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Holohan faces Shane Howell at UFC Boston. James Crombie/INPHO
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Paddy Holohan on lobster dinners, his 'ma' and his love for Robbie Keane ahead of UFC Boston

‘The Hooligan’ is excited for his big fight.

– Niall Kelly reports from Boston

CRANBERRIES AND CARTWHEELS. They’re the two things Paddy Holohan is promising when he faces Shane Howell on Sunday evening.

The Tallaght native is the first of four Irish fighters into the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 59 in Boston’s TD Garden.

A win against Howell would set the tone for another unforgettable green sweep with Cathal Pendred and Norman Parke also on the bill, headlined by Conor McGregor against Dennis Siver.

And ‘The Hooligan’ has already picked out the perfect music for his entrance.

“It’s a Cranberries song — and it’s not Zombie,” he told The42 at Friday’s media day.

“I have it picked a long time. I was going to do it for Dublin but I think I would have went in there at 100.”

Holohan is no stranger to being the first man up. At the sold-out Dublin event last July, he opened the card with a first-round submission of Josh Sampo and sent the crowd in the O2 crazy.

He celebrated that win with a trademark celebration made famous by one of his local idols — and he’s promised that there will be another of Robbie Keane’s iconic cartwheels when he takes care of Howell.

“Definitely! I’ll be representing that Robbie Keane,” he said.

“Robbie Keane is an idol to me. He comes from the same estate as me and I remember as a kid looking up to him. I used to deliver DVDs to his house and I used to be nearly shaking.

“This man made it, this man is a millionaire, he can give his ma and his family everything he wants and he comes from the same place and he’s so humble.”

Holohan comes into Sunday’s bout on the back of his first career loss, a unanimous decision defeat against Chris Kelades in Nova Scotia in October.

It stung but it’s long forgotten about at his stage, he insisted.

“At the end of the day, Nova Scotia was not the worst thing in the world to happen. Nova Scotia was an awesome experience for a guy from a council estate in Tallaght in Jobstown.

“Nova Scotia, I don’t know anyone who’s ever seen that! I got to eat lobster on a pier!

“This is what I’m doing — I’m gathering all these experiences and I’m going to put them all together and this will be my life.

“Winning and losing is not the main thing, learning from the experience is, and that’s what makes me truly happy.

“The guys were asking, are you going to be this character? Who do you appeal to? I don’t know — my ma likes me!

“Do you know what I mean? I don’t do anything bad on people but don’t take my kindness for weakness. I’m as equally as nice as I am vicious.”

Howell is a relative newcomer with just one fight under the UFC banner, a first-round submission against Ray Borg last June.

“To be honest, I think one of the main things that he has going for him,” Holohan said of the American. “He’s kind of unknown.

“People don’t know him, nobody’s asking me questions about him. People knew about Josh Sampo.

“But it’s the same thing to me. I spar serious guys every single day and I’m not in there getting my ass whooped. I don’t think I’ve ever met a guy that could just lay me out.”

Regardless of his opponent, Holohan knows that Sunday evening — flanked by two SBG team-mates and surrounded by family, friends and supporters — will be special.

When it’s all said and done, there’ll be a lot of good memories.

“This could be a fairytale adventure — for me, my whole family, my country, my team, my son. There’s a lot to be gained by going out there very, very focused and popping this guy out.

He added: “When you’re in shape, your body is firing and all the chemicals are coming and you’re ready to fight. But when I’m sitting back in my house and I don’t feel like I can run a few miles, then I can [look back and] say this is mental, this is mad.

“Irish people, we go to folklore. We get to look back on this. We get to sit on a chair some day and have a pint and read back the story.”

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