UK and Irish Combat Sports, Interviews and Opinion
Ciaran McFadden is beyond a doubt, one of the busiest people I have interviewed to date. As we sat down to chat at 9pm, Ciaran was driving home from the gym. Not content with running his own printing company by day, Ciaran runs Kombat Jiu Jitsu by night. Add an eight-week-old baby girl and his…
I arrive early, and already the place is like a pressure cooker. I’m down on the docks of Dublin, and as my taxi rattles along the river Liffey, the crowds filing into the 3Arena are moving at pace toward the venue. 4 deep and made of all shapes and sizes. Already I get a sense….
The third and final, of the talented teenagers in this series of interviews is Sineadh Ni Nuallain. Apologies in advance for my continued inability to figure out how the fada works on a keyboard Sineadh. Sineadh is 17 and is training and fighting out of SBG Ballina in Co.Mayo. Sineadh started on her path to…
When Indra Davis mentioned that one of the girls she had interviewed for this series of interviews was Lola Safronova, it was a name I had heard before. At various points over the last year I often ask Facebook friends for interview recommendations and the Dundalk contingent on social media are always raving about her….
I am probably the only person in County Galway that is thankful Indra Davis has an ACL injury at the moment. One of the side benefits of her injury (for me!) is that she kindly took the time out of her already busy professional and family life to Interview three young women for Combat Arena….
“There is no glory without sacrifice.” – Filipino Proverb There is a reason every fight movie you have ever seen has some concept of redemption at its core. The ‘against all odds’ ideology is woven into the fabric of the sport – nowhere is this more true than in the murky world of up-and-comer MMA….
Since Dana White posted it on Instagram, the story of Polyana Viana and her would be attacker has been blowing up on social media. When I first saw the side by side photos, my reaction was “hell yeah!” Score one for the sisterhood. More power to her and further sentiment in the same vein. However,…
With all the hype that surrounded Cris Cyborg versus Amanda Nunes in UFC 232, you would’ve been forgiven for thinking that it was the main event. The fight between these two seasoned veterans captured the imagination of a worldwide audience. The excitement of the build-up left me in no doubt that there is a huge…
When I sat down to talk to 21-year old Crevan Scrivens, I will admit I was a little nervous. I felt sure I would be chatting to a typical millennial and that I might struggle to find something to talk about. However, not for the first time since I got involved with MMA, I was…
I first became acquainted with Richie Kiely about 5 years ago, when we were training in the same gym. He had not yet broken onto the professional scene, but it was clear, even to my untrained eye, that it was on the horizon. Long before I dove headlong into the wonderful world of MMA, I…
It is no secret that there have been rumblings of disquiet and discontent in the Irish MMA world for sometime. It appears a significant number of MMA clubs are in despair about the state of the Irish Amateur MMA scene and are preparing to take action. A flurry of social media posts this morning seem…
Cutwoman Jess Isaacson is no stranger to the world of combat sports. She trained in Karate from a young girl into adulthood, before taking up Muay Thai at age 30. Though she is no longer fighting, her part time job, and full-time passion, as a cutwoman certainly keeps her close to the action. In 2016,…