Welterweight prospect Ian Coughlan is viewing his fight with Constantin Gnusariev at Bellator Dublin next week as his 'big break'.
The 1-0 professional is a renowned judo champion, but now has a chance to showcase himself on the undercard of one of the most anticipated Irish MMA cards of all time.
Speaking with Irish Mirror, Coughlan said: "This is huge for me.
"When the fight got made I was saying, this is the big opportunity that I've been waiting for.. This is my big break.
"This is really it, in my judo career I never got given my chance and now I've got what I've been waiting for after having a bunch of fights cancelled, and I just need to take it."
It's one of two big Team Ryano vs SBG Ireland fights on the card, the other being Keith McCabe vs Philip Mulpeter, and Coughlan is quite respectful of Gnusariev's skillset.
"I watched his last fight, and I thought 'this guy is a good fighter'," Coughlan said. "He was wrestling a lot in that one, and while I think he'll wrestle in this one too, he was really going for it because he was against a really good striker.
"He's a very good wrestler, a good athletic fella, maybe a bit shorter than me and stocky, overall I think he's a good fighter.
"There are a lot of good grapplers in SBG, but for me judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is my area.
"I do think though that maybe his wrestling is at a higher standard than my judo so maybe it's up to him where the fight goes, but I'm very comfortable wherever he chooses."
Tickets for Bellator Dublin are on sale now through Ticketmaster.ie and Bellator.com , as well as the 3Arena box office.
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