On September 2, Irish bantamweight and former Cage Warriors 135lb champion, Caolan Loughran, will make his much anticipated UFC debut at UFC Paris.
“The Don” will take on home country fighter and fellow debutant Yanis Ghemmouri. The Frenchman fought back in June where he defeated Mehmosh Raza at Brave CF 72 and has only tasted defeat once in his 13 fight professional career.
Despite Ghemmouri having had more professional fights than Loughran, the Irishman has arguably fought at a higher level as he was a champion in Cage Warriors. The 26-year-old’s last fight came in May where he won the vacant Cage Warriors bantamweight title, defeating the undefeated Dylan Hazan. With him already having fought a home country fighter in their own back yard, the undefeated prospect admitted “it was the most enjoyable half hour of my life hearing them boo me.”
“It was a high pressure moment with crazy crazy atmosphere and that’s something I think I have way over Ghemmouri. His last few fights have been in Brave and he hasn’t been very active at all, but when he was fighting, Brave kept what is basically the COVID Apex format so he’s basically fighting in small rooms in front of nobody,” Loughran told Cageside Press recently.
The Irish prospect is a self proclaimed ‘MMA nerd’ and never successfully switches off from the sport of MMA, whether that is training or watching fights. Because of that, “The Don” believes he knows how Ghemmouri will approach this fight, and has issued him a word of warning.
“He’s predominantly a striker he’ll want to keep it at kicking range because if he gets into boxing range with me, I’ll put him out. He cannot let me get close to him. His chins too high and he can’t box. He’s more of a point style kickboxer and he has to keep it at kicking range because if I can close the range on him I can hit him, and if I can hit him I can sleep him.”
Despite this being Loughran’s UFC debut, he is opening up the main card which these days, is relatively unheard of. The 26-year-old admitted that he is seeing it as an opportunity to show everyone exactly what he’s about. “I just see it as an opportunity to completely blow up and steal the show in Paris, especially as I’m on the main card.”
Caolan Loughran vs Yanis Ghemmouri goes down on September 2, 2023 at UFC Paris, from the Accor Arena in Paris, France.
