Paddy Holohan Has No Plans of Slowing Down After UFC Dublin

The roar of the Dublin crowd last July must have been music to Paddy 'The Hooligan' Holohan. A year before the historic date, the Dubliner had to undergo a discectomy to treat swollen discs in his back. Having impressed Dana White despite coming up short against Josh Hill for a place on the The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate cast before his surgery, the Irish flyweight remained focused on his goal of competing at UFC's return date to his hometown.

The SBG fighter forced a tap from Josh Sampo to raise the curtain in the Irish capital and fought more times over the next 12 months to record a very respectable 3-1 with UFC. Next weekend will mark Holohan's main card debut and should he have his hand raised after his bout with fellow highly touted prospect, Louis Smolka, 'The Hooligan' has a very good chance of making his first appearance in the UFC's top 15 rankings.

Although the talk of rankings spots and main card milestones might excite a lot of fighters with similar UFC trajectories, Holohan keeps his focus solely on his preparation.

"I don't think about the stuff at all, that's the type of thing you hire an accountant for or something," he laughed. "All I can think about is getting ready, being physically prepared and getting in the best place I can possibly be mentally.

White claimed that the Irish were the loudest fans "pound for pound" following last year's show, and Holohan is looking forward to hearing the roars of his countrymen once again on October 24.

"I enjoy that energy, it might even be louder than last time, but that will be hard. The thing is, I've been there, I've experienced that and I know I thrive in that atmosphere."

MMA athletes often claim that injuries are carried into most fights for the majority of competitors. Given how serious his back injury was, Holohan maintained that the experience allowed him to understand the important of training clever and getting the balance right physically in his approach to the sport.

"I get a lot of help from Dee, the physio in our place and we do a lot of mobility stuff too. I get a lot of massages done out in a place in Dundrum as well, and I'm actually on my way to yoga as we speak. We did a fair few hard rounds this morning and now I'm going out here for yoga, you've got to get a good balance going. If you just keep grinding your body into the ground, only bad things can come from that.

"I've paid the consequences myself with back surgery. I've learned how to train clever and that's something that I will always try to teach young people when they're getting into the sport. You've got to keep an eye on what you're doing and listen to your body otherwise there's no point, the body will eventually give in."

Holohan is confident that his approach to training will allow him to continue in the same vein of activity after UFC Dublin. For 'The Hooligan', the pursuit of fighting is all about competition.

"There's no plan to take a break after this fight. As soon as Conor said it last July, 'We're not here to take part, we're here to take over', I've just kept going. There's no point in getting a load of fights in and then taking a break. I might take Christmas this year but I know there is a London card coming up in the New Year that I might be interested in. There is loads going on though, I'm sure I will stay active.

"I've had a good few fights now, I'm in the UFC about 16 months and UFC Dublin will be my fifth fight for them. That's what this about, that's what fighting is. Everyone else, the people who aren't interested in fighting, they should leave the sport.

"For me, I just want to fight as much as I can. I'm not going to put myself in a situation in a fight where I can severely hurt myself. That would be stupid. I got a badly sprained ankle in the lead-up to that fight in Glasgow. I taped my ankles in that fight and I've never had to tape my ankles before a fight. I've recovered from that now and I'm 100%. I'm ready to fight on."

Finally, Holohan spoke of the immense pride he feels when he represents his country in the Octagon.

"Every time I fight in the UFC I bring that flag with me. This stage is the pinnacle of what we do. I feel like it's the same as somebody playing for the international rugby team or the soccer team. I consider myself as the flyweight representative for the Ireland squad. All of the Irish fighters are like international from my point of view. I want to have our flag represented in every single division.

"At the end of the day, this isn't throwing a ball around. We're Irish athletes, and we're putting our bodies on the line, you don't see the guys on the Irish soccer and rugby teams eating head kicks like we do!

"We even have our jerseys now. The Reebok kit has my name on it and the shamrock. That's my jersey, that's our Ireland shirt, so I feel like we're exactly the same as the other guys in the rugby and soccer jerseys," he said.