There was disappointment for Kesh MMA fighter Glenn Irvine on the big Brave 13: Europe Evolution bill at the SSE Arena last Saturday night as he was beaten by Poland’s Konrad Iwanowski.
Irvine, who fights out of the Next Generation IMMA club in Ballymena, had entered the contest on the back of a three fight winning streak and started the middleweight bout on top but as he admits that one mistake cost him dearly as he was forced to submit via a rear-naked choke in the first round.
“It was one of those things were I was controlling the fight and winning the fight but I just made a silly mistake and I suffered for it,” he explained.
“He is a really high level wrestler and grappler and I knew not to do certain things like throw low kicks because he would be able to catch the kick and take you down. The first low kick, he caught it and took me down and unfortunately he was just that wee bit more experienced than me on the ground.”
The Fermanagh native though intends to continue with his dream of reaching the top of the sport.
“I was talking to the president of the promotion and he said he will have me back,” he said. “It’s just disheartening because you put so much work and effort into it and then you make a silly mistake but I plan to keep the head down, work hard and keep going,” he stressed.