Joe McColgan lands a right hand | Dolly Clew/Cage Warriors
‘The SBG Hunter’ faces undefeated, Mason Jones, for the vacant lightweight title at Cage Warriors 113 on Friday night.
Joe McColgan has the fight of his life ahead of him on Friday night in a moment that could be pivotal for his whole career.
The Northern Irishman was encouraged to get into MMA by his brother, who kept on preaching to him how competitive and physically challenging it was. McColgan (6-2-1) was a keen footballer growing up but had suffered a few injuries and setbacks, which halted his progression in the sport. He took on board what his brother was telling him and went to try out his first ever MMA class in pursuit of another hobby. As the weeks and months went by, McColgan enjoyed the sport more and more while increasing his skill level significantly. He took his first amateur fight on short notice at the age of 22 and has been majorly invested in MMA ever since.
In 2015, McColgan turned professional and was matched against Tom Hogan, who was one of the most-talked about prospects in Ireland at that time, above his natural weight class. ‘The SBG Hunter’ pulled off a submission victory in the third round to take his adversary’s momentum for himself. He followed that performance up with a decision win against current Bellator standout, Peter Queally, and amassed a 4-1 record before running into recent UFC signee, Jai Herbert. McColgan was on the receiving end of a TKO loss after two minutes but didn’t let that defeat affect his confidence whatsoever.
At Cage Warriors Unplugged 2 last September, McColgan was booked in a much anticipated contest against fellow lightweight, Mehdi Ben Lakhdar. Up until that point, he had always balanced training with working a full time job but he accepted redundancy before that bout and thought he’d see what it was like if all of his focus was just on MMA. McColgan had one of the European fights of the year against Ben Lakhdar which resulted in a majority draw before picking up a first round submission victory over Robbie Scott two months later. He’d had two great performances since fully devoting himself to the sport but decided he wanted to get back to work again.
“Training full time is great but I can work too as I’m still getting in all of my sessions,” explained McColgan. “The only thing I lose out on is the recovery but if I’m smart with my nutrition and I have a routine around sleep, I shouldn’t be at a disadvantage. I’ve been in full time employment since January and training hasn’t suffered at all. I got to this level while working a full time job and I can get to the next level doing the same.”
The Fight Academy Ireland product was supposed to face Rafael Macedo at Cage Warriors 113 on Friday night but the Brazilian withdrew late last week with an injury. Luckily for McColgan, top contender, Mason Jones, also had his opponent drop out after getting hurt. With little time left to find replacements for both, the promotion booked them opposite one another with the vacant lightweight belt on the line. McColgan found out about the change with one week left until fight night after receiving a number of missed calls from his coach and he knew immediately that Macedo had pulled out.
“I’ve said before that I didn’t think it was a brilliant styles match up for Macedo and I knew he could see that,” discussed McColgan. “I always suspected that he wasn’t going to make that walk so I rang my coach back. Straight away, I asked him who the replacement was going to be, although I knew he was going to say Mason Jones because he was also looking to get matched. My coach confirmed that was the case but then he said it was also for the title and I was over the moon. I said yes instantly and I still can’t believe I’m getting this shot. I’m continuously pinching myself as it doesn’t really seem true.”
Jones (8-0) is a fast-rising prospect on the European scene and is popular in his home country of Wales. He is yet to taste defeat inside the cage and holds impressive wins over Donovan Desmae and Aleksi Mantykivi. McColgan rates Jones very highly and made it known that he considers the Welshman as the true number one contender in the division, so knows what a victory over him would mean for his own career.
“Jones has beaten all of the right guys and he’s put together a really good streak to be at the forefront of the division,” mentioned McColgan. “I’m glad that it’s him who I’m getting to face because when I beat him, I’ve taken out the number one guy. That solidifies me as the best lightweight outside of the UFC in Europe so it’s perfect.”
“I’m just going to go in there and work him for twenty five minutes at a high pace,” continued McColgan. “I always prepare for five rounds during training and recently I’ve been getting a fresh guy every five minutes. Despite this title shot being on very short notice, I didn’t need extra time to get ready for a fight of this magnitude. I know that I’m going to come out with the win but it could well be a war. If you put two fighters like us together, there is going to be blood.”
At the start of this year, McColgan wrote down a number of goals which he wanted to achieve, including putting a win streak together and challenging for the title. However, he is self-admittedly a very logical thinker so acknowledged that competing for the belt may be unattainable due to the depth of the talent in the division combined with the schedule on the calendar. The fact that this crack at the championship has come sooner than he expected makes the achievement even sweeter. McColgan has seen previous Cage Warriors lightweight title holders Conor McGregor, Stevie Ray and Jai Herbert move on to the UFC, which is a path he fully intends on following.
“In terms of the rest of the year, I still want to fight in Belfast so I’ll defend my newly-won belt there in May,” stated McColgan. “After that, I want to get on the UFC Dublin card and all the stars are aligning for that to happen now. I feel like there are two front runners to get on that card from Ireland, myself and Rhys McKee. If I can put on two good performances like I know I can, then I feel like in my head, I am guaranteed a spot on that Dublin show. The UFC would be getting big value for their money if they were to sign me. Every time I compete, it’s a performance or fight of the night. I’ll bring in the crowd and the atmosphere would be electric. However, my focus is firstly on Mason Jones, then whoever my challenger is in Belfast and then I can move onto the world’s biggest stage!”
Cage Warriors 113 takes place on Friday night from Manchester, England and viewers from UK/Ireland can tune in on UFC Fight Pass at 9 p.m. GMT. Fans in the US can watch from 5 p.m. ET