‘I won the fight for people of Drogheda’
CIARAN Clarke, the ultimate warrior from Yellowbatter, raised the roof at the 3Arena on Saturday as he scored an impressive victory in the Bellator Dublin MMA show.
Clarke (24) brought hundreds of fans for his featherweight fight with Jamie Faulding and a packed arena erupted when the words ‘and from Drogheda’ sounded out.
Afterwards, Clarke, becoming a cult hero amongst MMA fans in the region, could hardly contain his pride in winning the fight for the people of the town.
‘All of the town supported me. I sold 280 tickets for this, I have the best support there is,’ he stated.
And he said he dedicated the win to the young people who have had so many hard decisions to make in their lives during the present ongoing situation in the town.
THE ultimate warrior from Yellowbatter bought the house down at the 3Arena on Saturday as he scored an impressive victory in the Bellator Dublin MMA show.
Ciaran Clarke (24) brought hundreds of fans for his featherweight fight with Jamie Faulding and a packed arena erupted when the words ‘and from Drogheda’ sounded out.
He got the biggest roar of the night - and it was just the second fight!
Afterwards, Clarke, becoming a cult hero amongst MMA fans in the region, could hardly contain his pride in winning the fight for the people of the town.
‘All of the town supported me. I sold 280 tickets for this, I have the best support there is,’ he stated.
And he said he dedicated the win to the young people who have had so many hard decisions to make in their lives during the present ongoing situation in the town.
“I’m fighting for Drogheda. I grew up with all these lads and whatever happened, someone failed them and I’m fighting for everybody. You can say no to it all. You can say no to drugs, say no to everything.
“I didn’t have a different upbringing from them and some obviously had harder ones than others but I grew up with these people and I got through it and you are able to say no, you just have to,’ was his impassioned plea.
He added, ‘ there is a good thing coming out of Drogheda,’ reacting to all the negative comments there has been about the town.
He has spent the past few months working towards the fight, including sessions with Sean Kilroy Fitness.
He fights out of John Kavanagh’s Straight Blast Gym in Dublin and this was his second pro fight, having beat George Courtney last September.
His profile is likely to grow even more as the town gets behind its next big superstar.