Yesterday I did a podcast interview with MMA News Asia where they were interested to get a very candid and personal history about myself and get some insight into the life and mind of an MMA fighter. We discussed my humble beginnings in MMA, about how and when I started training; the joys of winning and the challenges of losing; what I have planned for the future; some discussion on next week’s CFC 19 event and a lot of other bits and pieces.

Listen to the full interview directly below here:

MMA News Asia will continue to present news about MMA in the region and I have been asked to be a guest whenever I can so if you’re interested in signing up to the podcast, then you can do so here via the numerous feeds which include iTunes:
http://www.podbean.com/podcast-add-to-podcatcher?feedurl=http://mmanewsasia.podbean.com/feed

Here is MMA News Asia’s actual post on their site too: Interview With Kian Pham – Cage Fighting Championship Fighter.

Unfortunately due to a rib injury, I’ve had to pull out of my fight on Allegiance 4 which was scheduled to occur in 11 or so days. I spent most of last night contemplating and pondering and running all the possible scenarios in my head as to what to do. My decision to pull out of the fight wasn’t easy. The initial incident occurred last week and I gave myself some rest and the best chance I could in the hope that it wasn’t anything serious and the fight could go on but during a very light warm-up roll last night I felt my rib pop – and after sitting on the side of the mat for 20 mins thinking about other things it could be, realized that the fight was not going to happen because it felt the same as the last time I hurt my rib.

I don’t know if it was disbelief or me trying to search for a hopeful scenarios before I reached the acceptance stage. Even when I got home and after messaging the promoter and even sending a message to my opponent to express my apologies I still searched for avenues to fight. But in the end, what weighed it up for me was the potential additional damage I might end up doing to myself in the event of a bad outcome. The fact that last time I injured my ribs, I didn’t listen to my body and came back after 5 weeks (out of a prescribed 8 weeks) and ended up severely tearing my rib cartilage worse and was out for 3 more months. So with that experience and that lessoned learned, I think that’s what’s helping me feel more at ease with this disappointing outcome. But man am I feeling shattered at the moment to be so close to the fight and to get injured like this. And out of all things, the ribs – which take forever to heal…

So my guess is I’ll be out of action for another 8 weeks again which is going to really suck because it really sucked last time. This will probably lead into Christmas and NYE so might even be 10-12 weeks off. All that great conditioning and fitness is gonna be down the drain and will require very hard work to get back. I have to try and keep active somehow but need to make sure I heal right too.

Ahhh… so depressing… But all I can so is believe things happen as they’re meant to and this is just another thing I have no control over so all I should do is just to move forward from here…

There are mornings where I wake up and head to the gym and it’s deserted. There’s times I need to squeeze in a bit more training and everyone else is done for the day or taking the day off. The nights and weekends where I just can’t do the things everyone else is doing. Or eat the things everyone else is eating. MmmMMm… food….

Sometimes the journey of fighting can be a lonely road. And this is probably not just limited to fighting, but for anyone who pursues a passion or a dream or just wants to reach their potential. There are days where it feels like all motivation has been zapped from your body and you’re trying to get to the end of the week, let alone the end goal which seems so far away. And sometimes compounded by the feeling that you’re the only one on this journey. But it should never get you down. It should never break your spirit.

I’ve had enough losses and negatives happen to know that the discipline and hard work is exactly what the doctor ordered, and I’ve had enough wins to know that it’ll all be worth it in the end. And as they say, you only get out as much as you put in. That’s with anything. The more you invest of yourself into something, the bigger the gratification in the end.

