't understand like the distance managing management and stuff like that or moving off and a lot of people like to train TR that's still stuff you you'll see early on and then especially in all this and then you'll see it adapt completely different when they hit amateur you'll see a lot more movement like things like that it's this whole experience there yeah it's like that it's it's the more you do it the more you become accustomed to you know kind of the movement what to do and and when things are gone right and when things are gone wrong but obviously after this we don't want to look obviously past your opponent but you would potentially if you win you'd go eight and one um is there any look at Pro and ofs in the future or you just taking this fight as it comes and then see how the performances and and make a plan after that so I never look past what's in front of me this is the goal this is the objective now so that's that's all I'm focused on but like I've put enough groundwork into this that and I'm [ __ ] dir I'm 31 soon I'm [ __ ] getting old so I'm not gonna I'm not going to hang about at amateur too long I'm gonna I want that Pro fight or a few Pro fights under my belt just to take off the list just so when I do hit that stage where I'm old and struggling to recover and what not I can say [ __ ] went and I went and done it I went and done it professional I was a professional fire that's what I'm just making some memor for later on down the line yeah and obviously there's the link with pfl and Clan Wars is that something You' look forward to or is that just too distant way you just want to kind of focus on what's love love to do that that'd be great then I don't know how it worked I can't remember I did look into it a while ago but um I know one of them has a flyweight Division and one of them doesn't I can't remember if the tfl had a flyweight Division and the Bor didn't or it was vice versa but uh I know they're looking at building uh just through articles and things I read as well which would be good for the European side over here because that' be one of the other assume I'd be one of the guys that maybe look at bringing in if we could get that to happen yeah I think flyweight for me is one of the most exciting ones it's one of the most technical ones and like if you look at the flyweight division in this country it's probably the best one I would believe it's that's just in my own opinion yeah I all the flys I look at over here I think I think we do have the best flyweights in the country here uh there's not a Bor flyweight fight you will not see a Bor in flyweight fight not often like unless you just got something that's going to solely wrestle to survive or just Bank the three rounds which doesn't often happen at fly weeks we're so scrambly and so proactive and constantly moving you're never going to really have a Bor and flyweight fight it's always going to be 100 miles hour for three rounds yeah it's got like like that it's so reversal reversal in out striking back downless I think it is the best division if you just look how stacked it is in this country at the minute especially at um which brings me on to my next point is the the scene at the minute is absolutely popping over the next I want to say six weeks there's about seven shows what you make it to see yourself and the level that we have in this country so it's great to see MMA grow especially regionally and uh see that there is a lot more opportunities out there for Fighters but I think now we're almost saturated the market because every show is going to as hard to get a show book as it is that with this many shows on it's hard to F shows like i' say it's getting more difficult I don't know how it's going to I don't know if it's any better or any worse um there definitely a lot more opportunities for guys coming up um which is obviously brilliant but I think we're H the stage now we're [ __ ] I think every now and every other week you'll see a different show pop up or the idea of a new show starting somewhere there is a lot I don't know how that's going to be fixed or remedied or what yeah going forward obviously at the minute like you look at cage conflict have a good card Clan Wars have a good card there is there is enough fighters to to sustain that but over a short period of time how' you watch it how am I supposed to be in two places it was originally on and Premier end up pulling the plug I don't know the exact reasons but like if you look at even from refs to judges to cut teams exactly there's not that many in the country that can can do that sort of thing and then if you've got so looking over November November's got a load of shows in it there's a load of shows uh next I think it's a couple at the start of December then as soon as you hit January Fe what March time you'll probably have another influx of what another six seven shows will back to back of each other like I said like trying to get the judges referees cut teams docs everyone there that's that's a nightmare yeah logistically and then like that I wish they were spread out a bit because there hasn't been there was not much over the summer I want to say Akuma uh cage Legacy and verus and over that three mon period there was no other shows and then all of a sudden there six weeks and seven shows it's just it's it's it's tough it is tough um but like I said the filling the fill in the car shows we have the talent at the minute but like how long that can be sustained for I don't know hopefully it can be sustained which means we're in a good place and I think it's hard for the fighters as well because I know there'll be a lot of Fighters so for me clown wars works out bro because it's all my doorstep like I said I am a busy guy like it's hard for me to get around a lot um like there's not enough hours in the day and uh for guys that are able like the young guys that are solely focusing I know a lot of them feel like they're loyal to one show and if they fight another show this happens or I know I know there's going to be some of that um and it yeah yeah it's a bit like that it's who you if you fought on clan wars and cage conflict and they both come calling you're going to feel yeah and I don't think Fighters should be put in that position because at the end of the day these promotions are here for for ye essentially and and to build and I know obviously uh they are businesses but you don't I don't want a fighter feeling oh [ __ ] I turned cage conflict down or take so and feeling bad about at the end of the day just go in and fight but we'll see how it goes over the next couple of months with the show there will be a break after Christmas thank God I'm looking forward to that break off Christmas or come up to Christmas I can imagine and that's probably the beauty of having in November as opposed to kind of late dece well I suppose late December Before Christmas wouldn't be too bad and what what like I would presume you enjoy your Christmas enjoy your food time for you yes so I'll be a featherweight by then it'll be a and know hold B everything until probably February time yeah no and then obviously I don't know when the shows be starting back but hopefully they'll give it a month or two after Christmas and then they'll come back and maybe March but um I'm really looking forward to your fight obviously it's a fantastic one I wish you the best of luck on uh trying to get the two belts I'm going to let you go is there anything you want to say before you go and I want to thank you so much for your time because I really appreciate on fight week yeah no thank you for having us back on like I said it's people like you that obviously give us that a little bit more exposure put ourselves out there and then the other big thank you just be to my wife who does so much number one supporter helps me out so much throughout this time she knows it's hard for me as well as the kids and work and everything else like she does a lot for me and she's obviously a massive supporter and then uh to all my sponsors that have helped me out so far the this whole Camp um from round one MMA sorted out with my fight kit and tops and stuff Skyscape looked after me the kit and equipment for training RightWay massage for uh Sports massages in my strength conditioning and nutrition um Bor to bleed for all the motivational stuff and the t-shirts and stuff they sent me the balla company for being completely up my streets and we load of the north Pagan uh pops and sponsor me for this camp um and rap is Barber for who I need to go see so I look like a gypsy at the minute with a big long hair and I look like I've been living on the streets uh who's gonna sort me out this week and give me a haircut do is a lot of Fighters I hear they have like a a pre fight trim or a cut is that a thing or is that just you get a CAU the week of the fight or uh no I think that's the thing actually I tend to I always I always go like week of the fight I'll get hair cut and for myself out and get ready yeah no it's it's it's a fantastic opportunity fantastic show you're going to be on this weekend like I said best of luck and I will talk to you next week after the show yeah oh sorry and obviously the the guys ifs the whole club team the coaches and clam Wars for [ __ ] giving me this opportunity yeah no 100% thank you so much and I will talk to you after show on best of skill this weekend 100% thank you Dave