1. Up and at it – what is your morning routine?
I get my six year-old daughter up, dressed, get her breakfast, make her lunch, pack my bags and walk her to school. I usually have to pack about three changes of clothes for myself as I train two to three times a day. Normally I leave the house and don't stop until 10pm that night. Between training, picking Isabella up from school and meetings, I literally don't have a minute. After I leave her to school I usually head to my first training session. It could be sprints at the track, a strength session, BJJ, boxing or sparring, depending on the day.
2. What might you eat in a typical working day for...
Breakfast? I am lucky to have my food provided by (Boucher Road, Belfast-based healthy eating restaurant) Skinny Kitchen; it is such a fantastic help, as I am constantly on the go and need healthy, good quality food to keep me going. So, for breakfast I would have eggs, bacon and avocado.
Lunch? My lunch meal would usually be a chicken or fish dish, served with broccoli.
Evening meal? This would be steak or chicken with sweet potato and broccoli.
3. Is nutrition important to you?
Yes, nutrition is vitally important to me as I need to fuel my body in order to perform during an extremely tough week of training.
4. Best meal ever?
The baked egg pot at Skinny Kitchen is amazing – poached eggs, sweet potato, chorizo and spinach.
5. Do you have a guilty pleasure?
Tea and biscuits.
6. Have you ever been on a diet? If so, how did it go?
To cut weight for a fight I need to be on a strict diet which is extremely tough as my training is so intense. I don't pay particular attention to calories, but just follow what I'm given by my nutritionist. Before a fight I might need to lose six kilos or more, so a strict regime is necessary to lose body fat.
7. Do you take health supplements?
Yes. I take vitamin D3, fish oils, vitamin B, female multi-vitamin, BCAAS (branch chain amino acids), magnesium and melatonin.
8. How do you relax?
I spend time with Isabella, go to my church at the weekends and listen to podcasts while I'm driving all over the place during a frantic week. I put in a lot of mileage, so podcasts are a great way of relaxing for me – I particularly like Steven Furtick (lead pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina).
9. Teetotal or tipple?
I don't drink, I don't like it and I am always exhausted. I never go out – all I do is train and sleep. It's a tough life.
10. Stairs of lift?
Lift. Ha ha – I do enough exercise already.
11. Do you have a daily exercise regime?
I train at least twice every day, varying from boxing, Muay Thai (Thai boxing), BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) and wrestling, to sparring, sprints and strength training.
12. Best tip for everyday fitness?
Just do something – go for a walk, a swim or go to the gym. You will never regret a training session, but you will regret missing one.
13. On a scale of one to 10, how fit do you think you are and how fit would you like to be?
It depends on what you mean by fit. I am an MMA fighter and will have different levels of fitness compared to other sports, but I'll go all out and put myself at 10.
14. Have you tried, or would you try, alternative therapy?
I get sports massage regularly which help me and I tried reflexology once which was relaxing. I'm not sure what it actually did, but I enjoyed it.
15. Were school sports happy times or do you have a memory you would rather forget?
I was on every sports team in school, so these were happy times. I have always been very competitive and loved sport.
16. Did you ever have a health epiphany which made you change your lifestyle?
No, I didn't get into MMA fighting and I didn't start to eat healthily because of one particular thing; it was a natural process. I've always been interested in martial arts, so it was a natural progression.
17. Best health/lifestyle advice you were ever given and would pass on to others?
Sleep is so important for recovery. Get off social media and get more sleep.
18. Who inspires you or who would you try to emulate in terms of fitness / attitude to life?
I would have to say my mum inspires me due to her work ethic and also my six year-old daughter, Isabella, is always my inspiration and motivation
19. What time do you normally get to bed and do you get enough sleep?
I try to get to bed by 10pm every night in order to allow my body to rest and recover from training.
20. Would you say you have a healthy attitude towards your own mortality?
I enjoy life and try to do the best I can each day and, as a Christian, I am not worried about death, so yes, I think that is a healthy attitude.
