DOWN A NARROW laneway between Phibsboro Road and the North Circular Road in Dublin, there’s a shed with a black door. There are several of them actually, but this one is particularly ramshackle and rundown — and that’s just on the outside. The inside, according to those who have seen it, is even worse.
The current headquarters of Straight Blast Gym in Dublin is a large, bright, modern, state-of-the-art facility just beyond the Bluebell LUAS stop on the Naas Road. A banner that hangs above the entrance lets you know that this is the home of a world champion, whose BMW sports car can often be found in front of the main door.
It’s now one of the best gyms in the MMA world and the other branches of SBG that have sprouted up in places like Tallaght and Swords are adhering to those standards too.
As for the shed and the 450 square feet behind the black door, for all John Kavanagh knows it’s now probably being used to store some gardening tools and tins of paint. But 15 years ago, when Kavanagh began paying £400 a month to rent it from the owner of the house at the front, it became the birthplace of mixed martial arts in Ireland.
Kavanagh, the head coach and owner of SBG Ireland, trained there with the likes of Andy Ryan, Dave Roche and Dave Jones, who would all prove to be central to the growth of the sport in this country. Someone Kavanagh didn’t initially expect to be so pivotal, however, was an 18-year-old who turned up at the shed one day and asked if he could train.
“It was small and it was dingy,” recalls Owen Roddy. “It was literally somebody’s shed in their back garden. It was freezing cold in there; no heating, a little toilet in the corner, the ceiling was falling in, it was damp — but I still thought it was cool.”
Roddy knew Dave Roche from Ballymun and asked him if he could tag along one evening to Kavanagh’s shed. Roche didn’t object, but the problem for Roddy was that he couldn’t afford the training fees. Nevertheless, they found a solution.
I ended up cleaning the mats and John let me train for free.
“I was allowed to be part of every session as long as I cleaned the mats once a week. And it was handy because there was only about five or six mats. The place was tiny,” Roddy says.
He had already been introduced to mixed martial arts by then — or cage-fighting, as Roddy referred to it at the time. Of all places, his first encounter with the sport was in the hall at Trinity Comprehensive Secondary School in Ballymun.
He explains: “I was always fascinated by martial arts from watching [Jean Claude] Van Damme, Bruce Lee, stuff like that. I had done a bit of shotokan [karate] as well. Then when I was about 17, after getting a lend of a UFC tape, I became very curious about what that was.
“Someone told me that it was called MMA and I had been trying to find out where I could learn how to do it for quite a while. I was walking through my school one day and Andy Ryan was there showing the transition year students how to do submissions and a bit of judo.
“When I saw that I walked in and said to Andy, ‘That’s that MMA, that’s that cage-fighting stuff, isn’t it? Where do you do that?’ I went down to Andy’s place in Killester first and then I ended up in John’s from there.”
Ryan, Kavanagh and the others who frequented the shed were pioneers for MMA in Ireland. However, at that point they were still novices, educating themselves with technique demonstrations that were illustrated in videos and magazines. It was a process of trial and error on the thin mats that Roddy was responsible for keeping clean.
“People hadn’t a clue what MMA was back in those days. Nobody knew what we were doing — we barely knew ourselves! — but it was cool to be doing it,” Roddy says.
“It was a great time. Now we have luxuries like huge matted areas, cages, rings, strength and conditioning areas, everything you need. Back then it was a case of get in, get the job done with what you had — which was basically nothing — and get out.
“But we were all learning quickly. Everyone who trained there was enthusiastic about improving and one person’s enthusiasm would rub off on another, and that had a positive impact on everyone. When I went to train with John and the lads, I could see straight away that this was real.
This was it. This was what I had been looking for.
“I was addicted straight away because nobody else was doing it. I had been looking in the ad sections in the papers every day. I’d ring these other places up and say ‘Is this cage-fighting?’ and they’d say ‘Yeah’, but then when you’d go up you’d see that it wasn’t at all.
