Paul Redmond wants to return to Lightweight for next UFC bout

Despite a plethora of pleas from Irish fans since the announcement of this weekend’s UFC card in Dublin, Paul Redmond will not take to the Octagon on Saturday in the 3 Arena.

According to Redmond, he thought his days were numbered after picking up his second loss under the promotional banner in Glasgow back in July. However, when he still had not got his marching orders from Zuffa and the Dublin card was announced, he figured “it made sense” for him to be on the card.

“I thought it made sense to put me on the card,” he explained. “Honestly, I thought I was gone after my last fight, but when I heard they were coming to Dublin I thought it would be easier to have me fight because I’m already here – I don’t need flights paid for or anything like that. I’m as clueless as anyone as to when I’m going to fight again.

“I would’ve loved to experience my hometown crowd, but it just wasn’t meant to be. I’ll probably end up in Brazil fighting some hometown hero in my next fight, but they’re the brakes.”

‘Redser’ returned home earlier this week after a month of training at Tristar ahead of Saturday’s event. The Dubliner is full of praise for the Montreal facility that honed the craft of one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time, Georges St Pierre.

“Tristar was great,” said Redmond. “There are a load of really good coaches over there and there were a lot of good bodies to train with. Everyone is sound over there, there was nobody trying to smash my head in and I’ve been in gyms before where people try to do that just because you’re a new face. It was hard training but everyone was great.

“I’ve been over to American Top Team in the past and they had some really well known fighters over there like Mike Brown, he was the WEC champ at the time. Thiago Alves was there and Thiago Silva was knocking about too. At the end of the day these guys are all on the mats like the rest of us, the only difference is they have a bigger bank statement than me.

“What I found over in Tristar was, the likes of Georges and Rory (MacDonald), they don’t have big egos at all. They come over to you and have a chat like anyone else and they’ll show you a few different things. Even if you’re sparring one of the guys that have been training in Tristar for a long time, they’ll coach you and help you out.

“I was sparring with Nordine Taleb over there at one stage in the cage and Rory was watching on and giving me tips on what I should do against his mate. They were really good to me, the whole team. I can’t thank Firas, Eric and all the other guys enough.”

“There’s a good mix of different nationalities in the Tristar dorms and it’s good craic too. I was rooming with Stevie Ray over there for two weeks, he’s a very funny guy. Joe (Duffy) and Tom Breese were staying next door to me. All of the other guys were really sound to be honest.

“It would make sense to head over for a camp in the future, I’ll definitely be heading over next year for a month anyway. Andy (Ryan) was the one who pushed me to get out there. It’s been good to train with some different people. Eric (O’Keefe) invited me over and they didn’t want money for my training or anything like that, so it was a win-win situation for me. It just made sense and if an opportunity comes up in the future I’ll take it again.”

It’s no secret that Redmond has had some trouble getting down to featherweight since signing on the dotted line with UFC. The toehold specialist is adamant that he does not want to fight at featherweight anymore, but insisted that he needs to wait for UFC to give him the option of moving back up to 155 lbs before it can happen.

“Ideally I’d like to go back to 155 lbs. I’m ready to go in three weeks time to make lightweight, that’s all I ever need. I’m fit, I’ve been training hard, so I’m ready for when the call comes.

“I don’t want to fight at featherweight anymore. It’s too much of a hard cut. It’s too much water to shift at the last minute to make 145. I usually have to cut 15 lbs of water to make that weight.

“Even looking at the lightweights knocking around the fighter hotel, I’m just as big as them. Some of them are 5’8’’ and 5’9’’, I’m 5’10’’ and I’ve got a bit of muscle on me now. I wasn’t out muscled by any lightweight fighter at Tristar so I know I can give anyone at the weight a good run for their money. I’ll have to wait for the UFC to give me that option, and I still haven’t heard anything about that. At the moment, I’m still a featherweight.

“Andy has told Joe Silva that I can be ready for lightweight on three weeks’ notice if there is a pullout or anything like that. I don’t really want to have to rush it in on two weeks’ notice, but three weeks is fine. I’ll fight anyone at 155, and ideally I’ll get a fight in December so I can get a full camp behind me.”

@PetesyCarroll