Following his meeting with fellow undefeated prospect Dylan Hazan tonight, Caolan Loughran expects to leave Rome as Cage Warriors' bantamweight champion and begin to reap the rewards of the fight game.
Earlier in his professional career, 'The Don' was labeled a mouthpiece by many on the Irish scene due to his record being supplemented by wins over unknown opposition. However, since joining the Cage Warriors ranks, and particularly after his stoppage win over former champion Luke Shanks, he’s been heralded as one of the best prospects in Europe.
Having trained alongside the likes of celebrated UFC stars Darren Till and Tom Aspinall at Team Kaobon in Liverpool, his lifestyle appears glamorous to those peering in from the outside. Yet, to even make it this far in his career - "it’s only the beginning", as he constantly reminds himself - Loughran’s story has been one of grit and sacrifice.
In 2018, Ali Maclean, a veteran fighter who moved to Liverpool many years before, reached out to Loughran following a loss he suffered at amateur level. Team Kaobon was at the centre of the MMA world at the time with Till fighting Tyron Woodley for UFC welterweight gold.
Maclean was adamant that Loughran could round out his game under the tutelage of commonwealth wrestler and UFC featherweight Mike Grundy, as well as celebrated head coach Colin Heron.
"The gym I was in was only training two times a week, whereas I was training two times a day," Loughran recalled. "I was wrecked all the time. I’d be training in Belfast once a day, that’s up and down from Tyrone, and then I’d be in Dublin too. One week I had clocked up 880 miles training around Ireland. That was the week I got onto Ali and told him I was coming."
For the guts of a year, Loughran’s ambition was tested. He’d ridded himself of a rigorous commute, but Kaobon was void of home comforts.
"I was sleeping in the gym for 10-and-a-half months. There were no windows or television, it was just a dark room with a light and a bed. It was just me and a wee Brazilian boy sharing a bunk bed. All I did was go from session to session. Looking back, it was really character building, who else can say that they’ve done that!?"
Eventually, the Tyrone man picked up a part-time job in a bar to help make ends meet. Other staff members would scratch their heads as groups of Irish would arrive on the premises and pester their new colleague for selfies.
"I’d be working away and suddenly a load of lads from Belfast, Tyrone or Derry would arrive in and be like, 'Look, it’s Don…why are you working here?’ I’d be like, 'Lads, I’m working here because I’m broke'."
Things got worse for the Tyrone man during Covid. With the business closed, he lost valuable income. As well as that, regional events were pulled all over the UK and Ireland, making it impossible for him to compete. The only silver-lining was Kaobon being allowed to open for training due to them housing what the government deemed 'high-level athletes' with Till, Aspinall and Grundy all competing in the UFC.
With Kaobon one of the few facilities granted permissions to open during that time, fighters came from far and wide, providing Loughran with an opportunity to test his mettle.
"There must have been 30 big name guys on the mat one day. I had no money, no source of income, nothing at this stage. I had a massive cauliflower ear, it was badly swollen and wrestling only makes these things worse. It got so bad that my ear nearly ripped off, it was like the front of my ear fell out. I just kept going. I remember some big names looking at me that day and seeing what I was fighting through," he said, holding the damaged area of his ear.
"I think back on the 10 months living in Kaobon and then that day in particular, and I know I’m on a different level mentally than these other guys."
It’s no secret that Cage Warriors fighters earn a relatively low income compared to the likes of contenders in the UFC and Bellator. With PFL also moving into the European market, they too have a wallet to pay substantially more than the Graham Boylan outfit. One thing rival promotions cannot compete with is the history of Cage Warriors champions being signed by the UFC, a lineage that Loughran wishes to extend.
"The PFL offered me big money in January, not even to fight, just to sign my name on the paper, but Cage Warriors, this is the only way I wanted to do it," he revealed. "It never even crossed my mind to do it any other way. I think about guys like Neil Seery and obviously McGregor, Cage Warriors is steeped in Irish MMA history and I wanted to add my name to that list."
"You live off your sponsorships and I’m very lucky with the sponsors I have," he added. "A couple of Irish-Americans have jumped on board for the last couple of fights. They’ve really helped me, but up until January I was still working in the bar as I was preparing for a world title fight. Thankfully, I was able to pack it in to fully focus on this."
If Cage Warriors is still the path from the Irish scene to the UFC, it’s time for the conveyor belt to start moving again. For Irish mixed-martial-arts, the bases are loaded in terms of fighters who currently hold titles - Rhys McKee is the welterweight champion and Paul Hughes holds the featherweight title - and are awaiting calls from the UFC.
Failure hasn’t even entered the mind of Loughran. He’s already found three potential locations for a celebratory pint of Guinness for Sunday’s party in Rome. Unlike McKee and Hughes, due to Team Kaobon’s history with the UFC, he doesn’t think he’ll be waiting too long for a call from the UFC should he secure the gold on Saturday night.
His bank balance might be on life support, but his hopes and dreams of making it to the big dance and competing against the best fighters in the world are very much alive.
"Money might be tight, but I’m sitting in a hotel lobby in Rome and I’m about to compete in my first world title fight. If I died tomorrow, I’d die a happy man. This is living to me."
