Tiarnan to make pro bow in Belfast

TIARNAN Loughran will begin the long journey to what he hopes will be the final destination of the UFC on Saturday night when he makes his professional MMA debut against Andrea Flamminio during the Cage Conflict Anarchy event in Belfast.

The Kildress man has enjoyed a hugely successful amateur career, winning and defending two belts, but at almost 23 years of age, he feels the time to take the step into the professional ranks is now.

“Things have gone exactly to plan in the amateur ranks,” he observed. “I finished well with a couple of belts, and couple of belt defences and got a good year behind me, which is exactly what you want.

“I always thought I was ready to go pro but I feel like – maybe there was always something holding me back – now is the time. You kind of know when you’re ready.

“Me and Caolan were saying, motivation is a big thing. I’ve fought the number one guys and they’re all going pro, so there’s no one else there, so I definitely think it’s time to hit the pro ranks.”

Looking ahead to his debut, Loughran has done what homework he can on Flamminio, who has one win and one defeat from his two professional bouts to date and he believes the hours spent seeking footage on the Alpha Training Centre fighter has been worth the effort.

“I actually don’t know much about my opponent, it’s really hard to get footage of him,” Tiarnan explained. “To be fair, I did get his fight. I would make sure, if there is any possible way of getting footage of a fight, I’ll find a way and I actually found his.

“I went on his Topology, which is his MMA record, and I searched the show he was on. There was a four hour clip and I thought ‘he has to be in here somewhere’ and three hours and 20 minutes later I found him! The wifi [at home] isn’t the best, so it took me absolutely ages to watch him. It was probably worth the effort because I have him down to an absolute tee now!”

Loughran is hoping victory on Saturday will help set him on the road to joining his big brother, Caolan in the UFC, but the younger of the siblings has a mature head on his shoulders and he knows patience and a well thought-out route to the top will be key.

“The ultimate goal is the UFC,” he confirmed. “To become a UFC champion is always the goal, but it’s about being smart, not getting ahead of myself. At the end of the day, I’m still only 22, so there’s time. There have been talks about signing for Cage Warriors, but I don’t think I’m going to go down that route yet because I just feel that it’s too soon.

“I look at those guys in Cage Warriors – I train with Paul Hughes, who is a champion at my weight and you can see he’s an exception to the rest of them. I look at the rest of them in that division and I don’t fear any of them, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready for the UFC.

“If I go in there and say I did well and the next thing I’m fighting number three in the world and I’m only a couple of fights away from the UFC. I know I’m not there yet because you look at those boys at the top, the average age of a UFC champion is around 33 or 34, there’s a reason why there are no 24 year olds fighting for world titles, it’s just not going to happen.

“At the end of the day, I’m not kidding myself, I’ve lost in MMA before, I’ll probably lose again, but I certainly want that to be as little as possible. It’s a bad place to learn on the job, so I’m trying to learn before I go in there.”

In the meantime, he’s going to make use of his brother’s experience and continue to take motivation from Caolan’s successes, while attempting to make a name for himself in the process.

“You never want to be known as someone’s brother, you want to be known for your skills,” Tiarnan added. “I’d rather people said ‘there’s Tiarnan Loughran, he’s an animal’, than ‘that’s Tiarnan Loughran, he’s Caolan Loughran’s brother’ because that makes me sound like I’m
number two.”

“But Caolan keeps me motivated in a way that I know what it takes. I’ve seen him in Kaobon [Caolan’s gym in Liverpool], I know how hard Caolan trains, I know how good he is and I know what it takes to get there.

“I’ll not forget the work that it takes to get there. He’s definitely someone to look up to because he’s made me realise it’s definitely possible.

“And it’s so good to have Caolan there, someone I can talk to about my pro debut, about wee things you’d change in your training. I can ask him things and he’s likely to have been there and done it. He’s a great man to go to.”