“Every martial art was claiming to be the best street defence or the best self-defence out there, but when you went to these places it wasn’t. Everything they did was planned and choreographed. It wasn’t real. There’s no planning a real fight. But it was different with MMA. When that path opened up, I never looked back.”
After leaving school, Roddy was earning decent money by working as a warehouse operative. However, his view was that every hour in the warehouse was a wasted hour that could have been spent on the mats. The numbers in Kavanagh’s gym – which was eventually upgraded to a more suitable building in Harold’s Cross — were growing steadily and an MMA scene was developing in the UK and Ireland.
“I really wanted to see where MMA would take me,” Roddy says. “I was quite a while training at this point and I was getting really good. I was probably one of the best in the country because I was one of the best in John’s gym and we were the best gym in Ireland.
“After about a year working in that job, John asked me if I wanted to set up a kids’ programme; split the profits or whatever. I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll give it a go’. That started up and I was getting a few hundred quid a month. And that convinced me to give up the job. I just said to myself, ‘I’m going to become a pro fighter and see where this road goes’. I gave in my notice and started teaching and training every day.
“I was looking at the scene over in the UK and thinking, ‘You know what, I could hang with any of these guys’. Dave Roche and John were still fighting at the time, getting a few bob here and there for fights.
You’d hear stories about 10-grand tournaments and stuff. That just convinced me that I might be able to make a bit of a career out of this.
“Lightweight was still the lowest weight class in the UFC at that stage. Realistically the UFC wasn’t attainable then but I still thought I could make a few bob. I just wanted to fight as well. I just wanted to compete and prove myself. But yeah, it only took me about a year to feel like I had the potential to go places.”
Roddy made his professional debut in 2005 but finding fights on a regular basis was no easy task: “MMA was underground. It really was. Nobody knew anything about it. There weren’t really any shows in Ireland for a while at first. You used to have to get on to these MMA forums online to try and see if you could get a fight.
“Dave [Roche] would be dropping me home to Ballymun from training and we’d stop into an internet cafe and see what shows were coming up over in the UK and chatting about what was going on. But it was real underground stuff, whereas now it’s everywhere. Fights were really scarce back then and you’d have to really go looking if you wanted one.”
The scene developed gradually, however, and by 2012 Roddy was regarded as one of the top featherweights in Europe who had yet to reach the UFC. Promotions like Cage Warriors and Cage Contender were offering Irish fighters opportunities to test themselves against quality opponents on events which were being broadcast to relatively substantial audiences by the likes of Setanta Sports.
When Roddy was booked to face Shannon Gugerty in Dublin in July 2012, he knew he was in for the biggest challenge of his career. He had won his last six fights on the trot and the UFC contract that had previously seemed unattainable was now within reach. Facing a man who had already competed on MMA’s biggest stage on five occasions offered him a chance to show that he was ready for the step-up.
At that point, for an Irishman to fight a UFC veteran was a big deal.
“Apart from Tom Egan’s fight [at UFC Dublin in 2009] there was no Irishman who had fought in the UFC at that stage,” Roddy explains. “Fighting a UFC veteran was massive.”
Seemingly on the verge of being forced to tap, Roddy somehow managed to escape from a rear-naked choke from Gugerty in the first round, before going on to win via unanimous decision. His seventh consecutive win represented his biggest scalp so far and it took his record to a very respectable 11-3.
A victory snatched from the jaws of defeat, it was further evidence of the refusal to give in that Roddy had become renowned for; a quality he demonstrated on many occasions during his career with actions, not words, and something he’d call upon again in his next fight as the scale of the challenges continued to increase.
Earlier this year, Wilson Reis was chosen to be the next challenger to dominant UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. But ask Reis who his toughest opponents were and you’re likely to hear Roddy’s name mentioned. He got the better of Roddy in Glasgow in a bantamweight bout in December 2012, but the Dubliner made the experienced Brazilian dig deep for the victory.
Reis took the first round but Roddy fought back to win the second. He also appeared to have the momentum behind him in the early stages of the third and final frame of a thrilling contest. However, when Roddy ate a shot that knocked him to the ground, Reis pounced and worked his way into a rear-naked choke.