So yeah, on those early mornings when the only thing keeping me company in the gym is the sounds from the radio, or after the countless sessions which can take both a physical and mental toll, I remind myself that most of the moments of satisfaction and feelings of gratifications in my life, have come from doing things that even though different to what everyone else was doing, it was exactly what I wanted to be doing. A life you could look back on and say you did the things you wanted. You achieved the things you set out to. So knowing that as the end product, then the days where you’re feeling momentarily deflated seem so much easier to get through…

It is official. I will be fighting as the main event on Allegiance 4 on October 29th for what will be Australia’s first MMA Flyweight Title. The event will take place at Port Macquarie Panthers and my opponent will be Jarrett ‘Juarez’ Owen from Advance Martial Arts in QLD. Jarrett just came off a very impressive submission win over Mark O’Callaghan who I was scheduled to fight at CFC18 before O’Callaghan pulled out due to injury. So I think it is appropriate that I fight Jarrett for the number 1 spot in Aus at 57kg and lay claim to the title of Lord of the Flies.

I would like to thank the promoter of Allegiance, Jason Harris for giving me this opportunity and will make sure I bring everything I got and put on a good show. Everyone I’ve heard speak about the Allegiance show who has participated in one has said nothing but good things about the show, so I am excited to be fighting on such a top quality event.

There’s about 5 weeks to go, so it’s heads down, bums up if I want to keep that belt on this side of the NSW border. I will continue to post my fight diaries in the lead up and can’t wait till Oct 29th!

For more info on Allegiance visit: http://www.allegiancepromotions.com.au/

A big thanks to Luke Pezzutti who is a major part in my success and all the guys at the Lion’s Den Academy, whether you’ve been my sparring partners or just showing up at training and being a part of the good training atmosphere. Definitely the best bunch of guys and girls around and best gym to be a part of.

A big thank you to all my family, friends and fans who came to watch and support. Apologies for such a short fight but I have to take the wins however I can these days, so hopefully you can understand.

Also a thank you to my sponsors who helped me out for this fight. Please check out their sites if you’re in need of their stuff.

• Reversal Australia (Fight Apparel)
• All American EFX (Supplements)
• Zeal Fightgear (Gloves)

I was never really as nervous as I should be before fights. And even when I was, I was thinking about the wrong things so the nerves I did have probably weren’t directly related to the job at hand. And that job was to fight for your life. To go in there for 15 minutes and give it everything I’ve got. There came a time when I took a more relaxed approach and decided to think of the fight like any other sporting competition which I thought would help remove the nerves. But I’ve come to believe that being nervous is a good thing. It switches you on and prepares you for what’s to come. Going into a fight without nerves can lead to complacency and not lack of urgency when you should be scrambling your ass off. It creates a sense of desperation for everything.

So tonight when I walk out to the cage, I’ll tell myself that the butterflies that I’m feeling is exactly what I need. It’s my body’s natural response to say I’m ready for anything that’s about to come. I’m ready because of the 8 weeks I prepared for this so there’s nothing more I can do but to go out and give it my all. I’m going to look to be first at everything and go out and take what is mine because nothing is going to be given to me. When I’m on the back foot and gasping for air those nerves are going to help me dig deep and go that extra distance needed.

It’s only 15 minutes. You just have to give it everything you got. What happens after that 15 minutes doesn’t matter. Once that cage door closes, nothing else matters but that next 15 minutes inside that cage…

Other Diary Entries…

So, I will now be fighting Kyle Montgomery from South Coast NSW who trains under Mick Cutajar. The fight will be at a new lower weight of 57kg (125lbs) which will make it a true flyweight fight then. Mick’s been around the sport for a very long time so fighting anyone from his gym should be a good tough fight. I definitely won’t be any less focused than my previous match up.

So only two weeks to go and I’m excited to get back in the cage again for the first time since October 2010. Hopefully my new opponent’s training camp and preparation is a good one with no injuries, and hopefully there’s fireworks come August 26th.

*UPDATE – Another replacement* – 15th August

So just got word that Kyle Montgomery has pulled out of the fight. Fortunately for myself there was another backup fighter from South Australia by the name of Mike Lim who will be my new opponent. From what I’ve been told there won’t be a height disadvantage for myself as I was going to have previously so have to tweak the strategy…. yet again. Still 12 days out, so shouldn’t be too disruptive, but more importantly, i’m just glad I still have a fight.

Other Diary Entries…