After two unsuccessful trips to the Octagon at a completely new weight class, Paul Redmond was cut from the world flagship MMA promotion, UFC, on Tuesday. However, having signed with Cage Warriors a day later, the well-known proverb “every cloud has a silver lining” couldn’t be more relevant for the Team Ryano stalwart.
Many believe the Dubliner was given a particularly tough road by UFC. Stepping in on less than two weeks’ notice to face Mirsad Bektic, one of the featherweight division’s most highly touted prospects, Redmond cut an astonishing 33 lbs in an effort to make the featherweight limit for the first time. To add to that, for his debut he was set to compete in front of one of the promotion’s biggest crowds of 30,000 at Stockholm’s Tele2 Arena.
Although he failed to hit his target weight the day before, a drained version of the submission specialist managed to go the distance with the ATT man back in January, coming up short in a one-sided decision loss. His reward for stepping up came in the shape of a bout with Scotland’s Rob Whiteford, who he lost to in front in front of the Scot’s home crowd in Glasgow via first round TKO.
While a lot of Irish MMA fans believe Redmond’s time was cut short, he reported “no hard feelings” with regard to his time with UFC.
“The whole thing with me fighting Rob in Glasgow, that type of thing happens all the time, it didn’t mean anything to me,” he explained.
“We saw Tom Breese coming over here and getting the win over Cathal and then Mirsad Bektic, the guy who bet me in my debut, he went straight over to Brazil and fought a local lad after that.
“It was just one of them things. The only thing that was a struggle was that first weight cut to make featherweight, and we knew that was gonna be tough when we signed up for it, so there are no hard feelings at all.”
‘Redser’ spoke of the experience he has gained during his UFC tenure and about how their matchmaker Sean Shelby could not find him a bout that “made sense”. Having signed with Cage Warriors, a promotion that led the line for Europe before the postponement of their events in 2014, Redmond feels can get back into the win column and eventually work back to another contract with UFC at his preferred weight of 155 lbs.
He said: “I know I can go out and fight in front of 35,000 people in Sweden. The scale of the fights was huge and now that I’ve gone out there and I’ve done that, I know I can compete there. I’ve experienced the biggest stage out there. Right now, I just want to go back to what I know and back to what I’m good at. Back at 155, back with Cage Warriors, back winning fights and then eventually back to UFC as a lightweight, that’s my plan.
“Chris (manager) was on to Sean Shelby and he told him that they had been looking for a fight for me, but at the moment there are no fights that make sense. He said the best thing we could do was, instead of keeping me on the shelf, send me off and let me get a few more wins under my belt and then I can go straight back in. Like I said, there are no hard feelings on my part at all.”
After visiting the world renowned Tristar Gym to train back in September, Redmond came back and in an interview with SevereMMA.com, he revealed that he would much prefer to be competing at lightweight for his next UFC outing. ‘Redser’ still maintains that “a big weight cut” is not the way forward and he outlined how his time in Montreal cemented that belief.
“I was getting good spars off all of the lightweight guys over there. I was giving the lads some good spars. If you can go in there with guys who are on winning streaks as UFC lightweights, it does give you that confidence to say ‘I’m going back to 155.’
“I know Joe (Duffy) had talked about 145, but then he went out and he went 2-0 as a lightweight with UFC and he got his bonuses on top of that. That was a perfect start for him so there was no need to be dropping down. If you’re winning at one weight, you shouldn’t feel the need to drop down.
“Diego Sanchez is another prime example. He was winning fights at lightweight and winning fights at welterweight, for me personally, I don’t think that cut to featherweight suited him last weekend. He had to cut all of that weight and then he went out and got beat. I don’t necessarily think a big weight cut is the way forward.”
Redmond also highlighted that returning to Cage Warriors, the promotion that produced Irish champions Conor McGregor, Chris Fields, Cathal Pendred and Neil Seery, was a “perfect situation” for him.
“Most of my wins have come with Cage Warriors, I’m very happy with them, it’s a perfect situation really. They’re a great organisation and I’m really glad that they’re back. When they left there was a big void there with European MMA.
“They don’t just match you with anyone just to put on a fight, they match you with guys that are going to give you a good fight, and guys that are around the same level. I’m ecstatic to see them back. It’s not only a good thing for me, but a good thing for Irish and European MMA. It’s really worked out for me that they are starting to get things going again just as I’ve left the UFC.”
Although fans will be excited about Redmond’s next outing, the Dubliner could shed no light on the rumour that Cage Warriors have struck up a deal to become one of the promotions streamed live on UFC’s Fight Pass. ‘Redser’ also claimed that he has yet to be given a date or an opponent for his CWFC return.
“I haven’t got a clue about Fight Pass. Andy Ryan and Eric O’Keefe were talking to Graham Boylan and they organised everything, but they are back next year 100 percent and I’m delighted that I’m going to be part of that.
“I’d like to say I’ll be back fighting in the first quarter of next year. I would imagine that’s when it will be. If they’re aiming to put on shows it will probably be the first quarter of the New Year. There were rumours that they were going to have two shows this side of Christmas, but obviously that’s not going to happen.
“Again, we don’t have a clue about opponents. The main goal was to find a new home for me to get me back to winning ways. I feel Cage Warriors is the place to do that with regard to opponents and fights.”
@PetesyCarroll
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