Again, Roddy refused to quit. But this time there was no way out. As Roddy briefly drifted out of consciousness, referee Marc Goddard stepped in to award the win to an elated Reis, whose expression of relief was telling. Roddy had come up short but the bout marked one of the rare occasions that a fighter managed to enhance their reputation in spite of a defeat.
That Wilson Reis fight was a huge test. Nobody wanted to fight him.
“It was my first time cutting down to bantam, the weight cut went perfectly and I felt fantastic,” Roddy insists. “It felt like I was ahead in that third round, my confidence was building and I was busting him up on the feet.
“But unfortunately I got clipped and ended up losing. In my head I felt that he was one of the best fighters around at the time at bantamweight. Going into that fight, even though I didn’t beat him, I had my moments and it was very close. It just made me feel like I could hang with the best in the world.”
Therefore, it came as a massive surprise in 2013 when Roddy announced from left-field that he had decided to retire at the age of 30. By now he was still coaching regularly at SBG headquarters, as well as at his own gym in Charlestown. His fighting career was still on the rise, but balancing those commitments was only becoming more difficult. In the end, his fighting prime came a little too soon for Ireland’s MMA boom.
Roddy: “The money’s not great, you’re struggling, running a full-time gym and trying to train full-time yourself as well. That’s why I called it a day. Losing the [Wilson Reis] fight wasn’t the issue. I just felt like I wasn’t getting what I deserved.
“All my fights were tough, hard fights and you’re just left there thinking, ‘What’s the point? You’re getting nothing’. A pat on the back isn’t enough when you’re putting that much into it. I was in the game a long, long time, fighting for about eight or nine years at that stage.
It’s all well and good to be chasing a dream but you have to be smart about it as well.”
In an excellent documentary, Ten Thousand Hours, which was produced by Severe MMA in 2012, Owen Roddy explained what was at the top of his list of priorities: “I just want to get in there [the UFC] and get the big payday. I’m doing this a long time and I think I deserve it.”
Looking back with the benefit of four years of hindsight, he says now: “I set a goal when I first started training to fight in the UFC, as unrealistic as it may have been at the time. Unfortunately it never came to pass and that does frustrate me.
“But all along, it was all geared towards wanting to be able to buy a house. I wanted my career to be enough to get me a house, and even though I retired earlier than what people were maybe expecting, I got the house in the end.
“I’m doing pretty well now in regards to my gym and stuff like that. I’m doing fine financially. But I never got to lace the gloves up in the UFC. That’s what kills me. But you can’t dwell on stuff like that because it’ll eat you up.
“I’d like to think I was before my time. If I was doing it now I probably would have made a lot more for myself, because I would have been fighting in the UFC and at least making a half-decent amount of money. But you have to be clever. You have to go in at the right time, give yourself a few years in there and get out. Then look down the line into coaching or other aspects of the sport.”
Roddy’s reputation as a coach is growing, to the extent that he’s now more well-known than he ever was as an active fighter. He’s overseeing the development of some exciting young fighters and playing a key role in Conor McGregor’s set-up, serving as the UFC featherweight champion’s striking coach. Roddy doesn’t just deal in stand-up combat either, as evidenced by the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt that has adorned his waist since February.
In the eyes of many fans, Roddy knows he’s the guy holding pads for Conor McGregor in training videos and open workouts, but there’s much more than meets the eye to his current life as a coach and his past as a fighter.
The people who matter to Roddy know how far he went and how hard he worked to get there. Missing out on fighting under the bright lights in the UFC is a regret that will probably always linger, but with his coaching commitments, Roddy is fortunate to have another outlet that compensates.
It’s great. I get people saying, ‘Oh you’re Conor’s striking coach, did you ever fight?’ Then they’ll check you out on YouTube and they’re like ‘Oh my God, you were good!’ And that’s good. It’s good that people can do that.
“I don’t mind either way,” Roddy says. “I’m starting to make my name as a coach and that’s great. I’m known now worldwide as Conor’s striking coach, which is brilliant.
