Issue 159

October 2017

The ‘stubborn’ Scot coming off a $50,000 UFC debut.

Q. How long did it take for winning Fight of the Night at UFC Glasgow against Daniel Teymur to sink in?

It took a few days, I’m not going to lie. I was at my mum’s house and she had it recorded. I was like, all right, I’ll give it a watch. I was sitting on my mum’s couch watching myself on the TV in the UFC Octagon against this guy. I was like, f**king hell, man, I was doing that on Sunday night.

Q. When did you find out you had won the bonus check?

Someone had tagged me in a tweet on an MMA website. I didn’t know if it was legit, then my coach messaged me and I knew it was real. I thought, f**k, what a difference this is going to make to my life. I’m already looking at apartments.

Q. Not just climbing How long did it take for winning Fight of the Night at UFC Glasgow against Daniel Teymur to sink in?

It took a few days, I’m not going to lie. I was at my mum’s house and she had it recorded. I was like, all right, I’ll give it a watch. I was sitting on my mum’s couch watching myself on the TV in the UFC Octagon against this guy. I was like, f**king hell, man, I was doing that on Sunday night.

Q. When did you find out you had won the bonus check?

Someone had tagged me in a tweet on an MMA website. I didn’t know if it was legit, then my coach messaged me and I knew it was real. I thought, f**k, what a difference this is going to make to my life. I’m already looking at apartments. Not just climbing the property ladder, but jumping on it.

I can go for something now I wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. Honestly, me and my brother were chatting earlier on and I was like, just over three weeks ago my life was normal. I was training away. Well, I wasn’t actually, I was injured. But I wasn’t in the UFC and I had no money.

Q. When did you get the call to fight?

It was three weeks before. I wasn’t even training. I was pretty banged up. I broke two metatarsals in my foot about eight weeks ago and I was in one of those boots for five weeks. I trained maybe two weeks in three months. I got the message from James Doolan [coach] saying there was a chance he could get me on Glasgow. I was wearing the boot on and o because I had to get back to work and make money.

I couldn’t afford to take six weeks off. So I was wearing the boot throughout the day and then going to work at night and just trying to keep my weight o it. Then I got the message and they were like, we need you to come to the gym and work around it. I borrowed Stevie Ray’s wrestling boots, strapped it up, and o I went.

Q. Will you still be working as a bouncer?

I’ve just told my boss that I can’t do the door anymore. It’s too risky. My profile has risen a little bit and I could get myself in trouble. I’ll still do a managerial role – just float about venues, making sure everyone is good and people are turning up for shifts – I just don’t need to stand on the door and take abuse anymore.

Q. How did you have the cardio to come back with such little preparation?

There’s no secret to it. I’m just a miserable, stubborn bastard. If you think you’re going to beat me because you’re winning, I’ll spoil your fun and make it much harder than you think. I’ve always been difficult to put away. The organization I fought in before was in South Africa and I was fighting in Johannesburg, which is 2,000m at altitude. Fighting at this altitude is a piece of p**s. Five rounds over there following a big weight cut to get to featherweight, that separates the men from the boys. I knew I’d be fitter than him.

Q. How bad were you hurt in round one?

I was a wee bit rocked. I watched the fight back last night and even a minute or so after, I still looked a bit flustered

and o balance. Towards the end of the round though, maybe the last minute, I was back on it and that was me switched on. The fight was exciting and I’ve got the bonus on the back of how it turned out, but I certainly don’t feel like I did myself justice. I’ve got a lot to show the UFC and the fans. I’m looking forward to a clean bill of health, no injuries, a full fight camp and then we’ll really see what I’m capable of.