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Irish UFC star Paddy Holohan. Rodrigo Romos/INPHO

Paddy Holohan and John Kavanagh are bringing a new MMA facility to Tallaght

SBG is expanding to south Dublin under the stewardship of the UFC flyweight and his head coach.

IRELANDโ€™S MMA FIGHTERS have always been aiming to follow the path to the top.

The problem was that โ€” up until a couple of years ago โ€” they didnโ€™t know where to find it. However, with eight Irish fighters now competing in the UFC, thatโ€™s no longer an obstacle.

The cream of the Irish MMA crop have found their way to the summit and theyโ€™re beginning to turn their attentions towards showing the rest how to get there too.

It took a long time for Ireland to put itself on the map in mixed martial arts, but this country is now becoming a major player in the sport โ€” led by Conor McGregor, a man who could be a UFC world champion in July, and his team, Straight Blast Gym (SBG).

Half of Irelandโ€™s UFC representatives are SBG fighters, and the gym โ€” based in the Concorde Industrial Estate on the Naas Road โ€” is about to be joined by another state-of-the-art location in the heart of Tallaght, the home of SBGโ€™s UFC flyweight Paddy Holohan.

โ€œThis is my second Straight Blast Gym, the full model, a copy and paste of whatโ€™s going on in Concorde,โ€ said John Kavanagh, SBG Irelandโ€™s owner and head coach. โ€œTo have a chance to do it with somebody like Paddy Holohan is really great.

โ€œI know the positive impact that martial arts training can have on so many people, and I know Paddy is going to do amazing things there in Tallaght. I love watching Paddy teaching a class because he ticks all the boxes for what a great coach is.โ€

SBG in Tallaght is expected to open this summer, as revealed by Holohan and Kavanagh at a Tiger Uncage event at House on Leeson Street, Dublin.

โ€œIt wonโ€™t be a gym where you learn to fight, itโ€™s a martial arts school. You apply and you can get enrolled. Thatโ€™s the way itโ€™ll be,โ€ Holohan told The42.

โ€œYouโ€™ll move forward and youโ€™ll learn more than just how to punch and kick. My attitude, behind the skills that SBG has, is going to create a whole new animal. Iโ€™m excited.โ€

The new gym will mark the realisation of a dream for Holohan, whoโ€™s proud of his Jobstown upbringing and his connections to an area heโ€™s adamant heโ€™ll never leave, irrespective of how many UFC pay-packets heโ€™ll collect between now and the end of his career.

โ€œIโ€™m staying here,โ€ the 26-year-old said. โ€œThe people here have my back and Iโ€™ve got theirs, whereas I know if I moved somewhere else thereโ€™d be a lot of snakes waiting in the grass. Especially in this sport, if you fall you need to be caught. If I fall, I know Tallaght will catch me.

John Kavanagh 12/8/2014 SBG Ireland head coach John Kavanagh. Cathal Noonan / INPHO Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO

โ€œThe people here, they know where I came from, they look at where Iโ€™ve gone and where Iโ€™m goingโ€ฆ Iโ€™m kind of like a hero around these parts now, especially in the working class areas out towards Jobstown. Things have changed, the support Iโ€™m getting is crazy but Iโ€™ll take it all. I love representing Tallaght.โ€

Holohan made his professional MMA debut in 2007, but seven years passed before he finally got his first taste of the big-time. It was a long, difficult path, but the benefit of surviving it is that heโ€™s now in a position to guide others along the way and ensure that their journey is more straightforward.

He said: โ€œThe means that I used to get there, people are interested in that now. People want to know and I have no problem sharing it. Conor (McGregor), myself and all the others, we went through a jungle.

โ€œIโ€™m not saying itโ€™s going to be easy for the next people coming through, but itโ€™s going to be a lot easier than the way it was. With the bit of information I have, Iโ€™ll help anyone I can.โ€

Holohan expects SBGโ€™s presence in Tallaght to have a significant impact in the area. For him, itโ€™s about giving young people there a chance to achieve something special โ€” as heโ€™s doing now in the worldโ€™s largest MMA organisation.

โ€œKids are turning around to their parents and saying, this is just a shithole, thereโ€™s nothing here for anyone. Iโ€™m happy if I can be a good example people can point to and say, it might not always start out proper, but it doesnโ€™t have to stay that way.

โ€œMy mother says it all the time: the wildest horses are the greatest tamed. Itโ€™s about making kids realise that and shaking the nonsense out of their heads. Itโ€™s about saying to them, you can do this, you can buy a house, you can buy your family a house, you can look after their futuresโ€ฆ and people will remember who you are for the right reasons.

โ€œYou donโ€™t have to be a little choir boy, itโ€™s not like that. Stand up for yourself, punch someone in the face if you have to, but youโ€™ve got to make the right decisions. Youโ€™re kidding nobody otherwise.

โ€œThis is an opportunity for young kids. This is your chance, so donโ€™t ever say you never got one. And thatโ€™s going to be huge. Kids here just want an opportunity. There are some whoโ€™ll throw it straight back in your face, but weโ€™ll be giving them that chance to go the right way in life.โ€

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    Apr 12th 2012, 12:27 AM

    all I can say is heโ€™s a brilliant rugby player!

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