“That’s going to give me a great platform for my own fighters, and now one or two of them are starting to turn pro and they’re starting to get there. My journey as a coach is only starting and I’m looking forward to seeing where that goes. That’ll be my path now.”
If McGregor is victorious against Eddie Alvarez in New York on Saturday night, Roddy will fade into the background when the celebrations begin. But he’ll be satisfied with another job well done as he counts down the hours until he’s back in Dublin with his wife Kellie and their two daughters. And with a new gym — Owen Roddy MMA — due to open shortly in Malahide, opportunities to slow down and take stock are few and far between.
Roddy missed out on experiencing life as a fighter on the biggest stage. Many of his team-mates may have reached the top instead, but they got there by following a path that Roddy helped to construct. Fortunately for him, the only pursuit that ever matched his appetite for competing is his passion for helping others to achieve their goals.
He has played a key role in a team that has brought one of its own to the brink of MMA history at combat’s most famous colosseum — Madison Square Garden. They’ve travelled far to get here, but they’ll still tell you that they’re only just getting started.
Not bad for a journey that began in a garden shed in Phibsboro.
Well instead of paying a premium for 8-9 squad players with low wages why don’t you and the committee start paying top dollar for 2-3 stars that will lift the team and actually win something?
Look at Barcelona 2-6 years ago, the best team ever appearantly. Their bench was barely better than ours is. Infact alot of the time they had kids on it. But their first team….. Same with the United team that one 3 in a row. Even Chelsea and man city’s benches aren’t that great. Meanwhile ourselves and Tottenham have fairly decent benches! But the thing is we only have a fairly decent first 11 aswell…
The fact they were all on drugs helped them not get injured though.
Liverpool are not a big club so why would big names want to go there.pity there suporters cant understand it though!!
Before This season started big names should have wanted to come. Finished second and in the champions league we should have been able to attract bigger names than Lovren and Rickie Lambert.
Liverpool are one of the most supported clubs in the world.
So are celtic but i dont see big names wanting to go there!
Ya but Eoin Liverpool can offer United City arsenal Everton Chelsea Spurs each week Celtic can offer motherwell Aberdeen and so on that’s the difference. People claiming Liverpool are no longer a big have not got a clue. A big club in my eyes is a club that has a massive fan base eg: United Arsenal Madrid Barca and so on. Leeds are still a big club they have a draw towards them. I have never seen so many articles on one club especially on theScore then I have on Liverpool. It’s Liverpool this Rodgers that , the only club that comes near is United. What about Leicester Hull Man City Chelsea Newcastle and so on ? Reason being they are not massive clubs (no disrespect) but if they were we’d all know more about them because there’d be articles on them left right and centre.
its down to money.
Because your young eoin you wouldn’t remember for 27 years Manchester Utd only won a couple of fa cups..during that time they were still a big club..the same as liverpool are a big club today..
It’s down to location as well. It’s an issue for city, Liverpool and United. Top players want to go to London, look at hazard, Costa, Cesc and even Erickson.
Let me guess eoin your a utd fan ? Typical utd fan #clueless&obsessed
And deluded
You weren’t complaining last year when every article was about moyes. Liverpool worst squad out if the supposedly big teams in England smallest ground lowest wage bill average manager who was sacked by reading. Leave it out Liverpool aren’t relevant in modern European football note the word modern. Three good seasons in last 25 still no league title in modern football its real barca psg city chelsea united bayern end of. Go back and buy rickie Lamberts brother.
So before United won their first title in 26 years they weren’t relevant no ? Even before they did I still regarded them as a big club and Liverpools chief nemesis.
Last year must have been awful for you Waka….
Or you could just attract them by being a big club look at di maria falcao mata rooney rvp van nistelrooy veron vidic roy keane. Location is not relevant if you are relevant they will go.
You mean if you pay them bags of cash to go there…… It’s well documented that Di Maria wanted to stay at Madrid and United was the only club who would pay the 65 million for him.
