Straight Blast Gym - Ireland
 |
|
| Est. | 2001 |
|---|---|
| Founded by | John Kavanagh |
| Primary trainers | John Kavanagh (head coach) Owen Roddy (striking) Philip Mulpeter (fitness) Sergey Pikulskiy (wrestling) Karl Cannon (Muay Thai) Tom King (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) Clive Staunton (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) |
| Current titleholders | Conor McGregor Ultimate Fighting Championship (Lightweight Champion: 2016) Luka Jelčić Final Fight Championship (Lightweight Champion: 2016) |
| Past titleholders | Conor McGregor Ultimate Fighting Championship (Featherweight Champion: 2015-16) Cage Warriors Fighting Championship (Lightweight Champion: 2012-13) Cage Warriors Fighting Championship (Featherweight Champion: 2012-13) John Phillips BAMMA (Middleweight Champion: 2016) Frans Mlambo IMMAF World Championships (Featherweight Champion: 2015) Cathal Pendred Cage Warriors Fighting Championship (Welterweight Champion: 2013) |
| Training facilities | Dublin, Ireland |
| Website | www |
Straight Blast Gym – Ireland, known simply as SBG, is a mixed martial arts academy and professional team based in Dublin, Ireland. It is run by John Kavanagh, and is part of Straight Blast Gym International. The team has produced several Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters, including UFC Lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
The gym was founded in 2001 by John Kavanagh, who at the time was self-taught in martial arts. Later that year it became part of Matt Thornton's Straight Blast Gym International (SBGi), a worldwide association of over 35 gyms, after Kavanagh met Thornton at a tournament in Africa. After partnering with SBGi, Thornton awarded Kavanagh his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) purple belt in 2002. Three years later, Kavanagh won gold at the 2005 European BJJ Championship. In 2007, he was awarded his BJJ black belt, making Kavanagh Ireland's first ever BJJ black belt in the process.
In 2009, Tom Egan became SBG's first ever fighter to compete in the UFC. Egan lost to John Hathaway at UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson in Dublin. It wasn't until 2012 that SBG returned to the UFC, when Gunnar Nelson made his debut against DaMarques Johnson at UFC on Fuel TV: Struve vs. Miocic, winning via first-round rear-naked choke. The following year, Conor McGregor made his debut in Sweden. He defeated Marcus Brimage with a first-round knockout, and marked the beginning of a new era of success for the team.
At UFC 189 on July 11 2015, SBG won their first UFC belt. In the main event of the evening, Conor McGregor had been booked to face Jose Aldo for the UFC Featherweight title. Aldo pulled out of the fight due to a rib injury however, meaning McGregor instead faced Chad Mendes for the interim title. McGregor won the fight via second-round TKO, on a card that also featured a loss and a victory for SBG fighters Cathal Pendred and Gunnar Nelson respectively.
...
Wikipedia