Ahead of a blockbuster fight in front of her home crowd at Bellator 291, we catch up with one of Ireland’s leading MMA lights – the sensational Sinead Kavanagh
A Saturday night in Dublin; fair to say there’s no place like home?
Haha, definitely! The last time I was at a show in 3Arena in September I wasn’t able to fight, and I missed that atmosphere. I’m glad to be back there again; you can’t buy that feeling.
It will be almost a year to the day since you last fought there – and suffered a devastating knee injury in the process. What’s the interim period been like?
It was a gruelling year, 2022; things were tough with the injury. I tore my ACL and MCL – both. I was in a wheelchair, I got some screws in my knee to keep it together, and then I was on crutches and stuff. Because I did both injuries it was much longer…probably three months until I was without crutches. It was hard to stay motivated because I really couldn’t do much of anything; I couldn’t train, I couldn’t go down to my teammates or watch some fights – I mean, I couldn’t walk! My girlfriend would pick me up and we’d go to the gym and lift weights; that was about all I could do.
Even after blowing out the knee, you got the win over Leah McCourt. Looking back, how do you feel about pulling out a victory in such extraordinary circumstances?
Um, I kind of tried to put the pain to the back of my mind…but looking at the fight you can see it written all over my face in the third round! I was in agony, like; I just wanted those last few minutes to end. To get through it is amazing, and to know that I was able to grind my teeth and push through with that type of injury is mindblowing. It’s amazing what the body can do; it’s amazing what I can do. I had to go into Leah’s gameplan, and meet her where she’s best – on the ground – and I achieved the win on her terms. My striking was taken away from me, and I couldn’t stand up and bang; I had to use her as a crutch…
Enough of the crutches now, anyway… You’ve met your Bellator 291 opponent Janay Harding before – and got stopped because of a cut. Is there a score to settle?
Definitely; it’s a sweet revenge sort of thing. It’s going to be at home in Dublin – and I’m going to have a better cutman, haha! Things just went against me in our first fight. That was four or five years ago, and there probably should have been a rematch; how do you just take a result from a fight where it’s stopped by a cut after one round? So I’m glad to be doing it, and glad to get the score settled…
Given the layoff, people will likely be wondering what to expect; is it business as usual, or have you added strings to your bow during the time off?
Well, people just thought I was a boxer – pure stand-up – but I’d like to think I proved them wrong. I have a ground game, I can wrestle, and I have all of those skills in the bag. It depends where the fight goes, but I can switch it up and do whatever it takes to get my hand raised.
All going to plan, what’s the plan once the win is in the bag?
I want to get some fights in. It’s been slow progress between COVID and then my leg, it’s been one fight at a time. I want to get this one done and get another few in this year – I got my US visa there so I should be fighting a few times this year; get the hand raised in this one, and another fight in the summer, with another before the end of the year
With another tilt at the title the ultimate aim?
I want Cris Cyborg over here, in Dublin; that’s the goal, to redeem myself there! I made a mistake in our first fight, and I rushed it a little bit; I want to correct that next time.
You were one of our leading female boxers around the time that sport really took off in Ireland; you’re now at the forefront of women’s MMA as it enjoys a similar rise. What’s it like to have a box seat – and a role to play – in these cultural shifts?
Well, it’s my passion, my drive, to do great things in my sport; to change people’s minds, and prove women are equal in sport. We women do ourselves proud; we do have skill, and we put on a show. That’s what it’s all about, putting on a show…and putting asses on seats!
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