What age are you john lpools chief nemises through 70s and 80s was leeds villa and forest united chief nemises through 90s and 00s were arsenal chelsea and city. Liverpool aren’t relevant end of story that is the real reason they csnt attract the players. Sanchez and shaqiri would have went to united if offered. Noy relevant
At this stage there’s no point talking to you lad. For your sanity Liverpool aren’t a big club but on that basis neither are United or Leeds or Villa. When I say nemesis I mean you always wanted to beat United no matter their position like United with the Pool a few years back. It’s the two fixtures every year you look out for. You come across as the type of fella who’d take great fun in a club that goes to the wall a bit like Leeds nearly packed up. Don’t be holding your breath on Liverpool pal they’ll be around for another while yet to upset you.
Liverpool were offering shaqiri more money over a million more then inter were to offer him,and were prepared to off munich more money,the player wanted inter so was let go there.Simple fact is ,top players are not interested in going to liverpool any more
Luke stay quiet di maria was being touted all over Europe all summer he didn’t have to leave but he did. Was it because of money of course it was thats why united are relevant they pay the big bucks as do real barca psg city chelsea and bayern wheras you won’t give sterling a 120 grand. United have the biggest shirt deal in football history coming this summer if they get champions league football which they will. You have Lambert we have rvp you have coutinho we have di Maria you have Henderson we have rooney it goes on. Get over it keep dreaming about the 80s and 05. The teams that matter are all that matters.
Well it can hardly be said they are interested in going to inter either, probably the only major club in Europe on a worse run than Liverpool.
He went there because Switzerland is just across the border.
Hard yaka you have hit the nail on the head there. Liverpool are becoming less relevant and this process has been going on for a while however painful it is for their fans to hear it. The games against united hark back to a different time
Liverpool should be selling the dream to the big stars, the romance, chance to be a real legend, at an historical club. Will not happen with Rodgers…. You need a big manager to attract. You need to develop the ground, which thankfully is happening, finally. Worldwide support, Liverpool are top ten, but for too long they were run terribly. Right now, many big players are like Rockstars, with rockstar babes/wives….. Many things need to change for Liverpool…
You must be about twelve. Typical moron united fan that thinks football was invented in 1993.
Getting the excuses in earlier eh Brendan?
Think pool need to careful they are not on a really slippery slope.
@John Hayes:
The reason Liverpool get so much press is because of the amount of interviews Rodgers feels the need to do. If he spent less time talking about how big Liverpool are,and their history he might actually make his own squad good,and make his own history. He loves the sound of his own voice and would rather talk about great players than actually trying to recruit them. Players want to work for successful manager,and play in front of big crowds every week,and Liverpool can’t offer either at the moment.
The reason they get so much press is because they are one of the most followed and successful clubs in the world.
These quotes are coming from press conferences that he is obliged to give. Same so any other manager.
I didn’t know Rodgers was ringing the press and asking for interviews John McCann ……..let it with me.
Wakawakawakawakawaka !!
@colin:
Tell me 1 thing I said in my comment that was true. The only real fact I statedwas that he has spent over £200m and hasn’t got 1 superstar to show for it? Is this not true? whats there to like about Rodgers,his smugness will be his downfall. The best thing Rodgers has purchased at Liverpool is his new teeth!!!
*wasn’t
” the amount of interviews Rodgers feels the need to do”
That’s the point I was arguing, I didn’t dispute what he has spent, although it’s a transfer committee that makes the decisions in Liverpool not just Rodgers but he will take the flack for it. Liverpool’s scouting network also has to be questioned as well as the owners philosophy on buying young potential to nurture rather then proven talent. And when they have tried they didn’t want to go ( Sanchez)
And he wont be gone by the end of the season.
Is Rogers normally that sweaty looking? Could sail a boat across his forehead. Christ!
