PADDY HOLOHAN COULD hardly have wished for, or visualised, a better debut.
When the UFC circus rolled into town over the summer, the Dubliner was handed the opportunity to be the first man out to fight in front of home fans on the night.
The bout was just three minutes old when flyweight Holohan submitted Josh Sampo with a rear-naked choke. A Robbie Keane-style cartwheel followed before he told Dan Hardy that he was dying for “a good cup of tea” in the post-fight interview.
He eventually got his wish, but only after being mobbed by fans.
“It was mad,” Holohan told TheScore.ie recently. “I went up to the bar to try and get a cup of tea after the fight and I got stuck there. It was crazy… I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life.
“It was an unbelievable night but it’s in the past now. We’ve got that one on the bank so we have to move on and get more.”
The submission specialist had come into the fight on the back of a persistent back injury which had plagued him for over a year (since his involvement in The Ultimate Fighter 18) and some MMA analysts expressed concerns about his chances of winning.
It is not the first time Holohan, who names fellow Tallaght native Robbie Keane and Kerry explorer Tom Crean as people he takes inspiration from, has been underestimated but the 26-year-old has made a habit of battling against the odds.
It has always been against the odds,” he says. “If you look at my fights, people always seem to make me an underdog. But it’s not the size of the dog, it’s the fight in him.”
The Dublin event and, in particular, the impact Holohan’s SBG team-mate Conor McGregor has made in such a short space of time has helped to the boost the profile of MMA and its athletes in Ireland. Does he often get recognised nowadays?
“I’ve got noticed a lot more but it has all been nice and respectful,” he explains. “I literally have not got one negative comment about the whole thing. That’s the way I am as a person though. I get on with everybody. But my kindness should not be mistaken as weakness.”
While Holahan is happy enough with the exposure, his main focus is to succeed as a fighter and secure a better lifestyle for his family. He may have worked his way up to the UFC (“the Premier League of MMA”, as he puts it) but it is still only a small minority of fighters who pick up sizeable pay cheques.
For the rest, sponsorship deals are even more important and Holohan, unsurprisingly, says he is open to offers.
“I’ve had no offers from Barry’s Tea or Lyons or even McGrath’s – the Aldi tea. They’re a good underdog, so I like them!
“I don’t know if there is a company out there who would see me and say ‘he’s a good guy and a true Dub’ and match their product alongside that. I’d be open to anything but I would like to do something that I was true to. Something Irish.”
While his team-mates Gunnar Nelson and Cathal Pendred will be in action in Stockholm tonight, Holohan has been handed a trip to Canada to fight on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night: MacDonald v Saffiedine in Halifax.
His original opponent Louis Gaudinot pulled out with injury early this week with Chris Kelades stepping in to make his first UFC appearance. Coach John Kavanagh has travelled to Sweden, but Holahan insists he is just as comfortable with close friend and team-mate Aisling Daly and Artem Lobov in his corner.
“Myself and Ais have been at this since Day 1 together. She knows me as good as anyone. I’ve fought away without John before, when I did the Ultimate Fighter I was on my own so I will have no problem performing.”
So, as someone who strongly believes in visualising his fights in the weeks lead up to them, how does he see his career ultimately panning out?
“I believe that anything is possible. If your dreams don’t scare you, you’re not dreaming big enough. I definitely think that someday I will be sitting in (local pub) The Jobstown House with a UFC title on my waist.”
