CATHAL PENDRED IS in reflective mood.

“This time last year, I had just come back from filming (reality TV show) The Ultimate Fighter. I was broke, I had bills starting to mount up, I couldn’t fight because I had to wait for the show to finish airing. We had to wait for a long time before we could basically earn some money. It was annoying. I knew I was there, just there. I could taste it but I just didn’t have the money. I never like to make an issue of money but when you don’t have it it makes everything harder.”

Pendred’s struggle continued well into 2014. Before his UFC win against Mike King in July, he owed two months rent and had racked up €2,000 in electricity debt. His provider repeatedly threatened to cut him off. But he knew he was close to a breakthrough. He just needed time.

“ I knew it was there, within touching distance. I just had to keep figuring a way out. I was literally trying to get a few hundred euro here, a few hundred there – just to keep bills even slightly paid off and to keep things ticking over because I didn’t want to get kicked out of my apartment.”

His competitiveness got him through. As always, he revelled in the battle, the scrap, the fight. Maybe it started at school in Belvedere but maybe it was before that.

“When I think back to being a kid, I was always competing. Even with my group of mates, you’d have a bag of sweets and I’d say ‘I can eat these faster than you’. I always loved one-on-one competition, no matter what it was – just trying to beat somebody at something. But I only realised that when I was playing rugby. Weeks before a game, I’d pick one guy and that’s all I’d be talking about. ‘This guy – I’m going to play better than him, I’m going to ruin his game’. If it was a guy who played in the same position I’d say ‘I’m going to outplay him’ or if it was the scrum-half, I’d say ‘I’m going to nail him every time he touches that ball.’ I just relished that, I thrived on it. And I’m glad because I think it helped me find MMA.”

©INPHO / Rodrigo Romos ©INPHO / Rodrigo Romos / Rodrigo Romos

After school, he watched his friends move onto the Leinster academy. He didn’t. Instead, he studied Analytical Science at DCU and turned out for Clontarf’s Under-20s. It was nice. It was calm. There was a plan. Everything was mapped out. But Pendred began to sketch out a different route after his first MMA experience.

“The first time I trained was in San Diego and once I had tried it, I knew it was 100% what I wanted to do. I came home and found a place in Drumcondra that was doing it. It was for beginners but it was somewhere close to me and I was hooked immediately. I had been watching it for years and had always wanted to do it. Eventually, I saw a career path in this for me. I was delusional, really, because at that point no one in the country had ever done it. But I said to myself, ‘I can do this’. I decided to dedicate myself wholeheartedly to it and had to give up the rugby.

After three months, I got my first amateur fight. I think it was up in Derry and this was big news to my mates. Everyone loves a fight and I think that’s why the sport does so well. You think back to when you were in school and if ever there was one, everyone in the yard starts screaming ‘Fight! Fight’ and the whole school gathers around. There’s something that attracts people to a fight so when all my mates heard I was fighting, there was a bus organised to bring them up and there was about 30 or 40 of them. There were all on board drinking while I was up there preparing for the fight and then they arrived – pissed.”

From humble beginnings. But the focus has pushed him to where he is. In his company, he leans in close and talks intently. No awkward pauses. Just very defiant.

“There were times when doubts went through my head. I kept trucking on only because I really believed I’d get there. 99% of people in my position would’ve said ‘No, fuck this’. I have a science degree. I could’ve walked into a pharmaceutical job. I could’ve had a decent living and not had to worry about bills but I believed and that’s why I kept going.”

Soon, there was a steady ascent. From Cage Contender fights in Belfast, Pendred stepped up to Cage Warriors –  the biggest stage for European MMA performers. There were assignments in Dublin, Cardiff and London before The Ultimate Fighter signed him up and he didn’t compete for almost a year.

And then there was that night at The O2. UFC. Home crowd. Everything just came together.

“I felt like I was being held under water and all I wanted was to breathe. I feel that’s happened now and it’s such a relief. I’ve always been doing what I loved to do but now I don’t have the financial worries or concerns. There was a part of me that wanted to just get to UFC. Because I knew that everything would change when I got there.”

Rodrigo Romos / INPHO Rodrigo Romos / INPHO / INPHO

After beating Mike King, Pendred won a split decision against Gasan Umalatov in October. Two UFC fights and two wins and he’s got plenty of momentum ahead of his pending appointment with Sean Spencer in Boston next month. The timing is far from ideal. It means Christmas Day, and all the trappings that go with it, will be sacrificed for the greater good.

“It will be a miserable Christmas. I love to open up a tin of Roses, have a few mince pies, have a pint of Guinness with the lads – these are the things that are tradition for me but there won’t be any of that this year. On Christmas Day, I’ll have a bit of turkey and a few Brussels sprouts and that’ll be it. No cranberry sauce, no stuffing, no roast potatoes. And Christmas dinner is actually the highlight of Christmas for me – I love it. I’m usually the guy that gets three or four servings and then eats the turkey sandwiches an hour later. But there won’t be any of that this year, unfortunately. But once I see what I’m going to be doing and what I’ll be achieving in my mind, it won’t be that hard.”

For Pendred, visualisation is a crucial area of preparation. The week before a fight, the hard training stops and psychology takes over.

“We’d do quite a few sessions, visualising the fight. I’ll close my eyes and Dave Mullins, my sports psychologist, will talk me through it. Everything from the warm-up to the walk-out and then getting in and actually doing it. It takes about half an hour but I find it really good because we don’t compete as regularly as you’d do in other sports. We’re in action 3-5 times a year so we don’t get that same experience as other athletes. Just going over things in your head is a really good thing to do because the experience is still something that’s a bit alien.”

When I do my visualisation, we get to the Octogan and talk about when the officials put the Vasoline on my face. And Dave said ‘Right, that’s when your pinpoint focus starts. It’s just a switch but it’s something that happens in every fight, no matter where you are in the world. You walk down to the Octogon and before you get there, the officials check you’ve got your cup on, your gum-shield and they’ll put Vasoline around your eyes. It’s just a signal to really switch on.”

The January date has special significance for Pendred. He’s going home.

“I was born in Boston and lived there until I was four. I always wanted to go back but never had the opportunity and now I’m going back as a UFC fighter. It’s unbelievable. I can’t wait. UFC went there in August 2013 and I thought I was going to get it but unfortunately I didn’t. There’s a lesson in itself – if you fall the first time, don’t give up – just keeping going.”

“I kept going and kept doing what I was doing. Now here I am, just over a year later, finally getting what I wanted the second time around. Failure is not a sign to quit. It’s just something that makes you stronger & pushes you to keep going and get what you want.”