Brendan Loughnane is busy putting the finishing touches to a “perfect” camp ahead of his world title bout with champion Tom Duquesnoy at BAMMA 22 next week.

The Manchester fighter insists that everything has gone to plan in his preparation for his featherweight title shot in Dublin on 19 September.

“All the preparation is done now, I am in the right place in my head, my weight’s low. Everything is great. I am in the best place I can possibly be for this world title fight,” Loughnane said.

“I am a true martial artist and I go in with the attitude that when the door shuts I have done everything I can do to win this fight.”

Loughnane is facing what many describe as the best global MMA prospect of any weight class in Duquesnoy.
The Frenchman, an expert in Sambo, has amassed a record of 10-1 in his time in the sport and has garnered widespread praise of his potential.

However, Loughnane is rather miffed by it all.

He said: “I don’t know, everyone loves him so much. I think he is good but everyone is going on about him as though he is going to bring some magic into the cage. 

“At the end of the day I just see it as another fight.
“I feel like I am being very underestimated in this fight. Look back at my record, I have got one split decision loss in ten fights. I have been to the UFC, I have been to these high level fights before, it is not a new thing to me.
“I feel like I am being underestimated, but you know, everything will be proved next Saturday.
“Let’s see what the hype is all about. He might be as good as everyone says and he might go in there and kill me in one minute. Who knows, it is a fight.”

Loughnane has been chasing the challenge of Duquesnoy and the opportunity to fight for the belt for a while and when it seemed the Frenchman had left his belt for the UFC, the fight looked a long way off.

However, a change of heart from Duquesnoy means that Loughnane got his wish.

“I was just over the moon,” he said. “It is just a great fight for everyone isn’t it. We are both great fighters.

“It is what we are here to do, I am not looking to run around BAMMA and avoid people and be in boring fights.
“I want in the best fights possible and I believe that this is the best fight that BAMMA could have put on.

With the fight taking place in Ireland too, Loughnane can hope for some local support and whatever happens he believes the atmosphere will be incredible on a “stacked” BAMMA 22 card.

He added: “Both sets of grandparents are Irish, my name is Brendan Loughnane, you won’t get a much more Irish than that.

“I am sure the Irish will get behind me and nobody likes the French anyway so it works out for me.”
BAMMA 22 takes place on 19 September at the 3Arena, Dublin

Tickets are available http://bit.ly/BAMMA22