IF JOHN KAVANAGH is considered the Godfather of Irish MMA, then Andy Ryan must be its favourite uncle.
Kavanagh has achieved more notice in recent times, but the duo have stood side-by-side at the vanguard of the sport on this island since before the turn of the millennium.
Most notably, Ryan is responsible for fostering the talents of UFC flyweight Neil Seery and Paul Redmond, one of Europe’s finest lightweights, at his eponymous gym in Finglas, north Dublin.
However, since long before the heady days of sold-out UFC events in the 02 Arena, he has been one of the main protagonists in the narrative of Irish MMA, which had the humblest of beginnings.
Prior to being introduced by a mutual friend in 1999, Ryan and Kavanagh had separately began running small classes out of school halls and community centres. They then took the decision to pool their knowledge and offer instruction as a coaching team.
At the time, with only a handful of gyms scattered around the country, MMA did not even meet the required criteria to be considered a minority sport.
“Back then there wasn’t full-time facilities,” Ryan explains. “It was just small pockets of places in Limerick, Dublin, Belfast and Cork. We were trying to learn on the job. I was trying to be a fighter and a coach, but John (Kavanagh) said to me that I needed to make a choice, so in 2005 I made the call to be a full-time coach.”
Indeed, it’s no exaggeration to say that Ryan and Kavanagh were balancing the role of student and teacher at that moment in time. Each were seeking to learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but with no black-belt grade practitioners in Ireland, they were forced to go abroad to progress the art.
They also took seminars from fighters such as BJ Penn, who had been competing in Japan and was making his way back to America via Europe. Ryan was eventually awarded his black-belt by Rodrigo Medeiros, whose lineage in the form goes back to one of its forefathers, Carlson Gracie.
Unlike Kavanagh, Ryan had a wealth of experience in the traditional martial arts before turning his hand to MMA. Aged six, he started training in Judo and would go on to represent Ireland all over the globe, including at the world championships.Growing slowly but surely, their team would soon be under the SBG banner, before Ryan took the decision to go out on his own. Given the scope of the sport, his expectations were prudently-tempered.
“It was John who actually pushed me to open my own gym, so we were SBG north-side for a couple of years. I decided I needed to establish my own team in 2007 and we called it Team Ryano. I was used to running gyms in Judo; I knew how to run a class, so it was nothing new to me. I was also working, so once I could put on a good class, I was happy enough.”
He says he noticed an upturn in interest and participation around 2005, which correlated with some of the UFC’s earliest trips to England. Looking back, did he ever expect the present status quo?
“I don’t want to sound cocky, but yeah. What I’ve always tried to push to my lads is that we can we beat anyone. Why can’t we be in the UFC? Why can’t we win a Cage Warriors title? You have to have that belief, or you’ve got no chance.”
As far as his coaching-ethos goes, Ryan maintains that for a fighter to stand any chance of reaching the highest level, he or she must, above all else, be perpetually-diligent and eager to improve.
“I tell the guys who want to make it that they have to treat it like it’s their profession. I say to them if they’re not up here making sacrifices, training two times a day and doing their road work in the morning, they can forget about it. You can’t just show up on a Tuesday and Thursday and expect to be a world champion.
“What I try to push to the guys is not to just train for a fight, but to be up here learning. There’s nothing worse than seeing someone do an eight week training-camp for a fight and then they piss off for three weeks. You need be learning between fights, doing normal classes and being a student.”
Neil Seery is one of Ryan’s oldest pupils and in 2013 became his first world champion, when defeating Mikel Silander to clinch the inaugural Cage Warriors flyweight title. Late last February, on just two weeks’ notice, Seery got the call to face Brad Pickett at UFC Fight Night 37 in London. Although Seery came up just short that night, Ryan was elated that his protégé was now among the sport’s elite.
“It was great for him (Seery). If someone puts the work in, I like to see them being rewarded. And, there’s probably 10 other guys who put the work in like Neil, but didn’t get that shot. I was so happy for him to get that recognition after all those years.”
Seery would go on to beat Phil Harris in Dublin last July, before having to withdraw from a scheduled bout with Richie Vaculik in November due to injury. Now back to full-fitness, he meets Chris Beal in Stockholm next month. Ryan expects a busy year for the flyweight.
“If Neil was five years younger, I’d have made him have a longer rest. But he’s 35, and it’s hard to get fights in the UFC – there’s always guys looking to fight. So, as soon as Neil could train, we started looking for a fight, and we’re hoping for about three next year.”
Ryan foresees Paul Redmond, currently 7-1 in Cage Warriors, joining Seery at the top-table during 2015. He also believes that nurturing those at the grassroots level is imperative, if MMA’s meteoric rise in Ireland is to be sustained. As a promoter, he tries to harness such talent at his Battlezone FC events.
“We need to keep the momentum going and get the younger guys involved. We have a jiu-jitsu programme for the kids, they start at four and work their way up. Then we have the teenagers doing boxing and MMA classes, so there’s a good age bracket.
“I just do Battlezone to get fights for my lads and make a name for my gym. You’re wasting your time if you want make money or be some sort of superstar. Some people put on shows to be in charge and make a quick buck, but it doesn’t work like that.”
Reflecting on the last decade, he says that the previous 18 months have been pivotal and, if the right steps are taken, should prove seminal for Irish MMA.
“In 2013 and 2014, we started coming into our own. People were taking notice of us. If we keep the momentum going and we show them Irish MMA fighters are serious, it’ll open more doors. That’s what Conor McGregor did, he opened the door for the rest of us.
“We’re not just here to be in the UFC, buy a t-shirt and say we met Dana White. We’re here to get stuck in and win fights.”