Patrick “The Hooligan” Holohan is part of the Irish invasion in the UFC. Fight fans are now becoming very aware of this new surge of fighters coming in under the tutelage of John Kavanagh. The most notable fighters in the bunch are Cathal Pendred, Aisling Daly, Conor McGregor, and the honorary Irishman of the bunch Gunnar Nelson, who actually fights out of Reykjavik, Iceland.
I had the chance to talk with “The Hooligan” and if you’re looking for a technical breakdown of his training or what it is like to train with McGregor, you’re going to be disappointed; however, if you want to get a good feel for what kind of man Patrick Holohan is, then keep reading. You’ll be glad you did.
Aaron Robbins: Patrick, how are ya doing?
Patrick Holohan: “Excellent man, just sitting here sipping on an Americano.”
AR: I noticed you post a lot about coffee and tea. Just recently you posted a pic of your personal bag of tea that you brought from home.
PH: “Of course, I’m a tea man. I wouldn’t be coming here and drinking that counterfeit tea. You know that Irish people have the best tea, did you know that? Can I tell you a story?”
AR: Go for it.
PH: “OK, the English used to import the good tea into Ireland and they used to give us all this shit. They happened to called it Indian because they happened to get the mix or the blend from India. They grew the blends over in India because they conquered it. They threw all these blends all different kinds mucked up into Ireland and it just turned out that the blend that they made was beautiful. So that’s how we got out blend of tea.
If anybody out there wants to make a tea called Paddy’s tea, contact Silverback Management. (laughs) I wouldn’t put my name to it unless it was absolutely beautiful. We would have to do some testing, have you ever seen tea testing. (slurps several times) that’s a job isn’t it? It’s so technical, people don’t understand what goes into it. Tea was huge when I was growing up. You get done with school and get a boppy of tea, that’s what they called it when I was growing up. My grandmother loved tea. My grandfather loved tea, and they used to battle over it. They had to have to separate brands in the house.”
AR: This is going to be a great talk. Patrick, tell us a little bit about where your from.
PH: “Oh my hometown? My hometown is Dublin. It’s actually a kind of town in Dublin called Tallagh. It’s a pretty cool place, you know what I mean. It’s your own type of people, I must say. The place I come from in Tallaght is called Georgetown. There is a lot of good energy in the place.”
AR: So what’s going on over there, Ireland seems to be producing one bad-ass after another.
PH: “Oh man we were born bad-asses, you know what I mean? It’s a whole nation of bad-ass people. You push Irish people in a corner, and it empowers us. We use that as the fuel to excel in a lot of things like this. We have always excelled at combat sports. We never really got medals in the Olympics unless it was boxing. Combat is in us. As a nation Ireland struggled for a long long time. That puts good genes and strong credentials into people.”
AR: So what’s happening lately with Irish fighters in the UFC is no surprise to you then?
PH: “No, No over the time scale John (Kavanagh) put this together. It was just like a perfect storm that happened. We have been developing together and using each other to sharpen our skills . We have developed mentally, and developed our skills together and just stuck together and we know each other inside-out. I think that has a lot to do with it.
“John is the man, he’s not a drill sergeant. He’s not in the gym demanding you do things. If you want to do things for yourself, you do things for yourself. He always let me explore my own game, and be artistic with my Jiu Jitsu and my fighting style. He’s only ever given my warnings, he’s never told me ‘you can’t do that.’, there’s no cans or cant’s there’s a time and a place for everything. He just gives me warnings, and wants me to keep the high percentage techniques, that’s what he wants. He’s like the Master Splinter of MMA.” (laughs)
AR: So you are his Ninja Turtles?
PH: “Definitely yeah, I’m the orange one. I’m the ginger turtle.”
AR: (Laughing) Oh man, that is awesome. OK now that I’ve composed myself, give us your thoughts on the upcoming fight in Halifax. Any comment on Louis Gaudinot?
PH: “It’s done, it’s done now. Louis is doing what ever he is doing, and I’m out in Canada here fighting on Saturday night and so is the other guy Chris (Kelades). He’s going to have a good time and I’m going to have a good time. Where ever Louis is, he is doing whatever he is doing. I never got a good explanation why he isn’t fighting. I think he saw my CV and started thinking that he didn’t want to fight. I mean I would be thinking about it as well. My CV speaks for itself. Do you use the word CV here? No, resume, that’s what you say. CV we call it, so my resume speaks for itself. We have been putting in hard work for a long long time. The proof of what we can do is there, you can see it.”
AR: Give us your thoughts on Chris.
PH: “Chris, the guy I’m fighting? There is no difference between how a coward and a hero feels, it’s the actions that define them. This guy is taking me on with five days notice. He’s the only opponent that stepped up and I respect him for taking the fight. I wouldn’t have a fight if it wasn’t for him. That doesn’t change the love loss though, when that door closes we are going to fight for 15 minutes and that’s all that matters.”
AR: That’s a great way to look at it. You’re pretty vocal about being a family man. Would you mind giving the fans an idea of what it’s like to train and travel while having a family?
PH: “Well I’m not with my son’s mother at the moment, you know how it goes. So sometimes I’m a UFC fighter and sometimes I’m a dad. You have to make that transitions through the week. I take my boy three days a week. I get him up and take him to school. Sometimes I go back and get another hour back in bed. Then I go to the gym and I usually teach in the evening. I do some sessions or work what’s been in my head. I’ve said before that I’ll dream a technique, sometimes I’ll dream of it. They become real techniques and I work them into my game.
“It’s hard to raise a son, but the rewards are amazing. It’s tough to teach a six-year-old that sometimes you might be a little cranky when you’re trying to make weight. He’s just an amazing kid and he knows. He does amazing things. He has his mother take pictures of him and send them to me so dad knows what’s going on. He’s very clever. I’ve put a lot of time into him, and a lot of thought about what kind of dad I want to be. When I was growing up I didn’t a have somebody to show me how to be a fighter.
“I know what I was missing back when I was a kid. I still bring him back to the streets where he is from. He gets into his tussles and his punch-ups, and I let him get at it. It’s going to make him tough and instill some good stuff in him.”
AR: Besides your son, what do you miss most about Ireland when you have to leave to fight?
PH: “I love the air, I love the smell, and how fresh it is. Tallaght, the place where I live, is kind of a city place. It’s built up, but I can get in my car and drive ten minutes and I’m in the wilderness nearly. It’s absolutely amazing, I love the fact of that. It can be unplanned and all of a sudden I’m walking in the mountains; my dog is with me, and those are the things that make me happy in life.”
AR: I gotta get to Ireland. Before we wrap up, is there anything else you want your fans to know about you Patrick?
PH: “Even you saying that I have fans is crazy to me, but yeah I have a good thing going on. It’s a Hooligan tee-shirt that is for sale over at the Shoptagon, and 25% of the proceeds go to a place in Dublin that helps people deal with depression. It’s a place that you can ring and just talk about things if your mind isn’t in a place where you think it should be; if you’re not secure with your mind. It called Pieta House, and I’m happy to be able to help them out. The name will be on my shorts this week. It’s a place close to my gyms heart.”
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