With the UFC experience still swimming around in our head JOE is off to Battlezone this weekend for another hit of MMA. We caught up with Andy Ryan, the main man behind Battlezone.
By Fergus Ryan
With a fourth show taking place this weekend Battlezone chief Andy Ryan is delighted with where the promotion is placed in the Irish MMA landscape. “I’m delighted to say Battlezone is flying as a promotion,” he says. “We want the show to be all about the fighters; we try and make a fuss over them. We want to give them a good stage and make it something people want to get involved in. For us, its all about treating the fighters and coaches as well as we can and rewarding them as much as we can afford to.”
Hardly surprising then that Battlezone has attracted some serious talent to its card. So much so Battlezone 4 – ‘Night of Champions’ is able to schedule four title fights.
The title fights include a middleweight scrap between John Redmond from Rush Fight Academy will take on Straight Blast Gym’s John Michael Sheil. With Redmond having been previously beaten by Sheil and more recently by his SBG team-mate Chris Fields at Cage Contender, the Rush man will be looking to make a statement.
Also in search of gold will be ‘Dynamite’ Dean Bray, returning to Ireland to battle Ali Maclean for the lightweight title. Bray, from Team Titan in London, was victorious at Battlezone 3. Maclean, who is the current Cage Wars lightweight title holder and a veteran of the UK MMA circuit, will offer stiff opposition for the flamboyant Bray.
Dean Bray’s last fight at Battlezone 3:
To demonstrate how much Battlezone has grown since its first show a year ago, Ryan has secured a 2 event deal with Setanta Sports. “We’re delighted that Battlezone is going to be shown on TV. It’ll help the sport and obviously the promotion, develop in Ireland.” Ryan feels its premature to assume MMA has garnered mainstream acceptance in Ireland though. “If you look at the UK I can only think of UCMMA, BAMMA and Cage Warriors as promotions that are on TV but there are probably another 5 or 6 promotions of the same size over there. So its great that the UFC is pushing boundaries for the sport but we’ve a long way to go in Ireland and Europe for that matter.”
Ryan has recently been announced as Head of Operations in Ireland for Cage Warriors Fighting Championships. A UK based promotion, Cage Warriors has been very active in breaking into new markets having held shows in Ireland, Jordan, USA in addition to the UK. “My job will be to give more Irish fighters a chance in Cage Warriors and not just the Irish show that’s planned for May.”
Battlezone 4 – ‘Night of Champions’ takes place at the Regency Hotel on the Swords Road, Dublin. Tickets are available through any of the fighters or clubs involved or through premiertickets.ie.
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