Paddy ‘The Hooligan’ Holohan is a man of renown in international MMA. But he is nothing short of a legend on the Irish scene.

During his 10-year career, Holohan rose to prominence within Irish MMA before going on to compete in the UFC. In his fifteen bouts, he netted twelve victories, one draw and only two losses. An alumnus of the Straight Blast Gym – which also produced his longtime friend and team mate Conor McGregor – he made headlines when he won a ‘Fight of the Night’ award in UFC’s Fight Night 54.

Forced into early retirement by health concerns, Paddy hasn’t lost his drive. He has designed and recently opened a new gym, SBG Tallaght. “There were a lot of late late nights and it was heartbreaking at times,” he says of the battle to get SBG off the ground. “We had our ups and downs. Sometimes it was happening and sometimes it wasn’t – but we got there in the end. The thing that kept me going was that I knew that it was going to be a success, because of the amount of people that were interested in it before I had even started setting it up. That was a huge motivational boost I received from the people of Tallaght – they got behind me big time.”