FightHounds

I’m Brian “The Pikeman” Moore and I fight out of SBG Ireland. This is my first Blog for Fighthounds.com. I plan on doing Video and training Blogs but I thought start off by telling you a little about how I got started, where I train and my career so far.

Like many who started MMA, I seen it on the TV and became fascinated with it. The first fight I seen was one of the Tito v Chuck fights. Everything about it got me excited; the rules, the gloves, the cage but especially the atmosphere.

From then on every time I turned on the TV I was looking for MMA and every time I was on the internet I was looking up information on each of the disciplines involved.
Then the competitive bug bit. I’d never done any type of Martial Arts but couldn’t just be a fan of the sport I was becoming obsessed with. So in my final year of college while studying for exams, I seen a poster for Waterford Muay Thai. I spent a short period in the club as I wanted to give myself a base before I jumped straight in so I gave it a shot. Needless to say I got hooked.

When I moved back home I spent a little time in a small club in Wexford. I had 1 Semi-Pro fight out of there, but didn’t like the way the club was ran so I contacted Paul Cummins and Myles Price of Kilkenny Top Pro and done a lot of my training there.

Paul himself is a former Pro World Kickboxing Champ and he spent most mornings out of his week coaching me. Working with Paul and sparring with Myles improved my stand up dramatically.

While in KTP I also worked with Diarmuid O’ Sullivan (Sully), who is still coaches me today in his club Kilkenny Boxing Academy.

Diarmuid has an excellent way of coaching and a wealth of experience competing at a high level in Boxing while in Australia. In my opinion his methods of coaching make him one of the best stand up coaches for in the country.

The next move I made was quite simply one of the best moves I’ve ever made. I was putting everything into the sport but had no solid structure.

I was driving over an hour to Kilkenny to work with amazing stand up coaches, doing my own S&C and rolling with a couple of friends. I decided if I was going to make such a huge effort I should go to the best.

I contacted John Kavanagh and went up for a few days training. I knew right away that’s where I wanted to train. The coaching, training partners and atmosphere was unbelievable and I started to understand how the club had got the reputation it did. Since moving I have developed my game in every area to a much higher level and most importantly I am continuing to improve. The training and coaching we get is world class and there is a great team spirit among our fighters.

Last year, which was my first with SBG, was my first year as a Pro where I compiled a record of 3-1. The year before I had my first year as a semi pro where I went 3-0.

My first Professional fight was on Chaos FC in Derry. That night I fought Andy Young and won by third round TKO. After this I was offered a title shot for the FW Belt. It was meant to happen a few months ago but hopefully will happen this year.
My next fight was in front of my home crowd in Wexford on TuffNut Promotions where I triangled Gary Morris. I was quite disappointed with my performance in this fight so I took some time to develop areas of my game.

When I did return, we found it at the time hard to get a match up at FW, so I moved up a weight class. I fought Top 10 Polish fighter Adrian Zielinski on Celtic Gladiator and won by Unanimous Decision.

This also earned me a shot at their LW Belt that I will be fighting for later in the year. I fought 4 weeks later on OMMAC against the undefeated Mike Wilkinson. I lost a decision that night. There are circumstances that made it impossible for me to perform to my best but I won’t get into it as I don’t want to take away any of the credit that Mike deserves. All in all I learnt a lot from the whole experience and look forward to getting a rematch with him.

My next fight is on Cage Contender XII. I’m fighting Conor Dillon in the first round of a 4 man Grand Prix. I’m looking forward to this fight for many reasons. I’m just back from injury training twice a day so I’m hungrier than ever before, already feeling fit and motivated to perform to my best. I haven’t seen much of my opponent and I’m not concerned either. I couldn’t care less of the guys a grappler or a striker, if he held a title or not, whether he is 66 or 96 kg, I’m putting in the hard work, I’m making weight and I’m putting on the best performance of my life.

I’m just over 4 weeks out from CC XII so will try bring you some training blogs between now and then.

Learn from the past. Prepare for the future. Perform in the present - Brian More