The son of celebrity chef Rachel Allen has said MMA fighting "makes me feel alive" as he continues to turn his life around after his drug conviction.
Joshua Allen was released from prison last July after he was given a 12-month sentence, with five suspended, after he was caught with €280 worth of cocaine just five weeks after being released from a sentence for having €22,000 worth of cannabis for sale and supply in 2020.
Since his release from prison, Joshua has been involved with mixed martial arts and trains out of Samson Martial Arts in Cork. He had a fight at the weekend but lost – but Joshua said he "loves this sh*t" no matter what the outcome is.
READ MORE - Joshua Allen documents his daily schedule as he shows how he's turned his life around
The Cork native told his followers on Instagram: "Win or lose, fighting is the only thing that makes me feel alive. Still enjoyed every second of this but it simply wasn’t good enough yesterday and fair play to my opponent for submitting me in the first round.
"Love this sh*t no matter what the outcome."
In January last year, he revealed that he had been at a "very low point" in his life and that if anyone had told him two years ago he would have been running his own stonemason business and fighting in amateur MMA, he would have "laughed".
But mum Rachel previously told how she can’t bare to watch her son fighting in the cage.
Speaking last September, she said that while she is proud of all three of her children and their varied interests, she admits she’s concerned about injuries to Joshua while competing in MMA, or to son Lucca on the racetrack, where he is a Formula 4 driver.
"Isaac, my husband, goes to every single one, every single race and every single fight.
"I have gone to some races, I can’t say I don’t watch the racing from behind my eyes. But MMA, I haven’t brought myself to watch that yet. I like to say that I support him 100 per cent while I’m at home praying to my father and husband that everything will be OK. I definitely will have to go some time."
Rachel had previously opened up about Joshua’s drug past during an episode of Living With Lucy, admitting to host Lucy Kennedy that she felt "really bad" and "really responsible" for the attention her son’s conviction received, given her public profile.
"With Josh, with the whole drugs thing, it’s brought home to me that parenthood is so hard," she said on the Virgin Media programme last November.
"He’s still so young, I know we still have a distance to go, but anyone who is a parent knows you are there for them, you will literally put your life on the line to support, to help, to do everything you can.
"You just have to be there and try and throw all the support that you can into trying to get to a better place."
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