LEON HILL HEADED to his grandfather’s grave after his last Cage Warriors win and held up an imaginary belt.
His girlfriend took a picture of him though it’s a snap he’s intent on updating, sooner rather than later.
“When that dream comes true, I’m going back to the grave with that belt and I’m going to stand there,” vowed Hill.
Family means everything to the Drogheda man who will be on the Cage Warriors 161 bill at the RDS on Saturday.
It’ll be the first MMA event at the RDS and Hill is chawked for a welterweight bout with Ieuan Davies of Wales.
‘The Professional’ is chasing a 7-1 record and will hear roars of approval from his legion of cousins who are coming up from Kerry.
They’ll have plenty to cheer about if his prediction of a seventh straight stoppage comes to pass.
“A lot of lads said no,” said Hill of efforts to match him up with an opponent. “A lot of lads were sent forward and a lot of them turned me down because I’m on a six-fight winning streak and I’m finishing every opponent I get in there with.
“I’m going to continue to do that. So not a lot of lads want to get in there with that. And every time I get in there, I fight to the finish. I’m constantly progressing in the fight to get a lad out of there.”
Conor McGregor started out as a Cage Warriors fighter too before being drafted by the UFC.
Fighting out of the Team KF Martial Arts gym in Swords, Hill could be on a similar career path.
Those who coached him up over the last decade or so noticed the talent straight away.
“It’s all about sacrifice and dedication,” said Hill. “When you’re chasing this life full-time, you’re not really working on the side, you’re on social welfare. A couple of sponsors here and there help you out. You’re broke most of the time and you’re getting up every morning to get punched in the face for a living, not a lot of people want to do that.
“But I’m good at it and I knew the potential. Any coach I ever trained under always told me the sky was the limit for me.
“I remember when I joined MMA when I was 14. The coach at the time, my dad pulled him to the side and said to him, ‘What do you think of my young fella? Do you think he can do things?’ I remember hearing the coach at the time saying, ‘He can go all the way, UFC’.”
Hill pursued carpentry for a while, his father’s trade, but he knocked it on the head four years ago to be a full-time fighter.
“There’s a trampoline out the back of the house and me and my Dad used to grapple on it,” he smiled. “And my Dad is a very physical man. He actually would have learned a lot about MMA just from listening to Joe Rogan commentate on the UFC. Me and him used to drill stuff on the trampoline and I used to be giving him trouble when I was a 14-year-old boy.
“He looks at me now and says, ‘It’s crazy how we were on that trampoline 10 years ago and I’m looking at you now – I always knew you had it’.”
Hill says all his bouts are a big deal but winning in the historic RDS event would be extra special.
“It would mean absolutely everything to me,” he said. “This will move me to 7-1 and it would be my third win in seven months with Cage Warriors. That title picture, it’s not too far away.”
* Cage Warriors 161 takes place this Saturday, October 14th in Dublin for a historic event at the RDS which will see Mixed Martial Arts take place at the venue for the first time. Tickets for Cage Warriors 161 are available at ticketmaster.ie.
