EXCLUSIVE: Limerick’s Catherine Costigan reveals comeback opponent for Cage Warriors clash

"I'm a fighter and I teach my students not to give up so that wouldn't be very fair if I was to give up, would it?"

Plenty of fighters would have thrown in the towel, decided enough was enough and hung up the gloves amid the crushing adversity that Catherine Costigan has been through. But Limerick's Costigan is stubborn. And she's proud of it. "There was not one second that I even entertained the idea of walking away," the atomweight insisted. "Sure, I've been through stages where I've thought 'that was a tough day' and I've felt like shit but retirement simply wasn't an option for me. Never! "The minute I found out about the herniated disc, I thought that if the cortisone injection didn't work then I wanted surgery. I wouldn't have put myself through that if I wanted to walk away from the sport that I love so much." Costigan underwent surgery on the disc she herniated prior to her most recent bout, a defeat to late replacement Celine Haga at BAMMA 22 in 2015, and it sent her down a familiar road. 'The Alpha Female' had been sidelined just a few years earlier by a neck fusion surgery and she is keen on making up for the lost time spent in the recovery room. https://twitter.com/CageWarriors/status/826010368036200448 The good news is that she has an opponent that she has been specifically training for since before Christmas. Costigan is set to play a significant role when Cage Warriors returns to Ireland this March and she has exclusively revealed the woman with whom she'll share the cage in the 3Arena. "I'm delighted to say that I'll be fighting Wendy McKenna next," Costigan revealed. "She's a tough fighter who trains with Cage Warriors veteran Jack Mason. I know that team really well and I'm certainly not taking her lightly. "Wendy is a pure martial artist, it's in her family, and I've nothing but the utmost respect for her. I think she won at BCMMA at 115lbs and has competed in a few weight divisions but I feel that 105lbs is perfect for her. "I just can't wait to get back to doing what I do best." Costigan's road to recovery has been longer and more arduous than most, and we'll have the full story of the comeback trail that she's paved for herself tomorrow on SportsJOE.ie.