CAGE IDOL’S TURBULENT CHILDHOOD IS INSPIRATION
Sunday Mail
But away from the octagon, the first Scot to join the Ultimate Fighting Championship was battling to stop his life falling apart.
The 36-year-old – nicknamed The Hammer – saw his short marriage to wife Dawn collapse amid disputes about how committed he was to the sport.
It triggered a breakdown compounded by the long-lasting effects of a tough childhood growing up in care and by a legal row that left him unable to fight.
Rob and Dawn, 30, had been together for more than five years when they were married in front of 100 of their family and friends at Barony Castle Hotel in Eddleston, near Peebles, in the Borders, in November 2017.
The couple had met through a friend, who regularly trained with Rob.
Rob said: “The day we got married was honestly one of the best days of my life. We actually met through fighting – through a friend I trained with... but Dawn hated my fighting.
“It’s not an easy life for the people around you to put up with. You can’t be the same person. Everything you do is about preparing for the fight.
“The people you love can’t be your number one priority when you are training for a fight – and that’s hard.
“Dawn wanted me to have a normal job, work nine to five. I could see why.
“Then when I couldn’t fight, because I was stuck in a contract situation with no end in sight, I thought I could kill two birds with one stone. I thought that by retiring, I could make the marriage work.
“Looking back now, I can see I was probably depressed t h e n a n d pr o b a b l y a nightmare to be around.
“I was devastated to be giving up fighting but I was ready for kids and even happy to be a stay-at-home dad.
“But things didn’t work out that way.”
At the height of his distress the 36- year- old became an a lcohol ic and rel ied on sleeping tablets.
Rob, who recently returned to fighting with his first match after 18 months away from the sport, said: “I’ve been through some difficult times in life – but there are people who have been through much worse.
“There were times last year when I couldn’t get out of bed. I’d become an alcoholic, I wasn’t training, I couldn’t fight, my marriage was