Holohan’s SBG dream becomes reality
By Joe Murphy
FORMER UFC fighter and Jobstown man Paddy Holohan opened the doors of his new ‘Straight Blast Gym’ in Tallaght on Sunday.
Holohan who retired in April from the UFC with a record of 12-2-1 spoke about how he plans to put all his energy into the new gym and what sacrifices he has made so far, “If I was still fighting in the UFC I feel I would have bit off more than I could chew.”
“I’ve not had a day to breathe over the past few days. Everyone wants a little bit of you and the people that matter to you suffer, but I honestly believe no matter what happened this gym would have always been here. This was always my dream.”
In regards to an SBG Tallaght team Holohan feels that this will happen, “People don’t really get picked to go on a team, you’d just grow into a team, I already have it planned with my coach John Kavanagh and people that are picked I will teach in my own time.”
The former flyweight also spoke about the importance of grassroots in MMA and how Tallaght SBG can help this,” I feel putting something in place in terms of grassroots is very important, especially with the IMMAF [International Mixed Martial Arts Federation] hosting world champion-ships and European championships, It’s very important as we can bring little teams to these.”
Holohan, a Tallaght native all his life, also invited the locals to go down and have a look at the gym no matter what level of fighting they might be at “Come down and see how it works.
“It’s not only for fighters. It’s 100 percent geared towards beginners and these are the people that we’re looking for.”
Current UFC feather-weight champion Conor McGregor from Crumlin also made an appearance on Sunday and Holohan believes that SBG Tallaght could produce the next McGregor or Paddy Holohan.
“100 %, I think that is down to the people joining the gym but I don’t think people should be aiming to be the next Conor or Paddy.
“You should be aiming to produce the next yourself. Most people aim to follow in someone’s footsteps but the most important thing is to be yourself” he stressed.
