Ahead of the defence of his Cage Warriors middleweight title in Dublin on New Year’s Eve, JOE caught up with Chris Fields for a Christmas chinwag.
By Fergus Ryan
2013 is poised to be a watershed year for Irish MMA. There are a number of fighters pushing to follow Norman Parke into the UFC. At the forefront is Chris Fields. Chris (10-4) defends his Cage Warriors middleweight title for the first time in The Helix on New Year’s Eve.
Rocky Road to (CWFC51 in…) Dublin
When we first spoke to Chris in 2012 he had a clear path to the Cage Warriors title. He had just beaten Jack Mason in the first round of an eight-man middleweight tournament. An injury then put Chris out of the semi-final, only for him to resurface again when injury struck one of the finalists. So when opportunity knocked, Chris answered and beat Pavel Kusch in September to be crowned Cage Warriors Middleweight Champion.
His first defence comes against TUF 7 alumni, Jesse Taylor. A powerful wrestler with an impressive 23-9 record, Taylor is probably more famous for his drunken antics in the TUF house and getting booted out of the final after a security recording showed him kicking out a side window on a rented limousine.
Since then, Taylor has drifted through a clutch of global MMA promotions and weight classes before coming up short at Cage Warriors Fight Night 6 last May, when he fought Gael Grimaud for the welterweight title. He returns to middleweight to challenge Chris for his title in The Helix on New Year’s Eve.
Check out Chris KO’ing Jack Mason en route to the title. Video courtesy of themmaclinic
Prep Time
Though the fight was only announced at the beginning of December, Chris has been training solidly for eight weeks already.
“My last two fights were short notice fights so this is the longest camp I’ve had for a fight in a while. It’s ended up being my longest camp ever, actually. I’ll have trained for ten weeks for this by the time New Year’s Eve comes around.”
The fact that he was preparing for a mystery opponent didn’t faze Chris.
“Cage Warriors told me they’d be trying to match me around eight weeks ago. I started training without an opponent, which just means you can’t ‘game plan’ but you can still get a lot of work done. Now I know who I’m fighting I’ll be working with Maciej in SBGi on my ground game and I’ll be hooking up with Paddy Holohan, who’s great off his back. He can tie fellas in knots off his back.”
As we’ve heard repeatedly when talking to Irish fighters, the modern MMA fighter trains in every discipline, including Chris. As a result, he’s happy to take the fight to Taylor wherever it goes.
“I’ve no qualms about being taken down or wrestling with anyone. I trained with Koscheck and Fitch over in American Top Team and I did fine with those guys. I’m confident in my BJJ and ground game so it doesn’t matter if we end up on the floor.”
Christmas dinner is cancelled
For 99 per cent of us, the thoughts of entertaining a strict diet over Christmas just wouldn’t feature in our minds. The other one per cent are professional athletes and that sort of sacrifice comes with the turf.
“It’s tough dealing with the weight cut over Christmas but this is my job and it’s part of being professional about your preparation. I plan to get to the top so I’d expect to be doing this type of thing at Christmas quite often.”
While Chris accepts he’ll be missing out on some turkey and stuffing, at least he’ll get the opportunity to take it out on Taylor.
“When I looked back at the Kusch fight I was really pissed off with myself that I was ‘ground and pounding’ and looking up at the ref to stop it. That won’t happen this time. I’ll be dropping elbows till the ref drags me off him. This guy is the reason I won’t be having Christmas dinner with my fiancée and family so I’ll be dropping harder elbows than ever.”
Chris has developed into a well-rounded fighter but feels his greatest attribute is his ability to adapt his skillset to a winning game plan.
“He’s a good guy and he’s got a great record. He’s been in the UFC so it’ll be a really tough fight. I’d be happier to keep the fight standing but if I end up on my back it won’t be a problem, I’m not a panicky fighter. I’ll be going out to impose my game on him and bring the belt back home with me.”
Chris wanted to give a shout-out to sponsors Pit Bull Gear, Big Shots Nutrition, Fanatic Shop and the Irish Strength Institute and especially all the guys at SBGi who’ve been brilliant in helping him get ready.
Photo Credits: Dolly Clew
CAGE WARRIORS MAIN CARD
Conor McGregor v Ivan Buchinger
Chris Fields v Jesse Taylor
Aisling Daly v Kankaanpaa
John Michael Sheil v Jack Mason
James v Alan Philpott
PRELIMINARY CARD
Paul Redmond v Ryan Roddy
James Brum v MoktarBenkaci
Philip Mulpeter v Tommy Quinn
Watts v Henry Fadipe
The main card will be streamed live on MMA Junkie at 2100 local time.
Tickets for Cage Warriors 51 are on sale HERE. With more bouts still to be announced, keep track of Cage Warriors on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and updates.
For a chance to win 2 tickets to Cage Warriors 51 in The Helix just answer the question below.
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