I recently caught up with up and coming Scottish starlet, Stephen Clancy, soon after taking his undefeated amateur record to 8-0. Stephen beat Tapology’s number 1 ranked bantamweight, Jake Ngai, in the main event of Braveheart Promotions debut show in Glenrothes, Scotland last weekend.
But, how did the Higher Level prodigy manage to come across martial arts in the first place?
- At what age did you start training in MMA and what made you fall in love with the sport?
I started training MMA at about 4 or 5 maybe. My mum was a dance teacher and I was a super hyper kid who was always getting in fights and stuff in nursery. I was like the only kid on a behaviour card in nursery. Next to my mum’s dance school was a Thai boxing gym and she put me in there for like a few sessions to try to calm me down, and I loved it. I was a but too hyper and kept getting put out and was told I was uncoachable. That’s when I met my stepdad Sean and my older brother Sean Clancy Jr and they would do their own stuff at the side of the class and I joined in with them and I’ve always trained since then.
2. Who are your favourite fighters/influences in MMA?
My favourite fighters at the moment is I|lia Topuria and Islam Makhechev.
3. How would you describe your fighting style?
Fast, Destructive and a few teammates describe me coming out at the start of every round like letting a dog of the leash, haha.
4. With an undefeated amateur record, is there any interest in going to the IMMAF world championships or are you more focused on turning professional?
I was interested in going to the IMMAF but Scotland doesn’t have a team. I’m not allowed to compete as an independent fighter so as much as id love to do it, its very much out of reach. But yeah I’m definitely more focused on going pro. I think maybe one more amateur then look at going pro.
5. You beat UK no.1 Jake Ngai in your last fight, was that the perfect test to get you ready for the pro ranks?
Yeah, Jake was definitely a great test. Really good to show my level and skillset. He’s definitely a good opponent to get me ready for the pro ranks.
6. If there was one rule in MMA you could change what would it be and why?
Yeah, I actually can’t think of a rule that I would change. There’s definitely a grey area with the whole downed opponent thing.. but I don’t know if there is a rule I would want to change to be honest.
7. Favourite training partner?
My favourite training partner is probably my brother [Sean Clancy Jr].
Now that we have managed to learn a lot about Stephen’s life inside the cage, I wanted to find out what his personality was like outside the whacky world of MMA. So we had a quickfire round of random questions.
- What is your favourite TV show?
At the moment its Naruto: Shippuden.
2. Favourite thing to eat outside fight camp?
Probably some birria tacos or just a solid pizza. My favourite sweet treat is probably a chocolate chip cookie
3. If you could have dinner with 3 people past or present who would they be?
Theo Von, Genghis Khan and Rick from Rick & Morty. That’d be a good supper.
4. What is the biggest animal you could beat in a fight?
Is it with or without weapons? With a little knife or something I could probably take on the full animal kingdom, I can’t lie. Without a knife, the biggest animal, I would definitely be able to f*** a giraffe up. That’s pretty big. I could fight a big cat, like a jaguar or something. Not a tiger but I could definitely beat a leopard.
5. Dream holiday destination?
Maybe like Bali, or something like that, somewhere nice and tropical, like Hawaii.
Now you know a bit about more about Higher Level stand out Stephen Clancy, catch his next outing on BMF 14 at the Barnsley Metrodome on October 11th as he challenges Lewis Clarke for the BMF Featherweight Title.
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