MMAnews exclusive: Aisling Daly interview

Thank you I’m over the moon about it. I heard about the Bellator tournament early on this year and really wanted to take part. I made a conscious effort then to make some waves on the internet to get some notice. I also got a new international manager Manos Terzitane who got in contact with Bellator and pushed for me to be in the tournament.

I was always very sporty as a child and I participated in alot of sports. In my local youth club they offered activities such as soccer, basketball and art. These were not so interesting to me so when the club offered Karate as an activity it excited me and I decided to give it a try.

I was first introduced to BJJ at about 14 years old. My Karate Instructor at the time Ian Ward was already training BJJ with John Kavanagh in SBG. Once a week after karate training a group of us would do some BJJ basics. It was maybe another year or 2 before I left karate training and started to focus on MMA, then at 18 after receiving my blue belt from Matt Thornton at a seminar I joined SBG and began training under John Kavanagh.

The Ultimate Fighting Fitness Classes are all about fitness for women. The class is more focused on cardio and endurance drills that I’d use to get ready for a fight. The ladies can do the drills and exercises to achieve a high level of fitness but the class doesn’t involve any contact, so basically it’s getting fit like a fighter without the contact.

The time I spent with Cage Rage was great, they really seemed interested in promoting female MMA within the Uk and Ireland. They ran into some financial difficulty in the end and that’s how I stopped fighting for them. I suppose it’s good that happened as I probably wouldn’t have gotten this opportunity I have now otherwise. The 5 fight win streak is now 9 and I have no plans to stop at that so maybe I can talk about the streak if it ever ends!

I don’t think the same problems exist the US at they do in Europe for finding fights. The scene is way more active, there’s alot more girls fighting and there’s alot more competiton aswell as platforms to showcase skills. There’s so much activity going on at roots level that just isn’t really talked about in the media. I suppose there’s lots of opportunity in the states to fight just not all girls are fortunate enough to get the big contracts. In Europe the scene is still pretty small with little opportunities.

I think Lisa Ward is a great opponent, she’s highly skilled, has a great reputation & has been around this game longer than me. I really can’t wait to fight her, it’s the perfect opportunity to display my skills and show the world what Ais the Bash is capable of!

Physically there is no part of the work out I find too demanding. My body is a fantastic machine with great cardio and endurance. Although the toughest drills we do are usually based around strongman training things like prowler runs, sled drills and farmers walks are all great for getting work capacity up.

Thanks very much for interviewing me! 🙂