How young Tullamore MMA star took on world in Abu Dhabi

RISING Tullamore MMA star Jordan Scully did his town and country proud when he competed in the IMMAF adult World Championships in Abu Dhabi last week.

It was a debut in top level adult MMA fighting for the young man from Harbour Walk who only turned 18 last September.

Jordan emerged as a real force in mixed martial arts when he won a silver medal at the IMMAF youth world championships in Bulgaria last summer and his local club, SBG Tullamore, where Kieran Davoren is the coach guiding him to greatness, learned late last year that he got the Ireland call-up for the world adult tournament.

That earned him a week-long trip to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for the Covid-delayed 2021 world championships at the Jiu-Jitsu Arena in Zayed Sports City.

Aided by a GoFundMe campaign, during which he went public on his autism and stated his goal is to fight in the UFC, Jordan raised enough money to make the journey and boarded a plane with Kieran Davoren.

After his historic silver medal performance in the youth world championships Jordan immediately set his sights on gold at adult level and took the first step in his opening bout in Abu Dhabi.

Competing in the junior welterweight division (77.1kg/170lb), Jordan was drawn against Cruz Garcia, a Mexican who was undefeated in eight fights.

“He was a really good fighter, two-time Mexican national champion,” Jordan told the Tullamore Tribune this week after his return home.

But the Mexican was no match for the Irishman in cage 3 at the arena and the Tullamore teenager defeated him over three rounds on a unanimous decision from the judges.

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That victory put Jordan just one win away from a medal but the quarter-final in cage 4 proved to be a tough outing.

He was fighting against one of the many highly rated Russians in the world championships, which were ultimately dominated by entrants from the Russian MMA Union.

His opponent Shamkhan Kushagov beat him in the first round and went on to win a bronze medal.

“It turns out he's been training 11 years and he's a Russian champion as well,” said Jordan.

“But that fight didn't go past the first round. I was doing well, [then] he took me down, took my back, got me in a rear naked choke.

“It was very disappointing but it's a good way to get experience as well because I did learn a lot from it. All I can do is keep moving forward.

“I got the win. I know what to do. I learned a lot from it, I will come back stronger from it. That's all I can do, just keep my head down, get back into the fire.”

Kushagov was defeated by the eventual world champion, another Russian, Vladislav Sukalenko, in the semi-final, but only on a split decision.

Having watched that fight, Jordan remarked: “[Kushagov] came third, he fought another Russian lad and it was a very close fight. [Sukalenko] just about got the decision and he ended up winning the whole tournament.”

Sukalenko struck gold with a unanimous points win over Qosim Sardorov of Tajikistan in the final.

Prior to his departure for Abu Dhabi, Jordan was interviewed at the SBG gym by the former professional rugby player from Cloneygowan, Peter Bracken, and he said his goals in MMA are to win European and World titles.

“If I keep doing the right things, coming in here, and not doing stupid stuff, I should get there, keep on top of everything,” he said.

Jordan said Kieran Davoren and the other coaches in Tullamore were “100%” and he had dedicated himself to training for five years.

“Every single day. This is my life. When I was at school, after school, I would just come up here and train from 13 years old.”

Next up for Jordan is the Irish National MMA Championships 2022 at the SBG HQ in Dublin which start on February 18 and after that he hopes to take part in the IUR Fighting Championships in Newry in April.

Jordan's results at the 2021 IMMAF adult World Championships were -

First fight - Bout 24 in Cage 3: Male M: Jr Welterweight 77.1 kg (170 lbs) Jordan Scully (Ireland) d e f Cruz Garcia (Mexico) via Unanimous Decision Round 3 (30-25, 30-26, 30-26)

Quarter-final - Bout 18 I Cage 4: Male M: Jr Welterweight 77.1 kg (170 lbs) Shamkhan Kushagov (RMMAU) d e f Jordan Scully (Ireland) via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) Round 1, 1:22