After an impressive second round submission victory at Cage Warriors 84 on Friday night, I was able to catch up with Irish born Darren O’Gorman to discuss his most recent performance and what’s next for the 5-2 Cage Warriors Bantamweight prospect?
Q. After a somewhat difficult first round, what was your strategy going into the second?
A. My game plan going into round two was to start using more angles and not throw any kicks on the centre line as that was what resulted in getting the take down in round one.
Q. It looked like Bryan Creighton (Darren O’Gorman’s opponent at Cage Warriors 84) may have hurt you a couple of times, landing some big shots in round one. How badly were you hurt?
A. He landed one good over hand in the first, looking back on the video it appears that I looked rocked but I didn’t feel in any danger myself in there and think it looked worse than it was.
Q. When would you like to fight next (perhaps in Ireland) and do you have an opponent in mind?
A. I have nothing planned now but will take whatever they (Cage Warriors) offer me. Yeah, I would love to fight in Ireland again if they have a show there soon, it’s always best to fight in front of my home crowd. If not, I’ll be glad to be on whatever card they can give me.
Q. I was impressed with the support that you had in London (Darren’s fight was the first on the prelim card of CW84 and one thing that struck me was the number of Irish flags in the crowd and support he had so early on). Could you perhaps go into some detail about that support and how crucial it was on the night?
A. I had a nice crowd shouting for me alright, but it wasn’t half the extent of what it usually is, the timing of the show and having been matched on short notice lead to a lot of my usual crowd having to skip this trip. I think having had enough time to get the usual crowd over, they would have lifted the roof off in there. Having a good following plays a major part, the crowd can really help push you on at times of struggle inside the octagon as I never want to let them down when I’m in there.
Q. Who is your favourite MMA fighter and do you have a favourite fight of all time?
A. I don’t have an individual favourite fighter but a few names come to mind. I think Cody Garbrandt vs. Dominic Cruz is one of my favourite fights.
Q. What gym do you train out of and who was in your corner on Friday?
A. I am training out of the MMA Clinic at the moment. In my corner Friday night was Michael Russell, Paul Hines and Shane O’Neill. I would also like to give thanks to Chris Carley and Adam Brearly for putting in the time to help me get fight ready.
You can follow Darren O’Gorman on twitter at @DarrenogMMA.
Subscribe
