Ireland will send a strong squad of fighters to the inaugural MMA Super Cup, the biggest amateur mixed martial arts event in the world.
The selection process for the tournament has unearthed some new Irish talents with plenty of potential to become MMA superstars like Conor McGregor in the coming years.
One such prospect is Jordan Furey. The man from Letterkenny is one of Ireland's main medal hopes, boasting a stellar record of six wins, with five of those victories coming by way of knockout.
"What makes him high potential is he shows no mercy, he has got killer instincts," said head coach Liam Óg Griffin.
"That is his secret weapon, he’s well rounded everywhere, he’s got great striking, great wrestling, great jiu-jitsu, but more than anything else is the killer instinct and I think that is what he is going to bring to the tournament.”
Ireland will particularly fancy their chances in the women's divisions at the tournament. Eabha Cruise will be representing Ireland in the flyweight division. The talented kickboxer, who trains under Conor McGregor's coach John Kavanagh at SBG, was victorious in her MMA debut at the world championships last year.
Ireland's strongest medal contender will be Kerry Ann Vernon, whom Óg Griffin spoke about in glowing terms.
"Our bantamweight superstar Kerry Ann Vernon, she’s got silver in the world cup, she got silver in the world championship, this girl has gone through the wimp to warrior program and she’s got some knockout power, so she’s going to be one to watch out for as well, she's also got that killer instinct.”
A strong team of 12 fighters will be sent to represent Ireland at the tournament which takes place in The Kingdom of Bahrain between March 8th and March 12th.
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