Issue 187

January 2020

One of SBG and Ireland's most exciting talents, Kiefer “Big Daddy” Crosbie looks back at his fighting career – both pro and amateur – and selects five of his favorite fights to date.

1. Keith McCabe, BFC 15

My professional debut. Turning from amateur to pro was a nice feeling. It felt like going from a boy to man in my MMA career. I had done all the amateur fights. I fought at middleweight. I fought at welterweight. I had been through the ups and downs as an amateur and I left all that behind with a clean slate as a professional. That was a nice feeling to get the job done. I had a first round TKO. It was the start of the nice career that I am in and the path that I’m on with Bellator. It got the ball rolling. It was good. 

2. Daniel Olejniczak, Bellator 217

In February in Dublin this was such a big, big deal. I went 6-0. I was on the main card in Bellator. I was in my own hometown. That was pretty special. That would be number one. It was everything. I have been working my whole life for stuff like this. I always knew I would fight there some day. But to be on the bill and on the main card on Sky Sports Live, it was such a big deal. To win as impressively as I did, I never jumped up on the cage before. I thought I would have fallen off or something. I just went for it. I was looking around. There were literally 10,000 people on their feet going nuts. I can’t put it into words. The energy was bizarre. I have never felt anything like it before. It was amazing. It was humbling. Stuff like that really means a lot to me. It makes me even more proud to be Irish.  

3. Conor Riordan, BAMMA 27

This was my 3Arena debut. I was fighting for BAMMA. I turned 2-0. That was the first time I fought in 3Arena. That was pretty spectacular. That was like going from a school hall to an arena. Literally, when I made my professional debut I was fighting an Irish guy in a school hall. There were 300 people there, or less. It was a basketball hall. The lights were on. It was as fucking old school as it gets. We were warming up in a little locker room. Going from that to the 3Arena, that was a big deal. I remember ending up in a few knee bars. I wasn’t expecting that. I got caught up in a few leg locks and I had to battle through. I had to overcome adversity. The guy was a black belt in judo and he had a good leg lock game. He was a tricky, tricky fighter. He was under the radar. I knew who he was from the UK scene. I was in a few bad spots but then I came back and got in the triangle position and TKO’d him with elbows from the bottom. That was a pretty cool fight. When I won, the crowd was just going nuts. That was a nice memory to have.

4. Josh Plant, BAMMA 35

That fight was a bloodbath. We just stood toe to toe for the full fight and had a scrap. You saw the pictures all over Instagram. He didn’t hit me and catch me with a shot. I stepped in for a combination and we clashed heads. It busted up my eye. That’s where all the blood came from. That was cool fight for people to watch but it wasn’t my most technical fight. I was in the mood for a scrap that day and said ‘Fuck it.’

5. Eoin Kinney, Cage Contender 17

This was my SBG debut when I was an amateur.

I took it on 24 hours’ notice. John rang me on Thursday evening. I sparred ten rounds that day. I actually hurt my hands. John rang me Thursday night at 9 o’clock. He asked what I was doing Saturday night. I thought he was going to ask me to go out to a party or something. He said he got me a fight for Cage Contenders. I told him 50 excuses. He didn’t even tell me who the opponent was. He said I had to weigh in the next day. It was a catch weight but I still had to do a little weight cut. It all happened so fast. I got nervous. I didn’t know what the fuck to do. My hands were sore. I rang him back an hour after our call and said, ‘Fuck it. Let’s do it.’ It’s a fight at the end of the day. It was literally 24 hours’ notice. We drove up north and I had my first amateur fight for SBG. I was really nervous. John cornered me. I guillotined the guy in the first round. I was put on the spot. No big build up. Straight in, short notice and I got the job done in the first round.