Richard Griffin is a British lightweight MMA fighter. He trains out of Pound for Pound Gym and will be taking on Sean Carter at Cage Warriors 60, which will be taking place at The Forum in Kentish Town, London, on Saturday, October 5th. We got the chance to catch up with Richard and discuss his thoughts on the upcoming bout.

Jay Cee: Thanks for taking some time out to speak with me Richard. You have got a fight coming up at Cage Warriors 60 against Sean Carter. What are your thoughts on Sean as an opponent?

Richard: Sean Carter seems to be doing well in his career and he has some good tools in his arsenal. That being said, I like to be tested, but he is still just a man and can be defeated.

Jay Cee: How has your training camp and preparation been going?

Richard: I wouldn’t call what I did a “camp”, rather a continuation, I had a couple of fights lined up that I had began training for, but that had be cancelled for one reason or another which was very frustrating to say the least, but I just continued training and when the opportunity came up and I was happy to accept . Sorry, so in answer to your question, I’m fit and ready for a war!

Jay Cee: Did you do your whole camp over at Pound for Pound gym or have you moved around to any other gyms?

Richard: The reason that Pound for Pound Gym suits me so well is that it’s a family and we have a network with other gyms all around that help out, so if anything particular is missing we visit our cousins and train a different aspect and vice versa.

Jay Cee: Tell me about some of the specific coaches and sparring partners you have been working with in preparation for Sean?

Richard: I don’t like to pigeon hole my opponents as this is MMA and you should be ready for anything, so to look at Sean and say “oh he has won on the ground” and only concentrate on that would be doing myself a disservice. I have to be ready for anything, so I trained for everything, whether it be with my team mates here at Pound for pound gym; Matt and Ryan Robinson, Barry Ryan, Denzel, Manny to name a few. The boys at Combat Sports Academy like Carl Kinslow, with Semtex Muay Thai Gym…..Too many to mention, but much love to all, you know who you are.

Jay Cee: Sean Carter is dangerous, undefeated and has has finished four of his last six fights via submission. Do you see his ground game presenting any problems for you?

Richard: I have been training a lot with guys who solely do ground work to sharpen my skill set, I’m ready.

Jay Cee: You are coming off a first round submission win over Shahid Hussain in March, does that give you a lot of confidence going into this fight?

Richard: As a fighter, if I was not confident I would not have accepted the fight, but yeah, the last victory fueled me.

Jay Cee: When looking at your MMA career and your future in the sport, do you want to make it all the way to the top or just achieve success on the regional circuit here in the UK?

Richard: I love the sport, I go to work like everyone else to earn a living but this is a passion. Its hard to say whether I will get to a position where the sport can feed my family, but it is my dream to be able to do this full time.

Jay Cee: What are your goals for the rest of 2013?

Richard: My coach has been trying to get me to drop from welter to lightweight for a long time, telling me I was too small for that division. In a lot of my previous fights I was the smaller guy in the cage, but now I feel like I have found the category for me, I want to push up the ranks and make my mark in MMA.

Jay Cee: Thanks for taking some time to speak with me Richard and good luck at Cage Warriors 60. If there are any sponsors or people you would like to shout-out or thank, please go ahead and do that now…

Richard: Too many people to thank so first I would like to thank God without whom I would not exist. Thanks to my family, my Mrs and my son for be patient with me through the hard times, the weight cuts, the victories and the defeats. Thank to my trainer Dan Beavor and the Pound for Pound family, Semtex , Mongoose Thai , Boris, Combat Sports Academy and NWA. Also, thanks to my sponsor Farabi Fight Wear. I love you all.

Thanks again to Richard Griffin for the time, I appreciate it.

Make sure you check out Richard “The Myth” Griffin on TWITTER and give him a follow!!

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