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One of the biggest characters in Irish stand-up fighting James O'Connell, who is also the current ISKA featherweight Irish champion, heads to Scotland on June 25th to face Tam McCourt for the WBC International Title.

We sat down with O'Connell recently to talk about the fight, his opponent and what the title means to him.

"So I am facing Tam McCourt, aka Super-Tam, for the WBC International Title, this is my biggest fight and opertunity to date. Recently I was ranked 17th in the WBC world Muay Thai featherweight rankings, Tam was also ranked at 18th so this makes the fight a bit more interesting.

"I know Tam a long time now as I have been fighting over on the Scottish shows for a good few years and this will be the first time we are fighting each other. He is the Scottish number 1 featherweight so of course you want to fight the best. What can I say about him....well hes the Scottish version of me so we're both nuts. He has his own style too he calls it, and I quote, "Muay Tam" instead of Muay Thai, haha.

"Prediction - well the fight is not one to be missed. Don't mind Batman vs. Superman or the Civil War, this is Super-Tam vs. The Joker, the massacre at the blitz, I promise you that!"

The WBC Title

"Everyone that has anything to do with fighting knows the green WBC belt, it's a treasure and every fighter's dream. Pretty sure I'll be the first Irish male fighter to hold a WBC title in the fight game, all going well on the June 25th. Make another little bit of Irish history, that is the plan."

Recent fights

"My last few fights in the ring now (not the cage) I defended my ISKA featherweight Irish title sucessfully in February. I won by stoppage over in Scotland just before Christmas and before that I won by stoppage again in Dublin.

"My last defeat in the ring was to Ja Wuttichai, Thai Stadium champion, 2 years ago. We went the distance and I pushed him to the end. I lost on points but learned a lot from it. He has since fought and beaten some big name so definitely a lot to take from it.

"As for my last loss in the cage I know everyone wants to know my thoughts on this. Caged Thai is completely different compared to normal Muay Thai and it's them 4oz gloves. I saw the blood and got excited. My trainer always says you can't rush a finish but I tried and walked onto a bomb. I'll be honest I was standing up wanting to continue fighting but all I could see was tweety pie flying around my head, I'm glad the ref stopped it otherwise I would've been put to sleep. I've had 30 pro fights now and that was the first time the ref had to stop one my fights. Every figher has to go through it it is part of the game but my second promise today is I'll avenge that loss you can be sure of it and get my Caged Thai Irish title back. But first roll on June 25th and I will bring that green baby home with me to Tipp!!"

There have been some ridiculous rumors following Conor McGregor's removal from the UFC 200 card. Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone stopped by Inside MMA to give his take on the Mayweather vs. McGregor rumors.

One of Ireland's most popular MMA fighters Philip Mulpeter returns to action this Friday night at the inaugural CRC event in The Wright Venue, Swords.

The SBG fighter will be competing in an ADCC grappling rules match against brown belt Hugo Borim of the Arena Fight club in Dublin.

A press release had the following to say about the announced match-up:

"Philip Mulpeter representing SBGi is very well known in the martial arts world as a warrior who brings it hard in every fight. Philip was happy to take this fight against a tough opponent from Brazil. The ADCC rules should make this a very interesting match-up and should suits Philip's come forward style down to the ground.

Hugo Borim is Fight Arena head coach and a brown belt in BJJ. Happy to take on any opponent in his weight class, Hugo was delighted to take the challenge of a big name in Philip Mulpeter. Watch for this fight to go up, down and all over the cage ring!!"

CRC #1 will take place at The Wright Venue, Swords and will see an evening of K-1 and ADCC grappling matches take place in a Cage Ring.

Over the weekend in Birmingham at the monumental BAMMA 25 event we saw Europe's top prospect Tom DuQuesnoy (13-1, 1 NC) move down to bantamweight to claim his second BAMMA title with an explosive win over Shay Walsh.

The 22-year-old said after the fight that he wants the Lonsdale belt which is held by Irish MMA's Alan Philpott (15-7). Today I spoke to Philpott and he simply said - "Duquesnoy wants it. I want it. It makes perfect sense."

Philpott won the BAMMA Lonsdale title at BAMMA 24 with a win over Nathaniel Wood, becoming the first ever person from Irish MMA to hold a BAMMA title. 

Originally expected to defend his title next month in Dublin but BAMMA postponed their BAMMA 26 event until September, leaving his title defense and a lot of scheduled fights up in the air.

BAMMA might see Alan Philpott vs. Tom Duquesnoy as the perfect fight to ease the pain of disappointed Irish MMA fans.

Underdog Xtreme Championship have cancelled their event that was due to take place this weekend citing a major influx of injuries and pullouts as well as new medical restrictions to the card that forced this move. Rhys McKee vs. Tommy McCafferty was scheduled to be the main event for this card.

They said they will reschedule the event but no date was given. The following press release was posted on their facebook page-

UXC Fight Night 5 - Postponed until further notice

It is with great regret we are having to postpone our show in The Wild Duck on Saturday 21st May 2016, until further notice.

Throughout the past weeks our fight card has dwindled in numbers due to injury and other dropouts. With only a few fights left on the card we felt that there was no way we could move any further on this. Recent medical restrictions, whilst being very important to the sport, have also left us in a position where we had to allow for blood work to be back on time and we are afraid time has ran out.

Cork's Ryan Sheehan today faced ISKA World Champ Shirou in Japan earlier today and the two fought to a draw. With this result Sheehan, who is also the current ISKA European Champ, has established himself as one of the top competitors in the world although the belt stays with Shirou.

The Siam Warriors' product took to facebook to share his thoughts on the fight and the overall experience:

"Got a draw as most of ye know by now! Hard fight could of went anyone's way. Started a little bit slower that normally in this fight! But I'll take the fight on the chin and say well done to Shirou. Shirou thought I won the fight so to hear that from the mouth of my opponent is a good thing! Nearly had the fight stopped in the 2nd round due to me cutting him on the forehead pretty nasty cut!

The whole trip has been amazing from the day we got here to fight day! 4 years fighting and I've just got a draw with the world champion... A lot of people know saying that a draw away In someone else backyard is a win maybe he case! Who know! Honestly wasn't my best fight? but I'm young hungry and I'm not done yet!"

(Title image via Martin Horgan and Ryan Sheehan)

It was revealed not so long ago that Irish prospect James Gallagher (3-0) had been signed by Bellator MMA, who many consider the second biggest MMA organisation in the world behind the UFC.

Not long after his signing did Gallagher engage with an interaction with Bellator featherweight champ Daniel Straus (24-6) and one of the division's top contenders in Bubba Jenkins (11-2).

A fan posted up a mock image of Gallagher vs. Straus (see above) and another asked what Straus thought of it and then Jenkins got invited into the conversation too.

Here are the highlights:

Cork's very own European ISKA champion Ryan Sheehan is scheduled to face ISKA World Champ Chi Lang in Japan this Sunday.

Sheehan showed his excitement about fighting Lang in Japan and explained how good his camp was in a post on his Facebook page:

"Can't put into words how excited I am about flying to Japan to face ISKA World champion. Was a great fight camp and I feel pretty amazing so nothing to put me off when fighting! There is a lot of people I'd like to thank for training and helping me coming up to this fight..."