John Kavanagh believes MMA fighter Ciaran Clarke is proof that a pathway from the amateur ranks to the professional ranks now exists in Ireland.
Clarke has risen through the amateur ranks and currently fights for Bellator, the world's second biggest MMA promotion. The Drogheda native holds an undefeated 5-0-0, and has quickly become one of Bellator's biggest Irish stars.
"He’s a very special athlete," said Kavanagh.
"He’s quiet as a mouse in the gym. There’s so many times when I’ve been teaching a class and I’ve thought ‘It’s not like Ciaran to miss a session’ and then I look and see that he’s there at the back.
"He’s just a very hard worker, such a diligent guy, you say Ciaran 'Hey do that 10 times,' and it's done ten times.
"His ability to show up on fight night and he always seems to have the weight of Drogheda on his shoulders, there always seems to be a crazy gang of them in the crowd.
"There was such a great fight where he was on the scorecards and then in true Rocky style he turns it around and gets the finish right at the end."
While Clarke's heroics inside the cage have been impressive, it's his work outside the cage that Kavanagh is most proud of.
"What I’ve really been impressed with is outside the cage he does a lot for his area.
"I think he’s given a huge number of kids up there that has its challenges maybe something to aim for whether it's our sport or any sport."
While the professional side of MMA exploded, the amateur world was forgotten. Far away from the bright lights of Madison Square Garden, the amateur MMA scene in Ireland barely even existed. Thankfully this is no longer the case, with the amateur scene now thriving.
"Yeah, we’ve never had a time like this. It’s kind of an unusual sport that the pro side of MMA got very big very quick, but the amateur side was almost non-existent.
"To use an analogy, for an 18 year old playing his first few games of football, after a months training you wouldn’t ask him ‘so are you gonna play for Liverpool or Man United?’
"That sounds silly, but in fighting, if a kid is having his first amateur contest, his friends are kinda saying ‘oh so are you going to the UFC soon?’ It’s kinda weird how our sport developed on the professional side but not the amateur side.
"So the amateur side in Ireland has gotten very very strong.
"Ciaran is one of my favourite examples to use, he did a whole bunch of amateur MMA fights, maybe finished up 20-15, something like that, and then he went onto the next level and did it at a professional side.
"On the pro side of things, we have two massive shows every year now with Bellator coming in usually February and September. Ciaran will be on obviously again in September.
"I don’t know if you’ve seen the LUAS, but it’s so weird I step on and there’s Ciaran staring at me (on a poster). I just think of 20 years ago when no-one had a clue what MMA was in Ireland and now you just can’t go anywhere without seeing it. So I think we’re in a real golden period of MMA which we’ve never experienced before.
Kavanagh is widely considered to be one of the true pioneers of Irish MMA. When he founded the Straight Blast Gym in 2001, it was one of only two MMA gyms in the country.
The Dubliner was always hopeful that the sport could work in Ireland, but did he ever expect it to challenge GAA and soccer, and become a mainstream sport?
"The quick answer is no. I always remember I used to go to LA which is like such a big hotspot for MMA and this is in the ‘90’s and when I’d come back I’d tell my parents I think this could work here, and my Mam and Dad would always say the same thing, it’s too cold here no-one's going to want to do that sport. "
"Everywhere it’s popular whether it’s Brazil or West Coast of America it's sunshine and kinda related to that beach scene and surf. And I was like 'well, it's indoors I mean I can get a heater for the gym.'
"So to go all the way from that to 10,000 regularly selling out the arena for Bellator shows. I didn’t think that would happen in just one generation, but then along came Conor and that changed a lot of things."
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