Adam Walsh, a 23-year-old mixed martial arts fighter from Broughton, is preparing for his professional debut on June 8th at the Bowlers exhibition centre in Manchester.
Walsh, who trains out of Fighting Fit in Manchester, has been training in the sport for seven years and has a very established amateur record, racking up an impressive record of 7 wins 1 draw and only 1 loss. The 23-year-old featherweight was ranked #3 in the UK/Ireland at amateur level and is looking to take the pros by storm.
When talking about the transition from an amateur to a professional competitor Walsh said nothing has really changed and his preparation is very similar, “I train six times a week anyways doing classes all the time so I still feel ready.” Talking about what inspired him to want to do mixed martial arts as a career the 23-year-old spoke about his admiration for some of the athletes at the highest level in the sport. “I remember watching Dominick Cruz vs Demetrious Johnson….It was the first fight I ever sat down and properly watched and thought yeah this is definitely what I want to do.”
When talking about what he wants to accomplish in mixed martial arts Walsh said, he doesn’t want to be one of those guys who just have one or two fights in a big organisation, he wants to have a big impact on the sport. He spoke about the pay grade in MMA and how many people think fighters get paid a lot more than they do. To the casual fan, you just see Conor McGregor getting paid his millions however, there are plenty of fighters in the best promotion in the game, the UFC still not making enough. Walsh spoke about how some fighters on the prelims of those shows are only getting $12,000 to fight, which after having to pay for your flights and accommodation isn’t all that much, “I wanna go in there and change the whole dynamic to how people get paid, I want to make it more even across the board.”
After only losing once in his amateur career, he spoke about how he dealt with his defeat and came back from it, “I think I needed to figure out how to lose.” “I wasn’t really devasted I was more shocked….. It felt like I was watching somebody I liked fighting and just thinking it sucks they lost, it was a strange feeling.” “The year off that I had after that I think I needed, I needed to figure out how to come back from that loss.” Walsh came back in dominating fashion from that defeat, as he picked up two wins in succession over top prospects, Manny Apkan and Corey Fry.
The level of amateur mixed martial arts in the United Kingdom at the moment is at such a high level, with many professionals saying the level of amateurs today was the level of professionals ten years ago. Walsh feels this platform has made him be ready more than ever for his debut.
Walsh’s counterpart in his first professional bout will be Hossein Ghorbani from one MMA Academy, Ghorbani was also a very strong amateur fighter and has had two fights at professional level, losing the first but making a comeback to put on a dominating performance in his second outing. These two are set to put on a great show coming from two of the best gyms across the United Kingdom.
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