@John Hayes & Colin McNamara:
Every day there is something in the press with Rodgers,not just on his Friday pre-match press conference. He is an ego-maniac. He is either having to defend his piss poor signings,his players wanting out,his players behaviour or being rejected by yet another half decent player. With the money he has spent you would think Liverpool would have a team full of superstars,over £215m since he took over,and who have they got to show for it,not 1 world class player,and for any Liverpool fan to say it’s about money is lies because Suarez was on £200,000+ a week. Gerrard was one of the first players to earn over £150,000 in England. He won’t spend money this window because he isn’t trusted with it,he’ll be gone before the end of the season.
Press conferences, pre match and post match. That’s where these quotes are coming from. Find me an interview that he’s given outside of press conferences in the last month apart from the LFC website which he is, again, obliged to do. And EVERY manager in the premier league is an ego-maniac, it’s one of the requirements of the job. You obviously have a problem with Rodgers, and probably with Liverpool, which you are entitled to but when you are spewing bile try and keep it to facts.
Colin it’s not doing the press conferences. It’s what he says !
That wasn’t the point I was arguing.
I got the point you were making. The point still stand Rogers is his own worst enemy in a press conference. You swear last year in his slow earnest tones that he
discovered how to split the atom. Finding out know that he hadn’t
I think the problem for liverpool at rating players is that as a club they have failed to show real ambition like that shown by the United’s, city’s and Chelsea’s of this world. We sell out biggest players in Suarez, Torres, mascherano and alonso. Failing to sign any recognised star player to replace these sends out a message that were not an ambitious club that wants to compete at the highest level.
As a result its gets to even sign mid range players like shaquiri who could easily be signed if the clubs ambition matched its size. We’re a big club with modest ambitions at the moment I fear.
Ah Colin. To be fair. He is on sky sports news or quoting to the press nearly every day. That’s hardly an obligation in his contract. He’s on sky sports more than harry rednapp ever was. That’s not a dig. Just the truth. As a Liverpool fan told me if his team could defend as good as he defends himself , they’d be laughing.
The other argument here is about club size and draw for players to join. I am a united fan. I won’t get into us being big now even though we were in limbo for 26 years at one stage. The difference now is the money. Simple. It’s about the player and not the club. Sad truths.
I did say one thing last year that hopefully United can weed out the mercenaries out there and get players who want to get United back into the champions league and not just take it as a given. It brings a sense of achievement and togetherness in a team.
Liverpool and United are still the 2 biggest clubs in the world from a fan base point of view. In my opinion, things will change and they will both help each other get back to the top. They have been too fair when it comes to TV rights etc. And if that’s what football is about with the other big teams mentioned and the players they can attract then it will be short lived…..football should be about the fans….that way you earn the money on merit….
Great manager great coach, we’ll get top 4
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/08/brendan-rodgers-steven-gerrard-liverpool
There’s an interview he gave the guardian the other day
Not much of an interview, just a couple of quotes but i’ll give you that.
Says it all really …… had a sneak preview of the Van Gaal story and no sign of McCann or half the United boys there all on a Liverpool thread hahaha you couldn’t make it up. LIVERPOOL FC officially the biggest team on TheScore.ie! !! Lads if Liverpool were so insignificant why do you feel the need to post ? Liverpool get under yer skin boys don’t they ? It hurts they’re still in existence Liverpool!!!! Liverpool Liverpool Liverpool. I heard if United fans say Liverpool backwards 5 times in a mirror Benitez appears hahaha.
Why do we feel the need to post ?? Are you having a laugh !!!! Ahh no sorry that’s us …
Benitez , why Benitez , the little spanish waiter done a great job too in the league
The rage and panic in some of these comments make me chortle.
For that post is exactly why I used Benitez Baz. How ya been chief ? What’s Van Gaal gonna do January player wise ? We all know what Liverpool are doing (setting players up for everyone else) plus BR won’t be given the cash to do anything after the muck of the summer.
Hopefully Hummels , be happy with that
Ye need three at least chief being honest.
Lfc fan ynwa. When we get the players back from injury and of rest spirt we will do good we have got to hold your heads up high and with guts and heart in our hands we will do good. Brendon and you fellows show the premier league show them wot we are made of. Good luck On the fourth position.