MMA moves to the sunny south east this Sunday with Arena Martial Arts debut show Cage Godz 1. JOE caught up with one of the main event fighters, John Redmond from Rush Fight Academy.
By Fergus Ryan
When you think of the MMA weight classes you’d probably on average end up in the middle order – too big to be lightweight, but too small to be a heavyweight. When you stand beside a middleweight you begin to realise just how big the men I the ‘middle’ are. At well over six foot and walking around at around 95 kilogram (just shy of 15 stone) there is nothing ‘middle’ about John Redmond – he’s big, in every sense of the word.
After a brief amateur career John went pro and put together a 3-1 record in 9 months. Being such an active fighter with a big personality it was hardly surprising that opportunities for big fights started to appear as John embroiled himself with a personal rivalry with the SBG club. First, with Chris Fields then with John Michael Shiel, though the actual JMS fight came first this was due to an injury to Fields.
Genuine fighters will tell you they want to fight the best to really test themselves. John certainly did that in his 3 fights with Fields (1) and JMS (2). Though he was on the wrong side of those results, he did get valuable experience in hopefully progressing his career back to winning ways.
His first test will be a rematch against Henry Fadipe from Lucan MMA. Fadipe knocked John out early in the first round of their Rumble in Rush 6 fight in September 2011. Some considered the stoppage early, but John can understand the referee’s position, “there had been two big knock-outs earlier in the card and the referees did well to get in a stop the fights, so it was probably in his mind when he saw me go down. I can understand why the fight was stopped, but the early KO’s were in amateur fights and mine was a pro-fight so I thought I should have been given a little longer.”
Not one to dwell on the past John set about a return to winning ways. “I’ve been training flat out as normal, but I’ve added some new stuff from my time at American Top Team in Florida. I’ve worked really hard to improve in every area as a fighter – mentally, physically. I want to make sure I can blend everything correctly to come out with the best game I could have in a fight.”
As our attention turns to the fight Sunday John is philosophical in his outlook. “There’s no added pressure to this fight because it’s a rematch or because of the last few fights I’ve had. There’s always pressure attached to the fight, but that’s part and parcel of fighting in big fights. I’d rather be involved in the big fights and take all that comes with it.”
“Come Sunday I’m gonna throw the full arsenal at him (Fadipe) to try and win. I don’t know if that’s gonna be in the first or th,e last but I’m gonna give it everything I have.”
John wanted to thank everyone at ProFitness.ie and all his team at Rush Fight Academy, especially head coach Paul Cowserfor their support.
Cage Godz 1 takes place in the Astro Centre, Enniscorthy, Wexford and tickets are from €15. Doors open at 1600.
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