Patrick “The Hooligan” Holohan is an Irish flyweight with a professional mixed martial arts record of 10-1-1. He is looking to rebound from his first loss when he meets Shane Howell (13-8) on the undercard of McGregor v Siver on Sunday night. SportsJOE spoke to the submission specialist about his preparations for this weekend and why he believes that Irish fighters are so special.
SportsJOE: Well Paddy, how’s the preparation going for you for Sunday’s fight and what’s the gameplan?
Paddy Holohan: Preparations absolutely excellent so far.
The only gameplan I have for the fight is to win. I don’t really gameplan too much, I just usually go off because it’s just too adaptable of a sport.
It’s not like football or anything like that where you can keep to the same strategy and just continue grinding it out. Things change so I just fight with guidelines rather than any rigid gameplan.
SportsJOE: How’s the weight looking?
PH: The weight cut’s going surprisingly well because over Christmas I’ve forced myself to have more focus because it was Christmas and there was so much temptation around. My scales were .8 off which means I was actually ahead of what I was supposed to be so happy days!
SportsJOE: Now in your last fight, in October, you lost a unanimous decision to Chris Kelades. Do you think that there’s any extra pressure on you coming off your first loss?
PH: I do not understand this word you speak of! [laughs]
Pressure is built by what other people think of you. I feel that that little bit of nerves and things come back but I think that keeps you sharp because sometimes that sharpness actually decreases a bit the more comfortable you get.
SportsJOE: I suppose that now you don’t have that undefeated record hanging over you that you can just go out there and perform rather than focus on continuing a streak.
PH: Yeah 100%. In that last fight [against Kelades] everybody had that guy beat before he went in but it wasn’t to be that night for me. It is what it is. But I’m going in there Sunday against a different body, a different opponent and I’ve learned from the last experience.
SportsJOE: What do you think the likelihood is of the much-spoken about Croke Park event taking place in the summer?
PH: I think if Conor does his thing …CORRECTION… When he does his thing against Dennis Siver, I definitely believe that that’s the next logical step for Irish MMA.
SportsJOE: Between yourself, Conor, Cathal, Aisling and Neil, the Irish contingent are currently 9-2 in the UFC. What do you think sets Irish fighters apart?
PH: Because we’re animals. Irish fighters and Irish people in general have been pushed and pulled and prodded for so many years by so many countries and even our own government are seeing how we fight back when it gets too far.
Like with the introduction of the water charge, you can only push the Irish people so far before they’ll stand up and fight back.
We’ll stick together and I truly believe that there’s something between us over here that is completely different to the attitudes of people from other countries. We’re fighters.
This is more than athlete against athlete, if you ask me. This is nation v nation, genes v genes to see who is the better fighter.
SportsJOE: Have you noticed, with the success of Irish MMA, a big uptake in people looking to train in what’s still such a young sport?
PH: It’s getting to the point that there’s guys from all over the world who come looking to train here. You see people from Australia and Canada who’ve made the trip over to specifically get in some training with us so we must be doing something right.
SportsJOE: Back to you, where do you think you rank in the 125lb division? Would you fancy your chances in the top 15?
PH: I think I can hang with anyone in there man. That’s always been my philosophy. I’ll admit there is a jump in quality. Like there are about five or six lads who are top standard but in the top fifteen there isn’t as huge a leap in ability as you might imagine.
There are some people in the current top fifteen who are still just wrestlers or still just strikers.
SportsJOE: And if you had to put a number ranking on yourself?
PH: If I had to, I’d definitely put myself in the top fifteen… Actually top ten [laughs].
SportsJOE: How much do you know about your upcoming opponent, Shane Howell?
PH: I know a lot about him. I know he’s experienced and he’s also coming off his first loss. He’s long and well-rounded but, whatever, you’re only ever gonna know so much about your opponent. I don’t think he’s spectacular in any area to be honest.
SportsJOE: How do you see the fight going?
PH: I’m going to go in there and I’m going to control this fight.
I plan on moving forward to put pressure on him to make him feel as uncomfortable as possible and I think the fans are going to give me a hand with that as well.
But to break it down to the most simple … I’d like to find his back and choke him.
SportsJOE: You mentioned the fans there, how much do you think that Sunday night will be something akin to a mini-UFC Dublin?
PH: I reckon UFC Dublin’s gonna end up being a mini-UFC Boston! I mean, we all know that everything’s bigger in America and the people have the ability to exaggerate things, in a good way, so you can imagine what Sunday is going to be like.
I remember when Conor fought there, he came back saying that there was fully-dressed leprechauns in the crowd so you can imagine when there’s three of us there on the one night.
I predict that this event is going to be something that MMA fans have never seen before. I’m preparing for fuckin’ Narnia out there!
