The inaugural Man of War MMA event is set to kick off in City West Conference Centre this Friday. JOE caught up with organiser Greg Savage to find out what we can expect.
By Robert Carry
Over 30 fighters will be taking to the cage in what will be the first MMA show for the new Man of War promotion. Preparations have been ongoing for months, and things have been coming together.
“It’s going great, so far so good,” says Greg, who decided to get involved in promotion after providing his services for a string of MMA events around Ireland through his lighting company.
Although Friday will be Man of War’s debut, it is the second event Greg has been involved in putting together – the first being through the MMA club where he is a member, Legends Martial Arts in Bray.
As tends to be the case, there have been some last minute withdrawals to contend with. Greg explains, “There have been one or two pull outs so we’ve had to bring in some replacements. We had one lad that had a nasty clash of knees so that was him out. But what can you do, I think that’s to be expected.”
Man of War hits Ireland’s MMA scene at a time when there have never been more shows and promotions competing for the attentions of Irish MMA fans. Greg points out, “It seems to be dog-eat-dog – in the last five weeks I think there has been four shows.”
However, with the mercurial rise of the sport here showing no sign of slowing, he feels there is still plenty of room for another brand.
“We want to be able to do at least four shows a year, if not more,” he says. “We want to have title fights and if you’re going to do that you have to have them every three or four months – you can’t have lads sitting cold for a year waiting to defend a title.”
Underdog
Greg says he expects to see 16 fights on the night, split between pro, semi-pro and c-class. However, there is one which he is particularly looking forward to: “I’m really looking forward to lightweight, with Myles Price,” says Greg. “He would be a household name in Ireland’s MMA circuit. He’s taking on Mark Uprichard from Tai Jitsu Belfast. Mark would be the underdog on that fight but you never know, the underdog sometimes comes out on top.”
The girls pictured above will be in attendance at the event but unfortunately, won’t be engaging in a mud-wrestling or foxy boxing event. They will, however, be on ring card duty.
The promotion is well on the way to filling the City West Conference Centre with around 1,000 tickets already sold. However, with permission to fit in a further 500, there are still plenty of tickets available.
“Every time I look at our website the ticket sales have gone up,” says Greg. “We’ve also put aside 200 tickets for people who turn up at the door.”
Doors to the first Man of War show will open at 6.30pm for a drinks reception. Doors to the arena open at about 7pm with the first fight starting between 7.15pm and 7.30pm. Fights should run to some time after 11pm, and the event will be followed by a drinks reception in the lobby.
Click here for more information on the event and here for ticketing info.
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